I'm GMing Age of Ashes right now and one of my players has acquired a Dragonslayer Shield and a Ring of Energy Resistance. Given that the rules say that the "shield has resistance 10 against the damage type" whereas the ring says that the "ring grants you resistance 5 against one type of energy damage" (both are against fire in this case), would these effects both apply to one attack?
Example:
You fail your save against Fireball and follow the steps for applying damage, rolling to see how much damage it does and determining that it's fire damage. Next, you apply any immunities, weaknesses, and resistances you have. The ring grants you 5 fire resistance, so you subtract 5 from the damage roll. You then would take damage and use Shield Block as a reaction (the Dragonslayer Shield allows you to do so against attacks dealing the damage type it's attuned to) and as per Shield Block it "prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness". The shield has 8 hardness, so you subtract 8 from the damage roll. As per Dragonslayer Shield, the shield's energy resistance "applies after reducing the damage for Hardness". The shield has 10 fire resistance, so you subtract 10 from the damage roll. The shield and shieldbearer both take any remaining damage as usual.
In the end, this means that (with these items) you can effectively have 23 damage shaved off of any fire-based attack by using Shield Block. Dragon-slaying indeed, or is the difference between you and the shield not significant enough to go against the usual rules against multiple resistances of the same type that you have stacking?
The extra 10 reduction only applies to the damage the shield takes.
So, in your example, the shield takes 23 less damage and the wielder takes 13 less damage.
Thank you! I knew I was missing something.
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I don't think the shield benefits from your ring of resistance.
In the example above, the shield block comes first. Shield reduces damage by 8. The shield and you take the full amount of damage left over. But you have 5 fire resistance, so you take 5 less, for a total reduction of 13. The shield has 5 fire resistance so it takes 10 less, for a total reduction of 18.
Even if your fire resistance applied to the shield, in this example they would not stack, you just take the highest resistance.
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I don't think the shield benefits from your ring of resistance.
In the example above, the shield block comes first. Shield reduces damage by 8. The shield and you take the full amount of damage left over. But you have 5 fire resistance, so you take 5 less, for a total reduction of 13. The shield has 5 fire resistance so it takes 10 less, for a total reduction of 18.
Even if your fire resistance applied to the shield, in this example they would not stack, you just take the highest resistance.
While this is a very reasonable way of looking at it, I do not think it works that way RAW. The reason being, the order in which damage is calculated is very specific. That the item specifically calls out that it's resistance is applied after calculating damage from the hardness means that it's resistance is treated as a separate reduction effect despite being called resistance. Conceptually, it might be best to not refer to it as resistance and instead maybe a flat fire protection unique to the item.
Though...I suppose...in theory...if the wielder somehow had a higher resistance to fire, said resistance value might be applied twice...curious..
It has nothing to do with the order of operations. The ring gives you fire resistance, it does not give your shield fire resistance. Also your fire resistance and the shield's resistance don't stack, so however you cut it the shield only takes off 18 not 23.
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Actually, looking at the specifics, I think Leo was correct - in this case, assuming the shield resistance type matches the ring resistance type and you shield block that type of damage, the shield would end up taking 23 less than the full damage, and the character would take 13 less than the full damage. My reasoning is as follows -
The Damage process is
1. Roll the dice indicated by the weapon, unarmed attack, or spell, and apply the modifiers, bonuses, and penalties that apply to the result of the roll.
2. Determine the damage type.
3. Apply the target’s immunities, weaknesses, and resistances to the damage.
4. If any damage remains, reduce the target’s Hit Points by that amount.
And Shield Block's trigger is
While you have your shield raised, you would take damage from a physical attack.
And the Dragonslayer shield says "You can use Shield Block against attacks that deal damage of that type."
So...when the character gets hit, the attacker follows step 1 to roll the damage (full damage), then step 2 to determine the type, then applies the character's resistance (which, in thise case, would include the ring of resistance, since the type matches). lastly, at step 4, the attacker applies the full damage less 5 to the character. It's at this point the character can trigger the Shield Block with the Dragonslayer shield, and the shield takes 18 less than what the character took (as per the Dragonslayer shield's description), meaning the shield takes (full damage less 5) less 18, or full damage less 23. The character takes the Hardness of 8 off what they suffer, making their total full damage less 13.
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It has nothing to do with the order of operations. The ring gives you fire resistance, it does not give your shield fire resistance. Also your fire resistance and the shield's resistance don't stack, so however you cut it the shield only takes off 18 not 23.
It, in fact, has everything to do with the order of operations.
You are correct about the ring not giving the shield fire resistance.
However, the ring reduces the damage (per the order of operations) before the shield block comes into effect. Then shield block reduces the damage by the Hardness of the shield. Then...
"...You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield."
At that point the item's unique and specific text comes into play and reduces the damage to it by the amount specified.
It does not necessarily make complete, conceptual sense. But, that is how the rules dictate how it works. If you wish to change it for games that you run, I'd strongly encourage that.