5 October 2018

d20 Magic Missiles

Sometimes you just want to shoot things.

And you are not alone. Many wizards use the spell of magic missile, and every one of them has a bit different, even unique appearance of the spell. This spell has more breeds than dogs. There are professional spell breeders that compete for the most extravagant magic missile, and there are exhibitions and competitions. Teenage sorceresses use pink, chihuahua-like missiles. War wizards prefer simple, professional-looking, combat-bred and -trained missiles. Breeds from Foreign Parts can be quite weird, unsettling, or even disgusting.

You can roll for your own magic missile below.


Magic Missile
R: 200'; T: creature; D: 0

Target takes [sum] + [dice] damage, no Save.

d20 Missiles
  1. You fire a beam of energy* from your (d4): 1) finger, 2) palms, 3) eyes, 4) mouth.
  2. You throw (d4): 1) a blade of light*, 2) an orb of energy*, 3) lightning*, 4) a fistful of flames*.
  3. You spit and your spittle turns into (d4): 1) razor blades, 2) crystal shards*, 3) sharp icicle, 4) acid.
  4. The target is swarmed by (d4): 1) ravenous locusts, 2) bees, 3) butterflies* with razor-sharp wings, 4) tiny birds.
  5. You enchant a handful of (d4): 1) needles, 2) sand, 3) petals and leaves, 4) your hair; then throw it at your enemy.
  6. You can fire any ranged weapon without a missile, shooting a spectral projectile* that cannot miss.
  7. You point a finger at the target and wounds suddenly appear on their body.
  8. You wave your hand and the air ripples, the wind slashing like a sword.
  9. You scream and the shock wave hits the target.
  10. You breathe out (d4): 1) a gout of flame*, 2) a gust of freezing air, 3) caustic stench, 4) a Word of Power.
  11. You whistle and (d4): 1) a bird of prey, 2) a tiny elemental, 3) an animate arrow, 4) a screaming skull swoops at the target, attacking and disappearing again.
  12. You clench your hand and the target starts choking.
  13. You raise your outstretched palm and (d4): 1) blood gushes from your victim's pores as they scream in agony, 2) your enemy desiccates before your eyes, 3) the heart of your foe attempts to break free of their chest, 4) blood starts to drip from the target's nose, eyes, or ears.
  14. Your (d4): 1) fingernails, 2) teeth, 3) shattered ribs, 4) high-pressure blood shoot(s) out of your body, regenerating immediately.
  15. You momentarily transform your hand into (d4): 1) a long tentacle, 2) thorny brambles, 3) spiked chain, 4) sharpened shadows, then lash at your enemy.
  16. You give the victim an evil eye and (d4): 1) jinx them to suffer an accident, 2) make them hurt themselves thanks to your mind tricks, 3) they suffer a splitting headache, 4) force them to cough up a mouthful of spiders.
  17. You draw a Glyph of Harming* into the thin air, then send it at your enemy.
  18. You blow bubbles that float towards your enemy, then explode with unexpected force.
  19. You call forth (d4): 1) stone spikes, 2) roots, 3) skeletal hands, 4) water jets that shoot from the ground, impaling your foe.
  20. Your hand opens like a bloody lotus and releases shards of Void.


*) Roll for a random colour. Edit: You can now roll here.

3 comments:

  1. Nice post! I like the variety; this would be an excellent way to make a group of Wizards all feel unique, even if they all had the same spell.

    That being said, I just have one question. What set of rules do you use? Because based on my system, the Magic Missile Spell would be very powerful, not the point of breaking the game, but still enormously strong, even at level 1. And while it would only be able to deal about as much damage as a sword at level 1, the fact that it requires no attack roll means that if the Wizard rolls high enough, they can essentially flatten almost any low-level enemy in a single shot.

    So, how does your heartbreaker work, assuming you're using some kind of GLOG SR LotFP-inspired retro-clone.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks!

      I'm using pretty much Skerples' GLOG hack right now. And yeah, magic missile can be powerful, but not overly so, IMHO.

      At XL 1, the wizard will have only a single MD, which is exhaused if they roll 4-6. They can kill most HD 1 creatures easily - but HD 1 creatures die easily to anything, really, so there should always be a group of them. And the wizard is limited both by MD and by prepared spells.

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