Abjuration wizards have a feature called Arcane Ward that lets us generate a ward whenever we cast an abjuration spell. If you dip in warlock and take armor of shadows you can at will give yourself the arcane ward and fill its temp hit points rather quickly. You also get access to armor of agathys, which grants temp Hp and would trigger the arcane ward temp Hp also. As far as I know the temp HP cant stack as RAW, but can anyone confirm?
On page 6 of the Sage advice compendium you find information about arcane ward. The gist is, that the ward itself is a separate protection for the wizard. It is the first line of defence and neither Temporary HP or (most) Resistances will interact with it.
Lanok seems to be asking a couple of different questions:
can an abjuration spell cast without a spell slot trigger Arcane Ward?
can multiple abjuration spell castings stack to refill the full capacity of the Arcane Ward?
can other spells (like Armor of Agathys) that provide THP or change how THP function, stack with Arcane Ward?
The answer to each of these is different.
Arcane Ward
Starting at 2nd level, you can weave magic around yourself for protection. When you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spell’s magic to create a magical ward on yourself that lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage.
While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.
Once you create the ward, you can’t create it again until you finish a long rest.
1) Can an Abjuration spell that is cast without a spell slot still trigger Arcane Ward to refill THP? YES
Casting Mage Armor without a spell slot through Armor of Shadows without using a spell slot still counts as casting Mage Armor. The Abjuration Wizard's Arcane Ward feature does not ask for an Abjuration spell to be cast using a first level or higher spell slot (see other Wizard subclasses, like the Divination Wizard's 6th level Expert Divination), instead it asks for "an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher."
But is there any chance that a "spell of 1st level or higher" really means a spell cast using a 1st level spell slot or higher? No. From Chapter 10: Spellcasting,
Spell Level
Every spell has a level from 0 to 9. A spell's level is a general indicator of how powerful it is, with the lowly (but still impressive) magic missile at 1st level and the earth-shaking wish at 9th. Cantrips — simple but powerful spells that characters can cast almost by rote — are level 0. The higher a spell's level, the higher level a spellcaster must be to use that spell.
Spell level and character level don't correspond directly. Typically, a character has to be at least 17th level, not 9th level, to cast a 9th-level spell.
This quoted section makes clear that a spell's level is the level identified in its spell description, not the level of spell slot used to cast it. Spells may be cast using higher level spell slots, or even no spell slots with a feature like Armor of Shadows, but that does not change that their "spell level" is defined by the Spell itself.
2) Can multiple Abjuration Spells stack their recharge of Arcane Ward, to fill it all the way up? YES
Generally, when you gain any number of THP, your THP total is set to that amount, not adding those new THP to any older ones. From Chapter 9, Combat:
Temporary Hit Points
Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury....
Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together.If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
That is the general rule. However, Arcane Ward works very specifically differently, because it does not cause you to "receive more" Temporary Hit Points. Instead, the Abjuration Ward itself has regular hit points, and "regains a number of hit points" every time you cast a spell. The word "Temporary Hit Points" never appears even once within Arcane Ward, it's a whole different (unique) system, where there's basically a floating "real HP pool" in your Ward, which can only be recharged using Arcane Ward's own rules, not with other outside healing.
Multiple casts of Mage Armor, each will cause the Ward to "regain" two hit points, up to your ward's max HP.
3) Can other spells that interact with THP stack with the Ward? KIND OF: THP CAN STACK ON TOP OF THE WARD, BUT THE WARD IS NOT THP
After section 2 above, the answer to this should be clear: there's nothing stopping you from popping an Armor of Agathys to have a pool of THP on top of your Arcane Ward. However, that THP will be used up first before any damage goes to your Arcane Ward: "...When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first." This avoid something cheesy like keeping 5 THP from Armor of Agathys protected behind a stack of dozens of Arcane Ward real-HP. The RAI of Armor of Agathys is pretty clear that it's the 'outside layer' of THP, so stupid player tricks to nest it inside the Ward probably won't be looked at kindly by your DM, and the RAW aligns, with THP having the only language about being "lost first" without anything in Arcane Ward suggesting similar precedence.
