Playing with Contingent Spells

[Callista]

I've got an arcane spellcaster who's just now got the Craft Contingent Spell feat. I've done some of the standard things with it; but I'm looking for creative ways to use this to help the party. At this point I have 8th level spells available and a decent amount of cash to work with; I've already collaborated with the party's cleric to cast a contingent Revivify on the cleric, which should stop us from getting into the "Who raises the guy who can raise the dead?" dilemma.

What have you done with contingent spells that turned out to be useful? What are some good options? I'm aware of course that it costs XP, so I want to spend them wisely.

[blazingshadow]

something like full buffing the entire party in an inmediate action sounds good in an emergency.

[Dylaer]

Item crafting is actually a good way to level quick, because of the way XP works. If you keep yourself a level behind with crafting, you'll have a heap of magic items, and the party average level will drop slightly, so everyone will get more XP.

Try some things like contingent Dimension Door for when you're grappled, contingent Heal or Restoration for when other things go wrong, contingent Water Breathing - the options are endless.

[RaggedAngel]

Because two casters can work together when crafting, having a Revivify on everyone is really, really excellent, especially because you don't have to worry about the trigger going off "accidentally"- if you die, you're going to want it to activate.

See if you can talk your DM into allowing you and the cleric to split the xp cost; it'll keep the party more even, and makes sense flavor-wise.

[Cadian 9th]

Contigent Celerity.

Oh, um, I don't know this, but if you have 10 contigent spells with the same trigger, say, 10 CLWs if you take damage, do they all trigger at once?

(Sorry to be off topic)

[NNescio]

Contingent Ray Deflection. Trigger: When I'm targeted by a ray spell (that is above a certain level, if DM-permissible).

The aforementioned Contingent Celerity is probably the best general-purpose contingency ever, since it basically boils down to "pick the best spell for this scenario".

[Endarire]

Favorite Contingent Trigger: "When I want to."

I like a Contingent Item of chain contingency (Tome and Blood 86). In the chain contingency, place revivify >> heal >> heal or revivify >> heal >> spell turning.

[Story]

I'm not sure that counts as a "clear" condition though. Are there any free actions you can tie it too? Speaking is good but it might fail if you're silenced for some reason.

This is beginning to sound like a safe word.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Here's 8 free action triggers that are pretty much indisputable.

"I snap my thumb and index finger on my right hand"

"I snap my thumb and middle finger on my right hand"

and so on with the ring and pinky, then the four on your left hand.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to rule it a move action to trigger two or three contingencies on the same hand as a move action, but snapping your fingers once almost certainly constitutes a free action.

Then, of course, there's triggering a contingency on a contingency; as in "when my contingent <spell name> goes off" for the trigger.

Worst case, you just use them as extra spell-slots for your highest level spells via "when I say 'contingent' then complete the verbal and somatic components for the spell" as your trigger.

As for what to attach to the contingency, staple "get out of trouble" spells come to mind; feather fall, water breathing, freedom of movement, freedom, stone to flesh, etc. Naturally, those would have unique triggering conditions specific to the spells' applications.

[Sudain]

Can a person have multiple contingencies active?

[Killer Angel]

Can a person have multiple contingencies active?

Not with the Contingency spell. That’s why Craft Contingent Spell feat exists.

[Cruiser1]

Oh, um, I don't know this, but if you have 10 contigent spells with the same trigger, say, 10 CLWs if you take damage, do they all trigger at once?
Yes, if multiple Contingencies have the same trigger condition, then they can all go off at once. If you want to avoid this, adjust the trigger conditions slightly. For example, instead of "cure me if I've taken damage", it should be "cure me if my health is below maximum". That way, if you're damaged, contingent cures will fire until you're fully healed, however additional contingent cures won't fire unless needed.

[TheTick]

Hmm, but if all the contingencies have that as a trigger, wouldn't they all still go off once you took damage? How would you try to word them so they don't do that?

[Slipperychicken]

Worst case, you just use them as extra spell-slots for your highest level spells via "when I say 'contingent' then complete the verbal and somatic components for the spell" as your trigger.

As for what to attach to the contingency, staple "get out of trouble" spells come to mind; feather fall, water breathing, freedom of movement, freedom, stone to flesh, etc. Naturally, those would have unique triggering conditions specific to the spells' applications.

Don't force yourself to complete Verbal and Somatic components. Develop a nonsense word which you can utter to have it go off.

Feather Fall seems like a horrible idea for a Contingent Spell. It should already be taking up one of your 1st level slots, and is an Immediate Action regardless. Save yourself the work on water breathing and FoM by just casting Heart of Water (it's an all-day buff) as part of your buff rotation.

If you like Contingent Spells, you'll probably like Gemjump.

[Flickerdart]

Contingency trigger: If my health is below maximum, and I have no un-expended contingencies placed before this one, trigger this contingency.

[Killer Angel]

Feather Fall seems like a horrible idea for a Contingent Spell.

But it's a nice trigger for a contingency spell, thanks to the fact that feather fall can be cast as an interrupt.

[LTwerewolf]

When i played my archivist/wizard MT (early entried so dual 9's), I basically made myself immune to every effect possible. I then proceeded to do so for my party members. I also didn't trust a couple of the members, so had a contingency to remove all the contingencies. With contingent spells you can basically do whatever you want, whenever you want. It's pretty much a game-ender if you want it to be.

[Aracor]

So LTWerewolf, two stupid questions:

First, do you happen to have the actual list of contingent spells that you used? I think that's exactly what the OP was looking for.

Second, what did you use to remove all of the other contingencies? Just a targeted dispel taking advantage of the rule that you automatically dispel your own spells?

[LTwerewolf]

So LTWerewolf, two stupid questions:

First, do you happen to have the actual list of contingent spells that you used? I think that's exactly what the OP was looking for.

Second, what did you use to remove all of the other contingencies? Just a targeted dispel taking advantage of the rule that you automatically dispel your own spells?

1. I don't believe the actual lists still exist, but it would probably take less time to specify what we didn't use than what we did. We filled in holes for everything that we weren't immune to via items. If I felt threatened was a legitimate contingency to our dm.

2. Yep, disjunction that they had to accept (thus don't get a save) as a contingent that went off in the event that they turned on me.