Powers a Time Mage might have

[SangoProduction]

Precognition (Looking into the future)
Postcognition (Looking into the past... more magically.)
Time Clone (Bring a different version of themselves to the fight)
"Teleportation" (Just moving someplace, and then hopping back in time, or increasing one's speed dramatically. Or that space/time are linked.)
Haste/Slow (Because obviously)
Redo (Jump back in time a couple seconds)
Temporal Decay / Aging (Damage dealing / debuff related to time-disruption)
Blur (Bringing multiple glimpses timelines into view at once)
Healing (Undo damage / expedited natural healing)
Detect Thoughts ("He would say that in the future...or something.")
Object creation (Pulling from a time where material in this particular shape was here / Also see Teleportation.)


And I'm starting to run dry. Any more ideas?

[Paragon]

Mirror Image : alternative realities over imposed
Mirror Move : I fast forwarded the fight in different realities so I can copy your moves to counter you

I'm not buying the detect thoughts though

[SangoProduction]

Mirror Image : alternative realities over imposed
Mirror Move : I fast forwarded the fight in different realities so I can copy your moves to counter you

I'm not buying the detect thoughts though

Fair enough. lol.

[Arkain]

Celerity (as in from PHB2): Take a bit of future time, apply it to the present and get all woozy afterwards, as time is a bit vindictive there.

[Malphegor]

There’s Teleport Through Time from a web article (teleport but it’s time)
there’s the Forced Dream psionic power which could be backported into a spell with custom research rules and gold (fold time via the dream dimension, if things go screwy you can revert back to the time just after you manifested forced dream)

[Biggus]

The precognition/postcognition part could open up a lot of spell types, depending on how far you look and how accurate it is. Some divinations (eg Identify, True Strike, Locate Object/Creature, Legend Lore, Analyse Dweomer) could work this way. In the vein of True Strike and Foresight, almost anything which gives an attack or defensive bonus could make sense (knowing where your enemy will strike/knowing where the right place to strike them will be). Sending messages ("later, you will know this").

You could fluff a limited form of Polymorph as "evolving/de-evolving" you into "higher/lower" forms (nonsense scientifically of course, but a common enough fantasy trope).

Passing through walls/barriers by momentarily moving back or forward to where they don't exist.

Paralysis/Imprisonment-like effects ("frozen in time").

The ability to defend against/nullify all/most things on your list (a different spell for each effect, obviously).

[Eldan]

Oh, you can do so much more. Have a look at Continuum, it's an RPG about time travel. The main way to kill your opponents is by "fragging" them, i.e. get them to commit a time paradox that deletes them from the timeline.

Now, you have object creation, which is a basic thing in Continuum. (You pull a gun out of a drawer. Then you'll travel back in time to the day before today and hide that gun there.)

You can easily make a save or die, too: just travel back and kill your opponent as a baby.

Learning new skills: with time travel, you have infinite time. Just travel to 500 years from now and study engineering at university for ten years, then come back to today. (Ingame effect: redistribute skill points.)

Learn any information you need: just quickly hop out to go visit a reference library, then come back.

That's just time travel. Now, yours can also change the flow of time, so we can make things... interesting.

If you accelerate the flow of time in a certain limited space, say a sphere... everything inside should get colder and darker. Possibly freeze to death, because a lot less light and heat will come in from outside per unit of "internal" time. That justifies dealing cold damage and blinding enemies. You can also arguably suffocate someone by accelerating them, because they are going to quickly use up all their oxygen.

[Telonius]

Gravity affects time, so probably a sprinkling of a few gravity- or mass-related spells would be appropriate. Not really a focus, but options to have. Feather Fall, Earthbind, Enlarge or Reduce Person. Defenestrating Sphere (not totally related, but I use any excuse to suggest it).

[Kurald Galain]

Precognition (Looking into the future)
I'd say impose a flat miss chance on all attacks (and save-based spells) because he sees it coming in advance; like Displacement except true seeing doesn't counter it.

