Sir Duke has permanent Mind Blank.
I make a contingency "when Sir Duke plays his own song, do X"
If we had to follow the rules strictly regardless of inferred intentions, would this work?
By RAW, Contingency is not a Divination spell. Mind Blank only blocks spells and devices that gather information about the target through divination magic.
Are you confirming that Contingency is assumed to be all-knowing?
Because, if that's the case, the way it could be used (and abused) is astounding. It's probably the most powerful source of knowledge in existance, as long as you can phrase things in a yes or no manner.
"If Michael Jackson remembers stealing my wallet, cast Light"
Go to MJ
"did you steal my wallet?"
I'm sure you can do better, but you get the idea.
RAW, sure. Find a GM willing to roll with it.
RAW, sure. Find a GM willing to roll with it.
Yes, this was already clear.
It does not mean one shouldn't attempt theorycrafting for the sake of it. That's how stuff like Tippyverse was born, it's cool stuff.
I agree, RAW doesn't stop you from getting your answer. But it's more expensive (1,500 gold) and time consuming (10 minutes) than most divination spells, and it only gives you a single and binary (yes / no) answer.
Perhaps, though using blood money and formal logic, you could start deriving non-binary results out of a series of uses.
RAW, sure. Find a GM willing to roll with it.Yes, this was already clear.
It does not mean one shouldn't attempt theorycrafting for the sake of it. That's how stuff like Tippyverse was born, it's cool stuff.
If this was already clear, why did you put this under the Rules forum? Sounds like you want a General Discussion or Advice about its usage rather than what it does, which is already clear according to you.
If this was already clear, why did you put this under the Rules forum?
I mean, what is clear, is that most GMs wouldn't allow it even if it was RAW.
About Contingency being all-knowing, I wasn't sure. That's why I posted it here.
A general discussion about the possible uses would be a nice development, tho I had to make sure it was rule legal first.
Perhaps, though using blood money and formal logic, you could start deriving non-binary results out of a series of uses.
Heh yes, I could imagine nerdy wizards doing exactly that, with a Wand of Lesser Restoration at hand. Let's just hope they don't get too excited about their research, because then they would forget the healing and at some point couldn't lift the wand anymore...
In the meanwhile, the rest of the group figured out the answer by more pragmatic approaches...
Well...
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 triggered. The companion spell occurs based solely on the stated conditions, regardless of whether you want it to.
This is the GM get out of jail free card - the spell can fail if the conditions are too complex, and the trigger will happen whenever the conditions are met.
So, for a long casting time, expensive focus spell, you're maybe getting a clear answer, provided that somewhere else in the multiverse the condition you set (an alien called Mikul Jacksonne remembers the day he stole a Mipurse brand electrical generator three galaxies away between you completing your contingency and asking Michael Jackson your question) doesn't happen.
Meh, as a GM I'd let it work. Once. For an important question.
The usual interpretation is that contingency reacts only to things that are physical. Things like what someone thinks are typically excluded, at least where I am playing.
(And yes/no divinations are astonishingly useless when the chips come down.)
It should be physical things as perceived or experienced by the caster at the time of triggering condition.
It should be physical things as perceived or experienced by the caster at the time of triggering condition.
Can't use a contingency to avoid an attack from a hidden source?
Where is it stated?
Common sense? "If I'm attacked by something invisible" is a valid choice, but would only trigger in my mind after the attack happens and you're aware of it. Or take damage if you're unconscious and can't see a miss.
From contingency...
"If complicated or convoluted conditions are prescribed, the whole
spell combination (contingency and the companion magic) may fail
when triggered."
Once again, we have a case where the rules are written to give PCs and NPCs a great deal of creative freedom, but consequently may require GM adjudication.
How complicated is too complicated? How convoluted is too convoluted?
A good GM will compare the relative power of 6th-level spells and use that as a guideline for determining if a particular condition is reasonable or unreasonable. Using contingency as an automatic truth detector might be reasonable. Using it as an automatic omniscience spell ("activate if I ever point at the person who murdered the king") is likely not reasonable.
As a DM, I'd use the fact that both contingency and its triggers need to be personal as a guideline. Some condition that applies to you, such as "when I am hurt" or "if I fall" or "if I say the following word" are all very personal. "When my finger is over the next letter of the alphabet in a sentence that spells out how Aroden died and why" isn't personal at all.
It is my opinion that more careful codification of what is and is not permitted would be a waste of word-count, and reduce the opportunity for creative play.
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As a DM, I'd use the fact that both contingency and its triggers need to be personal as a guideline. Some condition that applies to you, such as "when I am hurt" or "if I fall" or "if I say the following word" are all very personal. "When my finger is over the next letter of the alphabet in a sentence that spells out how Aroden died and why" isn't personal at all.
The most expensive Ouija board ever.
I think that Anguish has the correct answer.
Personal: The spell affects only you.
To me this means that the spell is based on the perceptions of the person casting it. You can’t use something like when Michael Jackson thinks about taking my wallet because then the triggering condition is affecting another person. You can use the actions of another person against you. So using the triggering condition of when my wallet is taken is fine.
The triggering action also has to be clear and simple. The description of the spell does not specifically state simple, but it does state “If complicated or convoluted conditions are prescribed the whole spell combination may fail. To me this means you have to be able to fully describe the trigger in no more than one or two sentences. You also have to absolutely identify the trigger. So saying something like when Michael Jackson takes my wallet will not work, because there are many people named Michael Jackson.
Another thing is that the trigger cannot have happened yet. Since the contingent spell goes off as soon as the triggering condition is met, this obviously prevents spells triggering from past events. This alone is going to prevent it from being used for a lot of divination.
In previous edition the GM was encouraged to look for loopholes in wishes. I think that contingency should be treated like that. You get one or two complete sentences to describe the trigger. If there is any doubt or confusion about the trigger the spell fails and yo are out 1,500 gp.
Theorycrafting is usually just forced exploitation of what everyone knows is not an intended use of something.
Besides, in cases such as this, if any GM was willing to make Contingency omniscient for the PCs, he'd also be doing that for all NPCs. And the players wouldn't like it.
FYI, Contingency doesn't cost 1500 gp if you waste (or use) it. A couple of people have erroneously stated this, but that's the reusable focus cost, the material components are costless.