Oh, do I have a build for you. For this, you need to take 5 levels in cleric or 9 levels in paladin. It might not make sense thematically, but if you want it to, its great. Your contingency is revivify. Once you fail 3 death saves, you're revived. You need a lot of diamonds, but at a high enough level to cast contingency, I think you can afford it.
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"I never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf."
Maybe haste setting off when you cast expeditious retreat or some other kind of buff on yourself. Having the dash for two actions and bonus action on top of your original speed and doubling all of that seems like a quick way to become the Flash in one move, setting the average person's speed to 240 ft, imagine doing this to a monk!
Polymorph is tricky- it can only be cast on something with at least one hit point. So it will not work if you become unconscious. Unless, of course you also had a Death Ward up.
I thought that using Contingency spells to trap monsters with walls of force and activate a damage over time spell such a Cloudkill, or Levitate a large rock and set Dispel Magic to release the rock might work. With 5e nerfing of this spell I suggest you Heighten this spell.
I thought that using Contingency spells to trap monsters with walls of force and activate a damage over time spell such a Cloudkill, or Levitate a large rock and set Dispel Magic to release the rock might work. With 5e nerfing of this spell I suggest you Heighten this spell.
You are correct. It specifically states in the spell that "The contingent spell takes effect only on you, even if it can normally target others." Because of this, any spell that could normally affect every member of the party would be wasted if used in combination with the Contingency spell. So the list of requirements for the Contingency spell as I see them is as follows:
It must be able to target a creature.
It must have a casting time of 1 Action
It must be of 5th level or lower.
It should also be noted that the Contingency spell does not keep concentration for you, so using this to combine spells like Haste with Expeditious Retreat will not work since you can't keep concentration on both spells. If you look at the wording for Glyph of Warding versus Contingency, you can see that one clearly states maintaining a spell for the duration while the only states that the spell only comes into effect.
That being stated, the best contingency spell is Otiluke's Resilient Sphere. Protection from everything for one minute. If you're clever enough to come up with the trigger properly, this will be your best friend to keep you safe from any major damage.
Turn 2: [action]Cast Tenser's Transformation (and get contingency) [bonus]say rapier command word. [haste action]attack once for 1d8+2d6+2d12+4 [free action] draw dagger
Turn 3 onwards. [action]attack for 3x 1d8+2d6+2d12+4. [bonus] dagger 1d4+2d12.
Benefits
Combined with Elven Accuracy feat, that's a good number of crit chances.
solid single target damage. 30 - 172 (before crits)
Good survivability. (+50temp hp. +2ac from haste, +damage mitigation from blink or mirror image, high con save due to bladesong and gaining proficiencey)
Still have a use for spell slots (they can still be sacrificed using Song of Defense)
I've only used this combo once, but went form 'almost out of the fight in turn one' to 'solo the boss'
Highest level magic missile set for when someone is concentrating on a spell that effects you. Help break that concentration on them really fast. Plus damage because why not?
Highest level magic missile set for when someone is concentrating on a spell that effects you. Help break that concentration on them really fast. Plus damage because why not?
Doesn't really work for Contingency because the spell has to target you. I mean I guess you could hit yourself with a bunch of magic missiles if you wanted but not sure what the point of that would be unless you just want to kill yourself.
Just a couple quick notes: AnderZ, Wall of Force isn't allowed (not a spell that can "target you"). DragonWolf, since it must be a spell "you can cast" it must be on the Wizard's spell list (unless your character gets it through a subclass).
DragonWolf, since it must be a spell "you can cast" it must be on the Wizard's spell list (unless your character gets it through a subclass).
This is not completely true. Yes, it must be a spell that you can cast, but that does not limit a character to a Wizard's list only. If they multiclass than they have a whole other list of spells they can choose from to use with Contingency. Then there are other cheats to this like the Ring of Spell Storing which make any spell a spell you can cast if that casting is limited to only one use.
If enveloped in magical darkness, Contingency Daylight my fists. Contingency Speak with Plants or Freedom of movement if affected by restricted movement or the effects of an Entangle spell. Contingency Heals or Deathward is always nice.
Grizzlebub has posted the best general uses I feel and SaKageGamer gives some good points. Wizard's list only are the general rule, rings of spell storing and magical feats exist to circumvent this restriction. I like to contingency Tidal Wave my clutz wizard, but his gushing and falling prone, is a curse from a Hag.
If enveloped in magical darkness, Contingency Daylight my fists. Contingency Speak with Plants or Freedom of movement if affected by restricted movement or the effects of an Entangle spell. Contingency Heals or Deathward is always nice.
Grizzlebub has posted the best general uses I feel and SaKageGamer gives some good points. Wizard's list only are the general rule, rings of spell storing and magical feats exist to circumvent this restriction. I like to contingency Tidal Wave my clutz wizard, but his gushing and falling prone, is a curse from a Hag.
You can't contingency Daylight or Tidal Wave.
