The description of the Conjure Barrage spell states:
You throw a nonmagical weapon or fire a piece of nonmagical ammunition
into the air to create a cone of identical weapons that shoot forward
and then disappear. Each creature in a 60-foot cone must succeed on a
Dexterity saving throw.
But I am slightly confused on the wording… From what I understand:
- You Shoot an arrow (or another object) into the air
- The arrow bursts into a multitude of itself at a point in the air and falls back down, filling a cone of 60 feet in diameter.
- Everyone in that circle has to make a Dex save or get hurt.
Am I reading this wrong, or is the ammunition falling on top of you, making you have to make a Dex save to protect yourself from your own attack?
Best Answer
Luckily, you're reading it wrong. The range/area of conjure barrage is Self (60 ft cone). Referring to the rules for reading spell ranges, we read that:
You don't throw the ammunition straight up into the air and have it fall down as a cone from above; you are the origin of the cone, which spreads out from you directly. The scenario you should imagine is that the moment the weapon leaves your hands or the arrow/bolt leaves the bow (etc.), the extra copies conjure forth and burst out like a shotgun blast. The requirement to throw or shoot "into the air" serves to convey that you aren't aiming at a specific creature or point (so you don't get to hit a creature as an actual attack as well as casting the spell).
You can still be hurt by the spell if you want to be; the rules for cone areas state that:
But that's entirely your choice, and obviously most casters would deign not to barrage themselves.