3) Can other spells that interact with THP stack with the Ward? KIND OF: THP CAN STACK ON TOP OF THE WARD, BUT THE WARD IS NOT THP
After section 2 above, the answer to this should be clear: there's nothing stopping you from popping an Armor of Agathys to have a pool of THP on top of your Arcane Ward. However, that THP will be used up first before any damage goes to your Arcane Ward: "...When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first." This avoid something cheesy like keeping 5 THP from Armor of Agathys protected behind a stack of dozens of Arcane Ward real-HP. The RAI of Armor of Agathys is pretty clear that it's the 'outside layer' of THP, so stupid player tricks to nest it inside the Ward probably won't be looked at kindly by your DM, and the RAW aligns, with THP having the only language about being "lost first" without anything in Arcane Ward suggesting similar precedence.
Actually Arcane ward gets depleted first and Armor of Agathys only triggers once you start to reduce your actual THP.
Jeremy Crawford is wrong on that, which is the danger of trusting Twitter instead of a rulebook. It's not a matter of my opinion being more valid than his, or him understanding the RAI, the rules as written explicitly require that THP always be used first.
Temporary Hit Points
Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury.
When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points. For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage.
Because temporary hit points are separate from your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit points and receive temporary hit points.
Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.
If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points doesn't restore you to consciousness or stabilize you. They can still absorb damage directed at you while you're in that state, but only true healing can save you. Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they're depleted or you finish a long rest.
vs Arcane Ward
Arcane Ward
Starting at 2nd level, you can weave magic around yourself for protection. When you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, you can simultaneously use a strand of the spell’s magic to create a magical ward on yourself that lasts until you finish a long rest. The ward has a hit point maximum equal to twice your wizard level + your Intelligence modifier. Whenever you take damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, you take any remaining damage.
While the ward has 0 hit points, it can’t absorb damage, but its magic remains. Whenever you cast an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher, the ward regains a number of hit points equal to twice the level of the spell.
Once you create the ward, you can’t create it again until you finish a long rest.
The Arcane Ward takes damage instead of "your normal hitpoints." But the THP take damage "first". Both of those are clearly happening before your character sheet HP get depleted, but since only THP explicitly says they are "first", they are "first."
The Arcane Ward takes damage instead of "your normal hitpoints." But the THP take damage "first". Both of those are clearly happening before your character sheet HP get depleted, but since only THP explicitly says they are "first", they are "first."
No, the arcane ward takes damage instead of "you." Temp HP takes damage first when "you" take damage.
The ward prevents damage from reaching your HP, temporary or otherwise. JC is right. And this is also printed by WotC in the official SAC, not just Twitter.
Both of these features trigger "whenever you take damage". That is not a meaningful distinction.
Arcane Ward: "Whenever you take damage...."
THP: "When you have temporary hit points and take damage..."
Getting metaphysical about "you" is tempting, but there's nothing RAW in either of these sections to suggest which one is more or less "you" than the other. Instead, all we have is that THP says in black and white that it is "first."
Further arguments for why I'm not only RAW right, but also RAI right:
Arcane Ward triggers whenever you take damage (even when Arcane Ward is empty, since it describes what happens to damage when the Ward is empty). But THP triggers whenever you BOTH take damage AND have THP. That makes THP the more specific situation/rule which provides an exception to anything Arcane Ward may say about itself, and reinforcing that THP's "First" must be respected.
THP are THP, while (as we all seem to agree), Arcane Ward is a separate pool of "normal hit points." THP are lost first before any damage "carries over to your normal hit points", be they character sheet "normal hit points" or Arcane Ward "normal hit points."
Allowing Arcane Ward to take damage before THP, and be able to be restored and healed before depleting, fundamentally breaks the assumptions that go into a spell like Armor of Agathys, Motivational Speech, and the Spore Druid's Symbiotic Entity feature. Even were THP not so explicitly "first," I'd be hesitant to let someone throw up a spell for an hour that bounces 5-45 damage back on an attacker every time they're struck, with no ability for the attacker to turn it off the way the spell contemplates.
