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jordanz
Senior Scribe
553 Posts |
 Posted - 20 May 2012 : 16:48:36
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I've always been fascinated with contingency spells.
Could you guys detail some of the most effective or interesting contingency spell combos you have ever come across during your campaigning life, or in a D&D novel in the areas of :
OFFENSE SPELL COMBOS:
DEFENSIVE PELL COMBOS:
EVASIVE spell combos:
SURVIVAL spell combos:
MISC. Spell combos
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7970 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2012 : 18:00:56
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| Since at least three of your five primary categories seem to involve defense, escape, and survival (which says a lot about your spellcasting preferences, expectations, and intended use) - I would suggest you take a look at the Elminster's evasion spell described in 2E Forgotten Realms Adventures. |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 20 May 2012 18:01:45 |
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jordanz
Senior Scribe
553 Posts |
Posted - 20 May 2012 : 18:41:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Since at least three of your five primary categories seem to involve defense, escape, and survival (which says a lot about your spellcasting preferences, expectations, and intended use) - I would suggest you take a look at the Elminster's evasion spell described in 2E Forgotten Realms Adventures.
Thanks, me likey:
http://dndtools.eu/spells/forgotten-realms-campaign-setting--19/elminsters-evasion--1201/ |
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Eldacar
Senior Scribe
438 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2012 : 03:55:05
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It might not be quite what you're asking for, but I'll list some of the contingencies and defenses my high-level (17-20 range) mage keeps about his person at all times (not an exhaustive one, since I can't recall all of them without checking the character sheet). Note that these are created with the Craft Contingent Spell feat, the Contingency spell, and Instant Refuge (the 3.5e update to Elminster's Evasion). They are also, thanks to a handy ability of the Dweomerkeeper prestige class (from the "More Divinity" download off the Wizards site), supernatural, meaning they can't be dispelled and use no material or XP components.
- Astral Projection (at all times is projecting himself astrally from his personal fortress on a private demiplane replete with a weirdstone to discourage visitors, so the spells and defenses apply equally to the wizard and to his astral projection)
- Absorption (a spell that would damage him is cast in his direction)
- Atonement (if alignment changes)
- Summon Monster IX (if outnumbered)
- Heal (drops below half HP)
- Heal (drops to 0 HP or below)
- Mind Blank (triggers if his active mind blank is destroyed)
- Celerity (if ambushed; a two-feat combination of Mark of the Stars and Mark of the Dauntless makes him immune to ambush/flat-footed and immune to being stunned or dazed, so Celerity has no downsides)
- Dimension Door (if harmed with a physical weapon)
- Dimension Door (if rendered unable to cast spells)
- Greater Teleport (if spell list is exhausted)
- Dimensional Lock (if extraplanar creatures plane shift in)
- Gate (if the enemy CR is more than 5 higher, gates in up to 48 HD of creatures)
- Antimagic Aura (anybody attempting to disjoin him)
- Antimagic Field (anybody attempting to area-dispel him, shaped so he has a five-foot cube in the middle where his spells still function)
- Elminster’s Effulgent Epuration (entering a spell duel)
- Regenerate (if he loses a limb)
- Create Magic Tattoo (+1 effective spellcaster level, +2 competence bonus to attack rolls, spell resistance 18)
- Mind Blank
- Greater Ironguard
- Mind of the Labyrinth (affects anybody who targets him with a mind-affecting spell or ability with a confusion effect for 1 round, disoriented by the mazelike confines of his consciousness; a DC 35 Will save allows them to avoid this effect; he can activate a dominate person effect as the spell with a 1 hour duration on one humanoid who casts a mind-affecting spell on him, though doing this will end the spell effect)
- Indomitability (protected from the first attack that would reduce him below 1 hit point; the attack must be one that deals damage; regardless of how much damage is actually dealt, the spell will keep him alive on 1 hit point, and the remaining damage is ignored)
- Favour of the Martyr (immune to nonlethal damage, charm and compulsion effects, attacks that function specifically by causing pain [e.g. the wrack spell], and anything that would cause him to be dazed, exhausted, fatigued, nauseated, sickened, staggered or stunned; he remains conscious at -1 to -9 hit points and can take a single action each round while in that state, and does not lose hit points for acting; he also gains the benefits of the Endurance feat)
- Greater Anticipate Teleportation (in a 200-foot radius emanation, any teleportation spell or effect, including spells with the teleportation descriptor, can be anticipated, making him exactly aware of the location where the creature will arrive, their size, their type, whether there are others arriving with them, the type of any extra creatures, and delays their arrival by 3 rounds, so that the creature will arrive just before its initiative count in that round, though the creature does not perceive this delay; this also works against creatures that do not intend to land within the bounds of the spell, but does not prevent them from teleporting away, though if their destination is still within the radius of the effect it will alert him)
- Contingent True Resurrection
- Instant Refuge (automatic transport to a second private [last-ditch retreat] demiplane upon 1) the loss of his physical faculties, 2) the loss of his mental faculties, 3) his death, 4) an unauthorised visitor entering the demiplane, 5) the separation of his mind and body or 6) the utterance of the word "Palladium")
- Astral Seed (triggers if all his other resurrection-contingencies are used up)
It can be difficult to harm him and find a way around his protections, but such are the issues with all high-level mages in the end, I suppose. |
"The Wild Mages I have met exhibit a startling disregard for common sense, and are often meddling with powers far beyond their own control." ~Volo
"Not unlike a certain travelogue author with whom I am unfortunately acquainted." ~Elminster |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2012 : 04:02:51
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| I wasn't aware that Antimagic Aura foiled Mordenkainen's Disjunction? It was my understanding it would be "broken" as well. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Kris the Grey
Senior Scribe
USA
422 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2012 : 05:06:09
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| I was always a huge fan of the 2E 'Mantle' spell from the Secrets of the Magister. Extremely restricted I know, but about the most amazing contingency I've ever seen (and lusted over). |
Kris the Grey - Member in Good Standing of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors, the Arcane Guild of Silverymoon, and the Connecticut Bar Association |
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Eldacar
Senior Scribe
438 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2012 : 06:15:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
I wasn't aware that Antimagic Aura foiled Mordenkainen's Disjunction? It was my understanding it would be "broken" as well.
It's a percentage chance of destroying the antimagic aura/field. Basically, it's there to slow a disjunction down (without really pushing the caster-level boosts and entering epic levels, they're unlikely to go beyond a 1/5 chance - 20% - with a CL 20). Stopping it at the most basic is a quick, slap-dash epic ward that blocks the effect of any disjunction, but the character in question isn't at epic levels yet.
Of course, I can always re-cast astral projection after a 36 hour rest and recharge on the demiplane for the six seconds I'll be gone from the Material Plane, which will recreate the copies of anything that's disjoined or dispelled, but if I can no-sell the tactic to begin with then I don't have to bother.
(The 36 hours allows for, if the projection is destroyed, a good twenty-four hour rest, further time spent re-memorising spells, followed by food, leisurely reading, and so on and so forth before re-entering the battle. One must always be prepared to keep a healthy ratio of rest and relaxation to frantic spell duels, after all.) |
"The Wild Mages I have met exhibit a startling disregard for common sense, and are often meddling with powers far beyond their own control." ~Volo
"Not unlike a certain travelogue author with whom I am unfortunately acquainted." ~Elminster |
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Killer Contigency Combos
