So, the Spell "Contingent Action" allows you to cause someone to ready an action in response to specific trigger.
So, could you set it up as "When you see someone start casting a spell, you spend a standard action to ready a counterspell against them."
Of course, the spell says that you can't use the readied action to cast a spell or use a supernatural ability, but counterspelling technically does not fit into either category.
If this works, does this mean a Wizard with "Spell Perfection (Contingent Action OR Shadow Evocation)" and quickened spell is now the best counterspell build in the game?
Did I just discover something amazing, or am I missing something obvious here?
Contingent action has a 1 minute casting time so can't be quickened. Shadow evocation works I guess though the %real could be a problem (exactly when it'd apply I'm not sure, but I expect it'd get involved), and of course spell perfection is something of an endgame trick being character level 15 minimum.
It's a trick, but doesn't look like an amazing trick to me.
Contingent action has a 1 minute casting time so can't be quickened. Shadow evocation works I guess...
Thanks, I hadn't noticed the one minute casting time on Contingent Action.
However, Shadow Evocation manages to override it, which is completely hilarious to me: Abjuration gets so shafted that Illusion can beat it at its own game by pretend-casting an evocation spell.
You make a good point about this being an end game trick, but there are ways around this.
"Magical Lineage (Contingent Action)" and Extended Spell allow you to have ten minutes with a free counterspell in your back pocket at level 5, at the expense of a third level spell slot. As you level up, the cost of a third level slot diminishes significantly.
I am interested in the %real question though.