Is celerity broken?

[Maldor]

i would say a a 6th level speel would be able to give you a +20 on initiative so your combo is basic just over complacating things.

but thanks for pointing out that if your immune to stun it has no adverse effect the spell might be worth lreaning now for my undead necromancer got to check if there immune to stun frist though

 

[Sejs]

There are plenty of classes that require a higher dex and can also obtain all the said feats. For example, the swordsage gets +5 iniative as a class feature, and actually requires a moderately high dex in order to max out AC. The wizard isn't invaribaly going first, and hence time stop isn't really that bad, IMHO.

All that says is that someone -might- go first.

But unless that someone who can keep pace is able to take out the aformentioned wizard with their one action.. Time Stop kicks in we're back to square one.

Someone potentially being able to keep up with the wizard's init doesn't change the fact of once they get to go, the fight's still practically over.

 

[Mouseferatu]

but thanks for pointing out that if your immune to stun it has no adverse effect the spell might be worth lreaning now for my undead necromancer got to check if there immune to stun frist though

"Dazed," not "stunned."

Being immuned to daze is much rarer and harder to obtain.

(And for the record, every DM I've ever played with who hasn't banned celerity outright has ruled that nothing trumps the dazed effect of the spell. Even if you're normally immune, this spell is an exception. Otherwise it is broken, plain and simple.)

 

[Piratecat]

As a DM for a 23rd lvl party, I'll mention here that we have no issues with time stop. For us it has been neither overpowered or a game-breaker against like-powered foes.

But I still wouldn't allow celerity.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I just managed to get a copy of PHBII through alternative means

What does this mean? Just curious as its an odd phrasing.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Well... guess I'll just have to cast Time Stop and win, I suppose.

How does casting Time Stop become an automatic win, I wonder?

You can summon beasties (but they still have to start the fight once the timestop ends)
You can do forcecages to trap opponents along with something nasty like cloudkill (unless they are immune to poison/too big to fit in a forcecage/can teleport themselves).

I can see Timestop as being incredibly useful for some quick self-buffing and summoning of (relatively weak) allies - but an encounter finisher...? Against EL appropriate encounters?

How?

 

[brendan candries]

How do you guys see celerity in combination with ready an action - counterspell to disrupt enemy spellcasters?

Is this possible even?

E.g.

Enemy starts to cast a spell.
Spellcraft identifies it as a Fireball.
Cast Celerity --> Ready an Action, Counterspell. Cast Fireball to counter the Enemy's Fireball.

 

[stonegod]

How many quickened or empowered Delayed Blast Fireballs can you get out during Time Stop? Read the ending of JollyDoc's Age of Worms to see the carnage Time Stop can do.

 

[Darklone]

How does casting Time Stop become an automatic win, I wonder?
...

You're right, it's not... since I think you can't disintegrate the floor below an opponent anymore and cast a Prismatic wall under him...

Yet as self-buff as you mentioned it's deadly, depending on your group. If you have 6 archers and one buffer who casts Timestop to get all his archer buffs off... the enemies are dead after the first salvo.

 

[wildstarsreach]

Well...

In and of itself, it's on the high side of power for it's level, but not brokenly so.

If combined with something that voids Daze, it becomes a pre-quicken (as it eats up your Swift action in the next round) that can be applied to any spell with no spell level adjustment. This puts it at seriously overpowered - one extra spell in round one, on par with a Metamagic Rod of Quicken Spell capable of doing the highest level spell you can cast in rounds 2+, and for a lot less of an investment in permanent recources.

If combined with something that operates independantly of initiative - such as Contingency - it approaches an "I go first" button - and at 12th (where this first works), going first gives you very good odds in a battle. Another power increment, this one pretty sizeable.

When combined with Foresight (which makes you never flat-footed for the duration) it becomes an "I go first" button. And at 17th, where this first becomes possible, going first puts your odds of winning at around 80% or so.

When combined with Foresight and Time Stop.... umm... what opponent?

It's not that it's a broken spell in and of itself....

And people talk about Psionics always being broken and here yet again is magic. It is as broken if not more so than psionics.