Let's say a Barbarian is buffed with a shield guardian and a Warding Bond spell from a Cleric. The barbarian receives 16 damage, and with the Warding Bond resistance it reduces the damage to 8. How do you calculate the damage taken by the Shield Guardian and the Cleric from the Barbarian's received damage? Do you half the damage (4 damage), transfer it to Cleric/SG, then half it again (2 damage) and transfer it to the other recipient putting the received damage on the Barbarian up to 2 damage?
interesting question - here's my thoughts on it. As always, this isn't any sort of official ruling, merely my own findings from the rulebooks.
The spell Warding Bond has some quite specific wording:
The target ... has resistance to all damage. Also, each time it takes damage, you take the same amount of damage.
Under the Barbarian class, it states that part of the Rage feature is:
You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Gaining resistance to damage from multiple sources doesn't make the character "double resistant" they are still just resistant. As such, a Barbarian possibly isn't a good target for the Warding Bond spell. :)
half of any damage the wearer takes (rounded up) is transferred to the guardian.
So what we need to do is figure out which should be applied first - the barbarian's resistance to damage from Rage, or the shield guardian ability. Checking the rules for resistance, it states:
Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage.
So that makes it fairly clear cut!
In your example:
16 points of slashing damage is dealt to the barbarian.
The shield guardian ability comes into play and half of that damage is transferred to the shield guardian, leaving the barbarian with 8 points of damage (and the Shield Guardian with the other 8).
Assuming the barbarian is in rage, they have resistance to that damage, so it is reduced from 8 points down to 4.
If the barbarian has both Shield Guardian and Warding Bond active on them - as per above, the barbarian doesn't gain any further damage reduction from the spell, however the caster of the Warding Bond spell would take some damage. Interestingly, the way that the spell is worded, it seems that all damage modifiers are calculated and then the caster of the spell receives the same damage as the target (after modifiers).
edit: I googled sage advice on this and found quite a few twitter conversations with Jeremy Crawford about the interactions for Warding Bond that could make things complicated if the caster of the spell has any sort of damage reduction/resistance.
It's half the damage the barbarian TAKES, though, for the shield guardian. So, I would apply the resistance first and the Barb takes 8 points of damage, half of which goes to the guardian.
It's half the damage the barbarian TAKES, though, for the shield guardian. So, I would apply the resistance first and the Barb takes 8 points of damage, half of which goes to the guardian.
From how I interpreted the information, does that mean that the Shield Guardian's passive damage transfer and the Warding Bond (except the resistance) don't stack ?
Let's say a Barbarian is buffed with a shield guardian and a Warding Bond spell from a Cleric. The barbarian receives 16 damage, and with the Warding Bond resistance it reduces the damage to 8. How do you calculate the damage taken by the Shield Guardian and the Cleric from the Barbarian's received damage? Do you half the damage (4 damage), transfer it to Cleric/SG, then half it again (2 damage) and transfer it to the other recipient putting the received damage on the Barbarian up to 2 damage?
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D&D Beyond FoundersHi there,
interesting question - here's my thoughts on it. As always, this isn't any sort of official ruling, merely my own findings from the rulebooks.
The spell Warding Bond has some quite specific wording:
Under the Barbarian class, it states that part of the Rage feature is:
Gaining resistance to damage from multiple sources doesn't make the character "double resistant" they are still just resistant. As such, a Barbarian possibly isn't a good target for the Warding Bond spell. :)
The Shield Guardian is different though, as it states:
So what we need to do is figure out which should be applied first - the barbarian's resistance to damage from Rage, or the shield guardian ability. Checking the rules for resistance, it states:
So that makes it fairly clear cut!
In your example:
If the barbarian has both Shield Guardian and Warding Bond active on them - as per above, the barbarian doesn't gain any further damage reduction from the spell, however the caster of the Warding Bond spell would take some damage. Interestingly, the way that the spell is worded, it seems that all damage modifiers are calculated and then the caster of the spell receives the same damage as the target (after modifiers).
edit: I googled sage advice on this and found quite a few twitter conversations with Jeremy Crawford about the interactions for Warding Bond that could make things complicated if the caster of the spell has any sort of damage reduction/resistance.
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It's half the damage the barbarian TAKES, though, for the shield guardian. So, I would apply the resistance first and the Barb takes 8 points of damage, half of which goes to the guardian.
That's correct. "If you have a shield guardian, half of any damage you take is transferred to the guardian—that's half of the damage you actually take, after resistances and the like."
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From how I interpreted the information, does that mean that the Shield Guardian's passive damage transfer and the Warding Bond (except the resistance) don't stack ?
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D&D Beyond FoundersAh, I missed that JC tweet. It does seem to contradict what the rulebook actually says regarding resistances though. :)
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