D&D 5E If you use thunderstep but teleport less than 10 feet do you take damage?

[James Gasik]

But "instantaneous" is only ever defined in the magic section, for spell durations on page 203, and even then, all it says is it cannot be dispelled because it's magic exists for only an instant.

That doesn't mean that a spell can't be reacted to, because if it did, the rules would call that out specifically. And despite being instantaneous, other instantaneous effects, like counterspell can affect a spell (despite the fact that Dispel Magic, also instantaneous cannot affect a spell, only it's affect).

I'd also like to point out that just because a spell has an instantaneous effect, does not mean all of it's effects occur in an instant. I'd like to direct your attention to Dissonant Whispers. It's effect is instantaneous, but the subsequent reaction to move away from the caster is not- thus it's magic does actually take more time than an instant to resolve.

 

[Lyxen]

Things that are instantaneous are labeled as such.

No, they are not, sorry. 5e is not PF where everything is tagged. There are for example many examples of interactions in the description of actions that don't take more than an instant, and are not tagged, turning a key in a lock, throwing a lever, etc. Dropping something is not an action, is certainly instantaneous and is not tagged as such. So many counter examples to your invented rule.

Once more, you are INVENTING things. Don't, especially if you want to discuss RAW.

A reaction is an instant response, not an instantaneous effect. Different terms are being used. One allows you to interrupt a turn to do something. The other is for how fast a specific effect is. When you ready an action, you can instantly interrupt a turn to take an action and moving is not instantaneous.

Again, prove it. If it was that obvious in the RAW, you would be able to prove it. Don't pull rules or personal preconceptions when discussing the RAW.

Moreover, outside of the RAW, in my narrative, I have absolutely no problem describing some movement as taken but an instant, this is heroic fantasy.

 

[Lyxen]

That instant and instantaneous are two different terms? They're like different words man. Terms are specific. They don't change. You don't see necrotic and necroticky as the same term.

And here you are caught, once more, by your lack of knowledge of the RAW, which explains to you that they mean the same thing in the RAW, in the very defintion of instantaneous.

So instantaneous means "only for an instant", clearly. And you can argue all you want that it's only for spells, as the word "instantaneous" is used only for spells, it means exactly "for an instant" everywhere it applies.

 

[Lyxen]

But "instantaneous" is only ever defined in the magic section, for spell durations on page 203, and even then, all it says is it cannot be dispelled because it's magic exists for only an instant.

That doesn't mean that a spell can't be reacted to, because if it did, the rules would call that out specifically. And despite being instantaneous, other instantaneous effects, like counterspell can affect a spell (despite the fact that Dispel Magic, also instantaneous cannot affect a spell, only it's affect).

I missed that reply hence my almost duplicate post, my apologies.

I'd also like to point out that just because a spell has an instantaneous effect, does not mean all of it's effects occur in an instant. I'd like to direct your attention to Dissonant Whispers. It's effect is instantaneous, but the subsequent reaction to move away from the caster is not- thus it's magic does actually take more time than an instant to resolve.

Indeed, because instantaneous does not mean that the effect does not persist, it sometimes means that the change has been done in an instant, but is otherwise permanent or persists naturally for a long time. Disintegrate happens in an instant, but what is disintegrated stays disintegrated.

And about dissonant whispers, you could also say that the movement is a reaction that happes in an instant, since the reaction is immediate, it's a reflex on a missed save, the creature just jumps away in a flash. It's all descriptive anyway.

 

[James Gasik]

Dissonant Whispers does get weird if you don't have a reaction available to you, as an aside. This has led to some odd moments in games.

 

[Lyxen]

Dissonant Whispers does get weird if you don't have a reaction available to you, as an aside. This has led to some odd moments in games.

Why does it get weird, isn't the side effect just lost ?

 

[cbwjm]

Why does it get weird, isn't the side effect just lost ?

Yeah, that is the weirdness. The target is like "Oh my God, I need to run... ah, actually, I did take a swipe at that guy that just ran past me, so maybe I'm fine where I am."

 

[Lyxen]

Yeah, that is the weirdness. The target is like "Oh my God, I need to run... ah, actually, I did take a swipe at that guy that just ran past me, so maybe I'm fine where I am."

I have no problem with that, as I've a tendency to describe people taking reactions as overextending themselves to do it and needing a bit of a breather to to it again, so the victim of DW would show a jerk as if he wanted to move away, but would just slump, too out of adrenaline to manage an actual move.

 

[James Gasik]

That's one way to explain it, I guess. It still struck me as odd that someone could avoid part of the effect of an ability because they used a ready action (or got hit by Confusion).

 

[Lyxen]

That's one way to explain it, I guess. It still struck me as odd that someone could avoid part of the effect of an ability because they used a ready action (or got hit by Confusion).

I see what you mean, just a few things:

• It's a really powerful cantrip, so I think it's not idiotic to have some sort of limitation to it, it's not like it's that frequent anyway.
• The more I play D&D in general and 5e in particular, the more I realise how well it works with movies and books of the genre, where heroes and villains are frequently "incapacitated" or "hampered" by an effect, for dramatic reasons, and where this goes away in the next few seconds or minutes, because it would also be anti-dramatic to do otherwise (which, for the players ties in to being bored if their character is really unable to act).

I completely agree, even with @Maxperson that this is totally unrealistic and that it makes absolutely no sense in the real world or even low fantasy, blood and mud, etc.

But it's not what D&D was built to simulate anyway, there are other games for this, but throughout the editions, I think D&D has gotten better and better at doing it. Although it's a different genre, just look at the MCU and Marvel, it's exactly what happens in all fights. I'm a bit loathe to bring this comparison because I don't like to mix my SciFi and Superheroes with my Fantasy, and I don't want my D&D characters to play and act like superheroes, but the combat is what I'm looking for. Or just look at Aragorn at Helm's Deep.