For contingency it has to target you. That means spells that only target areas (Daylight, Tidal Wave) or objects (Daylight) cannot be stored.
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If enveloped in magical darkness, Contingency Daylight my fists. Contingency Speak with Plants or Freedom of movement if affected by restricted movement or the effects of an Entangle spell. Contingency Heals or Deathward is always nice.
Grizzlebub has posted the best general uses I feel and SaKageGamer gives some good points. Wizard's list only are the general rule, rings of spell storing and magical feats exist to circumvent this restriction. I like to contingency Tidal Wave my clutz wizard, but his gushing and falling prone, is a curse from a Hag.
You can't contingency Daylight or Tidal Wave.
For contingency it has to target you. That means spells that only target areas (Daylight, Tidal Wave) or objects (Daylight) cannot be stored.
I see. Yes, correct. Both, Tidal Wave and Daylight do not meet the requirements. I stand corrrected.
Any suggestions for a good Contingency spell that is not on the Wizard's spell list?
Anything that heals is pretty solid; if you go down, you pop right back up!
aura of life might be a fun one. It wouldn’t do a ton of healing, but if you happen to be the last one to go down, you might Auto-heal the entire party with 1hp each for one. More. ROUND! Heh
In my opinion, far in away the best use of contingency is for revivify. The condition being 59 seconds after your death, this makes it so that whatever killed you is probably not looking over your body and is a near surefire way to avoid at tpk.
In my opinion, far in away the best use of contingency is for revivify. The condition being 59 seconds after your death, this makes it so that whatever killed you is probably not looking over your body and is a near surefire way to avoid at tpk.
It's good but the need for multiclassing to make this happen and you can't do it before 16th level (as it requires 11 levels of Wizard and 5 levels in Cleric/Paladin/Artificer/Druid). By that point as a pure Wizard you could instead be casting something like Clone. If you were pure Cleric you could instead cast Death Ward.
If you're interested in using Contingency to escape death you could see if the DM will let you be a Mark of Healing Halfling. You can then take Close Wounds as a Wizard spell (Wizard Healing!) and so have a 5th level Cure Wounds ready to pop if you ever hit 0 HP.
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While avoiding damage is the obvious temptation for a wizard, personally I'm more inclined to want ways to avoid suffering conditions (charmed especially), so Dispel Magic is tempting as a counter to that, the trick is the trigger, something like "Triggered if I am rendered incapable of acting normally under my own free will by a spell, or if I tap my left elbow three times"? Intention being that it should trigger if any spell renders you unable to act, either by compelling you to do something, restraining you etc., might need some tweaking.
It not working on effects that aren't spells is the main drawback of that option, but the only things worse than being taken out of the fight are being actively turned against the group, or being in the fight but still unable to do anything.
While a Wizard should normally be able to Counterspell, this can work as a backup (if your Counterpsell is Counterpselled), or in cases where you're out of range to counterspell the caster (whereas you're always in range to dispel magic on yourself).
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I tend to fall into using for Dispel Magic like Haravikk suggests.
The trigger can be tricky, but since Dispel Magic only works on spells anyway I tend to use "If I am under the effect of a spell I did not cast upon myself, for longer than 3 seconds". This is usually decent enough but then I'm usually the main spellcaster and rarely the subject of other spells from teammates and that could become more tricky. Even specifying something about "willingness" is difficult as some beneficial spells like Bless completely disregard willingness at time of being cast and if you didn't know beforehand to be "willing" for it, then it technically happened without you being willing and the Dispel would happen before you realise it (probably).
Tricky.
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Depends how much you like your party mates. Word of Recall seems like fun. Wait never mind that is 6th level. Lets go with Mass Cure Wounds instead
Oh, do I have a build for you. For this, you need to take 5 levels in cleric or 9 levels in paladin. It might not make sense thematically, but if you want it to, its great. Your contingency is revivify. Once you fail 3 death saves, you're revived. You need a lot of diamonds, but at a high enough level to cast contingency, I think you can afford it.
"I never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf."
"What about side by side with a side?"
"Aye, I eye eye eye."
Maybe haste setting off when you cast expeditious retreat or some other kind of buff on yourself. Having the dash for two actions and bonus action on top of your original speed and doubling all of that seems like a quick way to become the Flash in one move, setting the average person's speed to 240 ft, imagine doing this to a monk!
Polymorph is tricky- it can only be cast on something with at least one hit point. So it will not work if you become unconscious. Unless, of course you also had a Death Ward up.
I thought that using Contingency spells to trap monsters with walls of force and activate a damage over time spell such a Cloudkill, or Levitate a large rock and set Dispel Magic to release the rock might work. With 5e nerfing of this spell I suggest you Heighten this spell.
