Min/Max Boards

Scroll/other item/fast progression casting class for the eleven unfilled levels? But fair enough, if that kind of stuff is considered cheese.

There's a PrC in Eberron somewhere... escalation mage or something like that that gets some fairly blasty free metamagic, as I recall.

So, I've been following this discussion with some amusement. I confess that I am now utterly lost:

Think back to your entire argument on you leave an Encounter by not being in one. It's built on the concept if you are not one, then you can only be the other. Deities & uniques are under no Compulsion from Gate, so then by the same logical everyone else it. YEah, you should know where that can go form there.

What is this supposed to say? I suspect that you are trying to get at something interesting, but I can't quite figure out what it is (I suspect there's a language barrier operating here?)

So, there's something really weird in the text of contingency. Contingency says that
"You can use only one contingency spell at a time; if a second is cast, the first one (if still active) is dispelled."

Now, I'm not sure if what I'm about to propose works. The reason I'm not sure is that "useing" a spell is not a normal term in the game rules. However, in my view, the natural way to take this is that the second clause explains the first. The reason you can only use one contingency at a time is that whenever you cast a new one, the old one is dispelled.

Exhibit b) "Spell Rebirth." Lexicon of the Evolving Mind 4. This restores one effect that was "dispelled" in the previous round.

So, we cast a contingent fireball (for some reason.) Then we cast another contingent fireball. Once the second one finishes casting, the first is dispelled. We immediately use Spell Rebirth. The old contingency, which was, after all, "dispelled," is immediately "restored" and "resumed." It is not, however, "cast." This means that the dispelling clause does not kick in, and both the restored contingency and the second cast contingency are now in effect.

Getting more than two requires either a) multiple spell rebirths or b) taking literally the clause that says that if a second contingency is cast the first is dispelled. If this is all that is true, then casting a third contingency will not dispel anything. Even if it dispels only the previous one, one spell rebirth will allow us to continue the contingency chain.

(At epic levels, "Tenacious Magic (contingency)" would do this far more effectively)

What say (well, I mean, this is pretty clearly stupid and few DMs would allow it, but is it technically RAW? Or have I already stretched RAW in my attempt to figure out what the 1-contingency clause actually means in game terms?)

I suppose you could try to lower the level of Time Stop via stupid tricks (Sanctum Spell, metamagic reduction below 0). Alternatively, Craft Contingent Spell (hideously borked, but whatever) doesn't seem to have a level limit on the contingent effect. Also, you could have 20 of them.

Moment of prescience (possibly made contingent via tricks or CCS, but you can also just cast it in advance) could probably give you +25 to your initiative roll (I think initiative is technically an opposed ability check). Foresight can prevent you from being flatfooted. Eager Warning // Spellstrike Defending Quarterstaff w/ greater magic weapon is +7 (and various other bonuses.) Shapechange into a Gloom is +18 more. Shouldn't be too hard to get more than +50 on your init check.

Another suggestion is psionic contingency + anticipatory strike (or indeed synchronicity). You can easily hit the UPD check to use the dorjes (even with 1 rank, limited wish for divine insight is +15, plus a rank, plus 3 CHA (Eagle's Splendour, if you need it) is +19.) I actually think this might be the best method of all.

Attached to the top of your staff is a ring gate. On the other side of the ring gate is a room. That room is filled entirely with the results of greater planar bindings (with a reliable control method) for planetars, all of whom have been polymorph any object-ed into fine-sized diamonds. Before being PAO-ed, they were ordered to use miracles to replicate contingency on themselves (with a sensible trigger.) Assuming you use 1/10th of an inch diameter diamonds, you can easily fit a few thousand into line of effect of the ring gate.

Combat begins. 2000 contingent spells trigger. The glowing ring atop your staff explodes in a maelstrom of magic as the fighter is simultaneously targeted with a thousand or so greater dispels and save or dies. Three hundred Gates open from which a legion of Solars swoop forth to protect you. Every cleric buff or buff that can be replicated with miracle springs into existence around you all at once.

Then you start casting.

I don't think this should be that difficult with unlimited preparations, somehow...

EDIT: Ring gates do not work across planar boundaries. Oh well. A room works just fine.

There's... unluck, I think it's called?

Technically speaking, I suppose the Chosen of Mystra and Magister templates from Forgotten Realms would let you pick polymorph as your 4th level SLA. 

 

Trait Removal may work on some things (if they are legal targets and have ex- or su- sources of the immunity). Manipulate Form (yes, that one) could remove the immunity from anything that happened to be a scaled one native to Toril.

The fact that some skills, such as UMD, by your own admission should be trained only, argues in favor of the tag. Surely, if you think knowledges ought to be usable untrained, we could simply make knowledges usable untrained, while, I don't know, Autohypnosis and Iaijutsu Focus remained trained-only, as seems to be intuitively necessary. Does the simplicity of eliminating the tag really make that option more attractive than just shuffling to which skills the tag applies? I don't see that it does.