D&D 5E Tasha's Caustic Brew... Say what?!?!

[Arryn]

Please help me out with this spell, because either it is not worded very well, or I am missing some rule somewhere. The spell allows you to send out a 30ft stream of acid for up to 1 minute. Does that stream always have to go in the direction that you originally cast it? Isn't this just a firehose of acid? The spell says it goes out in the direction that you choose. Does changing the direction use up an action? The wording doesn't seem to say that. What am I missing?

 

[Kurotowa]

The spray of acid is instant and immediate. The 1 minute duration is how long the acid clings to the targets hit and continues to damage them.

 

[Ancalagon]

The spray of acid is instant and immediate. The 1 minute duration is how long the acid clings to the targets hit and continues to damage them.

I'm not 100% sure you are right. It's not written clearly enough... but your interpretation is certainly a lot saner than the alternative...

 

[Kurotowa]

I'm not 100% sure you are right. It's not written clearly enough... but your interpretation is certainly a lot saner than the alternative...

Read the spell's text first, not the stat block. Those are supporting details. So what does the spell do? You shoot a line of acid, creatures in the line's path need to make a save or be covered in acid for the spell's duration, creatures covered in acid take damage at the start of their turn. What's the spell's duration? For that we look at the stat block and we see it's Concentration, up to 1 minute.

If it shot a continuous spray of acid the wording would be more like Gust of Wind, which starts off by clearly stating the line of wind blows for the spell's full duration. There's nothing at all ambiguous here, it's just constructed a little oddly where for some reason Caustic Brew is a concentration spell in addition to having a fixed duration and also being ended by an action to clean it off. I think the concentration is a bit unnecessary, but I'm not a professional game designer.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Read the spell's text first, not the stat block.

Exactly what I was thinking. If you read it, it says what it does.

 

[CM]

No, I think Firehose of Acid is level 3.

(what the others were saying, the duration is for the clinging acid damage).

 

[Maxperson]

I'm not 100% sure you are right. It's not written clearly enough... but your interpretation is certainly a lot saner than the alternative...

The alternative is nowhere near being a 1st level spell, so... The others are correct. You got one instant line and any creature in that line has to save or take damage for up to 1 minute.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

No, I think Firehose of Acid is level 3.

Or an Innate Ability of a Black Dragon.......