D&D 5E Can you use misty step to arrest a fall?

[Mannahnin]

Which part of "If the reaction interrupts another creature's turn, that creature can continue its turn right after the reaction." causes a problem to you ? I interrupt a creature between his declaration that he intends to attack me and the actual attack and its resolution. I nullify the attack, because when he resumes his attack, I am no longer a valid target.



You have declared an attack (probably swinging your sword in my direction), this is obviously perceivable, and therefore a valid trigger, so misty step goes off, interrupting the rest of the attack sequence. 100. %. RAW.

I believe Max is correct on this one. in 5E, you don't get to interrupt an action mid-resolution with a Readied action. If you declare someone taking an action to be your trigger, you have to wait until after the action resolves. You can't break into the middle of it between declaration and resolution.

You could declare a Readied Misty Step to teleport away if the person moves into melee reach, however. They would be able to continue moving once your Readied action was completed, but if they didn't have enough movement left to get back into melee range, you would have foiled their attempt to attack you.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I don't think RAW should be considered all that much, to be honest. It's a game. It's about having fun. Since day 1, it's been expressed no rule should ever override that.

So we can talk all day and night about what is RAW and what isn't, but it's wasted effort because in the end, it really doesn't matter all that much.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I believe Max is correct on this one. in 5E, you don't get to interrupt an action mid-resolution with a Readied action. If you declare someone taking an action to be your trigger, you have to wait until after the action resolves. You can't break into the middle of it between declaration and resolution.

You could declare a Readied Misty Step to teleport away if the person moves into melee reach, however. They would be able to continue moving once your Readied action was completed, but if they didn't have enough movement left to get back into melee range, you would have foiled their attempt to attack you.

Yeah reactions and actions like attacking are kinda odd in how they interact. Since you have basically cast the spell, and are just holding it in until the trigger occurs, it feels like it should be able to have really hyper-specific triggers like, "when I can see that they are about to attack me" which would be the same thing as "when they declare an attack", but it's simpler to just say "reactions don't interrupt unless they explicitly say they do" and move on.

I'm not sure that I agree that anything that is instantaneous works the same way, though. They can't actually be instantaneous, or they couldn't be interrupted by anything, but they are treated as such for the purposes of action economy and order of resolution. I think it's at least a case of rules that don't logically work, and need DM resolution in order to function.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't think RAW should be considered all that much, to be honest. It's a game. It's about having fun. Since day 1, it's been expressed no rule should ever override that.

So we can talk all day and night about what is RAW and what isn't, but it's wasted effort because in the end, it really doesn't matter all that much.

Yep. RAW is a curiosity that can help inform a DM on how to run something, but it's never binding...literally by the rules as written. Not that the rules could ever be binding, regardless of what they say.

 

[Maxperson]

No, the beginning it not the attack roll. In any case, the attack roll is NOT a perceivable event, and it would not be a valid trigger. Whereas the intent of attack, the declaration, corresponds to something in the game world, the weapon is moving in my direction.

You're describing the narrative of what happens. The beginning of the attack is the attack roll. Determining the modifiers and choosing a target are not visuals or actions. The narrative of the attack roll is "the swing begins" and then the completion of that beginning is hit or miss.

By the way, if you are in doubt as to whether a spell can interrupt and modify the result of an attack sequence, I really suggest looking at the Shield spell, which is exactly the same thing, a reaction right in the middle of the attack sequence (it's even after being "hit"), which modifies the result of the attack and can change a hit to a miss. 4e had many more triggers of the kind, including swapping targets...

Mechanically the Shield spell unwinds what has already happened. It does not interrupt before the hit. The narrative changes due to that unwinding, but it's not the same situation.

 

[Dausuul]

Even if you only teleport a couple hundred miles, you will experience a sharp, and probably very painful, change in relative motion.

Having said this, I got curious what the actual effects would be.

If my geometry and calculations are correct, teleporting 200 miles east or west while conserving momentum will result in violent vertical motion. You shoot up in the air or slam down into the ground* at 30-50 mph, with the speed increasing toward the equator.

