When does Contingency go off?

I was wondering about the contingency spell, and how to rule its triggering. Is it like a readied action where it goes off just before the event triggering it takes effect? This seems the likely answer in order to make most contingencies worth while (e.g. contingency protection from fire if I'm attacked by a fire spell).

The reason that it came to mind is as a potential Mordenkainens Disjunction defence... Contingency Antimagic Field if targetted by a Disjunction. That would give you and your buddies an 80% or so chance of surviving the MD which would be a pretty good bet. Other options might be "contingency teleport home if an antimagic field comes within 5ft of me" or ditto "if targetted by a Disjunction".

The reason that I'm asking is that I'm not sure which should be the "fastest gun" in this situation.

Does Contingency activate occur the instant when its trigger starts but before the triggering event completes? Or does it activate after the trigger?

The relevant portion of the SRD seems to be

The conditions needed to bring the spell into effect must be clear, although they can be general. In all cases, the contingency immediately brings into effect the companion spell, the latter being “cast” instantaneously when the prescribed circumstances occur. If complicated or convoluted conditions are prescribed, the whole spell combination (contingency and the companion magic) may fail when called on. The companion spell occurs based solely on the stated conditions, regardless of whether you want it to.

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Thoughts, rules opinions?

Regards

I think it goes off right after the declared trigger(s). Now, it might be possible to get it to go off before a completed action - but that will be tricky.

Two examples:

1. Heal if you've taken 150 points or more of damage. Right after taking the hit points, the Heal spell will go off.

2. Disjunction. When you are targeted by a Disjunction spell (before the spell is finished casting) an Antimagic Field goes off. This works, but the DM has to decide if it's possible - it could be a bit shaky since the trigger is something that has not affected you yet. Still, the condition is very clear, and the spell does not require that the trigger is something that happens to you.

In any case, Contingency is most certainly not an "interrupting" mechanic but it might be possible to use it that way if you can figure out the right trigger.

My reading supports the 'instantaneous' interpretation as that allows it to work as a useful defensive spell.

The biggest key is in how the how the trigger is defined and how omnicient you allow the contingency to be.

Example:
-Trigger: Center an AMF on me when someone begins casting a MDJ that includes me within it's area.

Scenario: While you are sleeping, a Mind Blank'd mage with Greater Invisibility up uses a Greater Metamagic Rod of Silence to silently cast MDJ.

My assumption above is that the MDJ is fast enough, so now the question becomes 'Does it trigger?'

By my reading of the rules, the answer is again 'Yes'. The problem with this interpretation is that it makes Contingency the most powerful divination in the game.

I would as well play it like Pyrex. Yes, Contingency becomes the most powerful divination spell, but all its power is basically uncontrollable, since the contingencied spell will activate regardless wether or not the spellcaster is aware of the event of the triggering condition.

This said, are you even sure that Antimagic Field can be used via Contingency? It's not a spell that affects your person per se. It affects an area centered on you. One could argue that since the spell specifically states that the area is centered on the caster, it can be thought of a spell that affects the casters, but IMO, Antimagic Field affects an area which happens to contain the caster.

Of course, if there has been additional rulings, faqs, and erratas on the subject, ignore my comment

AR

Altamont Ravenard said:

Yes, Contingency becomes the most powerful divination spell, but all its power is basically uncontrollable

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It's very controllable. It's all about choosing the trigger. That doesn't make it any less unbalanced when using it as a divination.

Ex:
->Trigger: Cast Blur when I come into physical contact with the true heir to the throne of <insert kingdom here>

Ex2:
->Trigger: Cast Greater Teleport when the king of <insert kingdom here> is targeted by a [Mind Affecting] spell.

Pyrex said:

It's very controllable. It's all about choosing the trigger. That doesn't make it any less unbalanced when using it as a divination.

Ex:
->Trigger: Cast Blur when I come into physical contact with the true heir to the throne of <insert kingdom here>

Ex2:
->Trigger: Cast Greater Teleport when the king of <insert kingdom here> is targeted by a [Mind Affecting] spell.

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Um, yes, well, I think I'd probabaly limit it to trigger that actually affect the caster personally, much like the contigent spell is limited. It is a bit much to use it as a divination spell, or a rescue spell for some other character. That just seems way out of what the spell is meant to do.

Pyrex said:

My reading supports the 'instantaneous' interpretation as that allows it to work as a useful defensive spell.

The biggest key is in how the how the trigger is defined and how omnicient you allow the contingency to be.

Example:
-Trigger: Center an AMF on me when someone begins casting a MDJ that includes me within it's area.

Scenario: While you are sleeping, a Mind Blank'd mage with Greater Invisibility up uses a Greater Metamagic Rod of Silence to silently cast MDJ.

My assumption above is that the MDJ is fast enough, so now the question becomes 'Does it trigger?'

By my reading of the rules, the answer is again 'Yes'. The problem with this interpretation is that it makes Contingency the most powerful divination in the game.

Click to expand...

This, if nothing else, is a pretty good reason to make contingency only take affect if the caster has already been affected by or is actively aware of the trigger.

For example:
Teleport me to ___ if Harm is cast on me. Will work after the harm
Teleport me to ____ if someone begins to cast harm – will only work if the caster of the contingency is aware of the harm and is therefore both better and worse.

Otherwise you get:
Cast ___ if Bob lies to me – meaning contingency is now a discern lies (granted only one) with absolutely no chance of failure.

Just as a reference, same topic here.

Andargor

Thanks Andragor, I hadn't noticed that.

I've just read that thread and it doesn't help address my issue.

I think I'm going to assume that in the instant of casting a spell there is a noticeable curdling of magical forces which is enough to trigger the contingency before the magic manifests. This is what wizards can use spellcraft to attempt to detect when a spell is being cast at them by an wizard casting a stilled, silent spell (which IIRC can still be counterspelled).

Thus contingency doesn't have any special divination powers, I don't have to worry about it going off contingent on events which affect someone other than the caster, but I have a useful general rule which allows contingency to be a pre-emptive response to a magical assault.

Regards,