Help me formulate a contingency

[SolvAnt]

Hi playgrounders,
I wrote this contingency for my level 13 warforged war-wizard :
'' When my real, non illusory, body is targeted by a melee attack and I wish to avoid it. '' (but in french) : cast dimension door.
The goal is to avoid only dangerous attacks that could break my concentration. But not to trigger it if my mirror image of simulacron is targeted.
Now I think it is RAW legal. But I am not certain.
Can you help me rephrase that to make it better ?
Or do you know a good contingency I couls add to my arsenal ?

Thanks

[PhantomSoul]

I would ask the DM is that sort of Trigger is even permitted, particularly with "and I wish X" (I don't expect that would fly in any games I play in or DM for; it goes directly against the way Contingency is described to work)

[SolvAnt]

I did ask the DM and he seemed doubtful. But did not rule it out yet.
I know it is a weird way to work around the ''whether or not you want it to.'' part of the spell.
Assuming you are right (you probably are). Do you have a suggestion for another formula?
Would this one work ? :''[...] if the attack is likely to break my concentration.''

[Hobbo Jim]

It might work as "If I am concentrating on a spell and am attacked, cast dimension door." kind of thing. The only issue I might see with that is where you dimension door to, but that might be a personal table issue.

[Damon_Tor]

'' When my real, non illusory, body is targeted by a melee attack and I wish to avoid it. '' (but in french) : cast dimension door.

If contingency can read your mind and know what you want, why not just have the trigger be "when I want to cast Dimension Door"?

[PhantomSoul]

It might work as "If I am concentrating on a spell and am attacked, cast dimension door." kind of thing. The only issue I might see with that is where you dimension door to, but that might be a personal table issue.

Also, whether you can effectively have Contingency trigger on a counterfactual (I would have been hit if not for Contingency), which may not be allowed... (For Hobbo Jim's phrasing, check if you can separate the mechanical description of "Attack" not including resolution of that Attack from the outcome)

[ezekielraiden]

"When my physical body, but not any illusory or magical duplicate of that body, would be subject to an incoming melee attack, cast dimension door."

I'm pretty sure that's everything you can squeeze out of this. Contingency explicitly says that it goes off as soon as its trigger is met, "whether or not you want it to" (emphasis added). I cannot see any way to add in a trigger of "when I want it to" that doesn't violate the terms of the spell text.

Now, you might be able to get tricky with something like "and there are at least N opponents within 20 feet of me" or the like, to make sure that it wouldn't go off when there's only one enemy and thus not a big threat...but that would exclude things like big solo boss fights, which isn't ideal either. So...yeah, I'd be really surprised if the thing you want is possible.

[NNescio]

You might have to specify beforehand which way and how far you're teleporting with D-Door. The contingent spell has been cast already; it's just hasn't come into effect yet.

Rules aren't exactly clear, but ruling otherwise (that the caster gets to set any variable parameter when the spell comes into effect, not when casting) runs into issues with Contingencies set to trigger when the caster dies or is otherwise completely* incapacitated.

(*not just the Incapacitated condition, but something like a coma or total stupor)

[Gignere]

I don’t think you need to quite so verbose, if you are using mirror images or other illusions frequently.

Just say when you are the target of a damaging attack you cast DDoor. Note mirror images actually changes the target.

[SolvAnt]

Thanks for the reply.
I will for sure change the wording of my contingency. I'll make sure my DM and the rest of my table is ok and clear with what it means.
But I will try and find something very complex and ''better'' than just : when targeted by an attack. Something someone with 20+ int could figure out.

[Blood of Gaea]

"When I wink my right eye twice in a row." Is pretty foolproof.

[Segev]

"When I am about to be hit by a damaging effect while concentrating on a spell, cast dimension door to transport me to the nearest safe location at least 30 feet away from the source of damage."

It still isn't perfect, and I'd probably go with misty step over dimension door, but it'll do for most purposes.