D&D 5E TIME STOP SPELL (9º)

[Celtavian]

1) Greater Invisibility + Pass Without Trace. Telekinesis. Dimension Door x 2. Every situation has an easier solution, except ones in which only Time Stop would work (which are simply contrived).

2.) Time Stop. DBF. Blink - oops, time's up. That's the thing: even buffing isn't really worth it because you don't know until you cast how long you'll actually have. Also, some stuff like Armor of Agathys should probably have been cast an hour ago. But I agree you've more or less come up with the only possible usage: surprise insurance. If a wizard was completely unbuffed and ambushed, this would allow them to get at least two buffs going for the price of one action and a 9th level spell slot. Although - Contingency. But it's expensive and only works on one 5th level or lower spell. But still: Contingency + Dimension Door is probably still a better use of your resources.

If we're talking about fixing Time Stop, I'd start by giving it a fixed duration. 5 rounds seems fine. That actually gives you something to work with, and something you can plan for. Making it also work as a reaction also doesn't seem overpowered (if you made it only work as a reaction, that would cement it as a purely defensive spell). That allows you one "don't get hit for free" power, which is really, really amazing, especially vs. some late-game save-or-die stuff. Imagine Time Stop as a sort of counter to something like Meteor Swarm - you simply got out of the way.
Delayed Blast Fireball. 12d6 + 10d6 = big badda boom. DBF has to go off within 1 minute and each 6 seconds adds another d6 to the damage, so any duration of Time Stop longer than one minute means you could cast it to its maximum effectiveness. It doesn't matter how long the Time Stop was supposed to go: the DBF would explode, ending your Time Stop, but then you've probably done all you wanted to do already.

On the other hand, nearly doubling the effectiveness of a single level 7 AoE damage spell DOES sound like the type of thing you'd want to use a 9th level spell slot for.

Instead of casting 40d6 meter swarm?

 

[CapnZapp]

Thanks.

I guess Time Stop needs... let's call it "outside resources" to qualify.

What I mean is, a caster capable of Time Stop probably has a few ace-filled sleeves.

The simple example is: potions. Potions are pretty much the only way to get around the Concentration restriction. I'm guessing that there is or at least will be 2-5 potions you'd want to drink before entering a fight you didn't start yourself.

What magic items are there that you'd want to fire up with a Time Stop? Since you're an Archmage at the very least, the sky's the limit; you could have pretty much any item at your disposal, including the legendary stuff.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Time Stop can easily be a "I Instantly Kill Him" spell...unless your DM is a buffoon and doesn't actually want to use any sort of "campaign logic". There is nothing in the spell that stops the wizard from killing anyone...the spell just 'ends' when he does it. Yes, it will be obvious that the wizard is the person/thing that killed the King/Dark-Lord/Whatever, but at that point it's pretty much moot.

Wizard: "That's it, Kind Baddie. We've tried to be reasonable with you. We tried to negotiate. Either stop your enslavement and torture of the Happy Halflings of Happyvale, or we will put an end to you and your rule!"

King Baddie: "How DARE you speak to me that way! Guards! Round up ALL the halflings and flay them alive! Find this so-called wizard's friends and family and give them a place next to the little-ones! That will teach you, pesant, to mes..."

Wizard: [Time Stop] ... 'I walk over to him, pull out both my +3 daggers, place the tips of both right before each of the Kings eyes, then pull/shove them deep into his skull, wiggleing and scrambling his brain matter'

DM: 'Ok...as soon as the dagger tips start to pierce his eyeballs, the spell ends....but at that point it's too late. He dies with a quick scream, some unsettling gurggling sounds, and a last breath. The guards all look around...terrified of what just happened'

Wizard: "OK. Right. We warned him... so...you...Magister? You want to be King now? So long as you don't follow in this dead guys footsteps...or, well, you'll follow in this guys footsteps....if you get my meaning..."


All completely 'usable' for the spell. And that's not just against "NPC's". I don't care if you are 20th level with 300hps....if you get two daggers thrust directly into your eyesockets and jiggled violently around...you are dead. You don't "just take two critical dagger hits", or "roll damage"...having no intact brain simply means you are dead.

There are a myriad of other things the wizard can do that doesn't involve killing. Yes, a lot of them will "end" the spell, but with 2 to 5 rounds of "do whatever I want"...man, that is magical power!

To put it in perspective, what would YOU, actual flesh and blood real life poster here on EnWorld be able to do to enhance your life if you could do this once per day? Think about it. You could make yourself rich (probably a million ways), you could steal secrets, you could find out secrets, you could save lives, etc. Walk into a bank...Time Stop...quickly grab a few wads of hundreds...get back in line...POOF! See a criminal running away from a scene...Time Stop...move car/dumpster/whatever in front of him...POOF! See some totally drunk guy start to get behind the wheel of his car...Time Stop...flatten all tires. Curious to see what your boss was writing about you in 'the report'...Time Stop...go into room, get report, leave room. The list goes on and on an on. So long as your action doesn't affect the actual person, or an object that they are wearing or carrying, you're free to do as you please...for 12 to 30 seconds. With no interference from anything around you...12 to 30 seconds is a LOT of 'time'.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Cloud Kill should work with Time Stop. As it does not affect creatures until their turn. They showed an example of this in Princes of the Apocalypse. Were if you attack the Lich Renwick. He Time Stops, Cloud kills then Dimension Doors out.

