Armor of Agathys qustion

Does the spell do damage to the enemy whether they hit me or not? I know that it says " when you are hit...". Would it do damage if the attack would hit, but I cast "shield" causing the attack to miss?

Quote from RighthAndyman618 >>

Does the spell do damage to the enemy whether they hit me or not? I know that it says " when you are hit...". Would it do damage if the attack would hit, but I cast "shield" causing the attack to miss?

No. The spell says it does damage if a creature hits you with a melee attack. If the attack doesn't hit, then the spell doesn't do damage. The reason it didn't hit doesn't matter.

But I might add that the attack must only "hit". If you have some effect that stops/reduce damage then you could in theory reduce the damage to zero and it would still trigger.

Quote from Thezzaruz >>

But I might add that the attack must only "hit". If you have some effect that stops/reduce damage then you could in theory reduce the damage to zero and it would still trigger.

That's true, and one must also consider the reverse: if you somehow take damage from an attack that doesn't hit (such as via the Graze weapon mastery) it would not trigger the spell's reactive damage effect.

Quote from SunIsGettingRealLow96589 >>

This is where the BarbLock build comes from, 

Step 1: before combat, cast armor of agathys.

Step2: on your first combat turn: rage

Step 3: put yourself smack in the middle of a mob of enemies

Step 4: swat the hornets nest and watch em drop.

 

 Works best with Fiend Pact Warlocks so you get regenerating temp HP from Dark One's Blessing each time something that hits you dies.