[RPG] What are the effects of a Dispel Magic on a Conjure Elemental spell

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If you cast a "successful" Dispel Magic in the following cases, what are the possible outcomes?

  1. An active Conjure Elemental spell, i.e. the caster is maintaining concentration at the time you cast Dispel Magic on it.
  2. An elemental that is the result of a Conjure Elemental spell where concentration has been lost, i.e. when the following condition described in the spell has occurred:

If your concentration is broken, the elemental doesn't disappear. Instead, you lose control of the elemental, it becomes hostile and might attack. It can't be dismissed by you, and disappears 1 hour after you summoned it. (PHB p.225)

I would like to know in what case, if any, the Elemental disappears as a result of the Dispel Magic.

Best Answer

Case 1) The spell ends and the elemental disappears:

The clause about concentration does not apply, the elemental exists as the effect of an active spell, if the magic is dispelled the elemental goes.

Case 2) There is no spell to dispel, the elemental is unaffected:

The spell has already ended as concentration has been broken and Conjure Elemental is a concentration spell.

Conjure Elemental (PHB p.225)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Concentration (PHB p.203):

Some spells require you to maintain concentration in order to keep their magic active. If you lose concentration, such a spell ends.

Therefore while the elemental persists for an hour after the spell ends, it is no longer part of an active spell effect so there is nothing to dispel, the elemental became free of the summoning spell when concentration was lost.

Another way of looking at it is after the spell ends due to loss of concentration, the elemental exists as an environmental change rather than a spell effect. It can't be dispelled any more than the environmental effects of a delayed blast fireball (PHB p.231) can be dispelled following loss of concentration.

Jeremy Crawford had this to say about concentration with respect to conjure elemental:

When you willingly stop concentrating on a concentration spell, the spell ends.

Conjure Elemental: "The elemental disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends."

This is him saying that if you deliberately end your concentration the spell ends and the Elemental disappears.

He also had this to say about concentration in general:

Willingly ending your concentration on a spell in D&D isn't the same thing as having your concentration broken.

This spell states:

If your concentration is broken, the elemental doesn't disappear.

If you have your concentration broken the spell ends, as per the concentration rules which are not overridden by any specific rule in the spell, but the effect of the spell ending is overridden by the fact that the elemental does not disappear along with the spell in this specific case.

I also believe the RAI of this spell is that if you have your concentration broken the elemental becomes a free agent not bound by the summoning magic in any way, and thus it is always dangerous undertaking, where you can't even dispel your own magic.

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