Bramble Armor page 46 PHB
Thorn Armor page 248 APG
Both say "any foe striking you". If they miss, they did not strike you.
The attack has to hit.
PS= Watch out for Devil's, they are all over the place these days, and might lead you astray.
Bramble Armor page 46 PHB
Thorn Armor page 248 APG
Both say "any foe striking you". If they miss, they did not strike you.
The attack has to hit.
[devil's advocate]
What if the attack missed due to Armor or natural armor? At which point they struck you, it just didn't do anything.[/devil's advocate]
[devil's advocate]
What if the attack missed due to Armor or natural armor? At which point they struck you, it just didn't do anything.
[/devil's advocate]
Eh, that's a glancing blow in my opinion, deflected by the geometry of the armour or nature of the material struck. The weapon finds no purchase and slides off. That's how I'd describe it for players. In reality, it's basically Your Math did not beat Their Math. It's something that's always bothered me about the AC system, but in this case, I'd rule that the strike did not land where the attacker intended and is, by technicality alone, a miss.
If you land a resounding blow against something with DR20/- and it just sort of smiles and walks it off, well, that's a different story. That was a hit (and would trigger Thorn/Bramble armour) in my opinion, even if no damage was dealt.
I'd like to say, rule of thumb, if you can roll damage dice, it's a strike, but then again, a touch attack to deliver a spell may deal no damage, but I might still say it triggers an On-Strike effect. A 'strike' seems to be one of those general things that kind of needs to be adjudicated on a case to case basis, unfortunately.