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

[Lyxen]

I would say yes.

Teleportation is instantaneous, so it would resolve prior to the immediate effect which explicitly happens after you teleport.

No, it's not explicitly after you teleport, it's instantaneous (like the spell itself anyway) and it occurs explicitly immediately after you disappear, quite different.

 

[Baron Opal II]

No, it's not explicitly after you teleport, it's instantaneous (like the spell itself anyway) and it occurs explicitly immediately after you disappear, quite different.

Curious. Why does the character disappear?

 

[Hriston]

The instantaneous duration refers (as it always does) to the spell, not to its effects. This means that the magic of the spell happens in an instant, allowing the spell to produce the effects it says it does. The spell is clear that it has two effects and that they happen in a specific sequence. The caster teleports after which the thunder damage occurs, which is the second effect. The word disappear was used to make it clear that the caster is no longer in the radius of damage when the thunder occurs, but I think it’s an unfortunate choice that creates confusion and that the word teleport could just as easily been used. I also think a different word was chosen for variation and readability.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

If teleportation is instantaneous, then something that happens immediately after disappearance also happens after the reappearance.

Is teleportations instantaneous? Who knows, there are no general rules for teleportation in 5e.

 

[Baron Opal II]

The instantaneous duration refers (as it always does) to the spell, not to its effects. This means that the magic of the spell happens in an instant, allowing the spell to produce the effects it says it does. The spell is clear that it has two effects and that they happen in a specific sequence. The caster teleports after which the thunder damage occurs, which is the second effect. The word disappear was used to make it clear that the caster is no longer in the radius of damage when the thunder occurs, but I think it’s an unfortunate choice that creates confusion and that the word teleport could just as easily been used. I also think a different word was chosen for variation and readability.

I agree. The character leaps away and then the detonation occurs. Anyone in the blast zone does not have an opportunity to exit, even with a reaction. If the character chooses to not teleport out of the blast zone, well, I'm sure (hope) it was a good reason.

 

[Lyxen]

Curious. Why does the character disappear?

Because teleportation causes him to disappear from one place and reappear at another ?

The instantaneous duration refers (as it always does) to the spell, not to its effects.

No, the duration refers to its effects, by its very definition: "A spell’s duration is the length of time the spell persists. A duration can be expressed in rounds, minutes, hours, or even years. Some spells specify that their effects last until the spells are dispelled or destroyed."

This means that the magic of the spell happens in an instant, allowing the spell to produce the effects it says it does. The spell is clear that it has two effects and that they happen in a specific sequence.

That is not the way it is worded.

The caster teleports after which the thunder damage occurs

No. Again, not the way it is worded.

which is the second effect. The word disappear was used to make it clear that the caster is no longer in the radius of damage when the thunder occurs

It says no such thing. It just says that it has disappeared. It does not say that it has reappeared. It does not specify anything about the radius .

but I think it’s an unfortunate choice that creates confusion and that the word teleport could just as easily been used. I also think a different word was chosen for variation and readability.

And I think that it was a conscious choice that (as often in 5e) leaves room for interpretation, in particular on simultaneous things, something clearly documented in the PH, the DMG and Xanathar.

 

[Lyxen]

I agree. The character leaps away and then the detonation occurs. Anyone in the blast zone does not have an opportunity to exit, even with a reaction.

This is actually incorrect. Let's say that I ready an action to move if the caster disappears. When he casts thunderstep, my readied action is triggered after he disappears, but BEFORE any other effect, using my reaction.

This is a perfectly valid readied action, because the disappearance is a perceivable circumstance as a trigger.

 

[ECMO3]

Curious. Why does the character disappear?

Because it uses that exact word- "immediately after you disappear ..."in the spell.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm sorry, but your reading does not make any sense. If you travel only within the sphere, there is no need for the second half (and the wording would have been "within the sphere"). The only reading that makes sense is that the sphere causes teleportation to fail whether the departure or arrival is in the sphere.

You still aren't understanding, because nothing I said involved "only within the sphere." It's "only within the sphere" is does teleportation fail. It does not fail outside of the sphere. So as written, because it does not in any of your quotes cause the spell to fail, the teleport from outside the sphere succeeds as a departure point and then fails as a destination point WITHIN the sphere.

Note in particular that it does not say that the spell fails, it's not about the spell casting, it's simply about the travel itself because it's magical travel.

Right. So the caster successfully departs from outside the sphere due to the teleport spell not failing, and then nothing. It fails inside the sphere as a destination and there are no rules for where the caster ends up. Which is what I have been saying.

It says this exactly, by saying that teleportaion and planar travel do not work in the sphere where the sphere is the destination. Because when you teleport, you do not cross the intervening space, I would very much like to understand how teleport could work from outside into the sphere. Teleport has two ends, you know, like any string.

Teleport doesn't fold space. That's a gate spell. Teleport just transports you, which means you do cross the intervening space, but you do so instantly. It does have two ends like a string, and like any string you can leave one end and travel to the to the other end, even if the other end is cut short. Teleport works like that as written. You leave the destination successfully, since the spell works. You travel along the string instantly. And then the teleportation fails as a destination inside the sphere. So where does the caster emerge?

 

[Maxperson]

No, it's not explicitly after you teleport

No it's not. There is no specific exception created by the "after you disappear" portion of the spell, because for specific to beat general it has to explicitly carve out a specific contradiction, not be implied. It would require the rest of the sentence to say, "so the caster takes no damage from teleporting within 10 feet." for specific to beat general to apply. As written, Thunderclap does not specifically say that the caster is excepted from the damage. It just says when the damage triggers, which is after the teleport begins and ends, since teleportation is instantaneous in 5e and the damage does not say it interrupts transit.