Contingencies: Good choices for triggers and spells?

[Mnemnosyne]

I've been considering various contingencies lately, and I find it's actually pretty hard to come up with a list of contingencies, trigger conditions, and spells to trigger. While I'm currently looking at building a list of contingencies for a specific character, I'm also somewhat interested in building up a good list of contingencies for general use. Obviously, since we're talking about multiple contingencies, this includes the Craft Contingent Spell feat. Assuming the character has an artificer with that feat available (and thus can have any spell ever contingently crafted on her), what good trigger conditions/spells would you pick?

The character I'm currently working with has an item of continuous favor of the martyr so she's immune to dazing, so her contingencies can safely trigger greater celerity, but I'm also looking for things that would be effective when greater celerity isn't the best response.

For instance, I'd like one to trigger for when she is prevented from taking any actions, even purely mental ones. I suppose one of the things that might cause it is being turned to stone. But...that's probably not the only thing that might cause it. So, I'm trying to find the best spell to respond to that particular situation, which would cover all possible reasons for being in that condition. If I could contingency a martial maneuver, I would contingency Iron Heart Surge...

As for ones I'm already thinking of, I have several:
1) When I am about to be subjected to an effect that would disjoin my permanent spells or magical items, trigger: Greater Celerity.
2) If contingency 1 is expended, and I am about to be subjected to an effect that would disjoin my permanent spells or magical items, trigger: Antimagic Field, with extraordinary spell aim to exclude myself.
3) If I am about to be trapped inside a barrier I am incapable of breaking or teleporting out of within two standard actions, trigger: Greater Celerity.
4) If contingency 3 is expended, and I am about to be trapped in a barrier I am incapable of breaking or teleporting out of within two standard actions, trigger: Greater Teleport (to somewhere safe, would vary based on the campaign of course).
5) If I am ever rendered incapable of taking any actions, even mental actions, trigger: [Figure this out].
6) If I am ever about to die from injuries, trigger: Heal.
7) If I am ever killed, and my body is intact, trigger: Revivify.
8) If I am ever affected by a revivify, trigger: Heal.
9) If I am ever killed and contingency 7 is expended, trigger: Wish. "I wish for me, and all those I consider my companions currently with me, to be transported to a location that is safe for us and will remain so for at least 24 hours."
10) When contingency 9 triggers, immediately trigger: Revivify.

I'm also thinking about ones if I am killed in such a way that revivify can't affect me, but I'm not sure if those would be destroyed along with the body, honestly. Would the contingency trigger at the same moment as my body is disintegrated, for instance? If so, I think it would be something along the lines of:

11) If my body is ever disintegrated or otherwise rendered incapable of being affected by revivify, trigger: Wish. "I wish my body, and everything I was carrying at the moment of my death, were transported to and restored in perfect condition at [safe place]."
12) When contingency 11 triggers, immediately trigger: Revivify.

...so, looking for advice on improving that list and adding to it. Any other survival contingencies that are key to have that I haven't thought of? My character is, of course, far more intelligent and considerably wiser than me, so I shall rely on the collective knowledge of others to improve my own plans up to a level she would come up with on her own. :smallbiggrin:

[Carth]

Note that greater celerity is an 8th level spell, and contingency tops out at level 6 spells. If you're using metamagic reducers, you can make twinned celerity a 6th level spell, which is even better. Also, you'll want to avoid anything that overlaps with the instant refuge spell (Spell Comp.).

[Mnemnosyne]

Contingency as a spell does, but Craft Contingent Spell can have any spell that you know. Indeed, as far as I can tell, you don't even have to have the ability to cast the spell normally, only know it, so you could use a spell with metamagic piled on that would make it 10th+ level. It would of course become increasingly expensive, but possible. I'm not really looking at cost in these, though.

Twinned celerity is an interesting idea though...good thinking. And instant refuge...I'd forgotten about that one. That can definitely replace the greater teleport one.

[TuggyNE]

2) If contingency 1 is expended, and I am about to be subjected to an effect that would disjoin my permanent spells or magical items, trigger: Antimagic Field, with extraordinary spell aim to exclude myself.

This may or may not work properly; a clever foe can target mordenkainen's disjunction to burst from a point right next to you, which would probably still let it trash your stuff.


5) If I am ever rendered incapable of taking any actions, even mental actions, trigger: [Figure this out].

Hmm, you could try panacea, but that wouldn't catch everything by a long shot.

You might just have to set up several overlapping contingencies for different things.


9) If I am ever killed and contingency 7 is expended, trigger: Wish. "I wish for me, and all those I consider my companions currently with me, to be transported to a location that is safe for us and will remain so for at least 24 hours."

Contingencies aren't divination spells, so this is iffy. It's likely to, at best, transport you to a location you currently consider safe, whether or not it actually is.

[Mnemnosyne]

Hm, you think the extraordinary spell aim excluding myself would allow the MDJ to affect me? ...it's plausible. I'd rather not AMF myself straight up because, while dismissable, that does take a standard action to accomplish by RAW. I suppose another greater celerity or, following previous advice, twinned celerity might be a good choice, but I was trying to split it up so that the backup trigger would be different than the first one. It might be worth leaving out the extraordinary spell aim.

I think I just realized a potential solution to number 5, though, while I was looking up panacea. For some reason it hadn't occurred to me before. I can limited wish for iron heart surge. A third level maneuver certainly within the power limits of limited wish, I would say. I do believe that would be completely effective, since IHS is so famously worded to remove any negative condition at all.

As for number 9, I was counting more on wish to handle the determination of the safety of the location. But yeah, even that seems somewhat iffy. At the very least it would be safe at the moment I'm transported there, I believe. It seems like it would be within the safe boundaries of wish.

[Douglas]

Limited Wish (or even a full Wish) duplicating any martial maneuver is very much in DM judgment territory. The only possible way to get it in is under the "power level in line with" clause, and spells and maneuvers are such completely different systems that there's no clear guideline for comparison.