Talk:Magic Dart (5e Spell)

So this is a weird singular magic missile. The flavor of it being guided is strange (makes me think concentration). The supposed balancing of making it deal force is having its damage capped at 2, I assume.
Additionally, the "counter" is VERY strange. The shield spell is a 1st-level spell, therefore not at-will for players. At-will casting would apply only to creatures in this case, and, yes, some monsters do have at-will casting for 1st-level spells. So this means any creature with the spell in their spell list can cast this without end as long as they have a reaction, even if they were a player? Is that it? That's just weird.
This wording also allows it to bypass something like the tarrasque's carapace, which normally bounces stuff like this off. This is why I think the homing needle spell wording might be better than this weird shield counter.--Yanied (talk) 14:59, 12 January 2022 (MST)

The counter does not give anyone the ability to cast the shield spell itself without expenditure, the reaction only negates this spell's dart. The idea is that anyone who could counter magic missile should be able to counter this, and the effort required to counter this should be equal to the effort required to cast it. Since it's a cantrip, I feel like it would be too good if it could only be negated by spending a spell slot. I figured at the time that the implication of this never exceeding the capabilities of MM was enough, but Homing Needles' wording is very elegant so I've added that and changed the "guided" wording to better reflect magic missile. --Malachai (talk) 05:10, 26 January 2022 (MST)