Teleporting 200 miles north or south is safe near the equator, but produces drastic horizontal motion, up to 50 mph, near the poles.

I cannot imagine any use for this information, but it was fun figuring it out.

*Shooting up into the air will result in slamming down into the ground shortly afterward. However, there is a moment at the apex of your climb when your momentum matches the earth below; if you have another teleport on hand, you can save yourself by teleporting straight down.

 

[Maxperson]

But... the world is the center of the universe: it doesn't move!

This is actually true for Greyhawk. It's the center of its crystal sphere and everything else, including the sun, revolves around it.

 

[Lyxen]

I believe Max is correct on this one. in 5E, you don't get to interrupt an action mid-resolution with a Readied action.

Where is the rule on this, please ?

If you declare someone taking an action to be your trigger, you have to wait until after the action resolves.

But I'm not declaring the action. You must be confusing 5e with 4e. In 4e, I agree, only actions could be triggers, but 5e is fortunately much better on this, it just has to be "perceivable cirumstance".

You can't break into the middle of it between declaration and resolution.

Prove it. Shield does it, Deflect Missiles (Thanks @doctorbadwolf ) does it, which is sufficient proof that there is not such rule.

 

[Lyxen]

You're describing the narrative of what happens.

Which is all I need with 5e, which is in my personal perspective much better as I'm more interested in the narrative than in the technicalities, but here you go, thanks to 5e I can have both.

The beginning of the attack is the attack roll.

No, it's the declaration of intention to attack. It's extremely clear, see here, MAKING AN ATTACK:

Whether you're striking with a melee weapon, firing a weapon at range, or making an attack roll as part of a spell, an attack has a simple structure.

1. Choose a target. Pick a target within your attack's range: a creature, an object, or a location.

This is the trigger, I am chosen as a target, it's a perceivable circumstance.

2. Determine modifiers. The DM determines whether the target has cover and whether you have advantage or disadvantage against the target. In addition, spells, special abilities, and other effects can apply penalties or bonuses to your attack roll.

3. Resolve the attack. You make the attack roll. On a hit, you roll damage, unless the particular attack has rules that specify otherwise. Some attacks cause special effects in addition to or instead of damage.

If there's ever any question whether something you're doing counts as an attack, the rule is simple: if you're making an attack roll, you're making an attack.

I think it's 100% clear in the RAW.

That being said, whereas 5e says "First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your reaction", I agree that 4e only said "
Choose Trigger: Choose the action that will trigger your readied action." But 5e is much more open (as usual).

Determining the modifiers and choosing a target are not visuals or actions.

Which is fine, as I'm not using them as triggers.

The narrative of the attack roll is "the swing begins" and then the completion of that beginning is hit or miss.

No, the narrative AND the technical description coincide, making an attack starts by choosing a target.

Mechanically the Shield spell unwinds what has already happened. It does not interrupt before the hit. The narrative changes due to that unwinding, but it's not the same situation.

It is not exactly the same, but it interrupts the resolving of the attack nonetheless, because it intervenes before you roll damage.

 

[Ancalagon]

What's the point in bringing real life physics into this though?

Ok, let me address this, broadly.

EVERYTHING that is not magical or described by the lore as different should be assumed to work like the real world. Why? Because the players don't live in the D&D world. They haven't grown up in it and learned all its quirks.

If nothing can be assumed to work the way it does in the real world, the players can become lost in a morass of uncertainty. Does wood float? Do pigs lay eggs? Are metal tipped arrows better than rubber ones? Do more coins weight more than less coins? Is ale toxic? Does the sun or the moon shed heat? Do people need food? Is time 2 dimensional? (yes, btw)

etc etc etc etc etc.

There are so many things that the players have to keep track of already (longswords do more damage than short swords. Fireball has a 20 foot radius. Acid and fire work well vs trolls. Dwarven exiles are not to be trusted. Hundreds of other things). We need a stable footing from which we can explore the wonders of the imaginary world, and to help us understand it.

If everything is bizarro world, then the wonders of the world aren't special anymore, and the PCs can't navigate the challenges of the world because they can't make any assumption.