D&D 5E Blade Ward & HAM

[Corwin]

I think I want Blade Ward and HAM. I think I'd like them, Sam I am.


I'm thinking about taking Blade Ward for my Goliath Eldritch Knight. He has Heavy Armor Mastery already. So I was just wondering if there's any official rule/clarification on how these two should interact. Do you halve the damage and then reduce it by 3? Or reduce by 3 then halve?

 

[Lanliss]

believe the order is Immunity>Resistance>reduction, or something like that.

 

[jaelis]

Here's the rules quote you want:

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature is also within a magical aura that reduces all damage by 5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved, so the
creature takes 10 damage.

But blade ward is still pretty terrible

 

[Wepwawet]

Visualize what's happening.

Unfortunately the PHB doesn't give much of a visual description of what Blade Ward looks like...
I used to think that dozens of spectral daggers appear around you deflecting some blows.

In any case, being a ward it means that it's something outside of yourself, like a force field, which means that whatever weapon reaches your flesh, it first crosses this ward and then your heavy armor.
(Of course you could view this ward as a thin barrier over your skin, which would change the order of effects... but I wouldn't call that a ward)

With Stoneskin however, its resistance is the last one to be applied, because as the spell says it turns your skin into stone. Which is under your armor.

 

[Corwin]

Here's the rules quote you want:

That's what I was looking for. Thanks.

But blade ward is still pretty terrible

Your opinion is noted.

 

[Barolo]

(...)


But blade ward is still pretty terrible

Not if you combine all that with armor of agathys.

 

[Gadget]

Does anyone else think it is strange that Blade Ward, unlike other similar abilities (i.e. Stoneskin), make no mention of magic weapons bypassing the resistance granted? So, RAW, not even magic weapons get around Blade Ward.

 

[Caliban]

Does anyone else thing it is strange that Blade Ward, unlike other similar abilities (i.e. Stoneskin), make no mention of magic weapons bypassing the resistance granted? So, RAW, not even magic weapons get around Blade Ward.

I've noticed. It's pretty nice.

 

[Corwin]

I've noticed. It's pretty nice.

You must be wrong. I heard its pretty terrible.

 

[Caliban]

You must be wrong. I heard its pretty terrible.

Only if you don't know how to use it properly.