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After reading Can you move between the separate attacks of a spell?, I was quite surprised to learn that eldritch blast can be considered to not fire the beams simultaneously.

Given that the spell's duration is instantaneous, I assumed it was clean cut that they all fired simultaneously. However, Crawford seems to think differently:

Jeremy Soard: @JeremyECrawford Eldritch Blast: are the attacks resolved in parallel or sequence? Do you have to pick all the targets first before rolling?

JeremyECrawford: Multiple attacks on the same turn aren't simultaneous, unless a feature or spell says otherwise.

However, there are many who don't accept Crawford's rulings as being meaningful. However, it is enough for me to realise that it's not as clean cut as I originally assumed.

I'm interested in knowing what the RAW interpretation is, discounting the above information from Crawford.

So, based on RAW, meaning only what's printed in a published book, do multiple beams from eldritch blast happen simultaneously or not?

Note that I haven't found any duplicate Q&As on this site, except possibly those that use the above quote from Crawford as an answer. I'm specifically asking about a RAW-only interpretation.

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NathanS
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    Possibly a repeat of When are targets picked for spells with multiple “missiles”? ? –  May 19 '20 at 08:47
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    Somewhat related, this question asks about how many attacks eldritch blast is considered to be: "Does the Slow spell limit the number of Eldritch Blast beams?" – Exempt-Medic May 19 '20 at 08:52
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    Yeah the magic missile bit doesn't apply. I thought of it because https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/51727/60913 seems to be a functional answer to your question as well. –  May 19 '20 at 08:59
  • I believe providing an example of when the distinction matters would help make the question a bit clearer (earlier comment removed). I think one example would be whether you can select your targets one-by-one or instead must select them all immediately when you cast the spell – Exempt-Medic May 19 '20 at 09:05
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    @Medix2 Wasting beams on a dead creature is probably the most obvious example. Honestly, at this point, I feel like the answers to the question Odo linked above probably does answer mine. I'm probably going to close this as a dupe of that, unless anyone thinks they shouldn't be because the questions "aren't technically duplicates" or something, but I kinda think they are. – NathanS May 19 '20 at 09:09
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    @Odo Thanks again for pointing me to that Q&A; all the answers to that do answer my question quite nicely. – NathanS May 19 '20 at 09:11
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    "Crawford seems to think differently"--how do you figure? His answer, as always, is "No, unless it's yes, in which case yes." – Mark Wells May 19 '20 at 16:53
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    @Mark There Crawford is rather clearly stating that eldritch blast has its attacks occur non-simultaneously. Or at least, it's rather clear EB does not "state otherwise" like magic missile does – Exempt-Medic May 19 '20 at 16:58
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    @Medix2 I'd rather this not be marked as a dupe of Do multiple hits of Repelling Blast happen simultaneously or in succession? since the only answer there is this Crawford quote, which kinda defeats the point of my question. Besides, the dupe Odo found is a more direct duplicate; I think "Do multiple hits of Repelling Blast happen simultaneously or in succession?" should just be listed as a "related" in a comment at best. – NathanS May 19 '20 at 18:55
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    @NathanS Alrighty, works for me, though I do think they're incredibly similar this is already closed as a duplicate so all's good. Thanks for the feedback – Exempt-Medic May 19 '20 at 18:57
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    @NathanS I've added that to the dupe list since that question has since received a thorough answer from our friend Medix2 – Thomas Markov Nov 10 '20 at 15:38

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