[RPG] Do the spells from the drow commander’s magic bolts in “Against the Giants” (from “Tales from the Yawning Portal”) require concentration

concentrationdnd-5emagic-itemsspellstales-from-the-yawning-portal

In Tales from the Yawning Portal (p. 209), in area 20 of the Hall of the Fire Giant King (in Chapter 6: Against the Giants), there's a variant drow elite warrior who is mentioned as a commander, and has three magic bolts. The text reads as follows:

[…] The commander has a +2 shortsword, a +1 hand crossbow, and three magic bolts, as follows:

  • A bolt of holding, which casts hold person on a target hit with the bolt, as well as up to two other targets within 30 feet of that target
  • A bolt of blinding, which casts blindness/deafness to blind on a target hit with the bolt, as well as up to two other targets within 30 feet of that target
  • A bolt of vapors, which casts stinking cloud centered
    on the point it hits

Each of these effects has a spell save DC of 15 and a duration of 1 minute.

Does "casting" Hold Person and Stinking Cloud like this require the drow commander to maintain concentration on the spell?

It seems too powerful for a CR 5 creature to be able to paralyze three creatures in a single action without concentration.

Best Answer

No

The rules state:

Using a magic item's properties might mean wearing or wielding it. ... A weapon must be held.

These bolts must (presumably) be fired from the previously mentioned +1 hand crossbow and each "casts X on a target hit with the bolt" and explicitly have "a duration of 1 minute."

Who's casting the spell?

These can be distinguished from items that "allow the user to cast a spell from the item" and force "the user of the item must concentrate if the spell requires concentration." All items that allow you to cast a spell explicitly say "you cast" - these items don't say that, they say the item casts.

The items themselves "casts X on a target hit with the bolt"; they do not "allow the user to cast a spell from the item."

Are these Concentration spells anyway?

The rules say in respect to spell casting items:

Certain items make exceptions to these rules, changing the casting time, duration, or other parts of a spell.

These items change the duration from, for Hold Person, "Concentration, up to 1 minute" to "a duration of 1 minute."

These items, therefore, do not require anyone or anything to concentrate.