Heyo. Talkinga bout this spell Dust Devil

It states that it only takes effect if the enemy ends their turn in it.. So, basically it has no effect if you move it on someone, or if they run through it. etc. Only if they end their turn in it? (which.. I don't know why or see how anyone would ever do so--its only 5ft cube.. so one spot. Or if you pick up dust/ etc. it'll be 10ft radius (from the square's edges) cloud.  That "cloud heavily obscures its area." which isn't really well defined.  Does that imply it gives concealment? 

 It doens't say mechanics just "obscured" which I don't think is a game defined mechanic but it can be reasonably assumed to be concealment yeah? So I guess you could stir up dust and  give yourselves concealment..?  Or i guess block LOS from enemies.. but spell elvel 2 seems odd for that

but yeah. I'm confused about this spell since it doesn't seem to operate like any other bonus action spell like this kind (flaming sphere, lighting sphere, reslient sphere, etc).

So, do I understand how this works correctly? 

 It effects anything within 5 feet of the 5 foot effect, so it is actually 15 feet  of area denial.

And yes obscured is specifically concealment: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/adventuring#VisionandLight

Thanks! Yeah somehow I couldn't find  "heavily obsucred" definitions. thanks for that link.

Ah  right so its just a big + sign of area, (or a square depending on how corner distances are factored).  That makes it a bit more useful.

is that 10ft my choice of distance I wonder? or just "away from center" in some fashion?  Other push effects declare your direction. Or declare how to chose the random. Or make it relative to you.. but I can't see any definition for this but "away" 

It probably wouldn't let you fling them 10ft up in the air I assume?

Corners are generally considered 5 feet from the middle square.

Usually "away" means straight line from source.

You can always ask DM how they want to run it.

Hmm, I like the spell. Still wish it did damage (even if it didn't do movement) when it over ran someone.  or that it occured at the beginning of their turn if they start in it.

The main idea is that it can be used to enhance area denial with strategic placement. What I find odd is that there is no effect for simply moving through the area of effect, and a creature can most likely completely bypass it by also strategically using their movement. Best practice would be to position it in such a way that a creature seeking to cross over into melee must end their turn on the inside edge of the AoE.

There's plenty of room for utilizing the spell well... it just seems weird to have to micromanage it that much for it to do what's intended.

A 25-foot diameter moveable obscurement that also does damage to prevent enemies from hopping into it to use it against you (and indeed, forcibly ejects them) all seems pretty good to me. The 15-foot diameter no-obscurement option can be good to close a choke point too, especially if you park some bodies on the near side of it so that the enemy can't just run through without stopping. No, it isn't the most damaging AOE you can cast, but there are probably some niche encounters where Dust Devil is the perfect solution that the DM didn't anticipate :p 

Yeah I  really like the concealment and such.  But I can't really see the ejection or damage coming into play much.  Purely because it requires them to actively end their turn in it.  that is probably the detail that feels the most awkward to use.  I think if it was "start their turn" it would make more sense.  It feels very counter intuitive for it to be the end of turn, It means that the enemy actively has to choose to be there.  Its strangely passive 

If you're in a room and trying to hold the door closed, cast Dust Devil (or move it) to the square immediately on the other side in addition to posting your fighter in the doorway and telling them to ready an action to close the door if it opens. Most DMs would probably rule that the closed door protects the fighter from the effect that's on the other side of the door, so long as the door is closed when fighter ends his turn. If a creature moves up to the door, and uses their action to make a strength check or lockpick or whatever to wrest it open, then they won't have an action left to push/attack the fighter, and they can't move through his space so they'll end there. Spell will fling them back out down the hallway (arguably it could fling them into the room since they're standing on the midpoint of the spell, but there's a body in the way to discourage that, and also the DM just probably shouldn't be a jerk). Fighter can then re-close the door (possibly even on the creature's turn depending how DM rules that readied action, making it even less likely that they're flung into the room). Heck, the same thing even kind of works with an open doorway, if you trust that your fighter is strong enough to resist the strength saves and attempts by enemies to push past him. 

I’m late to the game but I had a question. If you didn’t use your action for anything else , could you ready an action to move the dust devil? Maybe have the trigger be when an opponent ends their movement? 

Good question!

Maintaining concentration on Dust Devil adds a special action that you can take on your turn using a Bonus Action:

As a bonus action, you can move the dust devil up to 30 feet in any direction.

Note: this is only using a Bonus Action. You cannot choose to use your Action to move the Dust Devil instead.

Ready is a specific Action-using action that you take on your turn:

Ready

Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.

First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include "If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that opens it," and "If the goblin steps next to me, I move away."

When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.

When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell's magic requires concentration. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be broken.

So... "the action" you will take... does it mean Action (as in, you have an Action, Bonus Action, and Reaction)? Or, does it mean action (as in, actions you can take on your turn include [Tooltip Not Found] (using an Action), moving the Dust Devil (using a Bonus Action), etc.)? Thankfully, Ready provides an example to immediately clear that up, which include "I move away" and "I pull a lever."

