Does the caster get hurt by the Conjure Barrage spell?

Question

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:

1. You Shoot an arrow (or another object) into the air
2. 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.
3. 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?

Answer 1

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:

Spells that create cones or lines of effect that originate from you also have a range of self, indicating that the origin point of the spell's effect must be you.

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:

A cone's point of origin is not included in the cone's area of effect, unless you decide otherwise.

But that's entirely your choice, and obviously most casters would deign not to barrage themselves.

Answer 2

Only if you choose

The range of conjure barrage (PHB 225) is listed as:

Self (60-foot cone)

Meaning the cone the spell refers to originates in you (the caster). If you choose a point in space for the cones origin, the spell would say so.

From the section on Areas of Effect (PHB 204) on Cones:

A cone's point of origin is not included in the cone's area of effect, unless you decide otherwise.

So you can choose to exclude the origin point (ie. the point where you are) unless you choose otherwise (if you enjoy dodging arrows, for instance).