What is the most fun trigger spell code you can think of?

[Ratter]

The title. A trigger spell code being the instructions you give to a spell stating when to trigger and what to do. I want to know the best of these codes and how to exploit them, pure RAW.

an example of one of these codes may be a polymorph spell on contingency that says "If polymorph has been triggered by contingency (blank) times AND you could die to a hit that has been fired, polymorph into a T-Rex" you can repeat this code constantly changing the blank from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3 for each one, allowing someone to stay alive for the next 10 days of combat so long as no one does 136 damage in one hit.

I love these codes so lets brainstorm the best ones.

[Lunali]

The title. A trigger spell code being the instructions you give to a spell stating when to trigger and what to do. I want to know the best of these codes and how to exploit them, pure RAW.

an example of one of these codes may be a polymorph spell on contingency that says "If polymorph has been triggered by contingency (blank) times AND you could die to a hit that has been fired, polymorph into a T-Rex" you can repeat this code constantly changing the blank from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3 for each one, allowing someone to stay alive for the next 10 days of combat so long as no one does 136 damage in one hit.

I love these codes so lets brainstorm the best ones.

If I were DM I would rule this just like a readied action, the triggered spell happens after the trigger happens. In this case the trigger is an attack that will reduce the target to 0, so the attack happens, then the spell.

[Ratter]

If I were DM I would rule this just like a readied action, the triggered spell happens after the trigger happens. In this case the trigger is an attack that will reduce the target to 0, so the attack happens, then the spell.

In that case you would word it as "if the attack has the potential to bring a target to 0" or just what it said assuming you also rule that an unconcious person getting polymorphed would lead to a conscious polymorphed person

[MaxWilson]

The title. A trigger spell code being the instructions you give to a spell stating when to trigger and what to do. I want to know the best of these codes and how to exploit them, pure RAW.

an example of one of these codes may be a polymorph spell on contingency that says "If polymorph has been triggered by contingency (blank) times AND you could die to a hit that has been fired, polymorph into a T-Rex" you can repeat this code constantly changing the blank from 0 to 1 to 2 to 3 for each one, allowing someone to stay alive for the next 10 days of combat so long as no one does 136 damage in one hit.

I love these codes so lets brainstorm the best ones.

It's hard to be sure, but I think you may be misunderstanding Contingency. For the record:

(1) It doesn't stack. You can only have one Contingency spell active at a time.
(2) You can't create a Contingency on someone else, only on yourself, so the only one that could turn into T-Rex is yourself.
(3) You still have to concentrate on the spell to maintain its duration, so you might turn right back into a human being after a single hit, if you fail the concentration check.

It's not clear if you can set triggers on "XYZ is just about to happen" but probably not, because then you could set triggers on things like "when I'm in the presence of a roulette wheel that's about to land on 17" and earn a fortune at a casino.

Bonus remark: an excellent Contingency is "Dimension Door five hundred feet straight up whenever I mutter 'quiznox' while touching my nose," because it lets you do something like cast Wall of Force and then trigger your Contingency to get out of there (cast Feather Fall as a reaction and spend the next minute drifting gently downward) so that no one can break your Wall of Force concentration--important if your party is counting on removing a big bad guy like Strahd from play long enough to defeat his minions.

Alternately, if you happen to be a Cleric 1/Wizard X, Contingency (Cure Wounds V "whenever I hit 0 HP") can get you instantly back up on your feet when something bad occurs and prevent you from losing action economy even if you get hit by ancient red dragon breath or something (although you will lose concentration on any spells due to going briefly unconscious at 0 HP). It's sort of like a quasi-Death Ward that lasts for ten days.

The poor man's substitute for Cure Wounds is to use False Life V, or Armor of Agathys V for a warlock/wizard, when you fall below half HP, to increase your effective HP. Unlike Cure Wounds, it won't keep you conscious in the face of ancient red dragon breath because temp HP will not bring you back from unconsciousness at 0 HP, AFAIK, but at least you avoid losing concentration on spells before it triggers.

[Vingelot]

The poor man's substitute for Cure Wounds is to use False Life V, or Armor of Agathys V for a warlock/wizard, when you fall below half HP, to increase your effective HP. Unlike Cure Wounds, it won't keep you conscious in the face of ancient red dragon breath because temp HP will not bring you back from unconsciousness at 0 HP, AFAIK, but at least you avoid losing concentration on spells before it triggers.

Unless, of course, you lose concentration due to suffering the damage itself.

[Ratter]

It's hard to be sure, but I think you may be misunderstanding Contingency. For the record:

(1) It doesn't stack. You can only have one Contingency spell active at a time.
(2) You can't create a Contingency on someone else, only on yourself, so the only one that could turn into T-Rex is yourself.
(3) You still have to concentrate on the spell to maintain its duration, so you might turn right back into a human being after a single hit, if you fail the concentration check.

1. No, you can only have one Contingent spell active at a time, meaning you can have multiple contingencies, its just they cant activate all at once
2. Yeah, I know
3. Thats true, the main thing of this isnt that you have tons of effective health but that you can basically auto survive like 7 hits.

The thing about it not doing something that is about to trigger is nullified by saying "When I go unconcious" at which point you get turned back to a full hp t-rex everytime you are knocked out

[Tanarii]

1. No, you can only have one Contingent spell active at a time, meaning you can have multiple contingencies, its just they cant activate all at once

"You can use only one contingency spell at a time. If you cast this spell again, the effect of another contingency spell on you ends."

[Segev]

Fun spell triggers: "If I draw a [specific kind of weapon], polymorph me into a [suitable combat form]."

"If I cast teleport, cast a project image spell where I just left."

"When somebody calls my name in anger before confirming it's me by seeing my face, cast disguise self."

[MaxWilson]

1. No, you can only have one Contingent spell active at a time, meaning you can have multiple contingencies, its just they cant activate all at once

The spell doesn't stack. It's explicit and in fact the spell description emphasizes this through repetition. "You can use only one contingency spell at a time. If you cast this spell again, the effect of another contingency spell on you ends." If you cast Contingency twice, the first casting goes away and only the second one applies. It does not stack, QED.

The thing about it not doing something that is about to trigger is nullified by saying "When I go unconcious" at which point you get turned back to a full hp t-rex everytime you are knocked out

Polymorph doesn't work on targets at 0 HP.

[Ratter]

"You can use only one contingency spell at a time. If you cast this spell again, the effect of another contingency spell on you ends."

Ah, yeah I misread that, I guess you would need a bag of holding and then ward stuff to cast polymorph on you, and because the bag holds another dimension they arent technically moving as long as they stay within nine feet of the bag

[MaxWilson]

Ah, yeah I misread that, I guess you would need a bag of holding and then ward stuff to cast polymorph on you, and because the bag holds another dimension they arent technically moving as long as they stay within nine feet of the bag

Bag of holding says nothing at all about things "not technically moving" when they are inside the bag. Glyph of Warding ends if the object moves more than ten feet, period.

[Vingelot]

Ah, yeah I misread that, I guess you would need a bag of holding and then ward stuff to cast polymorph on you, and because the bag holds another dimension they arent technically moving as long as they stay within nine feet of the bag

What is it with you and polymorph? If you want to be something that has low Int and high HP, you should simply play a barbarian.