@JeremyECrawford Magic Missile: Do you roll the same d4 for all darts, or one d4 per dart?
— Marc Sharma (@LeMarcSharma) September 8, 2016
Magic missile. RAW: You roll 1 damage die (see "Damage Rolls," PH, 196). RAI: It doesn't matter; you choose. #DnD https://t.co/AYRRX2j3AP
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) September 8, 2016
According to Jeremy, Magic Missile will only do 1d4 +1 damage no matter how many missiles hit the target. The spell says nothing about multiplying.
That’s not what he said. You roll once and each dart does that much damage.
Oh hi Mark.
That not true Mark. If that was the vase there would be zero need for any more than a single dart and zero need for higher level castings.
By your own logic, Mark, Fireball divides up its damage among all of the creatures in the blast. But obviously that’s not the case, because the spells are very clear on how they function and Jeremy’s ruling only clarifies that.
There’s no need to multiply anything, because you’re dealing with one dart at a time. But the spell creates multiple darts, so each dart does the same damage (RAW). If you’re going to be pedantic at least do it right.
RAW say “If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than
one target AT THE SAME TIME, roll the damage once for
all o f them.”
Magic missiles deal damage separately and they would rarely hit at exactly the same time; hence, separate rolls per misslie. Also if they all hit the same target, roll separately because they are not dealing damage to more than one target even if they hit at the same time.
Addisonbleu Magic missile says in its description that all missiles hit simultaneously
So, let’s say you cast MM at 1st level. You roll 1d4+1. You end up rolling a 3. 3+1 is 4. Each dart is going into the same target. So, does that mean that the target receives 12 damage?
Yes, it would. Each of the three darts will deal the damage you rolled, in this case 4. If all three darts hit the same target, that target would suffer 4 damage three time, for a total of 12 damage.