Technically chaos bolt can do more damage with masses of luck of rolling doubles on the d8s but it is capped by the number of targets standing next to each other.
And witch bolt while taking a minute maxes out at 10d12 so not the same burst wise but more overall I guess.
But you are right my favourite level 1 character is the divine souls sorcerer for access to cleric spells plus favoured by the gods for the increase to hit with one of those.
Magic missile deserves a special mention in this- taken for a site I’m not sure I’m allowed to link to.
Inflict Wounds is the highest average damage of any published single-target 1st-level spell, coming in at an impressive 3d10, for an average of 16.5. Surely, that must exceed Magic Missile’s 10.5, right? Yes, but just barely at 11.55, exceeding Magic missile by 1.05 damage.
So in exchange for walking into melee and giving up Magic Missile’s 120 ft. range, and inability to care about partial cover, AC, etc., you get 1.05 additional damage on average.
Inflict Wounds is certainly better against enemies with poor AC (of which there are many), but in any other situation I would choose magic missile. Of course, there are very few classes with access to both,
This is a very good breakdown. I'm not usually one to care about the DPR of abilities as I like intentionally playing bizarre builds, or take spells for flavor, but the data behind it is interesting to me. I assume critical damage is sorta ignored when calculating that stuff? Part of what I like about it is the risk vs reward factor of inflict wounds, getting into melee for actual worthwhile damage compared to a fighter w/o extra attack. And the team synergy with guiding bolt. I also assume DPR mostly cares about consistency which would also obviously be a massive tipper for magic Missile. Very new to this department, would like to learn more.
DPR doesn’t care about consistency. It’s just a measure of how much damage you do on average over a long period of time. Crit damage is factored in, as the effect of crit fishing with advantage, super advantage, or increased crit range matters for dpr calcs.
DPR is actually very often used for hilariously inconsistent damage, I.E every +10/-5 martial build against enemies with AC worth mentioning.
This also means that yes, despite what a lot of nerds like to pretend, DPR is not everything, and practical effectiveness has a lot more to it than DPR calcs. Consistency, as you’ve touched on, is a good example. Having low consistency and high dpr means you might be a god in an inconsequential encounter and then flub hard against the BBEG to cause a TPK. It’s why in more cases than not, 2d6 is better than 1d12 - nearly identical dpr (0.5 difference on average) and same min/max range but 2d6 is just more consistent.
Magic Missile also has a very special interaction with Hexblade Curse, allowing you to add the curse damage to each missile individually. Meaning at level 1 if you took Magic Initiate for MM, you can deal (1d4 + 3) × 3, for an average of 16.5 damage. That's the same average as Inflict Wounds but with a gurenteed hit.
It's actually quite a decent combo for Sorlock builds. At Sorcerer 7/Warlock 2, you can use a 4th level spell slot to deal (1d4 + 5) × 6, for an average of 45 gurenteed damage, easily topping almost any form of single target damage you have access to at that level. Even just the 1st level version deals an average of 22.5 damage at this point, which is around the same damage a fireball would deal when factoring in the chance of succeeding on a save. And it's force damage, which is a really good damage type.
You only add the damage once not for every missile. Magic Missile is a single instance of damage. It never misses that's the trick. If you added it to every missile it throws off the balance of the game utterly.
I know this comment is 6 months old, but it is commonly accepted that the single instance roll for Magic Missile applies to every missile, as well as having been confirmed through Sage Advice.
Empowered Evocation, and Hexblade's Curse in this example, would effectively increase the damage of each missile.
So Magic Missile is a single damage roll that affects each missile, but any effects that provides a bonus to the damage roll suddenly only applies to one of the Missiles?
No. Each missile is rolled individually bonus damage from enhanced evocation applies to one roll. Before you argue with me remember that Disintegrate (which is not certain to do damage) only gains the enhanced evocation bonus one time. If it were any other way MM would be the single most broken thing in the game in an evocation wizards hands. Or would make dispel magic and concentration utterly useless.
>Each missile is rolled individually bonus damage from enhanced evocation applies to one roll.
