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An awakened cat with wizard levels has fire shield active, and is melee attacked by a goblin within 5 feet of it. The goblin hits the cat but exceeds the cats AC by 4 or less.

Fire shield states:

In addition, whenever a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, the shield erupts in flame. The attacker takes 2d8 ... damage..

Hooray! That pesky goblin will get their comeuppance. However, the cat does not feel like taking any damage from this attack, so it casts shield which has the following cast time and trigger:

1 reaction, which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the magic missile spell

So the cat has clearly been hit by the attack, triggering fire shield and allowing it to take a reaction to cast shield as well. But shield has this effect:

... Until the start of your next turn, you have a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack, ...

Which would cause the attack to miss! Now we have Schroedinger's fire shielded cat!

Does the damage from fire shield affect the attacking creature when you also cast shield to negate the attack? Or does negating the hit also negate the trigger which allowed shield to be cast at all?

Akixkisu
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Randomorph
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    Very similar question: "Does blocking an attack with the Shield spell still trigger Armor of Agathys?" – Exempt-Medic Feb 26 '20 at 18:58
  • @Medix2 That is a good question that I missed in my search, thank you! It does appear to still be somewhat contested, based on an answer outperforming the accepted answer, and neither answer feels definitive. – Randomorph Feb 26 '20 at 19:02
  • It may be different enough for shield/fire shield vs shield/armor of agathys, but i'm having a hard time parsing what it may be. It really feels like a duplicate and that you're not totally satisfied with the answer. But if that's the case, you should bounty that question. – NotArch Feb 26 '20 at 19:18
  • @NautArch That's fair. I'm fine closing this as a duplicate, as it is very similar, although new information may be around since that questions asking. I'll do some digging, and if necessary ask for a reopen with new information. – Randomorph Feb 26 '20 at 19:25
  • The mechanic in question is identical, so I agree that linked question is functionally a dupe. However, I don't think better answers are possible than those already given to that earlier question; unfortunately, it is possible to coherently interpret the rules to support either interpretation (though designer commentary clearly indicates which interpretation is intended.) – Carcer Feb 26 '20 at 19:25
  • Related: Do reactions interrit triggers? – goodguy5 Feb 26 '20 at 19:27
  • @Randomorph If you also feel something isn't clearly answered, just say what that is on the duplicate question and put up a bounty. It's a great way to get further clarity. – NotArch Feb 26 '20 at 19:27
  • @Carcer I disagree that it is clear based on developer comments, as the cited comments are about additional triggers on the attack itself, rather than multiple triggers reacting to the same event which may or may not cancel each other. I do agree that the questions are fundamentally the same however. – Randomorph Feb 26 '20 at 19:28
  • @Randomorph eh, IMO it extrapolates transitively to any effect which depends on the attack hitting whether that effect is part of the attack or from some other source, but I take your point. – Carcer Feb 26 '20 at 19:31
  • @Carcer yeah, I would agree were it not for the fact that this interpretation would also make Shield no longer having a trigger to react to. This is the type of thing that is definitely not transitive, as order of operations matters. – Randomorph Feb 26 '20 at 19:34
  • As a side note...not sure a cat can perform a somatic component with their paws. But that's really more likely up to a DM. – NotArch Feb 26 '20 at 19:56
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    @NautArch oh I agree, the cat was more for comedic effect! – Randomorph Feb 26 '20 at 20:24

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