So a friend of mine and I got into a brief discussion about the Ruby Weave Gem and its ability to ignore spellcasting components. Had a couple of possibilities we were unsure about and I wouldn't mind hearing what others think, since it seems unclear.
Using the Ruby Weave Gem to ignore the spellcasting component of Contingency, two possibilities came to mind: 1. The component is ignored, meaning anything related to the component is similarly ignored. You no longer have to keep the component on your person to maintain the spell. 2. The component is ignored, but the spell still requires you to keep the component on your person at all times. With no component available to keep on your person, the spell immediately ends on casting.
A similar issue comes in with the spell Instant Summons, and this one's worse. Because you have to crush the component as a part of the summons ability, there's nothing to crush, so the spell should fail to have an effect. But I considered the possibility that the spell could instead simply require the name of the item, no crushing required, because there's nothing to crush.
I think the second option of Contingency is the correct one, personally, and the friend thinks I may be right, but it would be nice to be a little more sure.
Option 2 seems correct for Contingency in this scenario. The description for the Ruby Weave Gem specifies that you can ignore the spell's material components "when you cast a spell". The Contingency spell has a casting time (10 minutes) and a duration (10 days). During or upon finishing this 10 minute casting time you have the option to ignore the component since this is when you cast the spell. Once it is cast, the effect is ongoing for 10 days, during which time the component cannot be ignored -- if it is required during this time then it remains required whether or not the Ruby Weave Gem was used during the casting. As you mentioned, this should cause the spell to end immediately after it is cast.
I think that pretty much the same thing happens with Instant Summons. The component can be ignored during the 1 minute casting time, but the spell also has an ongoing duration of "until dispelled" during which time the component cannot be ignored. Since the spell's effect ends when Dispel Magic or a similar effect is successfully applied to the sapphire, we could rule that the spell ends immediately after it is cast. Or, we could just say that the spell effect goes on forever doing nothing and there is no possible way to interact with it further, which is more or less the same thing.
There is a third middle ground option with regards to the Instant Summons.
A friendly DM might let the ruby weave gem allow you to substitute in a a component of otherwise inadequate value. For instance :
You have a gem worth 100 gp and you expend two charges from the ruby weave gem to use the ruby in place of the 1000 gp sapphire while casting the Instant Summons spell. Then destroying the 100 gp ruby triggers the summons. Perhaps, to keep it from being overpowered (which the weave gem kind of is) they could limit it to spending one charge per spell (in the case of Instant Summons this would require a 500 gp gem).
You could apply that to something like contingency or glyph of warding as well. A piece of string or cheap bracelet surreptitiously given to someone could carry the contingency spell and not draw too much attention or be written off as nonmagical (especially with Magical Aura). It just opens up more opportunities for cleverness and narrative possibilities, in my opinion.
So a friend of mine and I got into a brief discussion about the Ruby Weave Gem and its ability to ignore spellcasting components. Had a couple of possibilities we were unsure about and I wouldn't mind hearing what others think, since it seems unclear.
Using the Ruby Weave Gem to ignore the spellcasting component of Contingency, two possibilities came to mind:
1. The component is ignored, meaning anything related to the component is similarly ignored. You no longer have to keep the component on your person to maintain the spell.
2. The component is ignored, but the spell still requires you to keep the component on your person at all times. With no component available to keep on your person, the spell immediately ends on casting.
A similar issue comes in with the spell Instant Summons, and this one's worse. Because you have to crush the component as a part of the summons ability, there's nothing to crush, so the spell should fail to have an effect. But I considered the possibility that the spell could instead simply require the name of the item, no crushing required, because there's nothing to crush.
I think the second option of Contingency is the correct one, personally, and the friend thinks I may be right, but it would be nice to be a little more sure.
Option 2 seems correct for Contingency in this scenario. The description for the Ruby Weave Gem specifies that you can ignore the spell's material components "when you cast a spell". The Contingency spell has a casting time (10 minutes) and a duration (10 days). During or upon finishing this 10 minute casting time you have the option to ignore the component since this is when you cast the spell. Once it is cast, the effect is ongoing for 10 days, during which time the component cannot be ignored -- if it is required during this time then it remains required whether or not the Ruby Weave Gem was used during the casting. As you mentioned, this should cause the spell to end immediately after it is cast.
I think that pretty much the same thing happens with Instant Summons. The component can be ignored during the 1 minute casting time, but the spell also has an ongoing duration of "until dispelled" during which time the component cannot be ignored. Since the spell's effect ends when Dispel Magic or a similar effect is successfully applied to the sapphire, we could rule that the spell ends immediately after it is cast. Or, we could just say that the spell effect goes on forever doing nothing and there is no possible way to interact with it further, which is more or less the same thing.
There is a third middle ground option with regards to the Instant Summons.
A friendly DM might let the ruby weave gem allow you to substitute in a a component of otherwise inadequate value. For instance :
You have a gem worth 100 gp and you expend two charges from the ruby weave gem to use the ruby in place of the 1000 gp sapphire while casting the Instant Summons spell. Then destroying the 100 gp ruby triggers the summons. Perhaps, to keep it from being overpowered (which the weave gem kind of is) they could limit it to spending one charge per spell (in the case of Instant Summons this would require a 500 gp gem).
You could apply that to something like contingency or glyph of warding as well. A piece of string or cheap bracelet surreptitiously given to someone could carry the contingency spell and not draw too much attention or be written off as nonmagical (especially with Magical Aura). It just opens up more opportunities for cleverness and narrative possibilities, in my opinion.