Contingency

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

I think the ruling is:

The number of Contingencies allowed is inversely proportional to the IQ of the DM. 

True

[Brainpiercing]

They are slotless magic items. So GDM won't affect them at all, unless it is targeted at one individually (or Chained to hit them all). Even then it would only be suppressed for 1d4 rounds, or whatever.

That's pretty neat, actually. I always thought contingent spells were rather crappy due to the danger of being dispelled, but if they are not, then.... 

[Hallack]

Complete Arcane pg 139

If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of a dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently disspelled (but not triggered), as if it were and active spell effect on the target creature.  In an anti magic field contingent spells are suppressed as all other magic items are.

Read that whole section, that rule is inclusive explicitly to Crafted Contingencies.

Cheers

[PhaedrusXY]

Complete Arcane pg 139

If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of a dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently dispelled (but not triggered), as if it were an active spell effect on the target creature.  In an anti magic field contingent spells are suppressed as all other magic items are.

Cheers

Ohh... so I remembered incorrectly. Wow... WTF. Isn't the feat a magic item crafting feat, though?

[Hallack]

I guess it is and yet isn't.  Does kinda balance out the abusiveness of the feat a bit though.

[PhaedrusXY]

I guess it is and yet isn't.  Does kinda balance out the abusiveness of the feat a bit though.

Meh. Rings of Counterspells are cheap as hell, and just happen to go up to 6th level spells.

Of course the DM could use other, non-core versions of Dispel to get around that, if he really wants to. He should just ban the freakin' feat, though...

[BowenSilverclaw]

I guess it is and yet isn't.  Does kinda balance out the abusiveness of the feat a bit though.

Meh. Rings of Counterspells are cheap as hell, and just happen to go up to 6th level spells.

Of course the DM could use other, non-core versions of Dispel to get around that, if he really wants to. He should just ban the freakin' feat, though...

Time to load up on Spellblades

[ksbsnowowl]

Complete Arcane pg 139

If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of a dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently dispelled (but not triggered), as if it were an active spell effect on the target creature.  In an anti magic field contingent spells are suppressed as all other magic items are.

Cheers

Ohh... so I remembered incorrectly. Wow... WTF. Isn't the feat a magic item crafting feat, though?

Craft Contingent Spell originally appeared in Unapproachable East.  I wonder if it says different from Comp Arc (though I realize that CA is the more recent printing).

[Azrael]

I usually set my contingency to cast Indomitability at 2 hp.

That way, no matter what happens, you cannot die from a single attack; even works against disintegrate.

Revivify is also a good one but you have to have a vigor or fast healing or something to make it work well. Though, as long as you are in a party it shouldn't be a problem for someone to heal you.

[Brainpiercing]

Complete Arcane pg 139

If the bearer of a contingent spell is the target of a dispel magic, the contingent spell might be permanently disspelled (but not triggered), as if it were and active spell effect on the target creature.  In an anti magic field contingent spells are suppressed as all other magic items are.

Read that whole section, that rule is inclusive explicitly to Crafted Contingencies.

Cheers

I guess I remembered correctly, then... Luckily it's only targetted dispel magic. By literal RAW, it also doesn't even count for Greater Dispelling, or at least not for any of the other dispelling effects, like Chain dispel, or whatever.

[Negative Zero]

I usually set my contingency to cast Indomitability at 2 hp.

That way, no matter what happens, you cannot die from a single attack; even works against disintegrate.

Revivify is also a good one but you have to have a vigor or fast healing or something to make it work well. Though, as long as you are in a party it shouldn't be a problem for someone to heal you.

I would argue that you take the damage all at one time, so you can't have Indomitability cast at 2 HP.

[telehax]

Agree, the world would be so much weirder if HP trickled downwards like in Mother3.

The level one contingent spells are so cheap that even as low as level 5 you can go around with contingent magic circles (when you're affected directly by something mind affecting) or contingent buff spells.

[Negative Zero]

"The world would be so much better if _____ like in Mother3." is pretty much universally true. Mother 2, also.

