Contingent Spells and Dispel Magic

[Allanimal]

One of my players wants a contingency to cast spell immunity to dispel magic if dispel magic is cast upon him. Complete arcane p. 139 describes contingent spells. One bit says:


If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently dispelled (but not triggered), as if it were an active spell in effect on the target creature.

Which would activate first, the contingency or the dispel magic? That part quoted above would make me think that the dispel magic acts first, and could dispel the contingency before the contingent effect could happen.

Am I missing something that would clarify this?

[NNescio]

One of my players wants a contingency to cast spell immunity to dispel magic if dispel magic is cast upon him. Complete arcane p. 139 describes contingent spells. One bit says:



Which would activate first, the contingency or the dispel magic? That part quoted above would make me think that the dispel magic acts first, and could dispel the contingency before the contingent effect could happen.

Am I missing something that would clarify this?

It wouldn't work either way. Spell Immunity does not grant protection from spells which SR doesn't apply:


The warded creature effectively has unbeatable spell resistance regarding the specified spell or spells. Naturally, that immunity doesn’t protect a creature from spells for which spell resistance doesn’t apply.

And Dispel Magic is SR:No.

[olentu]

Since dispel magic does not allow SR spell immunity will not do anything even if it does get cast.

However since other spells could actually help I will comment on the timing issue. The thing about contingencies is that what activates first really depends on the wording of the contingency. So really it is a judgement call on the part of the DM as to whether the contingency is properly worded without being too complicated.

[NNescio]

Addendum: What your player would want is a Ring of Counterspells or a Spellblade (MoF), which grant immunity to a singular, specific, targeted spell that he can choose. Still, there are like, eight different dispelling spells, so he might be better off minimizing the chance of being targeted in the first place with spells like Invisibility, Mirror Image, and various concealment effects.

That said, the Ring of Counterspells is a rather good buy for a core-only game, as you would only have to worry about Dispel at lower levels (anything that could cast Greater Dispel is way over your head and can kill you with other methods anyway), plus Greater Dispel at higher levels (since Dispel becomes a non-issue later on due to its CL cap). As for MDJ... well, it technically isn't a dispel, and requires different and harder methods to protect against.

Guarding against AoE dispels is trivial -- just cast Magic Mouth at varying caster levels to act as ablative armour.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

This came up in a game once, wherin the target had Contingency Dimension Door upon being the target of MDJ to jump out of the way before it lands.

It was ruled that targeting occurs before the dispel check was made, and the moment targeting was established, the contingency went off. However, that was an ad-hoc ruling by a GM to protect the BBEG from being one-rounded, and may or may not be RAW accurate.

[jindra34]

This came up in a game once, wherin the target had Contingency Dimension Door upon being the target of MDJ to jump out of the way before it lands.

It was ruled that targeting occurs before the dispel check was made, and the moment targeting was established, the contingency went off. However, that was an ad-hoc ruling by a GM to protect the BBEG from being one-rounded, and may or may not be RAW accurate.

And poorly worded too. After all someone could target the tile beneath his feet, or to his left or whatever. MDJ is so nasty because its a super dispel magic AoE, so no need to target them personally.

[Allanimal]

Thanks everyone, that's all great info.