You are correct. It specifically states in the spell that "The contingent spell takes effect only on you, even if it can normally target others." Because of this, any spell that could normally affect every member of the party would be wasted if used in combination with the Contingency spell. So the list of requirements for the Contingency spell as I see them is as follows:
It should also be noted that the Contingency spell does not keep concentration for you, so using this to combine spells like Haste with Expeditious Retreat will not work since you can't keep concentration on both spells. If you look at the wording for Glyph of Warding versus Contingency, you can see that one clearly states maintaining a spell for the duration while the only states that the spell only comes into effect.
That being stated, the best contingency spell is Otiluke's Resilient Sphere. Protection from everything for one minute. If you're clever enough to come up with the trigger properly, this will be your best friend to keep you safe from any major damage.
Expeditious Retreat
My situation is bladesinger specific BUT.
[Trigger]
After casting Tenser's Transformation
[Spell]
Mirror Image / Blink (your choice really)
My boss fight combo is planned as follows
Benefits
I've only used this combo once, but went form 'almost out of the fight in turn one' to 'solo the boss'
Highest level magic missile set for when someone is concentrating on a spell that effects you. Help break that concentration on them really fast. Plus damage because why not?
Rules lawyers say that Magic Missile only procs one concentration check. Lame, I know.
Doesn't really work for Contingency because the spell has to target you. I mean I guess you could hit yourself with a bunch of magic missiles if you wanted but not sure what the point of that would be unless you just want to kill yourself.
Just a couple quick notes: AnderZ, Wall of Force isn't allowed (not a spell that can "target you"). DragonWolf, since it must be a spell "you can cast" it must be on the Wizard's spell list (unless your character gets it through a subclass).
This is not completely true. Yes, it must be a spell that you can cast, but that does not limit a character to a Wizard's list only. If they multiclass than they have a whole other list of spells they can choose from to use with Contingency. Then there are other cheats to this like the Ring of Spell Storing which make any spell a spell you can cast if that casting is limited to only one use.
DragonWolf - a good one is Deathward.
If enveloped in magical darkness, Contingency Daylight my fists. Contingency Speak with Plants or Freedom of movement if affected by restricted movement or the effects of an Entangle spell. Contingency Heals or Deathward is always nice.
Grizzlebub has posted the best general uses I feel and SaKageGamer gives some good points. Wizard's list only are the general rule, rings of spell storing and magical feats exist to circumvent this restriction. I like to contingency Tidal Wave my clutz wizard, but his gushing and falling prone, is a curse from a Hag.
You can't contingency Daylight or Tidal Wave.
For contingency it has to target you. That means spells that only target areas (Daylight, Tidal Wave) or objects (Daylight) cannot be stored.
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I see. Yes, correct. Both, Tidal Wave and Daylight do not meet the requirements. I stand corrrected.
Anything that heals is pretty solid; if you go down, you pop right back up!
aura of life might be a fun one. It wouldn’t do a ton of healing, but if you happen to be the last one to go down, you might Auto-heal the entire party with 1hp each for one. More. ROUND! Heh
In my opinion, far in away the best use of contingency is for revivify. The condition being 59 seconds after your death, this makes it so that whatever killed you is probably not looking over your body and is a near surefire way to avoid at tpk.
It's good but the need for multiclassing to make this happen and you can't do it before 16th level (as it requires 11 levels of Wizard and 5 levels in Cleric/Paladin/Artificer/Druid). By that point as a pure Wizard you could instead be casting something like Clone. If you were pure Cleric you could instead cast Death Ward.
If you're interested in using Contingency to escape death you could see if the DM will let you be a Mark of Healing Halfling. You can then take Close Wounds as a Wizard spell (Wizard Healing!) and so have a 5th level Cure Wounds ready to pop if you ever hit 0 HP.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
While avoiding damage is the obvious temptation for a wizard, personally I'm more inclined to want ways to avoid suffering conditions (charmed especially), so Dispel Magic is tempting as a counter to that, the trick is the trigger, something like "Triggered if I am rendered incapable of acting normally under my own free will by a spell, or if I tap my left elbow three times"? Intention being that it should trigger if any spell renders you unable to act, either by compelling you to do something, restraining you etc., might need some tweaking.
It not working on effects that aren't spells is the main drawback of that option, but the only things worse than being taken out of the fight are being actively turned against the group, or being in the fight but still unable to do anything.
While a Wizard should normally be able to Counterspell, this can work as a backup (if your Counterpsell is Counterpselled), or in cases where you're out of range to counterspell the caster (whereas you're always in range to dispel magic on yourself).
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I tend to fall into using for Dispel Magic like Haravikk suggests.
The trigger can be tricky, but since Dispel Magic only works on spells anyway I tend to use "If I am under the effect of a spell I did not cast upon myself, for longer than 3 seconds". This is usually decent enough but then I'm usually the main spellcaster and rarely the subject of other spells from teammates and that could become more tricky. Even specifying something about "willingness" is difficult as some beneficial spells like Bless completely disregard willingness at time of being cast and if you didn't know beforehand to be "willing" for it, then it technically happened without you being willing and the Dispel would happen before you realise it (probably).
Tricky.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.