D&D 5E Warlock and Repelling Blast

[Lancelot]

Add me to the list of DMs who rule that the push is cumulative per hit. It's more fun that way, and it's consistent with other rulings (e.g. +CHA damage per blast, not in total).

"The ogre is 15' from the chasm, and I get 2 eldritch blasts! Hit... [tension builds] ...and a miss! Darn it. Yo, Dave... get your fighter to bullrush him over the edge!

 

[pdegan2814]

I only allow it to work once. It does not say with each hit. It says hit with eldritch blast which I interpret to mean the spell rather than each hit. Even though you make separate attack rolls, all the blasts go off simultaneously. So you don't get to pulse it and knock back 10 feet per hit if you attack the same target. Until I hear something official otherwise, that's how I'm running it.

According to Jeremy Crawford, "Multiple attacks on the same turn aren't simultaneous, unless a feature or spell says otherwise", the bolts from a high-level Eldritch Blast hit in sequence. You're essentially "hitting" the target 2/3/4 times(assuming you send all three to the same target), hence the separate attack rolls.

My practical view of the invocations is this: Agonizing Blast infuses each beam with extra lethality, which is why you add your Cha modifier to each hit(this HAS been ruled on). Repelling Blast infuses each beam with additional kinetic force, so a target gets pushed back each time they get hit by a beam.

 

[Arial Black]

According to Jeremy Crawford, "Multiple attacks on the same turn aren't simultaneous, unless a feature or spell says otherwise", the bolts from a high-level Eldritch Blast hit in sequence. You're essentially "hitting" the target 2/3/4 times(assuming you send all three to the same target), hence the separate attack rolls.

The 'spell says otherwise' in this case.

Eldritch Blast has a duration of 'instantaneous'. All the bolts are therefore simultaneous, and any bolt that hits does so in the same instant as every other bolt from that casting of the spell.

If Repelling Blast said, 'When you hit a creature with eldritch blast, you can push the creature up to 10 feet away from you in a straight line for each bolt that hits.', then that is what it would do.

But it doesn't say that. It says that if you hit it with eldritch blast.

Eldritch Blast is a spell. Each bolt within it is not a separate spell. 'If you hit a creature with *this spell*...'

When you aim, say, two bolts at the same target who is, say, 20 feet away as you cast the spell, each bolt hits at the same time. Each hits the target when it is at 20 feet, each moves the target back 10 feet to a range of 30 feet from you.

The bolts are not aware of each other, and cannot take turns. One bolt cannot politely wait, pausing in mid (instantaneous) air, wait until the first has moved the target to 30 feet, before starting again and hitting the target at 30 feet. No, each bolt does what it says on the tin. It doesn't matter if another bolt is doing the same thing at the same time.

Imagine each bolt teleports the target to Chicago. If two hit, where does the target go? That's right; he goes to Chicago no matter how many bolts hit, because 'sending to Chicago' is what they do.

What Repelling Blast bolts do is:-

a.) hit, or miss
b.) those that hit move you from where you are when they hit you, to 10 feet back from the point where they hit you
c.) if two bolts hit, they hit at the same time. They each hit you when you are at point A. Each has the ability to push you to point B which is 10 feet behind point A
d.) no bolt has the power to push you to point C, which is 20 feet behind point A. When you have been pushed by a bolt or bolts from point A to point B, the instantaneous spell has come and gone. There is no bolt remaining that can hit you at point B, because they both hit you at point A.

You could cast the spell again, of course.

Repelling Blast does not give the spell the ability to push more than 10 feet, no matter the misconception that it pushes 10 feet for each hit, which it doesn't.

 

[pdegan2814]

The 'spell says otherwise' in this case.

Eldritch Blast has a duration of 'instantaneous'.

"Instantaneous" simply means that the spell doesn't have a lasting effect. You cast it, it does its thing, and it's done. Magic Missile is the spell that "says otherwise", its wording specifically says "the darts all strike simultaneously". Eldritch Blast doesn't say "the beams all strike simultaneously" the way Magic Missile does, ergo it defaults to sequential hits.

 

[pdegan2814]

"Instantaneous" simply means that the spell doesn't have a lasting effect. You cast it, it does its thing, and it's done. Magic Missile is the spell that "says otherwise", its wording specifically says "the darts all strike simultaneously". Eldritch Blast doesn't say "the beams all strike simultaneously" the way Magic Missile does, ergo it defaults to sequential hits.

Plus, Crawford also confirmed that if you cast a multiple beam EB with Repelling Blast, the first beam hit can knock the target beyond the range of the other beams. That can ONLY happen if the beams are hitting sequentially, if they were hitting simultaneously the extra beams would arrive before the target gets knocked back.

 

[Eric V]

The 'spell says otherwise' in this case.

Eldritch Blast has a duration of 'instantaneous'. All the bolts are therefore simultaneous, and any bolt that hits does so in the same instant as every other bolt from that casting of the spell.

So, just to be clear, you must also make your warlock pick her targets before rolling then, yes? No attacking once, waiting for the outcome, then choosing a subsequent target, seeing the outcome, repeat-until-no-blasts-are-left.

Right?

 

[pdegan2814]

So, just to be clear, you must also make your warlock pick her targets before rolling then, yes? No attacking once, waiting for the outcome, then choosing a subsequent target, seeing the outcome, repeat-until-no-blasts-are-left.

Right?

Correct, you have to declare the targets of a spell when you cast it. Even though it launches multiple beams at higher levels that require separate attack rolls, it's still just one "casting". It's different than a Fighter making three attacks during his "Attack" action. Those are treated more discretely, as evidenced by the fact that you can use part of your movement between each attack.

 

[Eric V]

So they are simultaneous, then?

 

[Pssthpok]

So they are simultaneous, then?

No. The spell does not explicate this point. Eldritch Blasts are not simultaneous.

 

[pdegan2814]

So they are simultaneous, then?

No, they're not considered simultaneous hits unless the spell explicitly says so, like with Magic Missile.