Masters of the Arcane

[Jemal]

Several things to say -

Chain contingency has not been reprinted in 3.5, and as such is not in the listed sources so you'd have to get Albedo's approval for it.

I'd have to agree with Vincent on the wording of it, though: so long as the spell triggered is 'affecting' him, he's not breaking any rules, and I'm not seeing any cheese here (So long as he doesn't attempt to archmage shape the spell so it doesn't affect him, as that would break the conditions of contingency, as the spell would NOT be affecting him. THIS is a commonly attempted cheese which does NOT work). Also, your iteration that using a spell in a way it wasn't intended is not clever is... strange, to say the least. I think hucking/levitating/finding something over an opponents head and transforming it into a giant rock is VERY clever, as well as hilariously amusing, and definitely not in the 'everyone tries it' column, as I've never seen ANYBODY try it (other than me..).

Also, I'd like to point out that the most common 2nd ed use for the chain contingency spell (Which was, as vince pointed out, worded the same as the 3E version) was "Ali-dhazim's Horrid Wilting X3. Trigger: Enemy Sighted."
At least it's been updated so that it has to Affect you as well, meaning you have to protect yourself against the effects before using it or suffer the same consequences as your opponent. It also means you can't find a spell that has NO protections against it, b/c any way YOU can protect against it, someone else can as well. Especially considering that in the nature of this campaign, with people not actually dieing in spell duels, we can figure out how other mages fight, gaining knowledge of their tactics that we can use to protect ourselves against those tactics, forcing them to come up with new ones.

Finally, to anybody who says "Wow that's powerful, so why doesn't everybody do it?" well, two reasons :
A - YOU are effected by the spells just as much as your opponent, meaning you'd also have to come up with a way of protecting yourself. Anybody with greater arcane sight would know what buffs you have, and if they know you've used contingent spells in this manner in the past, would have the opportunity to dispel those buffs (and/or the contingency itself), or buff themselves similarly.
B - It's NINTH LEVEL SPELL, of COURSE it's supposed to be powerful!!! Time Stop, Shape Change, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Wish, Gate, Imprisonment... ninth level spells are meant to be examples of "I'm a powerful mage, don't screw with me!".

Walking Dad - we've been standing around watching things happen here for a while, several of us have had chances of casting spells while waiting in the crowd. Halford, for example, wrote his starting post assuming he had a few buffs (Divine Insight, Inspiration, Energy Immunity: Fire), and I used Moment of Presience, assuming I'd cast it in the crowd while they spoke (Considering the time involved, I didn't think it would be a problem, and the DM has yet to complain about any of these).

 

[Albedo]

I was forbidden to take the craft contingency feat (and DN's have no access to the contingency spell)

We weren't allowed to start with active spells (includes contingency).

On those notes, Walking Dad, hes not saying hes using Craft Continency, he's just listing it as an example.

Also, there were no prebuffs allowed, and I've been assuming that every spell casted or listed being cast is common knowledge to everyone in the area, except for Jemal's since he uses disguise spell.


Contingency: Here is where I stand on contingency. First off, I don't believe fireball functions in contingency. Damage is not really an "effect" and doesn't really seem to be a personal thing to me. However, Dispel Magic is a debuff.Simply put, spells that I believe are acceptable have some effect on a character (haste, protection from energy, etc). Removing these effects would also have an effect on the character.

Now, I do believe the area dispel also allowable, since it has such an effect on you. Haste doesn't JUST effect you when being cast, its not a targeted spell on you, its a group of creatures that doesn't even have to INCLUDE you. And nobody has yet argued that haste cannot be in a contingency. Dispel magic follows the same standards.

Vincent: Chain Contingency hails from Tome and Blood, and hasn't been reprinted as far as my knowledge goes. As such, I can't really allow random 3.0 spells, sorry.

Any other questions?

 

[Jemal]

Hmm, problem solved. yay DM!

Also :

except for Jemal's since he uses disguise spell.

hehe.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Yay! Alphina really is just a jerk! All he did was cast Command Word: Pain, then command Word: Stun.

 

[OutlawJT]

Is there any chance you would approve use of the Book of Nine Swords? There is a mage prestige class in it that I have always wanted to play and never had the opportunity to try.

 

[Jemal]

Outlaw - the DM's made it clear on a few occasions that he will not just add sources, you HAVE to ask for specifics, including page numbers (which class, what feats, what powers, etc)

Dire Lemming - not to sound nitpicky, but it's Power Word, not Command Word.

 

[Dire Lemming]

Confusing it with Command I guess.

The point is, inflicting the effects of those spells on someone doesn't really prove anything except that you're able to cast them since they don't give a save. And we've all got level 9 spells.

I didn't notice that disintegrate at all. Nick wouldn't have accepted his offer of hospitality if I had... He doesn't feel secure hanging around psychopaths.

 

[Jemal]

Well then, good thing Nick didn't notice. Hey, look at it this way : If you DON'T join us in the 'cool kids clubhouse', Poor Elzmyr's gonna be stuck around all these evil psycopaths as peers and may give in to peer pressure.. Help me obi-wan, you're my only hope!

 

[Jemal]

Also, yes they do prove something : Showmanship/Impressiveness, which is exactly what I've been trying to convince people of. A few spells are impressive in and of themselves. The rest need to be used in Impressive ways.

Dropping a fellow high mage to his knees in pain with a swift action, and then turning around and forcing him to stand their dumbfounded as another later on are both examples of Impressiveness. There was nothing preventing you from retaliating except your own personal (Or perhaps your characters personal) views. In fact, since I'm pretty sure Beguilers have Power Word's on their spell list (they're enchantment spells), you probably could've returned the favour.

Now I'm not saying that I think what he did was a GOOD thing, just that it did APPEAR impressive, and appearances are everything. Especially in 'school'.

 

[Dire Lemming]

He'll do whatever he's going to regardless of anything Nick does. That's how PCs are. Nick isn't "cool" because he's not a sadistic jerk so no one cares what he thinks.

I'm saying that it doesn't appear impressive. Because he just did something anyone else here could have done. Yes I could have done it too but I chose not to because that would have been childish and petty. There was no creativity or ingenuity. It was a simple well known spell. It showed nothing but why he was even here in the first place.

Unless these people are complete idiots they aren't going to be impressed that someone they invited because of their power actually has the power they already knew they had. Nick said as much when he came out.