Interaction of Bardic Inspiration with Magic Missile Damage

[Kizan]

I was at Origins 2023 a playing PFS slot and this discussion came up at a table. The bard had cast Inspire Courage (https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=386) "You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects."

Then the Sorc cast a high level magic missile (i.e. multiple missiles) thus began the discussion. Does the +1 to damage count either:

Once for the whole spell

OR

+1 damage per missile as they could be targeting different targets?

The DM ruled that since each missile was a different source of damage (his words not mine) that each missile should get the +1.

None of us wanted to argue, as it benefited the players, but I'm curious. So after a bit of searching I didn't come across anyone discussing this idea.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Kizan

[Deriven Firelion]

I run it +1 damage per target. They have a general rule that if a bonus is applied, it's usually applied per target for spells or AoE type effects unless it specifies otherwise like Sorcerer Blood magic which applies the damage increase to a single target in a group.

[HammerJack]

Kizan wrote:

I was at Origins 2023 a playing PFS slot and this discussion came up at a table. The bard had cast Inspire Courage (https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=386) "You and all allies in the area gain a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects."

Then the Sorc cast a high level magic missile (i.e. multiple missiles) thus began the discussion. Does the +1 to damage count either:

Once for the whole spell

OR

+1 damage per missile as they could be targeting different targets?

The DM ruled that since each missile was a different source of damage (his words not mine) that each missile should get the +1.

None of us wanted to argue, as it benefited the players, but I'm curious. So after a bit of searching I didn't come across anyone discussing this idea.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Kizan

Magic Missle specifically describes this.

"If you shoot more than one missile at the same target, combine the damage before applying bonuses or penalties to damage, resistances, weaknesses, and so forth."

Your GM was mistaken. The answer is +1 per target.

[Kizan]

Thanks for the info!

[breithauptclan]

I vaguely remember something about this. Probably an unofficial errata video.

What I am remembering is that the damage boost would only apply once per target, but it would apply to each target of the same effect. So it matches how the damage boost affects AoE effects.

But I could be remembering that wrong. And I am not aware of anything in the official rules to point to that will definitively answer this.