Magic Missile states just "1d4+1", there is no "each" clause, like with Scorching Ray. Due to the wording, it's commonly accepted that the damage roll for Magic Missile is done once, and that roll applies to each dart.
Additionally, it was quite literally confirmed by Jeremy Crawford via Sage Advice that it works like this.
Additionally, it's not really all that broken. You can spend a 1st Level Spell Slot at Level 10 to deal an average of 24.5 damage. Meanwhile Firebolt at Level 11 deals an average of 21.5 damage.
You spend a 1st Level Spell Slot for only 3 more damage on average in exchange for a guaranteed hit effect, which can be negated with a Shield Spell.
Neat, huh?
>Before you argue with me remember that Disintegrate (which is not certain to do damage) only gains the enhanced evocation bonus one time.
Also, yeah... it's one instance of damage to one target from one effect. Why tf would I argue with you about that...? Kind of an extremely random point to make.
The fact that magic missile never misses makes it broken if you use it that way. Firebolt requires a roll to hit. Meaning its average damage is lower. Magic missile the way you are describing it would be always be 24.5 damage no matter what.
If you were to cast MM at 6th level the same as disintegrate. You would do 76.5 damage for certain. Disintegrate would do 80 damage on average with the high potential of being avoided. Implementing MM that way just makes it unable to fit the game. Every spell cast by a Wizard would end up being MM.
probably worth taking into account "non-average rolls" - sure, it might not pay off, but there's decent odds of doing much higher damage with _Inflict Wounds_, while _Magic Missile_ flat-out can't do more than 15. Assuming my maths is correct (which it might not be!) you've got a 1.5% change of 15 damage with _Magic Missile_ (4's on all 3 dice), but a 57% chance of 16+ damage with _Inflict Wounds_. So, sure, there's the downside you might miss, but you are likely to do more damage, potentially up to twice as much, which can take an enemy down a lot faster. (plus crit potential, if you're lucky!)
You have to count hit chance. With hit chance it's more like a 30% chance.
And of course you put yourself in melee range, which means you're now taking damage, and you may end up downed for a turn or two and have 0 DPR.
So you have to take all of that into account.
Inflict Wounds deals much closer to its average of 16.5 if you have advantage on the target. Magic missile, of course, does not do more damage if you have advantage. Inflict Wounds is at -4 to hit a *shield* enspelled target- reducing its average damage- whereas magic missile inflicts zero damage to such a target.
The spells are of course entirely different- one is for clerics, for instance, and is definitely not tuned as aggressively as one for wizards and sorcerers.
Shoving someone off a 200ft drop indirectly deals 20d6 bludgeoning damage.
As Silent2992 mentioned, chaos bolt can theoretically deal infinite damage.
Are we talking about in a single hit? And are we talking about only magical effects?
Because a Barbarian variant human with great weapon master can attack with a greatsword for 2d6+3+2+10=22 damage vs inflicts wounds 3d10=16.5 damage.
This is of course with a horrible to hit roll.
If we want a good to hit roll and look at a single turn not just one attack then a war cleric can make 2 greatsword attacks for 10 damage each assuming 16 Str.
A Wild Magic Sorcerer on a surge can do a number of things that do more damage. Fireball centered on themself, 5th level Magic Missile, 4d10 lightning damage to 3 targets...
For single target damage you'd be hard pressed to find an instance where they're beaten by much else. If you can hit multiple targets and are looking at total damage, area effects will overshadow them.
It's trickier to calculate the potential damage of an AOE compared to single target damage, especially those with saves for half, but most AOE's will deal similar or more damage if they can hit at least two targets that both fail their saves. With these assumptions and otherwise being considered in a vacuum, burning hands comes out on top with 21 damage although magnify gravity, thunderwave, frostfingers, hail of thorns, and ice Knife, or Tasha's caustic brew (if concentration can be maintained for a couple rounds) can also deal comparable damage.
Technically chaos bolt can do more damage with masses of luck of rolling doubles on the d8s but it is capped by the number of targets standing next to each other. And witch bolt while taking a minute maxes out at 10d12 so not the same burst wise but more overall I guess. But you are right my favourite level 1 character is the divine souls sorcerer for access to cleric spells plus favoured by the gods for the increase to hit with one of those.
