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If a bard selects the contingency spell as a Magical Secrets pick, and uses contingency to cast a contingent 5th-level cure wounds with the trigger "when I drop to 1 hit point", how does the incoming damage work?
Say he is at 5 hit points. Then he gets hit with 30 damage. Does the extra 25 damage take away from the 5th-level cure wounds that gets triggered?
The dnd-5e rules basically state that when you take extra damage over your total, you're reduced to zero hit points and need to start making death saving throws.
Dropping to 0 Hit Points
When you drop to 0 Hit Points, you either die outright or fall Unconscious
Instant Death
Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to 0 Hit Points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.
For example, a Cleric with a maximum of 12 Hit Points currently has 6 Hit Points. If she takes 18 damage from an Attack, she is reduced to 0 Hit Points, but 12 damage remains. Because the remaining damage equals her hit point maximum, the Cleric dies.
Falling Unconscious
If damage reduces you to 0 Hit Points and fails to kill you, you fall Unconscious (see Conditions ). This unconsciousness ends if you regain any Hit Points.
So the order of things would be:
*BTW: Your contingency should state "When I get reduced to 1 or fewer hit points."
As originally stated you'd have to hit exactly 1 HP for it to trigger, allowing you to blow right past 1 to 0 when you take more damage.
she is reduced to 0 Hit Points, but 12 damage remains. so even if you get healed by X amount, you'd have X-12 HP now because you need to heal the remaining damage.
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Feb 13, 2020 at 6:50
The rules on "Damage and Healing" state:
[...] Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points [...]
It doesn't state that the damage is dealt 1 hit point at a time, it is all at once. This means that you will immediately drop to 0 hit points (as 5e doesn't have negative hit points). This technically means that contingency won't activate because you never dropped to 1 hit point, you dropped to 0.
Another thing worth remembering is that contingency always activates after its trigger:
[...] The contingent spell takes effect immediately after the circumstance is met for the first time, whether or not you want it to, and then contingency ends [...]
This is true because contingency occurs after its trigger, and thus you would have reached 0 hit points and as the section on "Dropping to 0 Hit Points" explains:
When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or fall unconscious [...]
Ultimately this means that you, for an instant, will fall unconscious (assuming you don't instantly die from excessive damage) and thus:
The creature drops whatever it's holding and falls prone.
Compare this set-up to the death ward spell which states:
[...] The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point, and the spell ends [...]
The death ward spell will instead cause the creature to take all 30 of the damage, and then end up at 1 hit point, never falling unconscious.
The contingent spell takes effect immediately after the circumstance is met for the first time, whether or not you want it to, and then contingency ends.
This means that the damage has to occur. There's no way to "stop" in between the damage numbers, so to speak.
If you actually meant "when I drop to 1 hit point", then Contingency wouldn't actually be triggered, because the character went from 5 HP straight to 0 HP.
Assuming you meant "When my character has 1 or fewer hit points":
So, in this case, the bard would take the 30 damage and go to 0 hp. Now, Contingency kicks in. Assuming that they aren't dead for some reason, then they would gain the benefit of Cure Wounds and be at positive hit points.
A Note about 0 HP : Remember, that a creature that has 0 HP is unconscious (barring a some of exceptions(s?) - Zealot Barbarians), even if it's only for an instant. This directly affects concentration, some poisons, etc.
