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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheWriterFantastic™" data-source="post: 6873684" data-attributes="member: 88534">If you scroll up to my post at the top of the page, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?482638-Reactions/page8&p=6872750&viewfull=1#post6872750" target="_blank">#73</a>, you'll see that I've highlighted the same excerpt, but from the Basic Rules document.Step 3 - Resolve the attack - is broken down as "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 I were to nitpick, I could say the grammar of the entry determines the order of sequence, with periods indicating stops in the sequence and commas indicating pauses: roll the attack [stop], determine whether it hit [pause], roll damage, if applicable [stop], apply special effects, if applicable [stop]. In that interpretation, there are clear breaks in the sequence that would provide instances for a triggered reaction to occur.Another way to look at it is with the three reaction spells in 5e that trigger off an attack in some way (excluding Counterspell, as it is triggered by the casting of a spell, prior to attack rolls and damage): Absorb Elements, Hellish Rebuke, and Shield.  I'll get to Uncanny Dodge after.Absorb Elements, from the Elemental Evil Players Companion, is cast as a reaction when triggered by specifically by damage of types indicated in the casting time. The description goes further to indicate the effects of the spell retroactively resisting the damage that triggered the casting of the spell.Hellish Rebuke, on the other hand, is triggered by damage, and the casting time specifies that the spell is cast in response to the damage.Shield is cast as a reaction when triggered by a hit. The spell's effect goes on to stipulate that if the AC boost would increase the AC higher than the attack roll that had hit the caster, it retroactively negates the hit.As shown above, Shield is triggered specifically by a hit, while Absorb Elements and Hellish Rebuke are both triggered by damage -- as such, they can be considered separate events. To go further, Shield, being triggered by the hit event, takes effect a mere millisecond before the damage and effects event is resolved, retroactively negating the hit before the subsequent results occur. Absorb Elements is, on the otherhand, triggered by a damage event, which occurs after the hit event, and retroactively resists the damage that has occurred. Hellish Rebuke is also triggered by a damage event, which occurs after the hit event, and is cast in response to the damage event, as specified by the spell. Meanwhile, Uncanny Dodge is another reaction triggered by a hit event, much like Shield, in that being triggered by the hit event, takes effect a mere millisecond before the damage and effects is resolved, with the effect halving the damage of the subsequent damage included in the damage and effects event in the sequence.When the attack potentially triggering the reaction is Shocking Grasp, I would consider them in this way at my table:A tiefling wizard 1/rogue 5 hit with Shocking Grasp, could react to the hit event trigger with either Shield or Uncanny Dodge, since both trigger off of the hit event, prior to the occurrence of the damage and effects event. However, if said character did not use or could not use an available reaction prior to the damage and effects event subsequently taking place, that character would not be able to use a reaction to activate either Absorb Elements or Hellish Rebuke, as their Casting Time entries specify that their triggers are that the damage event, as included in the damage and effects event has already taken place -- at which point, the results of the Shocking Grasp prevent the target from taking subsequent reactions.But that's just my table -- another DM might interpret it differently, and that ruling would stand at that DM's table.</blockquote>

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