3) Can other spells that interact with THP stack with the Ward? KIND OF: THP CAN STACK ON TOP OF THE WARD, BUT THE WARD IS NOT THP
After section 2 above, the answer to this should be clear: there's nothing stopping you from popping an Armor of Agathys to have a pool of THP on top of your Arcane Ward. However, that THP will be used up first before any damage goes to your Arcane Ward: "...When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first." This avoid something cheesy like keeping 5 THP from Armor of Agathys protected behind a stack of dozens of Arcane Ward real-HP. The RAI of Armor of Agathys is pretty clear that it's the 'outside layer' of THP, so stupid player tricks to nest it inside the Ward probably won't be looked at kindly by your DM, and the RAW aligns, with THP having the only language about being "lost first" without anything in Arcane Ward suggesting similar precedence.
Actually Arcane ward gets depleted first and Armor of Agathys only triggers once you start to reduce your actual THP.
Armor of Agathys deals damage "If a creature hits you with a melee attack". Even if the damage is 0, or redirected. You were still hit by a melee attack. Damage redirection (or reduction, or immunity) is not the same as attack redirection (See Cloud Giant Rune from Rune Knight for an example of this). So Armor would still deal damage even if the ward absorbed all the damage. Unless you meant "Trigger" as in losing temporary hp.
Instead, all we have is that THP says in black and white that it is "first."
We also have that arcane ward has the word "instead." It is replacing the event of you taking damage with the event of the ward taking damage. THP only takes damage "first" when that damage applies to you, but the ward took damage "instead."
Further arguments for why I'm not only RAW right, but also RAI right:
Arcane Ward triggers whenever you take damage (even when Arcane Ward is empty, since it describes what happens to damage when the Ward is empty). But THP triggers whenever you BOTH take damage AND have THP. That makes THP the more specific situation/rule which provides an exception to anything Arcane Ward may say about itself, and reinforcing that THP's "First" must be respected.
THP are THP, while (as we all seem to agree), Arcane Ward is a separate pool of "normal hit points." THP are lost first before any damage rolls over to "normal hit points", be they character sheet "normal hit points" or Arcane Ward "normal hit points."
Allowing Arcane Ward to take damage before THP, and be able to be restored and healed before depleting, fundamentally breaks the assumptions that go into a spell like Armor of Agathys, Motivational Speech, and the Spore Druid's Symbiotic Entity feature. Even were THP not so explicitly "first," I'd be hesitant to let someone throw up a spell for an hour that bounces 5-45 damage back on an attacker every time they're struck, with no ability for the attacker to turn it off the way the spell contemplates.
That is not how specific and general works. The ward applies when you have the ward, THP applies when you have THP, they both apply when you have both, they are equal in specific-ness.
Arcane ward is not "your normal hit points." This is actually a point against your argument. When the ward hits 0, leftover damage applies to "you". When THP hits 0, leftover damage is applied to "your normal hit points". THIS is how specific beats general, the ward can't apply after THP.
I have no argument for this separate issue that is independent of damage order.
Once you're a Wizard (Abjuration) 2, you have the Ward "always." Awake, asleep, dead.... it's your class feature, and it's always on. Sometimes over that course of existence, you'll also have THP! Those moments are more specific.
I see the "instead" sentence. Its persuasive, but.... it first triggers when "you take damage." Read THP closely and you'll notice something: THP don't take damage, they are "lost", and the character only "takes damage" once they are all gone. I didn't bring this up earlier because it's super hair splitty but... "you" cannot "take damage" while you have THP, and thus, Arcane Ward cannot take damage instead of you.
Once you're a Wizard (Abjuration) 2, you have the Ward "always." Awake, asleep, dead.... it's your class feature, and it's always on. Sometimes over that course of existence, you'll also have THP! Those moments are more specific.
I see the "instead" sentence. Its persuasive, but.... it first triggers when "you take damage." Read THP closely and you'll notice something: THP don't take damage, they are "lost", and the character only "takes damage" once they are all gone. I didn't bring this up earlier because it's super hair splitty but... "you" cannot "take damage" while you have THP, and thus, Arcane Ward cannot take damage instead of you.
