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The Echo Knight fighter has the Manifest Echo feature, which grants the following ability, among others (EGtW, p. 183):

When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.

The War Caster feat includes the following benefit (PHB, p. 170):

When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack.

If an Echo Knight has the War Caster feat and knows a spell like, say, booming blade, can they use the spell in place of an opportunity attack provoked by an enemy moving away from the echo?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Related, but different in application: Does the reaction melee attack from the Sentinel feat's third benefit trigger through an Echo Knight fighter's echo? \$\endgroup\$
    – Andrendire
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 0:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't think there's anything about this question that's specific to cantrips - nothing about either Manifest Echo or War Caster relates specifically to cantrips. As such, I might suggest generalizing it to ask something like: "Can an Echo Knight fighter with the War Caster feat cast a spell when an enemy moves away from the echo and provokes an opportunity attack?" (In that suggested wording, I'm also correcting a misconception - War Caster doesn't let you cast a spell as an opportunity attack; it lets you cast a spell instead of making an opportunity attack.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 21:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ Alternate proposed title: "Can an Echo Knight fighter with the War Caster feat replace an opportunity attack provoked by an enemy moving away from the echo with a spell?" \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 21:54

2 Answers 2

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Yes, they can cast a spell instead of an opportunity attack when an enemy moves away from their echo

The War Caster feat (PHB, p. 170) states that you can cast a spell instead of making an opportunity attack "when a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you" (emphasis mine).

Initially, I was tempted to say that the opportunity attack is provoked from the Echo, not "you". However, the text for the Echo Knight's Manifest Echo feature (EGtW, p. 183) is quite clear that you make the opportunity attack from the echo's position; therefore, the attack is eligible to be replaced by a spell.

However, as illustrated by V2Blast's answer in this follow-up question, the spell originates from your space, not your Echo's.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Could you explain where the spell originates from? The Echo's space or the Fighter's? Notably the spell from War Caster is not considered an Opportunity Attack so whether it can be used from the Echo's space is at least complicated/unclear. Maybe this should be a separate question? \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 1:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Medix2 The War Caster feat lets you cast a spell in place of an opportunity attack. With that Echo Knight feature you make the opportunity attack as if you were in the echo's space. It's safe to say that spell originates from you, and in this case, from you being in the echo's space for that split second. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kogarashi Kaito
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 11:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ I've now asked my question as its own separate question (though it may certainly be closed as a duplicate of this one): When the War Caster feat lets my Echo Knight fighter cast a spell instead of the Manifest Echo feature's opportunity attack, where is it cast from? \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    Commented Nov 8, 2020 at 15:38
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Yes, they can cast a spell - but from the caster's space, not the echo's

As mentioned in the question, the Manifest Echo feature reads (emphasis mine):

When a creature that you can see within 5 feet of your echo moves at least 5 feet away from it, you can use your reaction to make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo's space.

Specifically, it says the opportunity attack is provoked from you, when moving away from your echo. Since the hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, War Caster's ability to cast a spell rather than make the opportunity attack does apply. However, as noted in V2Blast's answer to this follow-up question, you are replacing the reaction of "make an opportunity attack against that creature as if you were in the echo’s space" with the reaction given by War Caster of "cast a spell at the creature". The spell follows normal rules for spellcasting, including being cast from your own space.

This can still be useful, but perhaps not as you intend. Your booming blade example, for instance, would only work if the target provokes the opportunity attack from an echo's space and they are also within booming blade range of the caster.

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    \$\begingroup\$ An example of a benefit of being far away would be that ranged spell attacks would (often) not have disadvantage \$\endgroup\$
    – Exempt-Medic
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 19:32

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