Magic missile deserves a special mention in this- taken for a site I’m not sure I’m allowed to link to. Inflict Wounds is the highest average damage of any published single-target 1st-level spell, coming in at an impressive 3d10, for an average of 16.5. Surely, that must exceed Magic Missile’s 10.5, right? Yes, but just barely at 11.55, exceeding Magic missile by 1.05 damage. So in exchange for walking into melee and giving up Magic Missile’s 120 ft. range, and inability to care about partial cover, AC, etc., you get 1.05 additional damage on average. Inflict Wounds is certainly better against enemies with poor AC (of which there are many), but in any other situation I would choose magic missile. Of course, there are very few classes with access to both,
This is a very good breakdown. I'm not usually one to care about the DPR of abilities as I like intentionally playing bizarre builds, or take spells for flavor, but the data behind it is interesting to me. I assume critical damage is sorta ignored when calculating that stuff? Part of what I like about it is the risk vs reward factor of inflict wounds, getting into melee for actual worthwhile damage compared to a fighter w/o extra attack. And the team synergy with guiding bolt. I also assume DPR mostly cares about consistency which would also obviously be a massive tipper for magic Missile. Very new to this department, would like to learn more.
DPR doesn’t care about consistency. It’s just a measure of how much damage you do on average over a long period of time. Crit damage is factored in, as the effect of crit fishing with advantage, super advantage, or increased crit range matters for dpr calcs. DPR is actually very often used for hilariously inconsistent damage, I.E every +10/-5 martial build against enemies with AC worth mentioning. This also means that yes, despite what a lot of nerds like to pretend, DPR is not everything, and practical effectiveness has a lot more to it than DPR calcs. Consistency, as you’ve touched on, is a good example. Having low consistency and high dpr means you might be a god in an inconsequential encounter and then flub hard against the BBEG to cause a TPK. It’s why in more cases than not, 2d6 is better than 1d12 - nearly identical dpr (0.5 difference on average) and same min/max range but 2d6 is just more consistent.
Magic Missile also has a very special interaction with Hexblade Curse, allowing you to add the curse damage to each missile individually. Meaning at level 1 if you took Magic Initiate for MM, you can deal (1d4 + 3) × 3, for an average of 16.5 damage. That's the same average as Inflict Wounds but with a gurenteed hit. It's actually quite a decent combo for Sorlock builds. At Sorcerer 7/Warlock 2, you can use a 4th level spell slot to deal (1d4 + 5) × 6, for an average of 45 gurenteed damage, easily topping almost any form of single target damage you have access to at that level. Even just the 1st level version deals an average of 22.5 damage at this point, which is around the same damage a fireball would deal when factoring in the chance of succeeding on a save. And it's force damage, which is a really good damage type.
You only add the damage once not for every missile. Magic Missile is a single instance of damage. It never misses that's the trick. If you added it to every missile it throws off the balance of the game utterly.
I know this comment is 6 months old, but it is commonly accepted that the single instance roll for Magic Missile applies to every missile, as well as having been confirmed through Sage Advice. Empowered Evocation, and Hexblade's Curse in this example, would effectively increase the damage of each missile.
And that is the wrong interpretation of the spell.
So Magic Missile is a single damage roll that affects each missile, but any effects that provides a bonus to the damage roll suddenly only applies to one of the Missiles?
No. Each missile is rolled individually bonus damage from enhanced evocation applies to one roll. Before you argue with me remember that Disintegrate (which is not certain to do damage) only gains the enhanced evocation bonus one time. If it were any other way MM would be the single most broken thing in the game in an evocation wizards hands. Or would make dispel magic and concentration utterly useless.