Moving is not an Action usually, and even when you use your Action to Dash, you aren't using your Action to move but rather to increase the movement you have available for the rest of your turn.

Pulling a lever is also not an Action usually, though it certainly could be for a specific lever. The sidebar in the PHB Chapter 9 Movement & Position section lists "throw a lever or a switch" as a specific example of the type of thing you can do "in tandem" with your movement and Action. In tandem... does that mean its free in addition to movement and Action, or part of movement or part of Action? Debatable...

But in total, especially when "move" was the other example, it seems pretty clear that the examples that provided were both the sorts of things that you'd expect to be able to do without necessarily spending your Action. So, non-Action actions like "move my Dust Devil" are yes, the sort of thing that you can Ready.

Sorry that takes so long to answer... it really would be much easier if Action and action were not the same English word in 5E. :/

Quote from carson_kleinbeck >>

I’m late to the game but I had a question. If you didn’t use your action for anything else , could you ready an action to move the dust devil? Maybe have the trigger be when an opponent ends their movement? 

 First let me borrow the relevant rules already provided by CC:

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

Good question!

Maintaining concentration on Dust Devil adds a special action that you can take on your turn using a Bonus Action:

As a bonus action, you can move the dust devil up to 30 feet in any direction.

Note: this is only using a Bonus Action. You cannot choose to use your Action to move the Dust Devil instead.

Ready is a specific Action-using action that you take on your turn:

Ready

Sometimes you want to get the jump on a foe or wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.

First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your speed in response to it. Examples include "If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I'll pull the lever that opens it," and "If the goblin steps next to me, I move away."

When the trigger occurs, you can either take your reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger. Remember that you can take only one reaction per round.

When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs. To be readied, a spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and holding onto the spell's magic requires concentration. If your concentration is broken, the spell dissipates without taking effect. For example, if you are concentrating on the web spell and ready magic missile, your web spell ends, and if you take damage before you release magic missile with your reaction, your concentration might be broken.

 Thanks CC.

"Action" is rarely (if ever) used in a general sense to refer to actions, bonus actions, and reactions as a whole. So you can only ready an action (like [Tooltip Not Found] to throw a lever an in the examples) or movement.

A special action granted by a spell or feature would be fine, but a bonus action would not.

BTW, apparently what I answered in #11 is more controversial than I thought, and DxJxC may not actually be agreeing with me in post #12. See this other thread for more argument over using Ready for Bonus Actions, such as Dust Devil special movement. 

You are right that DxJxC is disagreeing with you.

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

[...]

So... "the action" you will take... does it mean Action (as in, you have an Action, Bonus Action, and Reaction)? Or, does it mean action (as in, actions you can take on your turn include Cast a Spell (using an Action), moving the Dust Devil (using a Bonus Action), etc.)? Thankfully, Ready provides an example to immediately clear that up, which include "I move away" and "I pull a lever."

Moving is not an Action usually, and even when you use your Action to Dash, you aren't using your Action to move but rather to increase the movement you have available for the rest of your turn.

Pulling a lever is also not an Action usually, though it certainly could be for a specific lever. The sidebar in the PHB Chapter 9 Movement & Position section lists "throw a lever or a switch" as a specific example of the type of thing you can do "in tandem" with your movement and Action. In tandem... does that mean its free in addition to movement and Action, or part of movement or part of Action? Debatable...

But in total, especially when "move" was the other example, it seems pretty clear that the examples that provided were both the sorts of things that you'd expect to be able to do without necessarily spending your Action. So, non-Action actions like "move my Dust Devil" are yes, the sort of thing that you can Ready.

Sorry that takes so long to answer... it really would be much easier if Action and action were not the same English word in 5E. :/

Your analysis of examples are completely wrong (not a matter of opinion, you are wrong). First (as probably has been pointed out in the other BA thread), movement is called out as something that you can ready, regardless of its action economy. That means you can do it. Second, use an object is an action you may take. Using a feature that requires you to spend an action on using an object means that you have used the object as an action, even if under other circumstances you might be able to do the same act using different action economy.

Your analysis is overly complex and misses an understanding of the rule text, even if it uses many of the same words correctly. To put it differently, a rule does what it says it does only because it does what it says, not because you found a way that it could possibly fit within the other rules without the new rule statement itself. A sentence that says "or you choose to move" means that you can choose to move simply because it says "or you choose to move." I think this exemplifies the difference between your statements on rules and those that disagree with you.

I see! Disagree :)

Right. And disagreeing with facts (in this case, direct statements from the rule text) is exactly the problem.

I feel like you could get this right, but you choose not to. Just like you could choose to move if you take the ready action.

One thing I do appreciate about having these conversations with Chicken_Champ is that in the course of arguing for the position I am convinced is correct, I end up really drilling into the nuts and bolts of the rules and even looking at them in a way I may not have before.

A position unexamined isn’t worth holding! I feel the same

Right, but if you can't analyze the words in the rule for what they say, your analysis isn't adding anything to the understanding of the rule. Ignoring the text of the rule in order to analyze it is literally a waste of time. The rule isn't trying to trick you. You can ready an action or move up to your speed. Because it says so.