Spells with multiple hits and flat added damage

[SangoProduction]

My question stems from some seemingly broken ideas.
Think about magic missile. You get upwards of 7 or more missiles if you spec for it. If you have that +3 flat damage, and hit one target, is that the same as a +21 to the spell (because 7*3), or does it only apply once?
What if you split the hits? If it was a fireball, all targets hit would take that flat +3, without doubt.

Yeah. That's basically the whole of my question. I could go on about how I went on to get 1000 to 2000 damage per round out of magic missile, but...I don't think that's relevant (though it make my dm ban metamagics)

Question made a bit more explicit: Assume some ambiguous object is giving +x damage to spells you cast. If you have some spell that functions more than one time (say a magic missile, which creates multiple missiles) is the x damage split among the functions, or is it given to each? (Is it "10 functions = x/10 for each function," or "10 functions = x for each function")

[Feint's End]

Generally no but where are you getting those +3 from anyways?

[SangoProduction]

Generally no but where are you getting those +3 from anyways?

To be honest, it's been almost a year, but this: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Scorching_Spell_(3.5e_Feat) for example would do that. Of course, that's...coincidentally enough, +3 to each of those dice so...oh wait. Actually that raises an even bigger question. The entire spell has a 7 dice of damage, so would that actually add +21 times 7, because it hits 7 times? (To be honest, if I was unsure, I would rule it that it's only +3 for each die of the individual missile, but that still leaves the original question of what happens to an actual flat bonus.)

[Troacctid]

To be honest, it's been almost a year, but this: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Scorching_Spell_(3.5e_Feat) for example would do that. Of course, that's...coincidentally enough, +3 to each of those dice so...oh wait. Actually that raises an even bigger question. The entire spell has a 7 dice of damage, so would that actually add +21 times 7, because it hits 7 times?

Well, that's a homebrew feat, so you can make up whatever you like for a ruling on it.

The base damage of magic missile is 1d4+1 per missile, not per target, so hitting the same target with two missiles deals 2d4+2 damage.

[Feint's End]

Well, that's a homebrew feat, so you can make up whatever you like for a ruling on it.

This. It's homebrew.

It would apply to each die though (assuming you get the fire descriptor on it somehow) so 7d4+21 is correct.

[SangoProduction]

Question made a bit more explicit: Assume some ambiguous object is giving +x damage to spells you cast. If you have some spell that functions more than one time (say a magic missile, which creates multiple missiles) is the x damage split among the functions, or is it given to each? (Is it "10 functions = x/10 for each function," or "10 functions = x for each function")

[Feint's End]

Question made a bit more explicit: Assume some ambiguous object is giving +x damage to spells you cast. If you have some spell that functions more than one time (say a magic missile, which creates multiple missiles) is the x damage split among the functions, or is it given to each? (Is it "10 functions = x/10 for each function," or "10 functions = x for each function")

That should be made clear by the wording. If the bonusdamage says it applies to each die then it applies to each die. If it doesn't (say it reads "adds +2 to a spells damage") then it applies to the spell once.

edit: If you say now that this is problematic for spells which hit multiple opponents with different damages (like scorching ray for example) then you are right. This is exactly the reason why it shouldn't exist and is poorly thought through homebrew. If you have to use +damage homebrew then just pick stuff (or design stuff if that's your thing) which applies per die. Saves a lot of headache.

edit2: on a sidenote Scorching Spell is somewhat underpriced for what it does. It's better than maximize (which doesn't say much) and way better than Empower.

[SangoProduction]

That should be made clear by the wording. If the bonusdamage says it applies to each die then it applies to each die. If it doesn't (say it reads "adds +2 to a spells damage") then it applies to the spell once.

edit: If you say now that this is problematic for spells which hit multiple opponents with different damages (like scorching ray for example) then you are right. This is exactly the reason why it shouldn't exist and is poorly thought through homebrew. If you have to use +damage homebrew then just pick stuff (or design stuff if that's your thing) which applies per die. Saves a lot of headache.

edit2: on a sidenote Scorching Spell is somewhat underpriced for what it does. It's better than maximize (which doesn't say much) and way better than Empower.

that homebrew was purely as an example.
So, you are saying that it would be x/functions for each function then. Thanks

[Zanos]

You could use knowledge devotion as a RAW example of a flat +1-5 bonus to all damage rolls.

This is a bit of an odd situation. When a spell does 1d6 damage per caster level it's pretty clearly only one damage roll. Spells with attack rolls clearly have multiple damage rolls, so you would get the bonus on each damage roll.

Magic missile does 1d4+1 damage per missile, not per two caster levels, so I'd argue the spell does 1d4+1 damage five times, not 5d4+5.

NOTE: This highly depends on the wording of the particular source of bonus damage.

[ace rooster]

I think you want to look at warmage edge from complete arcane for a reference. From memory it only applies once per spell, but could be wrong.

[eggynack]

that homebrew was purely as an example.
So, you are saying that it would be x/functions for each function then. Thanks
The issue is that the example is everything. D&D is a game whose RAW depends to a large extent on small variations in semantics. As example, just look at all of the different hide in plain sight abilities, inexplicably functioning in different ways. So, if you want to know how a particular ability of this form functions, you're going to have to read that particular ability and come to a conclusion on that basis, and the answer may even occasionally be ambiguous because the designers are often imperfect.

[Troacctid]

Case in point: Warmage Edge has specific language detailing how it functions with spells that deal damage to multiple targets and/or over multiple turns.