Magic Missile is one of the most iconic spells of Dungeons and Dragons and ,until 4th edition, was one of the staple first level damage spells. With the advent of cast as many times as you want spells like Ray of frost it took a bit of a back seat, but still has 3 advantages.
Baring any other magical protection, you always deal at least 6 damage,you can split up the targets, and you always hit.
This, at the start, does tend to make it handy, though there are plenty of other useful first level spells I would rather take, Sleep, Charm Person, Detect Magic,and Mage Armor come instantly to mind.
The scaling has changed with 5th edition as well.
Instead of slowing gaining more bolts every few levels, it follows the trend of all other level spells int he game to require you to spend spell slots for more missiles. So when you cast level 9 spells, you could cast level 9 magic missile for 11 missiles and a minimum of 22 damage and a maximum of 55 damage. Not super but hey they don’t miss.
One thing to mention from previous editions that I am sad is not in this edition so far is Mordenkainen’s Force Bolt The enhanced version of Magic Missle. This could be partially due to both Mordenkainen and Bigsby not in this edition at all.
Final thoughts, TL;DR: The Magic Missile spell is not the spell I always made sure to grab like it was in previous editions. With the cantrip damage options and other good effect spells in the level 1 list, there are other priorities.
Magic Missle Final Rating: C, has some advantages, but not something I would normally pick up for a character build. Makes me a bit sad in side to admit it.
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