D&D 5E Is rolling a death save a valid trigger for contingency?

[Shadowdweller00]

Death Saves are an abstraction and shouldn't be a valid trigger. HOWEVER, there SHOULD be a valid in-world homolog that that abstraction represents - the victim being in critical condition for example; or whatever the DM feels is appropriate.

 

[Clint_L]

Thinking more about it, I do think of death saves as something that happens in game, not just a game mechanic. For instance, when a player fails one I might describe them bleeding out, or struggling to breathe, etc., and if they pass one I might describe how they don't seem to be getting worse.

So I think I probably would let a player use a failed death save for contingency.

 

[Hriston]

There's no rule based reason to deny rolling a death save as the circumstance that will allow the contingent spell to take effect. As the player casting contingency, you are fully in control of that circumstance.

 

[ichabod]

There's no rule based reason to deny rolling a death save as the circumstance that will allow the contingent spell to take effect. As the player casting contingency, you are fully in control of that circumstance.

But would you allow the circumstance to be "when the DM goes to the bathroom?"

 

[Umbran]

Spells are written in a way that is easy to read ambiguously - whether "you" in the description refers to the player or the character.

I generally take the latter, which means that the spell must use an in game, in-narrative event as its trigger. Death saves are not events in the narrative, they are game abstractions, and I wouldn't rule them to be a valid trigger.

On the other hand, I'm not trying to screw my players over - if the intent is to make sure the spell goes off when the character is on the verge of death and not unconscious for some other reasons, then, "Fall unconscious and dying from wounds," would do the trick.

 

[jmartkdr2]

But would you allow the circumstance to be "when the DM goes to the bathroom?"

There's no rules-based argument why you couldn't. But nothing would actually happen until the dm gets back.

I would call that shenanigans and probably give the player a flat look until they stopped being silly, but nothing in the spell's description says it has to be an in-game trigger.

 

[LordEntrails]

I would not allow "6 seconds" to be used like some of you are intending it. Yes a round is 6 seconds long. But from one character's turn to the next is not exactly 6 seconds. Not only because we re-roll initiative each round, but because initiative is an abstraction. Every character is acting throughout the entire duration of the round. It's not like characters are standing around waiting for the character before them to finish their turn.

6 seconds later is going to be some indeterminant moment during the next round. IMO there is no way to determine where in the round that happens.

Think of this; What if in round 1 initiative values are from 1 to 25, and the character's turn is initiative 15. But in round 2 initiative values range from 10-20 how are you going to determine when the trigger occurs in initiative order?

IMO, the OP's request seems to be about gaming the system, and I resist that as a DM. Now I would allow the trigger to be the start of the next round, or even the next round with a trigger on a random initiative value. But not at the start of a character's turn (initiative value).

 

[Mannahnin]

I would not allow a contingency on a death save. I would allow a contingency on getting knocked unconscious. One is an event in the game. The other is an event in the game world.

Yup. Mechanics are abstract representations of things happening in-world. But the spell has to be given an in-world event as a trigger.

Spells are written in a way that is easy to read ambiguously - whether "you" in the description refers to the player or the character.

I generally take the latter, which means that the spell must use an in game, in-narrative event as its trigger. Death saves are not events in the narrative, they are game abstractions, and I wouldn't rule them to be a valid trigger.

On the other hand, I'm not trying to screw my players over - if the intent is to make sure the spell goes off when the character is on the verge of death and not unconscious for some other reasons, then, "Fall unconscious and dying from wounds," would do the trick.

Agreed.

I would not allow "6 seconds" to be used like some of you are intending it. Yes a round is 6 seconds long. But from one character's turn to the next is not exactly 6 seconds. Not only because we re-roll initiative each round, but because initiative is an abstraction. Every character is acting throughout the entire duration of the round. It's not like characters are standing around waiting for the character before them to finish their turn.

6 seconds later is going to be some indeterminant moment during the next round. IMO there is no way to determine where in the round that happens.

Think of this; What if in round 1 initiative values are from 1 to 25, and the character's turn is initiative 15. But in round 2 initiative values range from 10-20 how are you going to determine when the trigger occurs in initiative order?

IMO, the OP's request seems to be about gaming the system, and I resist that as a DM. Now I would allow the trigger to be the start of the next round, or even the next round with a trigger on a random initiative value. But not at the start of a character's turn (initiative value).

Good point. The time abstraction means the in-game event is not always directly mappable to the initiative sequence.

For the sake of simplicity I would still be inclined to allow "six seconds after I am rendered unconscious and bleeding" as the in-world trigger, and mechanically interpret that as "one round later", though I'd be inclined to make that the end of the round.

 

[Stalker0]

The trigger has to be a specific in-fiction circumstance.

the text is much vaguer than this. Its literally "when a certain circumstance occurs".

Considering we have things that trigger on hitpoitns, which is very much a mechanical aspect and not a "in-fiction circumstance" I think the interpretation as wide or narrow as you want to make it.

Ultimately triggering it on one game mechanic seems as reasonable as triggering it on another imo.

 

[Mannahnin]

the text is much vaguer than this. Its literally "when a certain circumstance occurs".

Considering we have things that trigger on hitpoitns, which is very much a mechanical aspect and not a "in-fiction circumstance" I think the interpretation as wide or narrow as you want to make it.

Ultimately triggering it on one game mechanic seems as reasonable as triggering it on another imo.

What kind of things are you thinking of, specifically, which trigger on hit points?

The Contingency spell requires the character in the game world to specify the circumstance. This necessitates that the circumstance be a thing happening within the fiction. I don't think I'd let them specify a trigger based on a certain number of hit points any more than I'd say they could specify "when a person with the character class Ranger attacks me" or "when the Dungeon Master rolls initiative".