D&D 5E Booming Blade and Blink

Creature is hit with booming blade.

The creature then decides to use Blink. Does the spell do the boom if the creature blinks?

Relevant booming blade info: "If the target willingly moves before then, it immediately takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends."

So is Blink considered a "willing move" for Booming Blade?
 

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Ovinomancer

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Creature is hit with booming blade.

The creature then decides to use Blink. Does the spell do the boom if the creature blinks?

Relevant booming blade info: "If the target willingly moves before then, it immediately takes 1d8 thunder damage, and the spell ends."

So is Blink considered a "willing move" for Booming Blade?
I wouldn't consider the shift to the ethereal as moving. Moving afterwards, though, I would.
 


ad_hoc

(she/her)
I would say that being shunted into the ethereal is not really moving anywhere, you are just changing states.

The question is, does moving in the Ethereal Plane trigger the damage? I would say yes as moving into the ethereal does not end spell effects.

Also, Booming Blade requires willful movement. The character willfully casts a spell and then that spell has effects on that character that are out of their control. Spells acting on characters that cause movement like Thunderwave do not count as willful movement.
 

I wouldn't consider the shift to the ethereal as moving. Moving afterwards, though, I would.

But Blink does not say that the character "moves" after they go Ethereal. You simply "return to an unoccupied space of your choice". Almost like a teleport, although it doesn't say teleport.
 


I would say that being shunted into the ethereal is not really moving anywhere, you are just changing states.

The question is, does moving in the Ethereal Plane trigger the damage? I would say yes as moving into the ethereal does not end spell effects.

Also, Booming Blade requires willful movement. The character willfully casts a spell and then that spell has effects on that character that are out of their control. Spells acting on characters that cause movement like Thunderwave do not count as willful movement.

I agree that the spell would still be in effect if you enter the Ethereal Plane. But I'm not so sure that entering the plane would be considered movement. I can see the point, though.

I was more concerned that when they pop back 10 from where they went Ethereal it was considered movement.
 

futrtrubl

Explorer
This was just incidentally touched on in a tweet by Jeremy Crawford which said "other than that "moves" refers to movement" ie teleports aren't movement. The spell is still in effect however and any movement from there still procs the damage. This is one of those things teleports like misty step are made for.
Looking at it another way, this is worded very similarly to attacks of opportunity, which such teleports get around.
 

This is entirely at the discretion of the DM. Just be sure that you tell the player how it works, before they cast anything.

Booming Blade sheathes the target in "booming energy" and Blink causes them to shift between planes of reality. These aren't concepts that have any parallel in the real world. There's no way to argue how they should interact.
 

This was just incidentally touched on in a tweet by Jeremy Crawford which said "other than that "moves" refers to movement" ie teleports aren't movement. The spell is still in effect however and any movement from there still procs the damage. This is one of those things teleports like misty step are made for.
Looking at it another way, this is worded very similarly to attacks of opportunity, which such teleports get around.

My problem is that when you come back from the Ethereal plane with Blink, the spell doesn't specify if you moved or if you teleported you simply "return to an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of the space you vanished from." You don't walk or hop or run or crawl to that space. You simply chose to appear there.
 

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