Good contingent spells for a Blackguard gish

[true_shinken]

OK, so I'm building a BBEG for my party to face in the near future.
I've already discussed his build at this thread and the Playground helped me greatly.
However, since I want this fight to be really long, climatic and interesting, I want him to have A LOT of contingent spells. The most he could have is 20, so I guess I'll go for that.

For now, I have:

• Delay Death Revivify
• Heal
• Globe of Invulnerability
• Ray Deflection
• Protection from Good. Trigger: victim of compulsion

Any help is valuable. He has access to all spells of up to 6th-level. I'm trying to restrict effects that grant immunity to low duration ones, so that the party's main guns don't suddenly become useless.

[Flickerdart]

Contingent Dimension Door is handy for when the party druid bearhugs him.

[The Rabbler]

OK, so I'm building a BBEG for my party to face in the near future.
I've already discussed his build at this thread and the Playground helped me greatly.
However, since I want this fight to be really long, climatic and interesting, I want him to have A LOT of contingent spells. The most he could have is 20, so I guess I'll go for that.

For now, I have:

• Delay Death
• Heal
• Globe of Invulnerability (but what should be the trigger?)

Any help is valuable. He has access to all spells of up to 6th-level. I'm trying to restrict effects that grant immunity to low duration ones, so that the party's main gun don't suddenly become useless.

firstly, for Globe of Invulnerability, IIRC you can have the trigger be something that the blackguard says. Come up with something cool for him to say (preferably something that implies invulnerability) and have that be the trigger.

Secondly, an energy immunity spell is always nice to have on your BBEG. I am not well-read on the contingency rules, so I'm not sure if you need to specify which type of energy you want as you're making the contingency. If you do need to specify, energy immunity: fire/cold would probably be the most useful, depending on what damage types your PCs deal. If you don't need to specify, however, a single energy immunity would be a nice annoyance.

Divine Power would also be a fun one, in terms of roleplaying, but you might already have that persisted.

[true_shinken]

firstly, for Globe of Invulnerability, IIRC you can have the trigger be something that the blackguard says. Come up with something cool for him to say (preferably something that implies invulnerability) and have that be the trigger.

Now that is an excellent idea. Thanks!

Secondly, an energy immunity spell is always nice to have on your BBEG. I am not well-read on the contingency rules, so I'm not sure if you need to specify which type of energy you want as you're making the contingency. If you do need to specify, energy immunity: fire/cold would probably be the most useful, depending on what damage types your PCs deal. If you don't need to specify, however, a single energy immunity would be a nice annoyance.

But is it below 6th level and low duration?

Divine Power would also be a fun one, in terms of roleplaying, but you might already have that persisted.

He actually has BAB 19, so he does not need it.

[Ajadea]

Wait, what's his build? What's the battlefield going to look like? He'd probably know this, and craft the contingent spells accordingly.

[Zephyros]

-Antilife Shell: Makes sure that those pesky PCs won't interrupt your monologue

On a more serious note I like to use Blade-barrier, Blasphemy and Legion of Sentinels (PH2) when I present a lone BBEG so dancing around him is more difficult.

[true_shinken]

Wait, what's his build? What's the battlefield going to look like? He'd probably know this, and craft the contingent spells accordingly.

Crafting a contingent spell is like making a magical item. It takes days to craft one. It can't be too specialized, otherwise it looks real silly.
'Well, I might meet a incarnum, so I'll Craft a Contingent incarnum immunity (note: this does not even exist). It'll only take 90000gp and three months.'

-Antilife Shell: Makes sure that those pesky PCs won't interrupt your monologue

On a more serious note I like to use Blade-barrier, Blasphemy and Legion of Sentinels (PH2) when I present a lone BBEG so dancing around him is more difficult.

Are those spells at 6th level or below? I know Blasphemy isn't.

[*.*.*.*]

Are those spells at 6th level or below? I know Blasphemy isn't.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/antilifeshell.htm

[nargbop]

If the Crafter has access to all spells, then great. Use these :
Greater Vitality
Neutralize Poison (less of an issue for hits from the Good Guys, and he's got good saves anyway). Panacea from Miniatures Handbook is better
Revivify from Complete Divine (this can piss your players off. Especially if you have a couple instances of it with triggers like 'When I die the first time')
Feign Death (sneaky sneaky, combine with previous spell and wait a minute for triple-sneaky)



Assuming that Summon spells are OK for the Crafted Contingent spells (they're not for standard Contingencies), you can buy yourself some breathing room by summoning several bruiser creatures all around you.

