Does my Trickery cleric's duplicate provoke opportunity attacks?

Question

My Tymora Cleric used her Invoke Duplicity feature and is now in melee combat with an enemy. The duplicate is also within 5 feet of the enemy, distracted him and granting advantage to my attacks. Unfortunately, the tides turn in favour of the opponent’s side and my cleric decides that it is time for a tactical retreat.

Can I move my duplicate as a bonus action on my turn, in order to provoke an opportunity attack from my opponent?

This would use up his reaction and I could run away without worrying about opportunity attacks against the real me. Or, is it obvious for my opponent that the duplicate is just an illusion, trying to confuse him? In this case, maybe he would not waste his reaction.

Answer 1

RAW, no.

Opportunity attacks are specified as follows (PHB, p. 195):

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach.

The Trickery Domain Cleric's Invoke Duplicity feature, on the other hand, creates "a perfect illusion of [the cleric]".

Illusions are not creatures, and therefore, the duplicate does not trigger opportunity attacks.

RAF and potentially RAI, it makes sense.

The duplicate you create is a "perfect illusion of yourself". Therefore, it makes sense that an enemy that doesn't know it's an illusion would try to hit it.

This is probably how I would rule it as the DM*, but do bear in mind that according to RAW, no opportunity attack will be triggered.

_{*As in: I would rule that anything can trigger an opportunity attack, regardless of whether or not it's a creature. I wouldn't count the duplicate as a creature, that's opening Pandora's Box.}

Note that the Invoke Duplicity class feature is poorly defined.

As discussed in this question, we don't really know a lot about the illusion created by Invoke Duplicity. Unlike many illusion spells, it doesn't even say whether or not it's physically tangible (which illusions can be - Shadow Blade, Mirage Arcane or Simulacrum are all proof of that fact). Since other spells that create illusions explicitly mention if things can pass through them, we could conclude that by default, illusions are physically tangible. I would be careful about that, though - it makes checking for traps trivial by using physically tangible illusions.

Answer 2

No, it does not provoke Opportunity Attacks

The trickery domain cleric's Channel Divnity option of Invoke Duplicity states:

As an action, you create a perfect illusion of yourself that lasts for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The illusion appears in an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the illusion up to 30 feet to a space you can see, but it must remain within 120 feet of you.

For the duration, you can cast spells as though you were in the illusion’s space, but you must use your own senses. Additionally, when both you and your illusion are within 5 feet of a creature that can see the illusion, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature, given how distracting the illusion is to the target.

Nothing in that description classifies the Duplicity as a creature and it's always referenced to as an illusion. Without being called a creature, none of the triggers that require being a creature will work with it.

While this limits in its use and interaction with the environment, it also protects from other things as well.

If you were to make it a creature, it opens up a lot more questions than it solves. This includes issues around AC, HP, saves, etc.

It provides a lot more than a standard illusion does

And what it does give you is pretty powerful. You can sense through it, it can give you advantage on attack rolls, and it can do all of that without being dismissed or losing it's abilities upon interaction like a regular illusion would.