Warding Bond has a duration of 1 hour and has a material requirement of
a pair of platinum rings worth at least 50 gp each, which you and the target must wear for the duration
If one of the two rings is removed, does the spell end, or are its effects merely suppressed? If the ring is replaced within the 1-hour duration, would Warding Bond need to be re-cast, or would its effects resume?
This question was prompted by reading Does casting the Polymorph spell on a creature break an active Warding Bond spell affecting that creature?
If an in-game example is important, however, imagine Melthior and Sir Bartus are a couple of bros hanging in a park. For a lark Sir Bartus casts Warding Bond on Melthior and at the same time gives Melthior a platinum ring as part of the casting. They spend 15 minutes goofing about before Melfior is like "Hey Bartus, cool spell and all but I gotta scram. Here's your ring back" and removes the ring to give back to Sir Bartus. At that moment however Viscardi and Kalrook, a couple of local ruffians, arrive and make clear their intention to skirmish. Recognizing the danger Melthior replaces the platinum ring upon their finger. Does Sir Bartus need to re-cast Warding Bond in order to protect his friend or is the spell still effective once the ring is replaced?
Best Answer
The spell ends if the ring is removed
Warding bond has a very specific material component.
The section on material components states:
As a general rule, I would say that once a spell is cast, the materials used to cast it no longer need to be considered. However, warding bond is different from other spells in this wording on the material component (emphasis mine):
I would rule this as a case of specific-beats-general in that the use of the word "must" indicates that the duration is directly linked to the ring being worn, and thus the spell ends immediately upon removal of the platinum ring(s).