[Quertus]

Precognition (Looking into the future)
Postcognition (Looking into the past... more magically.)
Time Clone (Bring a different version of themselves to the fight)
"Teleportation" (Just moving someplace, and then hopping back in time, or increasing one's speed dramatically. Or that space/time are linked.)
Haste/Slow (Because obviously)
Redo (Jump back in time a couple seconds)
Temporal Decay / Aging (Damage dealing / debuff related to time-disruption)
Blur (Bringing multiple glimpses timelines into view at once)
Healing (Undo damage / expedited natural healing)
Detect Thoughts ("He would say that in the future...or something.")
Object creation (Pulling from a time where material in this particular shape was here / Also see Teleportation.)


And I'm starting to run dry. Any more ideas?

Ok. So, this is in the 3e forum. Meaning we’re looking for a 3e class / prestige class. Imma tailor my answer accordingly.

“Detect Thoughts” is… kinda a stretch. So I’m going to ignore that. But, yes, most any sort of space/time/reality/luck ability can easily fall under a Chronomancer’s preview.

For the rest, you first have to answer the question “how does Time work?”. The most fun answer is, “however the Chronomancer says it works”, but individual campaigns might not accept this permissive view of time.

Now, I’m not going to give you my full Chronomancer homebrew; instead, I’ll just give you a few hints at different ways to look at time.

Retcon buffs: once per day, the Chronomancer may retroactively declare that they cast a buff on themselves before the encounter; this may not cause a Paradox (may only be applied to buffs whose effects have not yet come up). At __, they may have cast this buff on the party. At __, they may have requested someone else cast the buff. At __, it may be used 1/encounter, then 2/encounter at __. At __, they may cause Paradox.

Retcon purchases: unspent funds may retroactively have been spent to purchase gear the Chronomancer finds that they need.

Fast, not Skilled: the Chronomancer gets an iterative attack every 4 BAB. This improves to every 3 BAB at…

Edition Wars: the Chronomancer may act under, force another to act under, or cause the entire encounter to act under the rules of another edition. “Concentration check? Bah! Back in my day, Wizards lost their spells when they were hit, and we liked it!” (Also, here, have some good Haste, that doubles your attacks. Hope you don’t mind that it also ages you a year…)

Murder baby Hitler: the BBEG retroactively ceases to exist.

Grandfather Clause: the Chronomancer may use any rule in RAW, including any variant rule. They may also use any rule that has ever been in play at the table, even if it has since been deprecated.

Alternate Reality Travel: ever wonder, “what if we had done X instead of Y?”? At __, the Chronomancer can find out! State an alternate course of action for the party to have taken, and the Chronomancer travels to a timeline where that chain of events occurred. At __, they can specify “what if” actions for others; as long as they are physically possible, the Chronomancer travels to the corresponding reality.

Speed of Plot: Declare a timing, such as “we will arrive at port at the same time as Queen Amidala”. Now, no matter what the party does, this timing will occur. The Chronomancer may only have one such Speed of Plot running at a time; this increases to 2 at…

Detect the wibbly-wobbly: any events that are scripted to occur no matter what the party does (Quantum Ogre, “Speed of Plot” events, etc), the Chronomancer is aware of the full details of this anomaly from the moment they consider joining the campaign, or the moment the event exists, whichever comes first.

Your Random Number is 3: any event which is controlled by random chance (such as selection of random encounters, or choice of targets at random), the Chronomancer is aware of this randomness. Further, at __, they may reroll any such random results. At __, they may look at all such possibilities, and choose the result they prefer, causing all enemies to “randomly” attack the party tank, shuffled decks to deal cards in their preferred order, etc.

Although slightly less fun, I may address specific individual Chronomancer spells in a future post.

[Tohron]

They could also deal damage by causing time to advance at different speeds in different parts of the target's body. A different version of the spell could cause objects to rapidly age (animate individuals or attended objects get a save).

[Vaern]

I started writing up a list a while back for a chronomancer class I was spitballing. Here's a bit of what I had back then.

Know Time: Know the exact time and date relative to a calendar of the caster's choice.

Stopwatch: Know the exact amount of time that has passed between any two events the caster has observed (ie, from the time you left Town A to the time it took to arrive at town B, or from the time you last saw your party to the time you cast the spell).

