So WotC changed some stuff again in their July 2010 rules update for D&D.
One change that caught my eye though was the change to Magic Missile.
It’s now an effect to do damage (2+Int, increasing to 3+Int at 11th and 5+Int at 21st).
My first thought was “Neat! auto hit like magic missiles used to do.”
Then I took a more careful look at it and realized that it’s not so great a change.
In terms of flavor, auto hit MM is great, but for me, rolling a bunch of D4s for damage is almost as iconic (though it was a bunch of D6s in other editions).
In terms of balance, the new MM is about on par with the old MM, until you start looking at the effects of feats, items and other features that increase damage or accuracy. When you take those into account, the new MM falls behind in damage once you start getting up in levels, meaning that it once more falls into the very situational category of at-wills.
However, before nerdrage was able to set in, WotC throws another curve with the revelation that the new MM is a baseline ability for the new Essentials Wizard, meaning that it doesn’t count for one of a character’s at-wills. Speculation is rife on various forums that Magic Missile will become a default standard for all Wizards (basically, a souped up cantrip). That difference suddenly ups the stock of the very situational MM.
Oh well. It’ll be neat to see MM in play more often (outside of those using it in combo with white lotus stuff).
The July update also made a few cleric utilities more useful by changing them to minor actions, nerfs the warlord power Lead the Attack, and tweaks a few other abilities to bring them more in line with similar powers.
Oh, and free actions are clarified to more explicitly state that the DM can prevent infinite recursive loops. Unfortunately, they left out the bit where the DM is allowed to throw dice at players who try to use such tactics.
