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I had a game the other night, and the guys ran into a few hellstinger scorpions. One of them grabbed the assassin, and when it was his turn he teleported out of the grab.

The scorpion has an attack power, "Reactive Sting", which allows it to use it's sting attack against an enemy as an immediate interrupt, the trigger being when the target escapes its grab. I saw that the Escape action in the handbook is a move action itself, so I made the call that the scorpion did not get it's reactive sting due to the fact that he escaped with a teleport (he teleported out of it's reach of course).

So I'm just curious, did I make the right call on that?

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Teleporting away is a method of escaping. Though it is not taking the escape action.

A grabbed creature can take the escape action to try to get away. Other common tactics for escaping a grab are to teleport away or to be pulled, pushed, or slid out of the grabber’s reach. Using forced movement on the grabber can also end a grab, as long as the movement results in the grabbed creature being out of the grabbing effect’s range. (RC 231, emphasis mine)

The power in question does not specify the method just the result. Thus the sting should have triggered, and been resolved before the teleport.

Reactive Sting (immediate interrupt, when an enemy grabbed by the scorpion escapes, at-will)

The hellstinger scorpion makes a hellish sting attack against the enemy.

Were this attack an opportunity action, it would not be triggered because teleporting does not trigger opportunity actions related to movement.

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The description of immediate interrupt states:

Interruption means the triggered action happens before the trigger, and if the trigger becomes impossible to complete, it is lost. For example, if a monster uses a standard action to make a ranged attack, but an opportunity attack interrupts the monster's attack and drops the monster's hit points to 0, the monster's attack is canceled and its standard action is lost.

and

A character may take one immediate action per round, during another combatant's turn. An immediate interrupt interrupts the action that triggers it.

So yes, the attack should have triggered.

From a storytelling perspective, you could phrase it as "As your mind focuses on teleporting, you feel a searing pain as the scorpion hits you with a sting."

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    \$\begingroup\$ This is an immediate interrupt, it's not an opportunity attack. if it was an opportunity action, it would not be triggered by a teleport. However, since it's an interrupt, the teleport triggers it, and then it happens before the teleport does (interrupt). \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 18:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ given that it happens literally before you escape, yes, it would have to. In the same way a fighter can beat on you before you escape. It's worth noting though that usually the ingame explanation is left to the players/DM. 4e has a very right adherence to the RAW so statements like "this is a case where commonsense overrides the rulebook" don't really compute in the system. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 18:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin Has it been a long time since you played D&D 4e specifically? Or just D&D in general? (If the latter: 4e is way, way different than what you're used to and you should be cautious about answering rules questions about it, possibly avoiding doing so altogether.) \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 19:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Kevin It turns out that you can just follow the rules, and still roleplay. One of the nice things about 4e is that the books themselves are relatively light when it comes to how or why things happen the way they do, and you’re encouraged to answer those questions any way that makes sense in the story. It’s also relatively light on non-combat rules, leaving plenty of room for roleplaying. But you can also let the narrative override the rulebook; it’s just that 4e asks you to do so with care. I think this is perhaps just not a situation where other 4e players agree it’s a good idea. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Commented Jan 30, 2015 at 20:10
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    \$\begingroup\$ Immediate interrupt and immediate reaction are two separate things in 4e. Note that the rules you've quoted say "An immediate interrupt interrupts the action that triggers it. An immediate reaction occurs after the action that triggers it. If the trigger is movement, an immediate reaction may occur after..." \$\endgroup\$
    – Purple Monkey
    Commented Jan 31, 2015 at 5:30

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