Mismeasure Time: Warp a subject's perception of time. For 1 hour/level, the subject of the spell believes it is 2d10 minutes earlier or later (caster's choice) than it actually is.

Accelerate: Target's movement speed is increased by 10 feet for 1 round/level. No other effect, just a weaker and lower-level stand-in for Haste until it becomes available.

Decelerate: Target's movement speed is decreased by 10 feet for 1 round/level. No other effect, just a weaker and lower-level stand-in for Haste until it becomes available.

Accelerate and decelerate counter and dispel each other.

True Strike: As the spell. You peer into the immediate future to see how your opponent may evade or deflect your attack, and your insight allows you to strike more effectively.

Augury: As the spell.

Age: Target gains penalties to physical ability scores as though their age category was one step higher for 1 minute/level. This effect may not reduce a creature's ability scores below 1.

Youth: Target loses penalties to physical ability scores as though their age category was one step lower for 1 minute/level. If this would set the target's effective age category to younger than adult, the target's size is reduced by one size category.

Age and Youth counter and dispel each other.

Delay Death: When cast on a creature between 0 and -9 HP, that creature stops bleeding out for 1 round/level allowing them additional time to stabilize.
Gentle Repose: As the spell.

Rapid Decay: For 1 day/level, an affected corpse experiences a year's worth of decay for each day that passes.

Revert Object: The current condition of an object is effectively reverted to the condition it was in up to 1 minute/level ago. If the object is broken, all pieces must be present.

Spell Extension: The remaining duration of a single ongoing magical effect on your target is doubled, but any static numerical effects are reduced by 1. For example, a shield spell with 7 rounds remaining can have its duration doubled to 14 rounds, but the AC bonus granted by the shield is reduced from +4 to +3.

Spell Acceleration: The remaining duration of a single ongoing magical effect on your target is halved (rounded down), but any static numerical effects are increased by 1. For example, a shield spell with 7 rounds remaining can have its duration halved to 3 rounds, but the AC bonus granted by the shield is increased from +4 to +5.

Spell Extension and Spell Acceleration counter and dispel each other. Spells with instantaneous, permanent, or "until discharged" effects are unaffected by Spell Extension and Spell Acceleration.

Déjà Vu: Choose a single attack that the target took damage from or a single spell that affected the target during the last round. The subject immediately takes damage equal to that attack's damage or is affected by the spell's effect again. If a chosen spell effect would have affected an area, only the subject of the spell experiences the effect again.

Haste: As the spell

Slow: As the spell

Revert Person: You attempt to rewind a creature's condition to the state it was in just a few seconds ago. The creature regains up to 3d8 hit points, which can not exceed the amount of damage it took during the past round. Alternatively, you may have the creature lose up to 3d8 hit points, which can not exceed the amount of damage it healed during the past round. Restoring hit points in this way can not undo death.

Divination: As the spell

Distort Temporal Perception: The subject's distortion of time becomes completely and permanently warped. The subject experiences the passage of time as being up to 50% faster or 100% slower than normal (caster's choice), causing them to often show up hours early to appointments thinking they are running late or to miss important events altogether thinking that they are still running early. The effect may be temporarily mitigated by the presence of a timepiece, a successful Survival check, or magical means of discerning time.

Temporal Resistance: The affected creature gains spell resistance 12 + your caster level. This spell resistance only applies to spells that appear on the time mage's spell list (even if cast by another class).

Permanency: As the spell

Undo Death: As Revivify, except the caster must pay 200 XP instead of the material component cost.

Contingency: As the spell

Chronal Blast: Ranged touch attack. A chaotic fluctuation of time at a focused point causes 1d6 points of untyped damage. This spell may damage creatures even if the caster is affected by Time Stop, or if the target is affected by Temporal Stasis, and is even effective against native creatures of a static plane.

Möbius Loop: A more powerful version of Déjà Vu, this spell traps the target in a time loop for 1 round/level. Choose a single attack, a full attack action, or a spell effect that the target experienced during the last round. At the start of each of the target's turns, he experiences that attack, full attack, or spell effect again. The target is entitled to a Will save to escape the loop at the end of each round.

