Greetings all! As the topic hints at, my question is simple: can you take a reaction against an Attack of Opportunity?
Scenario: My character (Eldritch Knight) casts Booming Blade and successfully hits a creature with a melee Attack. In order to goad the creature into moving (and taking the subsequent thunder damage), my character moves out of range, which provokes an Attack of Opportunity. Can my character cast Shield as a reaction to being hit by that attack?
that's perfectly ok for your character to cast shield there. As long as they satisfy the conditions of the spell, it makes no difference whether the attack comes from a regular attack action or an attack of opportunity.
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
In addition you can cast any spell as a reaction by using the "Read" action.
Not quite true. You can use the Ready Action to hold your Action until a certain condition is met. You do not use your reaction to do it, so you still have your reaction to use.
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
In addition you can cast any spell as a reaction by using the "Read" action.
Not quite true. You can use the Ready Action to hold your Action until a certain condition is met. You do not use your reaction to do it, so you still have your reaction to use.
You absolutely do use your reaction to take a readied action. From your link: “To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.”
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
In addition you can cast any spell as a reaction by using the "Read" action.
Not quite true. You can use the Ready Action to hold your Action until a certain condition is met. You do not use your reaction to do it, so you still have your reaction to use.
You absolutely do use your reaction to take a readied action. From your link: “To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.”
Holy poop!! I missed that. Well the ready action is way less useful than I thought it was. Learn something new every day.
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
In addition you can cast any spell as a reaction by using the "Read" action.
Not quite true. You can use the Ready Action to hold your Action until a certain condition is met. You do not use your reaction to do it, so you still have your reaction to use.
You absolutely do use your reaction to take a readied action. From your link: “To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.”
You don't use your reaction to ready the action. If you use the readied action, that's when you use your reaction. Until that time, you can still use your reaction otherwise. It will forgo being able to use the readied action. If I remember right, you'll lose any spell slot associated with that readied action. Your action was also wasted since you won't get any benefit from it (which might have happened any way if it was an attack that missed or a save or suck that was successful for the creature.
Speaking of readying the casting action, something that I only recently realized was that readying the casting action requires concentration, so if someone is already concentrating on a spell and they want to ready the casting action, even for a spell that normally does not require concentration, you may want to let them know the risks.
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
That's not how reactions and Attacks Of Opportunity work. An Attack Of Opportunity is something you can use your Reaction to do when someone attempts to leave your reach. By default, this has to be melee attack, such as with a weapon or your fist. If you have the War Caster feat, you can cast a spell instead, IF the spell targets only the person who triggered the AoO, and IF the spell has a normal casting time of 1 Action. Spells like Hellish Rebuke don't qualify, for two reasons. One, they don't have a casting time of 1 Action. Two, spells that have a casting time of Reaction also have a trigger which must occur. In the case of Hellish Rebuke, that trigger is when you are damaged by a creature within 60' of you that you can see.
Hellish Rebuke is, as he said, a reaction against being damaged. If someone takes an AoO against you and damages you, you could then take a reaction against them and use Hellish Rebuke. But you can not use the Hellish Rebuke reaction as an attack simply because someone moved away from you.
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Greetings all! As the topic hints at, my question is simple: can you take a reaction against an Attack of Opportunity?
Scenario: My character (Eldritch Knight) casts Booming Blade and successfully hits a creature with a melee Attack. In order to goad the creature into moving (and taking the subsequent thunder damage), my character moves out of range, which provokes an Attack of Opportunity. Can my character cast Shield as a reaction to being hit by that attack?
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D&D Beyond FoundersHi there ManyFacesManyNames,
that's perfectly ok for your character to cast shield there. As long as they satisfy the conditions of the spell, it makes no difference whether the attack comes from a regular attack action or an attack of opportunity.
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Yes, you can take a reaction (Shield in this case) on your turn or on someone else's, as long as the trigger occurs.
Just remember that when your character takes a reaction, you can't take another one until the start of your next turn. :)
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Thanks all!
If he casts shield. But what if my character casts Hellish Rebuke? Do anyone can cast anything with their reaction?
If the spell says reaction, you can ONLY use it as a reaction. So yes, you can Hellish Rebuke someone as an AoO.
In addition you can cast any spell as a reaction by using the "Read" action.
Not quite true. You can use the Ready Action to hold your Action until a certain condition is met. You do not use your reaction to do it, so you still have your reaction to use.
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You absolutely do use your reaction to take a readied action. From your link: “To do so, you can take the Ready action on your turn, which lets you act using your reaction before the start of your next turn.”
Holy poop!! I missed that. Well the ready action is way less useful than I thought it was. Learn something new every day.
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You don't use your reaction to ready the action. If you use the readied action, that's when you use your reaction. Until that time, you can still use your reaction otherwise. It will forgo being able to use the readied action. If I remember right, you'll lose any spell slot associated with that readied action. Your action was also wasted since you won't get any benefit from it (which might have happened any way if it was an attack that missed or a save or suck that was successful for the creature.
Speaking of readying the casting action, something that I only recently realized was that readying the casting action requires concentration, so if someone is already concentrating on a spell and they want to ready the casting action, even for a spell that normally does not require concentration, you may want to let them know the risks.
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That's not how reactions and Attacks Of Opportunity work. An Attack Of Opportunity is something you can use your Reaction to do when someone attempts to leave your reach. By default, this has to be melee attack, such as with a weapon or your fist. If you have the War Caster feat, you can cast a spell instead, IF the spell targets only the person who triggered the AoO, and IF the spell has a normal casting time of 1 Action. Spells like Hellish Rebuke don't qualify, for two reasons. One, they don't have a casting time of 1 Action. Two, spells that have a casting time of Reaction also have a trigger which must occur. In the case of Hellish Rebuke, that trigger is when you are damaged by a creature within 60' of you that you can see.
People think “Reaction” and “Attack of Opportunity” are the same thing, which is simply not the case.
Just like people still think that “Attack” and “Action” are the same thing so they think Extra Attack gives you a second Action.
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JD is correct.
I am sorry, I skimmed it, got confused.
Hellish Rebuke is, as he said, a reaction against being damaged. If someone takes an AoO against you and damages you, you could then take a reaction against them and use Hellish Rebuke. But you can not use the Hellish Rebuke reaction as an attack simply because someone moved away from you.