In 2268 NY (−1591 DR), at the height of the Golden Age of Netheril, this spell was introduced by famous Netherese arcanist General Matick under the name of General Matick's missile. Many scholars believed that he commissioned the spell rather than inventing it himself. Throughout the years, the fundamental specifications of magic missile have been used in the development of several other spells. In the 13th century, Snilloc's snowball was invented by the adventurer and spell-crafter Snilloc. It was considered a lesser variant of magic missile by many mages throughout the Realms. Gemidan, a former apprentice of Khelben Arunsun, created a variant called lightning bug that combined its effects with those of shocking grasp. Another variant of this spell was slingstar, which allowed a mage to imbue her or his sling with magical energy. The caster evoked a number of magic missiles by using small stones or bullets as an added material component. One more iteration of magic missile was withering tendrils, which could be found in The Tome of Blasphemous Magic. This variation inflicted necrotic energy damage against a foe, rather than force energy.