Temporal Anchor: Subjects within a 30-foot radius are anchored to their current time in their current timeline for 1 hour/level. They may not travel through time via magical means, whether willing or forced, nor may they travel to alternate timelines.

Possible Strike: You create a convergence of several timelines, causing all possible results for a single attack to occur at once. You effectively make a single attack 20 times, each with a different possible result of your attack roll between 1 and 20. This guarantees a natural 1 and a natural 20, as well as the possibility of additional critical threats depending on your weapon. You must still roll to confirm critical hits normally.

Temporal Stasis: As the spell

Time Stop: As the spell

Temporal Echo: A time duplicate appears by your side for 1d4 rounds. The time duplicate is an exact copy of you and acts immediately, on your turn. You share resources with your time duplicate, taking any damage that the time duplicate sustains and paying for any spells cast by the time duplicate. At the end of the duration, your original self vanishes as your past self calls you back by casting Temporal Echo and your time duplicate becomes the "real" you.

[Ramza00]

An older guide which is timeless. Links to the thread https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?166492-The-Chronomancer-s-Day-Scheduler-(Time-Magic)

The Chronomancer's Day Scheduler (Time Magic)

[Pezzo]

Permanency (any spell)
I always had that! (at level 1 your future epic self gives you a piece of his equipment)
Get rich (you always win when gambling, get rich counters get rich if used on an opponent)
Unportable hole (you send items to your future self, so that you dont have to carry them to town to sell, items cease to exist during your travels and reappear on yourself when you reach a town)
You're not now! (send the target back or forward in time, so that he's out of the fight)
Dessicate (increase the target metabolism speed by a lot)
It didn't happen (rewind time, for everybody)

Charm DM (yes, this is how time travel works, trust me I watched dark)

[Telonius]

Turn/Rebuke Clockwork. Constructs primarily made of clockwork can be affected.

[Troacctid]

there’s the Forced Dream psionic power which could be backported into a spell with custom research rules and gold (fold time via the dream dimension, if things go screwy you can revert back to the time just after you manifested forced dream)
Call it what it is: a save point.

Save-scumming is one of the best perks of being a time mage.

[Quertus]

I started writing up a list a while back for a chronomancer class I was spitballing. Here's a bit of what I had back then.

Know Time: Know the exact time and date relative to a calendar of the caster's choice.

Stopwatch: Know the exact amount of time that has passed between any two events the caster has observed (ie, from the time you left Town A to the time it took to arrive at town B, or from the time you last saw your party to the time you cast the spell).

Mismeasure Time: Warp a subject's perception of time. For 1 hour/level, the subject of the spell believes it is 2d10 minutes earlier or later (caster's choice) than it actually is.

Accelerate: Target's movement speed is increased by 10 feet for 1 round/level. No other effect, just a weaker and lower-level stand-in for Haste until it becomes available.

Decelerate: Target's movement speed is decreased by 10 feet for 1 round/level. No other effect, just a weaker and lower-level stand-in for Haste until it becomes available.

Accelerate and decelerate counter and dispel each other.

True Strike: As the spell. You peer into the immediate future to see how your opponent may evade or deflect your attack, and your insight allows you to strike more effectively.

Augury: As the spell.

Age: Target gains penalties to physical ability scores as though their age category was one step higher for 1 minute/level. This effect may not reduce a creature's ability scores below 1.

Youth: Target loses penalties to physical ability scores as though their age category was one step lower for 1 minute/level. If this would set the target's effective age category to younger than adult, the target's size is reduced by one size category.

Age and Youth counter and dispel each other.

Delay Death: When cast on a creature between 0 and -9 HP, that creature stops bleeding out for 1 round/level allowing them additional time to stabilize.
Gentle Repose: As the spell.

Rapid Decay: For 1 day/level, an affected corpse experiences a year's worth of decay for each day that passes.

Revert Object: The current condition of an object is effectively reverted to the condition it was in up to 1 minute/level ago. If the object is broken, all pieces must be present.

