Question: This question has been asked before for other IDE's, but what about for PHPStorm? Is there a way to take a step back while debugging? 

Specifically after an exception is thrown, I'd like to easily take a step back. Or at least be able to see the call stack so I can quickly see where I need to set the breakpoint, because currently I just have to run again from the beginning and try to stop just before exception.

Answer: 
Yes you can take a step back, sort of. The **Frames** window in the Debugger tab shows the execution path that was taken to get to this point. By default the debugger simply has the current frame selected.

You can easily click any of the frames, or use your arrow key to move up and down to view the state of variables and even the location in the code at that point.
There is something called `time travel debugging` that makes it possible to step backwards through the code. It records the execution of a php script so you can replay it and will be able to step in reverse mode.

One example that works with PhpStorm and Xdebug is this one: <https://github.com/sidkshatriya/dontbug>