Rules- can you react to your own spells?

[Riftwolf]

Bit of backstory: my character (lizardfolk druid) was hit with Power Word: Stun and then taken hostage during a boss fight. I've got a low level mook (probably a warlock) guarding me for when I wake up/if the party fights it's way to me. Last session ended with me making my save and waking up, but my spell list sucked so I couldn't figure out what to do straight away, the shop was calling time so we ended with me waking up and angry.

First thing I want to do is mess up the mook before he unloads on me. I have two viable spells: Ice Knife and Acid Arrow. I don't want to use concentration spells right away in case I blow the check from damage. The current plan is: Use heightened Ice knife/acid arrow on the mook. Because I'm within 5ft, I also take the splash damage, but use heightened Absorb Elements to resist and add extra dice to melee damage. If the spells enough to kill the mook outright, use movement to find another target and Hungry Jaws him with absorbed energy as a bonus action. If not, bite the mook before running.

My question is: can I react to my own spell to absorb it in this way, or is this too many actions for one turn? Or do I have to wait till the turn after to get chompy?

[Dalinar]

Bit of backstory: my character (lizardfolk druid) was hit with Power Word: Stun and then taken hostage during a boss fight. I've got a low level mook (probably a warlock) guarding me for when I wake up/if the party fights it's way to me. Last session ended with me making my save and waking up, but my spell list sucked so I couldn't figure out what to do straight away, the shop was calling time so we ended with me waking up and angry.

First thing I want to do is mess up the mook before he unloads on me. I have two viable spells: Ice Knife and Acid Arrow. I don't want to use concentration spells right away in case I blow the check from damage. The current plan is: Use heightened Ice knife/acid arrow on the mook. Because I'm within 5ft, I also take the splash damage, but use heightened Absorb Elements to resist and add extra dice to melee damage. If the spells enough to kill the mook outright, use movement to find another target and Hungry Jaws him with absorbed energy as a bonus action. If not, bite the mook before running.

My question is: can I react to my own spell to absorb it in this way, or is this too many actions for one turn? Or do I have to wait till the turn after to get chompy?

So I don't think there's a blanket rule covering this (maybe I missed it), but Absorb Elements reads:

"1 reaction, which you take when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage"

There isn't any language specifying it can't be on your turn, which makes sense when you think about ways you could conceivably take those damage types on your turn without trying to cheese (such as taking an OA from a creature that deals those types).

Mind that if you quickened the spell, you'd possibly run into bonus action spell clause problems, though. You also wouldn't get your reaction back until the start of your next turn, so I hope you don't plan on needing Shield or something that round.

[Unoriginal]

Bit of backstory: my character (lizardfolk druid) was hit with Power Word: Stun and then taken hostage during a boss fight. I've got a low level mook (probably a warlock) guarding me for when I wake up/if the party fights it's way to me. Last session ended with me making my save and waking up, but my spell list sucked so I couldn't figure out what to do straight away, the shop was calling time so we ended with me waking up and angry.

First thing I want to do is mess up the mook before he unloads on me. I have two viable spells: Ice Knife and Acid Arrow. I don't want to use concentration spells right away in case I blow the check from damage. The current plan is: Use heightened Ice knife/acid arrow on the mook. Because I'm within 5ft, I also take the splash damage, but use heightened Absorb Elements to resist and add extra dice to melee damage. If the spells enough to kill the mook outright, use movement to find another target and Hungry Jaws him with absorbed energy as a bonus action. If not, bite the mook before running.

My question is: can I react to my own spell to absorb it in this way, or is this too many actions for one turn? Or do I have to wait till the turn after to get chompy?

I don't see any reason why you can't Absorb Element against your own spell's damage, and Hungry Jaw can follow the spellcasting without issue.

However, Absorb Element explicitly states:

Also, the first time you hit with a melee attack on your next turn

So while you can Ice Knife-->Absorb Element-->Hungry Jaw, you won't get the bonus damage unless you do another melee attack on your next turn.

You also wouldn't get your reaction back until the start of your next turn, so I hope you don't plan on needing Shield or something that round.

Tbf that's true any time you use Absorb Element

[Dalinar]

Tbf that's true any time you use Absorb Element

Sure, just meant that in the sense that you're spending the maximum amount of time without access to your next defensive reaction. Literally every other creature in the combat will get a turn first in this situation; in other situations, sometimes you might pop AE or Shield or Barbs or whatever, and then no other hostiles go before your turn anyway so the action economy cost is basically negated.

Nice catch on the "next turn" bit, which does make the interaction a little pointlessly clunky. "Before the end of your next turn" would've been cleaner. But that's just how I would probably run it in the moment, not what the spell actually says.

[Riftwolf]

But that's just how I would probably run it in the moment, not what the spell actually says.

The DMs allowed bigger bs than that before from other players.

Losing my reaction for a turn wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to me tbh. I don't have access to other reaction spells, and because I'm against warlocks they'll probably Eldritch Blast me which Absorb Elements is useless against. My melee damage is normally awful (primary spellcaster) so attacks of opportunity amount to tickles.

One thing I noticed is Acid Arrow doesn't splash, so even though the damage type would have been cooler for reenacting a Mortal Kombat fatality I'll have to settle with Ice Knife for this plan.