Deflect Attacks in Response to Multiple Damage Type Attacks

I say option 1. My reason for this is because Deflect Attacks would get rid of however much of the damage, regardless of the type, as long as part of it is BPS. As for how much is reduced from each type (saying there’s no resistances), that’s up to the DM to decide. You could theoretically rules lawyer that you take more of one damage type and less of another, but the DM should have the final ruling anyways.

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It's relevant if there are resistances (or vulnerability, or immunity) involved. That is a relatively common situation and it is what this entire thread is about.

 It's not relevant to the Ability.  Resistance would just decrease the specific damage type by half.  You are bringing up something that's there is already a rule for.

What is the rule that determines how you apply a damage reduction to an attack with multiple damage types?

I'm very interested in seeing a citation, because multiple people have failed to find it.

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Continuing this question: what if not all of the damage is reduced? What kind of damage gets through? All bludgeoning? All acid? Some sort of split, based on the ratio of one type to the other?

 Then you take the damage you would have taken anyway, just like anyone else. 

I think you've misunderstood the question. The question is about what happens if some, but not all of the damage from a multi-type attack is reduced.

For example, say the incoming attack deals 10 Bludgeoning and 10 Acid damage, for a total of 20 damage. The Monk use Deflect Attacks and is able to reduce the damage by 8, down to 12 damage. How much of that 12 damage is Bludgeoning and how much is Acid? 

As I said in my comment directly above yours, there is no official answer to this question in the rules, leaving individual DMs to rule it on a case-by-case basis.

 I understood the question just fine. How is it relevant how much of each specific damage you take if there are no resistances involved? The damages themselves don't have any special rules associated with them.  In this case the reduced deflected damage is 12.  Abilities only do what they say and nothing more. 

It's relevant if there are resistances (or vulnerability, or immunity) involved. That is a relatively common situation and it is what this entire thread is about.

 It's not relevant to the Ability.  Resistance would just decrease the specific damage type by half.  You are bringing up something that's there is already a rule for.

In the example I gave before, if the target has Resistance to Acid damage but not to Bludgeoning damage, how many total points of damage would they take?

Simple. In your example the Monk is hit with 10 BPS and 10AD, but since the Monk has resistance to AD, he only takes 5 AD, for a total of 15.  He deflects 8, so now he only takes 7 total damage.  There's nothing complicated  here because abilities only do what they do and resistances only do what they do. 

Quote from MPA >>

Simple. In your example the Monk is hit with 10 BPS and 10AD, but since the Monk has resistance to AD, he only takes 5 AD, for a total of 15.  He deflects 8, so now he only takes 7 total damage.  There's nothing complicated  here because abilities only do what they do and resistances only do what they do. 

That is not correct, though, according to the actual rules. The rules say that numerical damage reductions are applied before resistance and vulnerability. Thus in a situation like this it does matter which type of damage is being reduced by an effect like Deflect Attacks.

It is also relevant in situations like the one Sequilonis described, in which the magnitude of some other effect depends on the exact amount of damage of a specific type that a creature takes.

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Simple. In your example the Monk is hit with 10 BPS and 10AD, but since the Monk has resistance to AD, he only takes 5 AD, for a total of 15.  He deflects 8, so now he only takes 7 total damage.  There's nothing complicated  here because abilities only do what they do and resistances only do what they do. 

That is not correct, though, according to the actual rules. The rules say that numerical damage reductions are applied before resistance and vulnerability.

 Once again, you are reading into things or in this case misremembering the rule.   What it actually says:

Modifiers to damage are applied in the following
order: adjustments such as bonuses, penalties, or
multipliers are applied first; Resistance is applied
second

 Then it goes into an example, using only one damage type, not multiple.  What you are trying to do is combine the two damage types, but you can't because the rule as written, is for one damage type.  Since there are two, you will treat them as individual damage types, thus the BPS hits for 10 and the AD hits for 10, but is halved for 5.    Your argument would have merit if that section stated it pertains to multiple damage types. 

