What's a good contingency when Helpless?

RedWizard

Invis is good and all but I mean against enemies that can see through invisibility like demons and devils.
Mostly the Power Word:Stun spamming ones like SCSII glabrezus since 2 of my mages have crappy HP.
Otiluke's Sphere would be perfect but apparently the BG2 version allows a save even when cast on party members so meh...

Jasko

Chain contingency: some summons perhaps when youre helpless, Skeletons or Mord Swords, to keep enemies busy. instead of 3 summons you could do 2, focused on yourself, and an additional haste spell for your 2 summons, if its possible.

You could try protection from evil and summoning fiends of your own with your chain contingency.. I'll assume the summons are equally badass with SCSII.

Perhaps, prot from evil, prot from fire and 1 pit fiend, unless you're a Dragon Disciple...or if you have prot. from evil or fire res. due to item abilities, you can disregard it and add more summons.

T2av

Lvl 2 spell Resist fear

Maran

Jasko said:

You could try protection from evil and summoning fiends of your own with your chain contingency.. I'll assume the summons are equally badass with SCSII.

Oh that's just cruel. And I like it!

DJKajuru

Since contingency will only work up to 4h level, what about teleport field ? I would take it as a second option, however, since I usually rely on invisibility x radius.

semiticgoddess

It depends on the situation you're expecting. Some options would do nothing for you.

Resist/Remove Fear can prevent the fear effects often used by demons and dragons. Remove Paralysis can cure stunning from various sources. Teleport Field and Stoneskin will protect you from physical attacks. (Improved) Invisibility will keep off most anything that can't see through invisibility. A (Minor) Spell Deflection spell will work if the biggest threat is single-target spells. Protection from Evil will stop summoned demons, whether yours or the enemy's. Project Image will let you cast any number of spells to fix the problem. Spell Shield in vanilla will protect you from Beholders, though if you can cast Spell Shield, it's better to just do it as a pre-buff.

Or, if you have Spell Revisions installed, use Break Enchantment. It cures all disablers, no matter what they are.

RedWizard

Teleport Field seems to do the trick, giving me enough time to cast Remove Paralysis.
I think I'll delay the demon and devil battles on level 3 of the Keep for later though, my demon killing strategies are rather... weak at this point at level 13-14.
God I hate their MR

Yannir

RedWizard said:

Teleport Field seems to do the trick, giving me enough time to cast Remove Paralysis.
I think I'll delay the demon and devil battles on level 3 of the Keep for later though, my demon killing strategies are rather... weak at this point at level 13-14.
God I hate their MR

I don't even want to think about that level if you have SCS installed. Must be a regular nightmare. No-reload?

[Deleted User]

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semiticgoddess

Free Action should un-stun, un-hold, and un-paralyze the target. But it won't cure fear, confusion, unconsciousness, or charm.

How about putting PW: Reload into a contingency?

[Deleted User]

I like Dispel Magic for Contingency:Helpless, but that's a bit of a nuclear option, as you're liable to strip some of your own defenses in the process of trying to get free.

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semiticgoddess

@subtledoctor: I've experimented with a permanent kit ability that uses just that type of contingency. I believe it should work for all disablers, but I'm not sure about charm effects. Charm might not constitute the "helpless" state. In my War Hulk kit, you had to make a save vs. death at -10 in order to get cured of the disabler, but testing did find it to work on at least some disablers.

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Minsc2017

This is Otiluke's Sphere that has no friendly save. Unzip and place in your override directory.

lunar

Invisibility and/or protection from magic weapons may help you survive while held/paralysed, and your party can help in the meantime, either by dealing with your attackers or dispelling/remove paralysing you.

Ofcourse, if you are soloing, the prognosis is grim, a c/m can add remove paralysis for the best effect, however, otherwise it does not look very good for a pure mage. Stoneskin/mirror image etc. can help you survive a few hits, but a paralysing enemy can paralyse you indefinitely with subsequent hits, and strong/multiple opponents can make short work of those protections.

Jaheiras_Witness

You can put up to level 6 spells in a contingency depending on your character level. So possible candidates also include PfMW and Mislead.

A solo character can never rely on a contingency when helpless, you have to avoid becoming helpless in the first place through immunities and safe saving throws. PfMW might just keep you alive for 4 rounds depending on how long you are helpless for. Improved Invisibility is a good candidate for enemies that cannot see through invisibility, but these are last resorts with no guarantee of success. Sometimes a contingency does not even trigger immediately when it should, and that delay alone can be fatal