THP is always first, no matter what.
That is not actually how the ward works. It starts when you cast an subjugation spell and ends when you long rest. It isn't permanent. And specific/general is not time based, in a general sense THP will happen way more frequently that the ward, so in that sense the ward is more specific. Which is a slightly better argument, but also not how that works.
If characters can't take damage while they have THP and THP are only lost "When you have temporary hit points and take damage," does that mean having 1 THP makes you immune to any amount of damage? No, because that argument is terrible and you are grasping at straws...
Don't tell people to read a rule closely for 1 word while overlooking half a sentence yourself.
You're right, I did miss that it turns off when you finish a long rest, and doesn't turn back on until you next cast an Abjuration spell. That's a really weird way to do it, you'd really expect it to start at full capacity after a long rest! That does definitely make me agree that THP and Arcane Ward are equally-temporary, and thus equal in specificity.
Hey now, the "lost vs damage" isn't terrible, and isn't grasping at straws! It's precisely as technical and hair splitty as arguing that "you" aren't taking damage "whenever you take damage." We're off the deep end of analyzing these words by words, it isn't ridiculous to find significance in THP describing "losing THP" as being distinct from "taking damage." It results in no such quandary about 1 THP making you invincible, you very clearly "lose THP" and then take any damage remaining on the stack.
Do you really not see the language in THP which would lead to the conclusion that "you" aren't taking damage, until and unless you've "lost" all your THP? It makes that distinction, two sentences in a row:
When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover damage carries over to your normal hit points.
For example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take 7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then take 2 damage.
We're all grasping at straws here: at the end of the day, if you looked at either THP or Arcane Ward and were asked "do you lose this first before you take damage?" it would seem like a simple "yeah, obviously." We really have to split hairs and dig deep to find language that tips us clearly in one way or another when both are in play... you've got your "instead," I've got my "first," there's language that cuts both ways.
That being said, I may have overstated it a little when I said that JC was obviously wrong. I still think I'm right, but that "instead" is some powerful stuff for sure.
A little late to the party, but just wanted to leave this out for anyone who may come across it:
"Specific beats general" has nothing to do with how often a rule may be called upon in any particular game, or how often any feature may be used by a character. The rule priority of "Specific beast General" only separates general rules (as in rules that describe the general mechanics of the game and apply by default to their conditions) from specific rules (as in rules that interact with the general rules to produce different results, and are generally found in classs features, spells and the like), it doesn't give a "priority order" that hast to be carfully inferred from the text. If a specific rule supercedes another specific rule, it's either because of the way their mechanics are worded and interact, or because the rule's text outright states that it supersedes another specific rule, not because one could be read as being more specific than the other.
By the way, as a matter of fact (and quite ironically I may add), the THP rule is actually a general rule (it's part of the core rules of combat), while Arcane Ward is a specific rule, and it would still be if it was always active instead of automatically recharging after a long rest.
My personal ruling is that THP can stack if it's a result of the player themselves giving themselves multiple instances of THP somehow (such as with Way of the Long Death and Samurai's 3rd level abilities). I can definitely see abuse cases if it stacked, otherwise, and can still see abuse cases this way, but hey, those are my fires to put out.
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Abjuration wizards have a feature called Arcane Ward that lets us generate a ward whenever we cast an abjuration spell. If you dip in warlock and take armor of shadows you can at will give yourself the arcane ward and fill its temp hit points rather quickly. You also get access to armor of agathys, which grants temp Hp and would trigger the arcane ward temp Hp also. As far as I know the temp HP cant stack as RAW, but can anyone confirm?
On page 6 of the Sage advice compendium you find information about arcane ward. The gist is, that the ward itself is a separate protection for the wizard. It is the first line of defence and neither Temporary HP or (most) Resistances will interact with it.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Arcane ward is not temp HP.
Lanok seems to be asking a couple of different questions:
can an abjuration spell cast without a spell slot trigger Arcane Ward?
can multiple abjuration spell castings stack to refill the full capacity of the Arcane Ward?
can other spells (like Armor of Agathys) that provide THP or change how THP function, stack with Arcane Ward?
