is it just me ,or is this spell useless unless you do either a healing/revive or a teleport?

Quote from Lorgorn >>

is it just me ,or is this spell useless unless you do either a healing/revive or a teleport?

 it has whatever use you give to it. like "nondetection if i'm ever targeted by scrying," which would effectively give you the benefits of an amulet of proof against detection without sacrificing attunment. there's the "featherfall/fly if i'm ever falling for [insert height you don't want to fall from, such as 15ft] and am unable toc ast featherfall/fly." there's ottiluke's resillient sphere, which can make you immune to everything for a minute. it's whatever you need it to be. even casting prestidigitate for when you're dirty, even thought that's a huge waste.

Quote from TypicalTips >>

You could theoretically cast this if you multi-class into Barbarian, then take the Zealot feat. (which allows anyone to cast revivify as a free spell, meaning no spell slot no gp component) and revive yourself 1-2 times.

That's not what zealot does.

"If a spell, such as Raise Dead, has the sole effect of restoring you to life (but not undeath), the caster doesn't need material components to cast the spell on you." 

It only lets you ignore the material components, spell slots are not material components.

Teleport is 7th level... 5th level or lower for contingency as I read it. Dimension Door maybe? To answer your question though, protection or extraction are the bread and butter of this spell. Some creative uses have been mentioned, but a lot of that will depend on your table and your DM.

Thinking of grabbing this as a Magical Secret on a Bard that already has death ward, idea being that it'll re-cast the ward if it ever goes down so I've got double death wards. I mean the sensible thing to do would be to have a Constitution modifier higher than -1, but that's not my Bard's style. 😉

I was wondering about the possibility of instead twinning it with something like Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (SRD: Resilient Sphere) with a trigger along the lines of "before I am dealt harm enough to fall unconscious or be slain, trigger the sphere", the idea being that this would explicitly place the trigger before damage is dealt, and only if the effect would result in unconsciousness or death.

It seems technically within the rules since the timing of the trigger isn't ambiguous (it can't happen after the damage so must happen after a hit, failed save etc.) so it's not a clear case of DM adjudication being required, and doesn't mention specific game mechanics (as unconsciousness and death are things the character would understand, especially my Bard who has been KO'd a lot). On the other hand, it delegates the job of judging every incoming attack, spell etc. onto the contingency spell, but it is magic so… 🤷‍♂️

Call me basic, but for my Bladesinger I think I'll be using this for either Mirror Image or Greater Invisibility. The trigger will be a simple keyword. That way I can put it in to play and still have my action.

1) can you cast a spell on a scroll?

2) can you overpower a spell as the spell component? IE: a magic missile is 1st level, but could be powered to 9th level. OK for this spell? I understand MM is not targeted to you - but a low-level invisibility cast to you but at 9th level could also include others as secondary effects... dimension door...

3) what is the combat round component of this going off? IE: is this free? is this a reaction? A main turn? A bonus action?

There's no text in the spell, or in the Sage Advice Compendium, that suggests that the "certain circumstance" that triggers the contingent spell, must be observable or otherwise knowable by the caster, right? So this spell is effectively a yes/no button for any question you might have about the goings on of the entire world. 

Example 1: you cast Contingency and set the trigger as "Whenever the BBEG takes a breath in (x) place". If the contingent spell goes off, you know where the BBEG is. 

Example 2: you cast Contingency and set the trigger as "Whenever the king takes a breath whilst charmed". If the contingent spell goes off, you know the king is charmed. 

I know it's a high level spell, and there are other divination tools the game gives you, but I think it's a neat little application, especially if the BBEG is immune to divination spells or whatever. 

Does contingency spell go off even if the caster cant see Stealth attack?

The casters exact words if someone attempts to Stealth /sneak atk against them dimension door teleports them away .

The spell says it triggers when conditions are met Well bad guy is attempting this so conditions are met but bad guy rolled higher on stealth . Im airing on dimension door triggering i'm planning on letting my player teleport  the second  the bad guy rolled stelth for sneak atk ?

Reason I ask is I had two other dms tell me that it doesn't matter if the attacker is stealthed the spell will not trigger yet and bad guy  gets a attack  but that doesn't make sense to me because the spell specifically states it triggers first time conditions are met . 

It says nothing about having to see anything happen .

Anyway can anyone help ?

“The first time an enemy hits me with a weapon, I cast fireball centered on myself.”

it’s a silly example, but I think it gets the point across

Quote from Eternaltotem >>

Can someone explain me how this spell works with an example? I still don't get it.

 
“The first time the paladin gets hit with an arrow, I cast healing word on him.”

Kind of a silly and specific example but I think it gets the point across

Quote from Phlynch >>

 

 

 

Beyond 20

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from yogg_saron >>

simple way to use this

get magic initiate feat pick cleric and cure wounds

cast this spell condition if i drop to 0hp cast cure wounds on me

 

 You're not wrong, but you could just have a cleric or other healer in your party heal you and save 1,500GP.

Spells like this are more for NPCs than players. Sure they're useful, but they're not useful enough to warrant the cost unless your gold supply is whatever the DM says it is.

 By this point you should have infinite gold as a player through fabricate shenanigans.

the spell specifically says the spell can ONLY effect you, so its pointless to try to use Healing Word on the Paladin when the spell doesnt work like that.

Quote from candycoveredmushroomman >>

“The first time an enemy hits me with a weapon, I cast fireball centered on myself.”

it’s a silly example, but I think it gets the point across

The fireball wont hit the enemy, it says IT ONLY EFFECTS YOU.  so you will take more damage stupidly.

Quote from rammsorrow >>

Does contingency spell go off even if the caster cant see Stealth attack?

The casters exact words if someone attempts to Stealth /sneak atk against them dimension door teleports them away .

The spell says it triggers when conditions are met Well bad guy is attempting this so conditions are met but bad guy rolled higher on stealth . Im airing on dimension door triggering i'm planning on letting my player teleport  the second  the bad guy rolled stelth for sneak atk ?

Reason I ask is I had two other dms tell me that it doesn't matter if the attacker is stealthed the spell will not trigger yet and bad guy  gets a attack  but that doesn't make sense to me because the spell specifically states it triggers first time conditions are met . 

It says nothing about having to see anything happen .

Anyway can anyone help ?

according to DnD Realmlore, Parwyyd Hanifar would employ a Fire Shield spell to protect him and a Dwarf rogue went for a sneak attack and instead got blasted by the Fire Shield.  So yes, it does activate if you have rogue attack you from Stealth.

I'm playing a barbarian wizard multi-class could I set a contingent spell to go off after I rage? The idea would be to activate a flame Shield while raging

could you cast a spell such as fireball on the rangers arrow with this spell, i would assume not considering "The contingent spell takes effect only on you, even if it can normally target others." but i also might be misinterpreting/ misreading it.

Quote from Chairboi >>

could you cast a spell such as fireball on the rangers arrow with this spell, i would assume not considering "The contingent spell takes effect only on you, even if it can normally target others." but i also might be misinterpreting/ misreading it.

Well, I think you could, but then as you say the spell would only affect you. So you would take the damage from the fireball if you're in its area of effect, but no one else would. Tough to imagine a situation where that might be useful, but who knows.