Spell Extension: The remaining duration of a single ongoing magical effect on your target is doubled, but any static numerical effects are reduced by 1. For example, a shield spell with 7 rounds remaining can have its duration doubled to 14 rounds, but the AC bonus granted by the shield is reduced from +4 to +3.

Spell Acceleration: The remaining duration of a single ongoing magical effect on your target is halved (rounded down), but any static numerical effects are increased by 1. For example, a shield spell with 7 rounds remaining can have its duration halved to 3 rounds, but the AC bonus granted by the shield is increased from +4 to +5.

Spell Extension and Spell Acceleration counter and dispel each other. Spells with instantaneous, permanent, or "until discharged" effects are unaffected by Spell Extension and Spell Acceleration.

Déjà Vu: Choose a single attack that the target took damage from or a single spell that affected the target during the last round. The subject immediately takes damage equal to that attack's damage or is affected by the spell's effect again. If a chosen spell effect would have affected an area, only the subject of the spell experiences the effect again.

Haste: As the spell

Slow: As the spell

Revert Person: You attempt to rewind a creature's condition to the state it was in just a few seconds ago. The creature regains up to 3d8 hit points, which can not exceed the amount of damage it took during the past round. Alternatively, you may have the creature lose up to 3d8 hit points, which can not exceed the amount of damage it healed during the past round. Restoring hit points in this way can not undo death.

Divination: As the spell

Distort Temporal Perception: The subject's distortion of time becomes completely and permanently warped. The subject experiences the passage of time as being up to 50% faster or 100% slower than normal (caster's choice), causing them to often show up hours early to appointments thinking they are running late or to miss important events altogether thinking that they are still running early. The effect may be temporarily mitigated by the presence of a timepiece, a successful Survival check, or magical means of discerning time.

Temporal Resistance: The affected creature gains spell resistance 12 + your caster level. This spell resistance only applies to spells that appear on the time mage's spell list (even if cast by another class).

Permanency: As the spell

Undo Death: As Revivify, except the caster must pay 200 XP instead of the material component cost.

Contingency: As the spell

Chronal Blast: Ranged touch attack. A chaotic fluctuation of time at a focused point causes 1d6 points of untyped damage. This spell may damage creatures even if the caster is affected by Time Stop, or if the target is affected by Temporal Stasis, and is even effective against native creatures of a static plane.

Möbius Loop: A more powerful version of Déjà Vu, this spell traps the target in a time loop for 1 round/level. Choose a single attack, a full attack action, or a spell effect that the target experienced during the last round. At the start of each of the target's turns, he experiences that attack, full attack, or spell effect again. The target is entitled to a Will save to escape the loop at the end of each round.

Temporal Anchor: Subjects within a 30-foot radius are anchored to their current time in their current timeline for 1 hour/level. They may not travel through time via magical means, whether willing or forced, nor may they travel to alternate timelines.

Possible Strike: You create a convergence of several timelines, causing all possible results for a single attack to occur at once. You effectively make a single attack 20 times, each with a different possible result of your attack roll between 1 and 20. This guarantees a natural 1 and a natural 20, as well as the possibility of additional critical threats depending on your weapon. You must still roll to confirm critical hits normally.

Temporal Stasis: As the spell

Time Stop: As the spell

Temporal Echo: A time duplicate appears by your side for 1d4 rounds. The time duplicate is an exact copy of you and acts immediately, on your turn. You share resources with your time duplicate, taking any damage that the time duplicate sustains and paying for any spells cast by the time duplicate. At the end of the duration, your original self vanishes as your past self calls you back by casting Temporal Echo and your time duplicate becomes the "real" you.


An older guide which is timeless. Links to the thread https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?166492-The-Chronomancer-s-Day-Scheduler-(Time-Magic)

The Chronomancer's Day Scheduler (Time Magic)

Those are some nice lists.

I thought 3e had a “Repeat Action” spell, but Google only recognizes it as a 2e spell. Shrug.

There’s a lot of Necromancy that I’d add to the Polymorph school to support evolution / devolution effects. Heck, even Girallon’s Blessing could be refluffed as Chronomancy.

