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

[tomBitonti]

While teleportation instances in 5e (that I have found) don’t use the word “simultaneous,” they do use words like “instantly” (one of the common definitions of “instantly” is “immediately,” which is the same word used to describe when the thunder occurs in the spell). Since 5e doesn’t rank these minuscule measurements of time (instantly, simultaneous, immediately, etc.), I can’t see it plain English for them to have to be arbiltrarilly ranked by players/DMs or differentiated.

I used Misty Step as an example above of why Thunderstep shouldn’t prevent damage; I’m not saying MS could be used that way and was careless in the action economy (because that wasn’t the point).

Hmm, the wording of Dimensional Shackles confuses me even more. That description says the shackles prevent “extradimensional movement, including teleportation or travel to a different plane of existence.” That makes it sound like teleportation is extra dimensional travel but not travel to a different plane. In that case, what does extradimensional mean? One definition is “outside of space-time reality.” That could mean in a dimension other than the standard, but if that were the case here, it doesn’t make sense to add “or travel to a different plane if existence.” Or it could mean, outside of space and time; that could support the idea of no time passing during a teleport.
Or it could be “teleportation or travel” could be 2 different modes to get to another dimension (“or” joining the word on either side of it rather than separating “teleportation” from the phrase “travel to a different plane of existence”). In this case, Teleportation is just a mode that could be used to get to another dimension or to move within 1 dimension: Teleportation itself does not rely on inter-dimensional travel but could be used to do so.

Or, it could sloppy reuse of text from prior editions! That gets my vote.

That text directly and unambiguously implies that teleportation is a form of interdimensional travel. However, that idea seems well scrubbed from the description of the teleport spell.

TomB

 

[plisnithus8]

Or, it could sloppy reuse of text from prior editions! That gets my vote.

That text directly and unambiguously implies that teleportation is a form of interdimensional travel. However, that idea seems well scrubbed from the description of the teleport spell.

TomB

I was just about to edit my response and add the reuse idea, which I agree seems most likely.

While the wording does imply teleportation can be used for dimensional travel, it doesn’t make unambiguous that teleportation from point A to point B in 1 dimension requires the use of another dimension.
Despite that, it seems we arrive at the same conclusion.

 

[cbwjm]

I sort of wonder what I've already posted but don't want to spend time going back so I'm just gonna say what I think and it's that the caster does not get hit since the thunder damage happens as soon as they disappear, they'd return after the damage has already been inflicted.

 

[S'mon]

Unless they teleport to a space outside the breath weapon's area?

That would be fine by me.

 

[S'mon]

A spell doesn’t take you to another plane unless the spell says it does.

How the spells work seems to be up to the GM, especially since 5e has scrubbed all the flavour text. I certainly wouldn't be happy with a player who argued that eg lead couldn't block teleport because it didn't say so in the spell description.

 

[plisnithus8]

How the spells work seems to be up to the GM, especially since 5e has scrubbed all the flavour text. I certainly wouldn't be happy with a player who argued that eg lead couldn't block teleport because it didn't say so in the spell description.

Sorry, what is “eg lead?” Do you mean the metal lead should block teleportation, if so why would it?
How a spell works (the mechanics) is how the spell is written. The DM can add flavor/fluff, but fluff isn’t mechanics. When fluff negates damage, it isn’t just fluff any more.

 

[plisnithus8]

I sort of wonder what I've already posted but don't want to spend time going back so I'm just gonna say what I think and it's that the caster does not get hit since the thunder damage happens as soon as they disappear, they'd return after the damage has already been inflicted.

That’s the crux. Does the “immediately” of the damage happen before the “instantly” of the teleport? Unfortunately those words are synonyms and are often used in the definitions of each other.

The Marvel Super Heroes rpg (1984) ranked adjectives so that Unearthly, Amazing, and Typical had mechanical meaning. 5e doesn’t provide a hierarchy for words such as “instantly” and “immediately” to determine their speed relative to each other. Each DM could place their own value on the words, but since they virtually mean the same thing there can’t be a mechanical difference.
So a character teleports. The damage occurs instantly after they disappear, yet they reappear immediately — there are no gaps in time. If they are in range, they are affected by the damage that comes after the teleportation.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Sorry, what is “eg lead?” Do you mean the metal lead should block teleportation, if so why would it?
How a spell works (the mechanics) is how the spell is written. The DM can add flavor/fluff, but fluff isn’t mechanics. When fluff negates damage, it isn’t just fluff any more.

In the 3e Stronghold Builder's Guide, a half inch of lead specifically blocked teleportation, so that's where that likely comes from.

 

[plisnithus8]

In the 3e Stronghold Builder's Guide, a half inch of lead specifically blocked teleportation, so that's where that likely comes from.

It seems weird that a DM playing 5e would become unhappy with players if they bring up that a rule being enforced is from a previous edition.

 

[Vaalingrade]

There's a trend of people playing 5e assuming everything from 3e still applies unless otherwise contradicted.

It might have been the case in other editions too.