[RPG] Does an ongoing Witch bolt ignore a Sanctuary cast afterwards

dnd-5espells

A warlock casts witch bolt at a target successfully. On the target's turn, the target casts sanctuary to protect themselves. On the warlock's next turn, can the warlock choose to keep targeting the sanctuary user with the same witch bolt (not a new casting) without making the save?

Best Answer

Yes, the warlock can keep the witch bolt's effect on them without making a saving throw.

Sanctuary only has an effect when the warded creature is attacked or targeted, but witch bolt only targets them once — in this scenario, that's before sanctuary was active. The automatic damage does take an action subsequently, but that action is neither an attack, nor calls for actively re-targeting. (If targeting were involved, witch bolt could switch targets for its later damage — but notice that it can't be re-targeted, so no targeting is involved for the automatic damage.)

Therefore the already-targeted creature does not need to be re-targeted or attacked by the caster of witch bolt to deal the automatic damage, and sanctuary won't impose a saving throw.