However, one of the strongest spells can also be refluffed as Chronomancy: Mindrape. “No, really, it has *always* been the case that…” :smallwink::smallcool:

EDIT: any skill-boosting spells (Wield Skill, etc) or feat granting or psionic rebuilding can be viewed as “Chronomantic reshuffling” the timeline.

[tyckspoon]

Those are some nice lists.

I thought 3e had a “Repeat Action” spell, but Google only recognizes it as a 2e spell. Shrug.


It's a psionic Power - Deja Vu. Would be easy enough to transcribe into a similar spell.

[Telonius]

Messing around with initiative generally (speeding up/slowing down time for individuals). Nerveskitter, Snake's Swiftness, White Raven Tactics, Hesitate

[Bohandas]

Possible Spells for spell list

Timeheal (from Towers of High Sorcery)
Timereaver (from Towers of High Sorcery)
Temporal Repair (Dragon 350)
Temporal Jolt (Dtagon 350)
Time Shield (Dragon 350)
Aging Touch (Dragon 350)
Pending Potion (Magic of Eberron)
Timeless Slumber (Holy Orders Of The Stars)
Hasten the End (Holy Orders of the Stars)
Create Spirit Idol (Players Guide to Eberron)
Create Time Gate (Call of Cthulhu d20)
Alibi (Exemplars of Evil)
Phantasmal Wasting (Ecemplars of Evil)
False Gravity (Spell Compendium)
Hindsight (Complete Adventurer)
Reverse Gravity

[Silva Stormrage]

I made a Historian Time invocation class a while back. You can look through the custom invocations I made for it to see if you can get any ideas.

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?590806-Azure-Sandweaver-Temporal-Invocation-based-Historian-PEACH&p=23986184#post23986184

[SangoProduction]

Unironically, justifying monstrous transformations as time magic is perhaps one of the more creative things I've heard.

[Bohandas]

The Book of Time on the 3e fanwork site http://dcrouzet.chez-alice.fr/gaming/d20downloadpage.htm may be of interest

[SangoProduction]

Neat set of books. Unfortunately the idiot class is error 404.


General themes of powers:
Time Viewing: Looking at future/past realities.

Time Fishing: Projecting (potential) future / past realities to the current time(line). Including physical objects or changes to them.

Time Walking: Retroactive actions, such as picking up a crowbar at the market / hiding a gun somewhere you'd pick it up, even though you didn't do it on screen. Or just bodily moving through time, like teleportation, redo, tossing people out of time, or "Screw your game, GM, it's time (we/I) go time hopping."

Time Flow: Adjusting the speed of events / creatures in the present.


Notable Offshoots:
Clockwork
Gravity

[Ramza00]

Forgot to mention earlier. 3.0 Psionics had a weaker version of Time Hop that was 1st level.

Time Skip Mind's Eye 3.0: Expanding Your Mind Web Articles

Only lasted 1 round, and had more rules on valid objects and creatures to make up for the fact it was 1st level. Yet good for sometimes you only want to spend 1 pp. If you were making a dedicated time build I would allow it.

Links to a master power list if you want to go dumpster diving.
http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=6317.0

[Thurbane]

There was an entire Chronomancer supplement for 2E (one of the few I didn't own, as it happens): now sure how well, at all, it would translate to 3.5.

https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/images/44/17442.jpg (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17442/Chronomancer-2e)

[Quertus]

Neat set of books. Unfortunately the idiot class is error 404.


General themes of powers:
Time Viewing: Looking at future/past realities.

Time Fishing: Projecting (potential) future / past realities to the current time(line). Including physical objects or changes to them.

Time Walking: Retroactive actions, such as picking up a crowbar at the market / hiding a gun somewhere you'd pick it up, even though you didn't do it on screen. Or just bodily moving through time, like teleportation, redo, tossing people out of time, or "Screw your game, GM, it's time (we/I) go time hopping."

Time Flow: Adjusting the speed of events / creatures in the present.


