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Empowered Evocation:

Beginning at 10th level, you can add your Intelligence modifier to one damage roll of any wizard evocation spell you cast.

Wand of Magic Missiles (Wand, uncommon):

This wand has 7 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast the magic missile spell from it. For 1 charge, you cast the 1st-level version of the spell. You can increase the spell slot level by one for each additional charge you expend.

The wand regains 1d6 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the wand's last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the wand crumbles into ashes and is destroyed.

Notes: Damage, Combat

If I cast magic missile using my spell slots I can use my feature, but what if I cast it from a magic item, do I still get the bonus damage? In theory I cast it from the item, not from my prepared spell.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to the stack Frory17! Take the tour when you have a moment, and feel free to peruse the help center for more in-depth info about the site. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 5 at 16:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ The Basic Rules do not match your exact phrasing for Empowered Evocation. The text in the Basic Rules does not include the phrase "(minimum of +1)". I don't see how it matters for your question, but out of curiosity, where are you getting your quote from? \$\endgroup\$
    – Jack
    Commented Mar 5 at 16:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ I got it from wikidot \$\endgroup\$
    – Frory17
    Commented Mar 5 at 16:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Heavily related: What makes a spell being cast considered to be a {class} spell? \$\endgroup\$
    – David Coffron
    Commented Mar 5 at 17:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Frory17 I'd encourage you to use D&D Beyond (Wizards of the Coast's official rules compendium) rather than Wikidot, especially when it comes to SRD content like the School of Evocation subclass and the wand of magic missiles. I have added links to your question and corrected quotes to use the accurate text. \$\endgroup\$
    – David Coffron
    Commented Mar 5 at 17:35

2 Answers 2

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Yes you can.

Let's look at the requirements for using Empowered Evocation (emphasis mine):

Beginning at 10th level, you can add your Intelligence modifier to one damage roll of any wizard evocation spell that you cast.

So, the requirements are (1) the spell must be a Wizard evocation spell, and (2) you must cast it. Taking each in turn:

(1) Is Magic Missiles a Wizard evocation spell?

Yes. **

We can see on the official Wizard spell list that Magic Missile appears, and it is listed as an evocation spell.

(2) Are you casting a spell when using the Wand of Magic Missile?

Yes.

The Wand of Magic Missile description reads:

While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast the magic missile spell from it.

On a plain reading, when using the wand you cast a spell.

Since both requirements are met, you can use the Empowered Evocation class feature when using the Wand of Magic Missile.

** A short aside **

There's some debate as to how to determine when casting a spell that belongs to many class spell lists qualifies as casting a [CLASS] spell. There's some good information in this related thread, though the prevailing opinion seems to be that RAI, if a spell sits on a class' spell list, it is a [CLASS] spell. Unauthoritative but still useful Jeremy Crawford tweet:

What ultimately makes something a [class] (wiz/sorc/etc) spell? Is having it on your spell list enough, even if you're not high enough to cast/don't know it/don't cast via Spellcasting? I.E., can a level 1 Sorc Wild Magic Surge off of Luck Blade's wish despite not knowing it yet?

@SymphFan, 4:12 PM - 26 Jun 2018

A class's spell list is the list of that class's spells. #DnD

@JeremyECrawford, 5:57 PM - 26 Jun 2018

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    \$\begingroup\$ Do you think there's a difference between "you can... cast the magic missile spell from it" and something like the elemental gem where it says "...summoned as if you had cast the conjure elemental spell"? Would that be a good counter-example of language that does not benefit from feats or class features that refer to "when you cast"? \$\endgroup\$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    Commented Mar 5 at 19:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ I guess the strong counter-example would be something like plate armor of etherealness, which says "you can ... gain the effect of the etherealness spell", where it's clear that no casting is taking place. \$\endgroup\$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    Commented Mar 5 at 19:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DarthPseudonym I take it at face value from the description of the wand. Using the wand, you "cast the magic missile spell from it". A plain reading suggests this is a casting of the magic missile spell. I'd be looking for strong, specific counter examples, and as you've rightly flagged there are counter-examples to the counter-example! At my table at least, I'd lean towards the plain reading interpretation, but am absolutely open to being convinced otherwise. \$\endgroup\$
    – B. S. Morganstein
    Commented Mar 5 at 21:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think you may be misunderstanding what I meant by counter-example. I didn't mean that I'm arguing the wand doesn't cast spells. I meant to point out that there are some places where items are clearly avoiding "you cast a spell" language, so if they'd wanted the wand to not count as casting a spell, they would have used similarly evasive language. (But I'm not sure about which way to read the elemental gem!) \$\endgroup\$
    – Darth Pseudonym
    Commented Mar 5 at 22:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ It isn’t clear to me that (1) works the way you say. If a sorcerer casts magic missile, are they casting a wizard evocation spell? I’d say no, they’re casting a sorcerer spell. I think the method of casting matters here, and you’re saying it doesn’t - and you cite no rules defending that assertion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas Markov
    Commented Mar 5 at 23:23
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Yes, you do

The relevant point is in the sentence in the wand's description that reads:

While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast the magic missile spell from it.

The magic missile allows you to cast it using charges instead of your spell slots, but you are still casting it.

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