But yeah, everyone in my party always has, at the very least, a Cure Moderate Wounds for if they have under 1 HP but are alive. A few of us even have Revivify. Don't forget to have some sort of a Cure contingency with your Revivify, so you aren't stuck at -1 HP.

[Azrael]

I usually set my contingency to cast Indomitability at 2 hp.

That way, no matter what happens, you cannot die from a single attack; even works against disintegrate.

Revivify is also a good one but you have to have a vigor or fast healing or something to make it work well. Though, as long as you are in a party it shouldn't be a problem for someone to heal you.

I would argue that you take the damage all at one time, so you can't have Indomitability cast at 2 HP.

Well since there are items and spells like close wounds that seem to support my usage I would say that my contingency does indeed work as intended.

Another one I like to do as a psion is contingent a linked revivify to a body adjustment. As long as the enemy doesn't realize you were brought back to life you are conscious again your next round. Either that or a teleportation to a "safe house" so you can just wake up by yourself; though this may prevent you from participating in the rest of the adventure, so I would go with the body adjustment for PCs and Teleport for NPCS

[Negative Zero]

My understanding is that Close Wounds exists to instantly stabilize an ally who has been knocked unconscious.

[Operation Shoestring]

My understanding is that Close Wounds exists to instantly stabilize an ally who has been knocked unconscious.

or to keep him from being knocked unconscious, assuming he hasn't gone too far down.

[Azrael]

An immediate action can be applied at any time, even if it interrupts damage. The close wounds spell would be utterly pointless if it didn't work before the damage kills you. I think it even says this in the spell description. Read the whole spell.

If not consider the Elan's ability then.

Or if you need the perfect example; take a look at the ring of nine lives. Its a 'no acton' but it should still be the same principal.

[Negative Zero]

Now that I've looked at Close Wounds in detail, I see what you mean. However, notice that it specifically says 'after the subject takes damage.' You can't cast it mid-damage, but if you cast it after the damage is dealt, this has the listed effect of preventing death.

The Elan's ability specifically says 'the damage he is about to take'. About to take. The ability is activated before the damage starts.

Ring of Nine Lives says "drops to 0 hp or below." Or below. If it could activate at any time, why would it have the 'or below' part? The way I see it, this ring won't help you if an attack drops you to below 10 HP. Or, you could argue that the healing happens after the damage is applied but before the resulting effect (your death) takes place, which appears to be how Close Wounds works.

[PhaedrusXY]

Or, you could argue that the healing happens after the damage is applied but before the resulting effect (your death) takes place, which appears to be how Close Wounds works.

I think that's exactly how these things are supposed to work. If you can interrupt an action itself (i.e. immediate action spells, etc), then you should certainly be able to slip something in between an action and its consequences.

[Azrael]

Or, you could argue that the healing happens after the damage is applied but before the resulting effect (your death) takes place, which appears to be how Close Wounds works.

I think that's exactly how these things are supposed to work. If you can interrupt an action itself (i.e. immediate action spells, etc), then you should certainly be able to slip something in between an action and its consequences.

I guess you could argue that, I would say its up to the DM.

I suppose you could contingency the indomitability to activate "when I take damage." Then it should activate when the damage is taken but before its dealt; like the elan ability. It will probably cause your contingency to go off more often than you would like, but if you are really good at avoiding damage in the first place it should be ok.

Though you could also make an argument something like this.

If you "immediately die" at -10 hp then why can such an affect (RoNL) interrupt the immediate condition of death upon reaching -10 hp and not the further taking of damage at any point.

I don't know if I explained that well because I'm running on very little sleep.

Basically the question is: what determines how effects interact with other effects. i.e. why is the death at -10 hp separate from the damage itself? Is it because its a separate condition or merely for convenience sake?

Isn't it plausible to consider each hit point lost a separate condition able to be responded to? I mean, technically that's what the discharge effect of the spell indomitably does. If the discharge effect of the indomitability spell can interrupt damage then why cant a contingency spell. Indomitability itself is like a mini contingency.