Notable Offshoots:
Clockwork
Gravity

Eh, I think that “space / teleportation / travel” is an offshoot of time, whereas Reverse Gravity is just “having time Flow backwards in selective ways / messing with ‘cause and effect’ by messing with time”. That is, I was going to call shenanigans on Reverse Gravity, until I remembered some of the Tenet logic (fire makes you cold), and realized it was just a “logical” application of using negative numbers in equations involving time. Whereas a real Gravity Mage could declare, “the enemy’s base is down”. :smallwink:

I’m kinda surprised you didn’t include evolutionary / devolutionary effects among “notable offshoots”, actually.

Oh, and are “alternate presents” on your radar at all?


There was an entire Chronomancer supplement for 2E (one of the few I didn't own, as it happens): now sure how well, at all, it would translate to 3.5.

https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/images/44/17442.jpg (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17442/Chronomancer-2e)

That’s ok, I owned (and maybe still own) 2 copies. :smallbiggrin:

This book is actually why I asked whether the Chronomancer should get to choose how time works, as this is one of several alternate ways for time to work.

[SangoProduction]

I actually considered the evolution thing part of the "Fishing" subset. Projecting how genes were (or would be... or could be... I guess) onto a present creature, and thus wasn't an offshoot at all - just a creative interpretation. But I guess I should have made note of it for how notable it was.

Also Seasons and cycles are probably right there along with clockwork.

[Quertus]

I actually considered the evolution thing part of the "Fishing" subset. Projecting how genes were (or would be... or could be... I guess) onto a present creature, and thus wasn't an offshoot at all - just a creative interpretation. But I guess I should have made note of it for how notable it was.

Also Seasons and cycles are probably right there along with clockwork.

Ah, gotcha.

There’s potentially some play to be had by differentiating “was” (/ “might have used to be”), “will be” / “could be” and “could have been” effects. Polymorphic magics can span all three, whereas my Mindrape refluff was strictly “could have been”, alternate present tech.

[aglondier]

I played a chronomancer in a FR campaign a while back. He started out as a red wizard of thay, moved on to becoming the administrator for one of the netherese flying cities, and then eventually ascended to godhood...but that's another story...

A few of the tricks that I made regular use of were...
• travelling back in time to bail myself out of trouble, for example when I found myself plummeting to my doom, another me appeared beside me and loaned me a ring of featherfall he borrowed off another party member the following week, instructing me to return it to him then...
• reaching into the timestream and borrowing items that had been "lost to history". The less that was known about the fate of an object, the easier it was for me to retrieve.
• building a tower on a rock "outside of time". A sanctuary, totally inaccessible to anyone not a chronomancer.
• travelling back and forth in time and becoming the mentor and master who taught every single archmage and Named wizard of note in the Realms...both good and evil...
• learning ancient magics at the hands of the ancient archmages, in this case gaining the epic prestige class Netheril Arcanist...
• need a particular item right now? Easy. Travel back in time twenty years, craft the item you need to solve the problem, jump back to the moment you left...viola...

[Crichton]

(You pull a gun out of a drawer. Then you'll travel back in time to the day before today and hide that gun there.)

Learning new skills: with time travel, you have infinite time. Just travel to 500 years from now and study engineering at university for ten years, then come back to today. (Ingame effect: redistribute skill points.)




Time Walking: Retroactive actions, such as picking up a crowbar at the market / hiding a gun somewhere you'd pick it up, even though you didn't do it on screen.



• need a particular item right now? Easy. Travel back in time twenty years, craft the item you need to solve the problem, jump back to the moment you left...viola...

There's already an official term for all of these. They're variations on the classic known as the Bill and Ted Maneuver



Ted: Our historical figures are all locked up and my dad won’t let them out.
Bill: Can we get your dad’s keys?
Ted: Could steal them but he lost them two days ago.
Bill: If only we could go back in time to when he had them and steal them then.
Ted: Well, why can’t we?
Bill: Cause we don’t got time.
Ted: We could do it after the report.
Bill: Ted, good thinking dude. After the report we’ll time travel back to two days ago, steal your dad’s keys, and leave them here.
Ted: Where?
Bill: I don’t know. How about behind that sign? That way when we get here now, they’ll be waiting for us. (bends down and picks up the keys) See?