 

[Henry]

I still remember the 2nd module where an evil undead warrior used Time Stop to snap the necks of most of the Circle of Eight in the "preamble" to the adventure. Once upon a time, Rime Stop was the End-All spell for wizards.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I still remember the 2nd module where an evil undead warrior used Time Stop to snap the necks of most of the Circle of Eight in the "preamble" to the adventure. Once upon a time, Rime Stop was the End-All spell for wizards.

By "2nd", do you mean "2nd edition"? In 2nd edition, Time Stop was a spell with a casting time of 9 that gave you 1d3 rounds to act freely as long as you didn't leave the area of effect. That means that 33% of the time, Time Stop was completely worthless, since it only gave you back the 1 round that you already spent casting it. I've never played an edition where Time Stop was impressive.

 

[Henry]

By "2nd", do you mean "2nd edition"? In 2nd edition, Time Stop was a spell with a casting time of 9 that gave you 1d3 rounds to act freely as long as you didn't leave the area of effect. That means that 33% of the time, Time Stop was completely worthless, since it only gave you back the 1 round that you already spent casting it. I've never played an edition where Time Stop was impressive.

Sorry, 2nd edition module, for clarity, "Vecna Lives!" was its name. They gave him something like the ability to snap two necks a round, it was a very silly module, truth be told. Nowadays a designer would be called on the carpet for staging what basically amounted to a cutscene for dramatic effect, involving PCs.

As for its effectiveness, though, having two or three rounds to,prepare the battlefield however you wanted to uninterrupted, or just to leave it entirely, is pretty powerful.

 

[Arnwolf]

I so miss the 2nd level cleric spell Withdraw

 

[Celtavian]

Hiya.

Time Stop can easily be a "I Instantly Kill Him" spell...unless your DM is a buffoon and doesn't actually want to use any sort of "campaign logic". There is nothing in the spell that stops the wizard from killing anyone...the spell just 'ends' when he does it. Yes, it will be obvious that the wizard is the person/thing that killed the King/Dark-Lord/Whatever, but at that point it's pretty much moot.

Wizard: "That's it, Kind Baddie. We've tried to be reasonable with you. We tried to negotiate. Either stop your enslavement and torture of the Happy Halflings of Happyvale, or we will put an end to you and your rule!"

King Baddie: "How DARE you speak to me that way! Guards! Round up ALL the halflings and flay them alive! Find this so-called wizard's friends and family and give them a place next to the little-ones! That will teach you, pesant, to mes..."

Wizard: [Time Stop] ... 'I walk over to him, pull out both my +3 daggers, place the tips of both right before each of the Kings eyes, then pull/shove them deep into his skull, wiggleing and scrambling his brain matter'

DM: 'Ok...as soon as the dagger tips start to pierce his eyeballs, the spell ends....but at that point it's too late. He dies with a quick scream, some unsettling gurggling sounds, and a last breath. The guards all look around...terrified of what just happened'

Wizard: "OK. Right. We warned him... so...you...Magister? You want to be King now? So long as you don't follow in this dead guys footsteps...or, well, you'll follow in this guys footsteps....if you get my meaning..."


All completely 'usable' for the spell. And that's not just against "NPC's". I don't care if you are 20th level with 300hps....if you get two daggers thrust directly into your eyesockets and jiggled violently around...you are dead. You don't "just take two critical dagger hits", or "roll damage"...having no intact brain simply means you are dead.

There are a myriad of other things the wizard can do that doesn't involve killing. Yes, a lot of them will "end" the spell, but with 2 to 5 rounds of "do whatever I want"...man, that is magical power!

To put it in perspective, what would YOU, actual flesh and blood real life poster here on EnWorld be able to do to enhance your life if you could do this once per day? Think about it. You could make yourself rich (probably a million ways), you could steal secrets, you could find out secrets, you could save lives, etc. Walk into a bank...Time Stop...quickly grab a few wads of hundreds...get back in line...POOF! See a criminal running away from a scene...Time Stop...move car/dumpster/whatever in front of him...POOF! See some totally drunk guy start to get behind the wheel of his car...Time Stop...flatten all tires. Curious to see what your boss was writing about you in 'the report'...Time Stop...go into room, get report, leave room. The list goes on and on an on. So long as your action doesn't affect the actual person, or an object that they are wearing or carrying, you're free to do as you please...for 12 to 30 seconds. With no interference from anything around you...12 to 30 seconds is a LOT of 'time'.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

The rules don't support this and I doubt many DMs would allow it. If the rules did support this, then the spell would be quite powerful and worthy of a 9th level spell.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Sorry if this was covered earlier in the thread. I haven't read it all.

Timestop can be very effective in combat for applying non-concentration buffs. This might either be because the caster was unprepared for the encounter and therefore did not have time to pre-buff, or they were already buffed but had them removed via an unlucky Dispel Magic or a similar effect.

Spells that fall under non-concentration buffs include, but are not limited to Mage Armor, Mirror Image, Fire Shield, and (if you are multiclassed with cleric) Spiritual Weapon. Don't forget that if you don't already have a concentration spell going, you can cast one of those, and you can finish it out with an attack spell (which immediately ends Time Stop, but that's why you save it til the last round). Also keep in mind that you can move your speed during each of those extra rounds to reposition yourself as well (provided you remain within a 1000' radius). You could even hide at the end of Time Stop, if you'd rather avoid a fight.

There are admittedly better 9th level spells purely suited to combat, but I think that Time Stop is well-rounded and advantageous enough that it still deserves to be at 9th level.