Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gargoyle117 Jun 13, 2008 15:08:46	Hello all, I have been trying to wrap my head around the Iron Ward Crystals from the MIC and Adamantine armor. The Cystals give you a static DR of X#/- for X# hitpoints absorbed. X# depends on the strength of the cyrstal. It makes enough sense that these go on top of Adamantine armor just fine, they should be designed that way. So for say 30hp you could have 6/-, after which you would be back to 3/-. The trick comes from stacking these crystals with eachother and with feats that add to or increase DR. Would you be able to stack: Adamantine Armor (DR 3/-) Buckler (no DR) Lesser Iron Ward Cyrstal on Armor (3/- for 30hp) Lesser Iron Ward Cyrstal on Buckler (3/- for 30hp) This would be a total DR of 9/- until the two crystals are used up. My feeling is that the cyrstals constitute the same source or bonus, but others suggest that one is from the shield and one is from the armor, therefore different. Now add the complication of a feat to the mix. Say you take toughening transmutation which adds to your existing DR for the round in which you cast a transmutation spell. Would that add on to the 9/- DR in the above scenario? This has been really nagging at me. Thanks.
#2 bitznarf Jun 13, 2008 17:27:46	I'm relatively sure that DR does not stack - unless it specifically says it does. Take the monster building rules in the MM - if you add a template with DR to a critter that already has DR, they overlap rather than stack. If you would like I can start finding rules quotes to support that. I just don't have them off the top of my head.
#3 kinevon Jun 13, 2008 20:56:22	A few corrections that will assist you: Iron Ward Diamonds are armor crystals only, so they can only be used on armor, not shields. (Check out the Crystal of Adamant Armor for how a crystal that works with armor or shield is marked) You can only have one augment crystal on your armor at one time, so you will never run into a stacking issue with multiple Iron Ward Diamonds. You can swap between two of them, so having multiple, especially if you are planning on playing in ADPs, is not a bad investment. Per the description of the Iron Ward Diamond ("This damage reduction stacks with similar damage reduction granted by any other source."), it will stack with other sources of DR, so it would/should stack with DR from class (Barbarian, Pious Templar), adamantine armor, or other sources. For feats that add to DR, I would say that how the feat adds depends on the phrasing of the feat itself. I don't remember those feats offhand, other than one that adds +1 to "natural" DR, which wouldn't apply, IMO, to either adamantine or Iron Ward DR, but would to class or race provided DR. Would you be able to stack: Adamantine Armor (DR 3/-) Buckler (no DR) Lesser Iron Ward Cyrstal on Armor (3/- for 30hp) Lesser Iron Ward Cyrstal on Buckler (3/- for 30hp) This would be a total DR of 9/- until the two crystals are used up. My feeling is that the cyrstals constitute the same source or bonus, but others suggest that one is from the shield and one is from the armor, therefore different. So, you wouldn't be able to place the diamond on the buckler (sorry), so you would receive DR 6/- until the Iron Ward Diamond had absorbed 30 points of damage. A few points to think about: 1) For small hits (1-3 points), I would allow the player to have the hit absorbed by the armor DR, so a 3 point hit wouldn't use up any of the IWD unless the player wanted it to. 2) For medium hits (4-6), I would rule that it uses up 1-3 points, out of the 30 available, from the IWD. With the proviso: "Keep a running total." 3) For larger hits (7+), it would use up 3 points of the IWD's bank, but not any more. IMO, those 30 points per day are the amount of damage absorbed, sort of how a Brooch of Shielding works. Of course, if odd hits leave you with only 1 or 2 points left in the IWD's bank, it would only provide that level of DR, rather than a full 3, for that final hit. Hope that clears things up.