Time Stop

[MensurB]

Hi
I have been playing D&D for about a year now. I am playing a human sorcerer right now who is 12th level. Our DM said that we will most likely get into the epic levels. I was looking into some of the spells, and Time Stop did not make much sense to me. I know I can't attack anybody with it while I'm in the "Time Stop" but I can cast spells? For instance I roll a 2 does that mean I can shoot two firballs during the spell duration(2 rounds) and then they would both go off at the end of the spell? I have heard people say that this spell is too powerfull for it's level or something like that, but I don't care about that(unless my DM does). All I want to know is what I can really do with that spell. Please do not flame me for asking this, I am pretty sure that it has been asked many times before. Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

I've been trying to compile a list of spells and possible problems in the following thread:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24220

Here's the write up I have on it thus far:

Time Stop
Problems: Debate Prone, House Ruled, Overpowered, Vague
Related Spells: Haste

· Debate Prone/Overpowered/Vague: Much of the problem here is the wording of time stop itself. Believe it or not, a spellcaster can leave all those instantaneous spells hanging in the air to take effect when the spell ends. A wizard can cast time stop, throw a fireball, lightning bolt, finger of death, and all other kinds of nasty spells in the air and they all “hit” when time stop wears off. The key here is durations do not start (which includes fireball spells) until the spell ends.
· House Ruled: At or below 20th level play, time stop is really not so bad. At its worst, a character can throw 10 spells into the air (5 rounds, 1 spell/round, 1 quickened spell/round) using a simple house rule: time stop and haste do not stack. Personally, I think it should have been in time stop’s description, but it is not.
o At Epic Levels: This spell can be a problem, especially with metamagic and Improved Spellcasting Capacity. While 5 rounds of actions is not that bad, 6-15 rounds (11th level spell: twice extended time stop) can be very unbalanced (and boring for the other players). Some of the epic creatures are designed with this in mind (in my experience), but it is something for the Epic Dungeon Master to keep an eye on.
o House Rule: Another house rule is to allow damage dealing spells, such as fireball to “go off” during the time stop and instead use spells such as delayed blast fireball to “set” spells to explode when time stop wears off. By this same reasoning, spells with durations would start during the time stop as well, but an exception would be needed for haste (unless one can be hasted during a time stop).
o House Rule: The Epic Level Handbook suggests disallowing “target” spells (such as finger of death) during a time stop. At epic levels creatures have a ton of hit points, and using a fireball or meteor swarm is not that bad, but a slew of “save or die” spells can be.


Any questions or comments on it would be appreciated .