Best Contingency if you only get one

[PhaedrusXY]

Resilient Sphere on yourself, keyed to a rude gesture.

+1

or Giant woven basket over you, cause it provides cover  

Holy mother of god... I am so using this... This is my new "shrunken wizard hat". It isn't as effective as using stone/adamantine/steel/etc, but it sure is a lot funnier.

[Hallack]

I'm currently using Freedom of Movement on my SCM/Cleric as his Contingency.

[dna1]

Resilient Sphere on yourself, keyed to a rude gesture.

+1

or Giant woven basket over you, cause it provides cover  

Holy mother of god... I am so using this... This is my new "shrunken wizard hat". It isn't as effective as using stone/adamantine/steel/etc, but it sure is a lot funnier.

shrunken wizard hat.... thats F-ing awesome. why did i never think of that? now i have to use this as well 

[Redeemer of Ogar]

I'm currently using Freedom of Movement on my SCM/Cleric as his Contingency.

Heart of Water has that covered nicely for me.  If I'm not silenced, I can also always Teleport, and if I am silenced, I have a 6d6 Fiery Burst. I completely forgot to pick up Shrink Item when I made the character, I'm going to have to try to track that down now, cause the options it provides are far too hilarious to miss.

I think "unable to act" has promise, but I don't want to be teleporting to the hinterlands just because I ended up stunned for a round. I think I'll go with "cure wounds, if damage would otherwise cause me to fall unconscious" for now, and I'll work on finding wording for "unable to act" for when Teleport becomes an option.

So hey... the contingent spell must "be of a spell level no higher than one-third your caster level." Can you apply metamagic to it? If so, does it raise the spell level for contingency purposes? I might as well Maximize the cure wounds if that is a legal option...

[Epimetheus]

I think metamagic would raise the level, but I'm not sure.

Faith Healing already acts like a maximized Cure Light, but I don't know of an equivalent for Cure Moderate.

[Lycanthromancer]

I think "unable to act" has promise, but I don't want to be teleporting to the hinterlands just because I ended up stunned for a round. I think I'll go with "cure wounds, if damage would otherwise cause me to fall unconscious" for now, and I'll work on finding wording for "unable to act" for when Teleport becomes an option.

So, you want to have a contingent heal on yourself if you fall within the narrow band of 9 hp that happen after you hit 0? That's a VERY thin margin of safety. Preventing that position is preferable to rectifying it afterward. Use shrink item to protect yourself from damage, and dimension door or something similar to get you out of dodge after the fact. Use contingency on celerity so you can get the jump on your enemies, or to [insert spell here] when you need it.

[jameswilliamogle]

Contingent Maximized Twinned Fireball centered on self in case of death.  Why?  Because fuck 'em, thats why.

[Epimetheus]

Contingent Maximized Twinned Fireball centered on self in case of death.  Why?  Because fuck 'em, thats why.

Ooh, how about Fireburst and Fireburst, Greater?

Your allies can bring you back. [Since you have Contingency, the divine side has Revivify or equivalent] Assuming you haven't killed them off too.

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

Assuming you haven't killed them off too.

I believe this is half the fun.

[Redeemer of Ogar]

So, you want to have a contingent heal on yourself if you fall within the narrow band of 9 hp that happen after you hit 0? That's a VERY thin margin of safety. Preventing that position is preferable to rectifying it afterward.

It's "If I fall below zero, period." My otherwise extremely deadly GM doesn't call neg10 instant death, he calls it death at the end of the round, since most everything is happening sort of simultaneously. If you can slap a heal on someone before end-of-round, and it brings them back above neg10, then they haven't.. quite.. died. They're only MOSTLY dead.    In effect, with cure moderate (highest cure my wizard/knight/UM can currently cast) I have an effective margin from -1 to at least -21, and possibly as far as -35. Now mind you, being slapped back to neg9 is not nearly as nice as staying vertical, but it's way better than being all-the-way dead.