Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ussMousetrap May 06, 2015 9:55:57	If as a reaction, you kill someone with the damage done by wrath of the storm, do you prevent the damage they deal?  There are several skills that use the same wording to prevent damage, the only only difference is they increase AC, but you still actually half to be hit for them to go off.  I can see it going both ways except when i put it beside the two examples below where the wording is almost identical to what sets it off.   The two skills that come to mind are defensive duelist, which clearly stats this can prevent the damage, and shield, which only states it increases your AC by5.   Shield almost makes no mention of preventing the damage,   ~W r a t h o f t h e St o r m Also at 1st level, you can thunderously rebuke attackers. When a creature within 5 feet o f you that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to cause the creature to make a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 2d8 lightning or thunder damage (your choice) on a failed saving throw, and half as much damage on a successful one. You can use this feature a number o f times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum o f once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.     ~Sh ie l d 1st-level abjuration Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the magic missile spell Range: Self Components: V, S Duration: 1 round An invisible barrier of magical force appears and protects you. Until the start o f your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack,   ~D e f e n s i v e D u e l i s t Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 or higher When you are w ielding a finesse weapon with which you are proficient and another creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to add your proficiency bonus to your AC for that attack, potentially causing the attack to miss you.
#2 mellored May 06, 2015 10:03:18	I would say you still take damage.   Even if you killed someone mid-swing, it wouldn't stop their weapon's momentum.
#3 Cooperjera May 06, 2015 10:15:47	I don't see any text that indicates the hit that triggers the reation is negated in Wrath of the Storm.  Therefore the caster is still hit and would recieve damage.
#4 jonathonhawke May 06, 2015 10:16:59	I would say that since the description doesn't say that the attack is prevented if you kill the attacker, it is not prevented, and you take the damage.
#5 OoftaMeg May 06, 2015 12:22:09	In previous editions we had the concept of Immediate Reactions and Immediate Interrupts. Where a reaction always happened after the triggering event and an interrupt happened just before.   In the process of simplifying the rules, we now just have reactions and it's assumed that the reaction happens after the triggering event unless specifically stated otherwise.  So the Wrath of the Storm happens immediately after the attack that triggers it.  Assuming of course that your sorcerer is still conscious of course.   Or ... just my long way of saying I agree with what everybody else has already said.
#6 ussMousetrap May 06, 2015 20:34:39	This then leads to the question about the shield spell?   It to has the same exact trigger to be able to use and does not say it prevents damage except from magic missile.  Instead of damage though it raises your ac by 5 after you have been hit.  All the above would replies would imply that the caster would still take damage and then get the AC bonus.   Our groups been treating it as the bonus ac (the whole one time it has been used) can prevent the damage if it boosts your AC over what was rolled because that is how we originally thought the spell was meant to work until we eventaully looked at the tempest cleric, with a skill that has the exact same trigger.
#7 jonathonhawke May 06, 2015 22:52:52	The shield spell's description specifically says that the AC bonus counts against the triggering attack.  If that causes the attack to miss, then you take no damage.
#8 Danny_Montanny May 07, 2015 14:12:06	"Hit" and "miss" are abstractions. An attack can "hit" the PC and cause "damage" without ever physically touching the PC.   In the case of Shield the DM says the attack hits, that doesn't mean the attack actually hits your person. The Wizard can see the attack coming and instead of deftly dodging and expending energy (HP lost as damage), he throws up a Shield. He could still be "hit" and still take "damage" depending on if the other abstraction, his new AC, fails to stop the attack.   The same applies to Wrath of the Storm, except that you'll get "hit" and take "damage" regardless.
#9 Undrhil May 07, 2015 20:11:52	For an example of a reaction that happens *before* its trigger, see Opportunity Attack.  If you kill a creature with an opportunity attack, then whatever it did that triggered that opportunity attack is negated.  Generally, this is movement, so it's a moot point.