The answer to each of these is different.
1) Can an Abjuration spell that is cast without a spell slot still trigger Arcane Ward to refill THP? YES
Casting Mage Armor without a spell slot through Armor of Shadows without using a spell slot still counts as casting Mage Armor. The Abjuration Wizard's Arcane Ward feature does not ask for an Abjuration spell to be cast using a first level or higher spell slot (see other Wizard subclasses, like the Divination Wizard's 6th level Expert Divination), instead it asks for "an abjuration spell of 1st level or higher."
But is there any chance that a "spell of 1st level or higher" really means a spell cast using a 1st level spell slot or higher? No. From Chapter 10: Spellcasting,
This quoted section makes clear that a spell's level is the level identified in its spell description, not the level of spell slot used to cast it. Spells may be cast using higher level spell slots, or even no spell slots with a feature like Armor of Shadows, but that does not change that their "spell level" is defined by the Spell itself.
2) Can multiple Abjuration Spells stack their recharge of Arcane Ward, to fill it all the way up? YES
Generally, when you gain any number of THP, your THP total is set to that amount, not adding those new THP to any older ones. From Chapter 9, Combat:
That is the general rule. However, Arcane Ward works very specifically differently, because it does not cause you to "receive more" Temporary Hit Points. Instead, the Abjuration Ward itself has regular hit points, and "regains a number of hit points" every time you cast a spell. The word "Temporary Hit Points" never appears even once within Arcane Ward, it's a whole different (unique) system, where there's basically a floating "real HP pool" in your Ward, which can only be recharged using Arcane Ward's own rules, not with other outside healing.
Multiple casts of Mage Armor, each will cause the Ward to "regain" two hit points, up to your ward's max HP.
3) Can other spells that interact with THP stack with the Ward? KIND OF: THP CAN STACK ON TOP OF THE WARD, BUT THE WARD IS NOT THP
After section 2 above, the answer to this should be clear: there's nothing stopping you from popping an Armor of Agathys to have a pool of THP on top of your Arcane Ward. However, that THP will be used up first before any damage goes to your Arcane Ward: "...When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first." This avoid something cheesy like keeping 5 THP from Armor of Agathys protected behind a stack of dozens of Arcane Ward real-HP. The RAI of Armor of Agathys is pretty clear that it's the 'outside layer' of THP, so stupid player tricks to nest it inside the Ward probably won't be looked at kindly by your DM, and the RAW aligns, with THP having the only language about being "lost first" without anything in Arcane Ward suggesting similar precedence.
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Actually Arcane ward gets depleted first and Armor of Agathys only triggers once you start to reduce your actual THP.
https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/616020004488613888?lang=en
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Jeremy Crawford is wrong on that, which is the danger of trusting Twitter instead of a rulebook. It's not a matter of my opinion being more valid than his, or him understanding the RAI, the rules as written explicitly require that THP always be used first.
vs Arcane Ward
The Arcane Ward takes damage instead of "your normal hitpoints." But the THP take damage "first". Both of those are clearly happening before your character sheet HP get depleted, but since only THP explicitly says they are "first", they are "first."
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No, the arcane ward takes damage instead of "you." Temp HP takes damage first when "you" take damage.
The ward prevents damage from reaching your HP, temporary or otherwise. JC is right. And this is also printed by WotC in the official SAC, not just Twitter.
Both of these features trigger "whenever you take damage". That is not a meaningful distinction.
Arcane Ward: "Whenever you take damage...."
THP: "When you have temporary hit points and take damage..."
Getting metaphysical about "you" is tempting, but there's nothing RAW in either of these sections to suggest which one is more or less "you" than the other. Instead, all we have is that THP says in black and white that it is "first."
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Further arguments for why I'm not only RAW right, but also RAI right:
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Armor of Agathys deals damage "If a creature hits you with a melee attack". Even if the damage is 0, or redirected. You were still hit by a melee attack. Damage redirection (or reduction, or immunity) is not the same as attack redirection (See Cloud Giant Rune from Rune Knight for an example of this). So Armor would still deal damage even if the ward absorbed all the damage. Unless you meant "Trigger" as in losing temporary hp.
