Quote Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn View Post
But that's where you are wrong. It DOES count as an attack for the purposes of the spell. BECAUSE it IS an attack. If it's an attack, but doesn't count as an attack by the spell, that's when you start getting inconsistencies. Because then you could start considering other attacks that might not be affected by Santuary.

Sanctuary counts it as an attack because the rules clearly state that it is an attack. There's really no other way to see it based on RAW and the Specific > General rule
I hate to break it to you, but you already have other attacks that might not be affected by Sanctuary. A dragon breathing on you is clearly attacking you, but it doesn't count as an attack, because there's no attack roll, so Sanctuary doesn't protect you.

Just because the MM text says beholders "can attack without fear of closing to melee range" doesn't mean that their gaze attacks count as attacks for purposes of Sanctuary/invisibility/etc. It doesn't matter how many times you quote "can attack without fear of closing to melee range", or how vehemently you claim that the beholder text is "more specific" than the definitions in the PHB--you're still wrong, and beholder gaze attacks don't count as attacks.