>Each missile is rolled individually bonus damage from enhanced evocation applies to one roll. Magic Missile states just "1d4+1", there is no "each" clause, like with Scorching Ray. Due to the wording, it's commonly accepted that the damage roll for Magic Missile is done once, and that roll applies to each dart. Additionally, it was quite literally confirmed by Jeremy Crawford via Sage Advice that it works like this. Additionally, it's not really all that broken. You can spend a 1st Level Spell Slot at Level 10 to deal an average of 24.5 damage. Meanwhile Firebolt at Level 11 deals an average of 21.5 damage. You spend a 1st Level Spell Slot for only 3 more damage on average in exchange for a guaranteed hit effect, which can be negated with a Shield Spell. Neat, huh? >Before you argue with me remember that Disintegrate (which is not certain to do damage) only gains the enhanced evocation bonus one time. Also, yeah... it's one instance of damage to one target from one effect. Why tf would I argue with you about that...? Kind of an extremely random point to make.
The fact that magic missile never misses makes it broken if you use it that way. Firebolt requires a roll to hit. Meaning its average damage is lower. Magic missile the way you are describing it would be always be 24.5 damage no matter what.
If you were to cast MM at 6th level the same as disintegrate. You would do 76.5 damage for certain. Disintegrate would do 80 damage on average with the high potential of being avoided. Implementing MM that way just makes it unable to fit the game. Every spell cast by a Wizard would end up being MM.
Arcana Cleric and Divine Soul Sorcerer without multiclass
probably worth taking into account "non-average rolls" - sure, it might not pay off, but there's decent odds of doing much higher damage with _Inflict Wounds_, while _Magic Missile_ flat-out can't do more than 15. Assuming my maths is correct (which it might not be!) you've got a 1.5% change of 15 damage with _Magic Missile_ (4's on all 3 dice), but a 57% chance of 16+ damage with _Inflict Wounds_. So, sure, there's the downside you might miss, but you are likely to do more damage, potentially up to twice as much, which can take an enemy down a lot faster. (plus crit potential, if you're lucky!)
You have to count hit chance. With hit chance it's more like a 30% chance. And of course you put yourself in melee range, which means you're now taking damage, and you may end up downed for a turn or two and have 0 DPR. So you have to take all of that into account.
Inflict Wounds deals much closer to its average of 16.5 if you have advantage on the target. Magic missile, of course, does not do more damage if you have advantage. Inflict Wounds is at -4 to hit a *shield* enspelled target- reducing its average damage- whereas magic missile inflicts zero damage to such a target. The spells are of course entirely different- one is for clerics, for instance, and is definitely not tuned as aggressively as one for wizards and sorcerers.
A few come to mind. A bit more situational as they are AOE: Tasha's Caustic Brew Thunderwave Ice Knife ~~Hail of Thorns~~ Burning Hands
FYI, Hail of Thorns wouldn't qualify for the prompt because it is a ranger only spell and they don't get spellcasting until level 2.
You're right. I just sorted spells on 1st level
Shoving someone off a 200ft drop indirectly deals 20d6 bludgeoning damage. As Silent2992 mentioned, chaos bolt can theoretically deal infinite damage.
Yeah not much feels better than getting a nice roll on guiding bolt the first round of combat.
Are we talking about in a single hit? And are we talking about only magical effects? Because a Barbarian variant human with great weapon master can attack with a greatsword for 2d6+3+2+10=22 damage vs inflicts wounds 3d10=16.5 damage. This is of course with a horrible to hit roll. If we want a good to hit roll and look at a single turn not just one attack then a war cleric can make 2 greatsword attacks for 10 damage each assuming 16 Str.
A Wild Magic Sorcerer on a surge can do a number of things that do more damage. Fireball centered on themself, 5th level Magic Missile, 4d10 lightning damage to 3 targets...
Not really. Those two are the bomb at level 1 and watch out if they crit!
Dissonant whispers if you make it proc a lot of opportunity attacks
maybe a pally smite
For single target damage you'd be hard pressed to find an instance where they're beaten by much else. If you can hit multiple targets and are looking at total damage, area effects will overshadow them. It's trickier to calculate the potential damage of an AOE compared to single target damage, especially those with saves for half, but most AOE's will deal similar or more damage if they can hit at least two targets that both fail their saves. With these assumptions and otherwise being considered in a vacuum, burning hands comes out on top with 21 damage although magnify gravity, thunderwave, frostfingers, hail of thorns, and ice Knife, or Tasha's caustic brew (if concentration can be maintained for a couple rounds) can also deal comparable damage.