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Simple. In your example the Monk is hit with 10 BPS and 10AD, but since the Monk has resistance to AD, he only takes 5 AD, for a total of 15.  He deflects 8, so now he only takes 7 total damage.  There's nothing complicated  here because abilities only do what they do and resistances only do what they do. 

That is not correct, though, according to the actual rules. The rules say that numerical damage reductions are applied before resistance and vulnerability.

 Once again, you are reading into things or in this case misremembering the rule.   What it actually says:

Modifiers to damage are applied in the following
order: adjustments such as bonuses, penalties, or
multipliers are applied first; Resistance is applied
second

 Then it goes into an example, using only one damage type, not multiple.  What you are trying to do is combine the two damage types, but you can't because the rule as written, is for one damage type.  Since there are two, you will treat them as individual damage types, thus the BPS hits for 10 and the AD hits for 10, but is halved for 5.    Your argument would have merit if that section stated it pertains to multiple damage types. 

That's true, it doesn't say it pertains to attacks that deal multiple types of damage, but it doesn't say it doesn't apply to such attacks, so I'm not sure why we would assume that it doesn't. Even if we did assume that it doesn't apply, that would then mean that there is no rule telling you what order to apply these things in these situations, not that you'd necessarily apply them in the opposite order.

Either way, though, it doesn't change the larger point that which type of damage gets reduced by Deflect Attacks does potentially matter in some cases. Even if you set aside the issue of resistance and vulnerability, there are still effects like that vampiric bite ability whose magnitude depends on the amount of a specific type of damage the target takes.

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Simple. In your example the Monk is hit with 10 BPS and 10AD, but since the Monk has resistance to AD, he only takes 5 AD, for a total of 15.  He deflects 8, so now he only takes 7 total damage.  There's nothing complicated  here because abilities only do what they do and resistances only do what they do. 

That is not correct, though, according to the actual rules. The rules say that numerical damage reductions are applied before resistance and vulnerability.

 Once again, you are reading into things or in this case misremembering the rule.   What it actually says:

Modifiers to damage are applied in the following
order: adjustments such as bonuses, penalties, or
multipliers are applied first; Resistance is applied
second

 Then it goes into an example, using only one damage type, not multiple.  What you are trying to do is combine the two damage types, but you can't because the rule as written, is for one damage type.  Since there are two, you will treat them as individual damage types, thus the BPS hits for 10 and the AD hits for 10, but is halved for 5.    Your argument would have merit if that section stated it pertains to multiple damage types. 

That's true, it doesn't say it pertains to attacks that deal multiple types of damage, but it doesn't say it doesn't apply to such attacks,

 Arguing your point is valid, because the rule doesn't say it isn't, is not a valid argument. And since you won't accept the rules or the facts, and instead treating your opinion as facts and move the goal posts:   this conversation is no longer productive. Therefore I will no longer respond to your posts on the matter. 

Quote from HarmAssassin >>

Personally I rule that it goes in the order that the damage type is listed in the attack. If the attack does 10pts of bludgeoning + 6 necrotic, and the monk gets to deflect 12pts, I rule that the 12 pts first be applied to the first damage type listed. In this case wiping out all 10pts of the bludgeoning damage, leaving 2pts of deflection left. That reduces the necrotic damage to 4pts. If the monk is also resistant to necrotic energy, that cuts the necrotic damage from 4pts to 2pts. Monk takes 2pts of necrotic damage.

I like this idea. With most multi-type damage sources, it does kinda seem like one type is the "main" one and anything else an "add-on" kind of thing (thematically speaking, even if the rules treat the types equally) and they're usually listed in that order. So it would make sense that damage reduction effects would apply to the "main" one first.

It occurs to me that another case where it would make a difference which type got reduced is the Reanimator Artificer's companion creature, which is not only immune to Lightning damage but actually regains HP equal to any Lightning damage it would've taken from something.

While it doesn't have the Monk ability, it could potentially be near an ally with the Interception fighting style (a similar damage-reduction ability). If it were hit with some kind of multi-type damage that included Lightning damage and something else, it would be advantageous for the character with Interception to reduce the other damage but leave the Lightning damage untouched.