We also have that arcane ward has the word "instead." It is replacing the event of you taking damage with the event of the ward taking damage. THP only takes damage "first" when that damage applies to you, but the ward took damage "instead."
Once you're a Wizard (Abjuration) 2, you have the Ward "always." Awake, asleep, dead.... it's your class feature, and it's always on. Sometimes over that course of existence, you'll also have THP! Those moments are more specific.
I see the "instead" sentence. Its persuasive, but.... it first triggers when "you take damage." Read THP closely and you'll notice something: THP don't take damage, they are "lost", and the character only "takes damage" once they are all gone. I didn't bring this up earlier because it's super hair splitty but... "you" cannot "take damage" while you have THP, and thus, Arcane Ward cannot take damage instead of you.
THP is always first, no matter what.
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That is not actually how the ward works. It starts when you cast an subjugation spell and ends when you long rest. It isn't permanent. And specific/general is not time based, in a general sense THP will happen way more frequently that the ward, so in that sense the ward is more specific. Which is a slightly better argument, but also not how that works.
If characters can't take damage while they have THP and THP are only lost "When you have temporary hit points and take damage," does that mean having 1 THP makes you immune to any amount of damage? No, because that argument is terrible and you are grasping at straws...
Don't tell people to read a rule closely for 1 word while overlooking half a sentence yourself.
You're right, I did miss that it turns off when you finish a long rest, and doesn't turn back on until you next cast an Abjuration spell. That's a really weird way to do it, you'd really expect it to start at full capacity after a long rest! That does definitely make me agree that THP and Arcane Ward are equally-temporary, and thus equal in specificity.
Hey now, the "lost vs damage" isn't terrible, and isn't grasping at straws! It's precisely as technical and hair splitty as arguing that "you" aren't taking damage "whenever you take damage." We're off the deep end of analyzing these words by words, it isn't ridiculous to find significance in THP describing "losing THP" as being distinct from "taking damage." It results in no such quandary about 1 THP making you invincible, you very clearly "lose THP" and then take any damage remaining on the stack.
Do you really not see the language in THP which would lead to the conclusion that "you" aren't taking damage, until and unless you've "lost" all your THP? It makes that distinction, two sentences in a row:
We're all grasping at straws here: at the end of the day, if you looked at either THP or Arcane Ward and were asked "do you lose this first before you take damage?" it would seem like a simple "yeah, obviously." We really have to split hairs and dig deep to find language that tips us clearly in one way or another when both are in play... you've got your "instead," I've got my "first," there's language that cuts both ways.
That being said, I may have overstated it a little when I said that JC was obviously wrong. I still think I'm right, but that "instead" is some powerful stuff for sure.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
There is also the specific language in THP that "leftover damage carries over to normal hit points".
Whereas with arcane ward "you take any remaining damage."
Both have the trigger "you take damage," but only the ward ends with damage going to "you" to trigger THP.
A little late to the party, but just wanted to leave this out for anyone who may come across it:
"Specific beats general" has nothing to do with how often a rule may be called upon in any particular game, or how often any feature may be used by a character. The rule priority of "Specific beast General" only separates general rules (as in rules that describe the general mechanics of the game and apply by default to their conditions) from specific rules (as in rules that interact with the general rules to produce different results, and are generally found in classs features, spells and the like), it doesn't give a "priority order" that hast to be carfully inferred from the text. If a specific rule supercedes another specific rule, it's either because of the way their mechanics are worded and interact, or because the rule's text outright states that it supersedes another specific rule, not because one could be read as being more specific than the other.
By the way, as a matter of fact (and quite ironically I may add), the THP rule is actually a general rule (it's part of the core rules of combat), while Arcane Ward is a specific rule, and it would still be if it was always active instead of automatically recharging after a long rest.
My personal ruling is that THP can stack if it's a result of the player themselves giving themselves multiple instances of THP somehow (such as with Way of the Long Death and Samurai's 3rd level abilities). I can definitely see abuse cases if it stacked, otherwise, and can still see abuse cases this way, but hey, those are my fires to put out.