How does Sparkling Targe hardness bonus work?

[devlear]

Does the hardness increase apply to all shield blocks or only shield blocks from magical effects?
When I initially read it, I used the linking phrase (In addition) to join the circumstance bonus and the ability to block magical effects together, and then I applied the "When blocking damage in this way" to the main thought of the paragraph "When you're in Arcane Cascade stance with your shield raised".
However, it seems most people read the "When blocking damage..." clause as applying to the 2nd sentence.
Which one is the intended effect for the class feature?

Quote:

Sparkling Targe

When you're in Arcane Cascade stance with your shield raised, your circumstance bonus to AC from your shield also applies to your saves against spells and other magical effects. In addition, damage you take as a result of a spell or magical effect while you're in Arcane Cascade can trigger your Shield Block reaction, even if the damage isn't physical. When blocking damage in this way, increase your shield's Hardness by an amount equal to the extra damage from Arcane Cascade

[breithauptclan]

If the shield's hardness increased against all damage, then it would be written differently. It is much easier to include it with the effects of Arcane Cascade and simply say, "When you're in Arcane Cascade stance with your shield raised, your circumstance bonus to AC from your shield also applies to your saves against spell and other magical effects, and your shield's hardness increases by an amount equal to the extra damage from Arcane Cascade."

The only ruling that I can see that actually makes the words 'When blocking damage in this way' mean something different than not having those words there at all would be to have it referring to blocking spell effect damage.

[devlear]

You are probably right. Even though the "in addition" linking phrase is used, it is broken into a separate sentence so that was probably the intended target phrase. It would be clearer if the condition was re-iterated like it is in the Shield spell, by saying "When blocking spells or magical effect in this way..."
It is a little confusing, I know quite a few people who took my initial reading as the way it operates.

[_benno]

devlear wrote:

You are probably right. Even though the "in addition" linking phrase is used, it is broken into a separate sentence so that was probably the intended target phrase. It would be clearer if the condition was re-iterated like it is in the Shield spell, by saying "When blocking spells or magical effect in this way..."

It is a little confusing, I know quite a few people who took my initial reading as the way it operates.

It says 'When you block damage in this way'. Since raising a shield does not block damage, the only possible reference for blocking damage is to the shield block sentence.

[HumbleGamer]

Physical = shield hardness
Spells or Magical effects = shield hardness + X ( where X is the bonus from arcane Cascade).

One of the reasons I decided not to go for it ( also, magical effects and spells tend to be more stronger than single attacks, and because so using up more shield HP. This doesn't synergies with how a shield has to be used, which is to block highest number of times during a fight).

Fun fact, being a lvl 7 dwarf with master craft and dwarven reinforcements allows you to fortify your shield to get +2 extra hardness.