[Endarire]

My favorite contingency trigger is, "Whenever I desire it, this happens."

[Schylerwalker]

A good spell period for him to come to the fight is freedom of movement. I'd also recommend wraithstrike, bbite of the vampire king, and veil of shadows. As far as contingency goes, I'd definitely agree with heal, and maybe improved invisibility.

[The Rabbler]

I think what we should be asking now is this: how annoying/difficult do you want this blackguard to be? if you really tried, with just contingent spells, you could make him invincible. 20 revivifies will do that, though you could do even better if you picked other stuff.

If you want him to simply be a challenge to the PCs, I'd give him some nice blasty stuff as contingencies also, as damage never hurt anyone .

If you want him to be truly annoying, have him prepare healing/buffing spells, have a couple globes of invulnerability (all tied to different keywords), and a few chained contingencies. Example: revivify -> heal -> improved invisibility -> dimension door. If possible, some sort of illusion of the body would be nice to throw in as well. That sets him up right next to the weakest/squishiest member of the party about to unleash hell with his sneak attacks.

and, technically, you could have him TPK the party in one free action if you wanted to have all 20 contingencies in the same metamagic'd AoE uberspell chained to eachother and triggered by some sort of prayer to the blackguard's god (roleplaying is fun).

[true_shinken]

Revivify from Complete Divine (this can piss your players off. Especially if you have a couple instances of it with triggers like 'When I die the first time')

Can't believe I forgot Revivify. I was using Delay Death + Heal, clearly less effective. Revivify + Heal works a lot better, thanks.

Any thoughts on spells that grant low duration immunities?

[nargbop]

One issue with overloading with Crafted Contingent Spells : He becomes vulnerable to Reaving Dispel, Reciprocal Gyre, and plain old Dispel.

Any thoughts on spells that grant low duration immunities?

A number of canon video games have bosses that switch vulnerabilities around (first minute it's fire, second minute it's slashing, etc) , but in DnD the contingent rules are difficult to specify. You might as well Rule 0 it and ignore the mechanics for a thematically appropriate fight.

[cupkeyk]

Is the crafter a wizard ally? Ray Deflection is a must witha trigger of "When I am the target of a ray." Of course the blackguard must be aware of that he is the target so they might be able to sneak on in before it triggers. This avoids several one shot kill scenarios.

[true_shinken]

Is the crafter a wizard ally? Ray Deflection is a must witha trigger of "When I am the target of a ray." Of course the blackguard must be aware of that he is the target so they might be able to sneak on in before it triggers. This avoids several one shot kill scenarios.

His crafter ally is a Spellthief/Chameleon with access to all arcane/divine spells of up to 6th level.
Ray Deflection sounds nice, I'll definitely add it. Thanks.

[crizh]

If you are using Psionics I have a fairly comprehensive list that I am currently using for my Erudite.

This one translates though.

- Should I fall victim to a charm or compulsion – Protection from Good

[true_shinken]

If you are using Psionics I have a fairly comprehensive list that I am currently using for my Erudite.

This one translates though.

- Should I fall victim to a charm or compulsion – Protection from Good

While I do use psionics, the crafter of the blackguard's contingent spells does not have access to them.

[crizh]

Shame, the one I use most often is Synchronicity.

Gives you a standard action out of turn whenever the trigger event occurs. It's saved my characters life many times and is very cheap to craft.

We're using a house-ruled Craft Contingent Power feat because Psionic Contingency was too easily abused.

Some other ideas:

Should I be in a position to benefit from Death Ward - Death Ward

Should I be exposed to an effect that Dispels, Disjoins or Suppresses Magic - Teleport

Should I be knocked unconscious - Lesser Vigor

Should I exposed to an effect that interferes with Planar Travel - Teleport

Should I be swallowed whole....

Trouble is it is relatively easy to create a list of Contingent Spells that make you effectively invulnerable, you'll have to be careful to leave a chink the PC's can exploit.

[true_shinken]

Trouble is it is relatively easy to create a list of Contingent Spells that make you effectively invulnerable, you'll have to be careful to leave a chink the PC's can exploit.

Yeah, that's the whole thing. I'm trying to create something that will make the fight interesting, not something that will make the enemy invincible.
So, I thought about a few things.
1- Giving him more than two lives, i.e., having more than one contingent Revivify.
2- Adding an extra power on the 'second life', like contingent Vigor for fast healing. Maybe a polymorph effect for his last 'life'.

I do believe this might be a little too much for a party of 6 level 15 characters, though.