[3.5] Things to do while Time-Stopped

[Malacode]

I personally think this spell is great, yet my repetoire with it is rather limited. Besides, I would love to learn exactly how you guys (and girls) in the playground use it, and hear any anecdotes about it's use. You know, for the lulz.

My favourite tactic:
Forcecage
Prismatic Sphere
Reverse Gravity.

They're inside the forcecage, you're just above it with the Prismatic Sphere poking through. Timestop ends, they get flung up into the prismatic sphere, then fall back down as the Reverse Gravity can't penetrate the Sphere. Up, down, up, down... So many saves, so little time.

[mistformsquirrl]

Having never played a wizard quite that high... *taking notes*

Though knowing me it would look something like this:

Fireball > Lightning Bolt > Cone of Cold > Disintegrate.

I'm nothing if not persistent <.<

[Salt_Crow]

I don't believe you can directly affect anything other than yourself. I'd be buffing like hell though :)

[mistformsquirrl]

Unless I mis-remember >.< can't you cast damage spells and they just "Hang" there until time is back on? (Then again maybe I'm thinking solely of videogame implementations... which is the closest I've ever gotten to time stop myself.)

[Malacode]

Heh, buffing like crazy is one of the best uses of the spell. That, and to wait out the Daze from Celerity.

From the SRD
This spell seems to make time cease to flow for everyone but you. In fact, you speed up so greatly that all other creatures seem frozen, though they are actually still moving at their normal speeds. You are free to act for 1d4+1 rounds of apparent time. Normal and magical fire, cold, gas, and the like can still harm you. While the time stop is in effect, other creatures are invulnerable to your attacks and spells; you cannot target such creatures with any attack or spell. A spell that affects an area and has a duration longer than the remaining duration of the time stop have their normal effects on other creatures once the time stop ends. Most spellcasters use the additional time to improve their defenses, summon allies, or flee from combat.

I once had a mage (Still do) that through Prestige Classing, feats and obscure spells could cast up to 26 spells a round. You have no idea how scary that prospect is when combined with Timestop, Celerity, immunity to Daze and over 600 spell levels per day. Effectively, he could burn through all his spell slots as a Swift action. Then again, I never thought of any way to -use- them all. There are only so many creatures you can Forcecage/Cloudkill in any given encounter.

[Yuki Akuma]

Unless I mis-remember >.< can't you cast damage spells and they just "Hang" there until time is back on? (Then again maybe I'm thinking solely of videogame implementations... which is the closest I've ever gotten to time stop myself.)

Nope!

You can cast a Delayed spell (or a Delayed Blast Fireball), though.

[mistformsquirrl]

Ahh, now I see where I was mis-reading <x.x> Bah!

(The part about "If a spell targets an area AND has a duration longer..." - I was reading it as 'either-or')

Woops, my bad <'x'>





*will go back to his fighters* <~_~> Me dumb, bash enemies wif metal fing.

[Salt_Crow]

Ahh, now I see where I was mis-reading <x.x> Bah!

(The part about "If a spell targets an area AND has a duration longer..." - I was reading it as 'either-or')

Woops, my bad <'x'>





*will go back to his fighters* <~_~> Me dumb, bash enemies wif metal fing.

multiple castings of Delayed Blast Fireball goodness, perhaps?

[jcsw]

As someone who managed to get time stop on a Big Stupid Fighter, I'd like to ask about *their* options too.

[Malacode]

Readied actions? I think that's about it, except if you're a sneaky fighter. You can affect objects not in another creature's possesion, so you can steal unattended objects. Saaay... Pick up a big rock. Hold it over the head of a foe. It'll stay there while you put more rocks above other people's heads. Timestop ends, Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies

[Yuki Akuma]

As someone who managed to get time stop on a Big Stupid Fighter, I'd like to ask about *their* options too.

See if your DM will let you exchange it for Time Stands Still (from Tome of Battle) instead.

Because for a fighter, Time Stop is pretty much worthless.

[Talic]

Maw of Chaos/Forcecage is a good combo.

Provided you're of a decently high level, and are metamagic focused, and are a Sorceror:

Hold Rod of Greater Maximize.
<Swift>: Arcane Spellsurge
<Standard> Maximize an Empowered Time Stop. You have 5+1d2 rounds.

Round 1:
<Standard> Maximize an Empowered Maw of Chaos
<Swift> Forcecage

Round 2:
<Standard> Maximize an Empowered Maw of Chaos on something else
<Swift> Forcecage
<Move> Put up Rod.

Round 3:
<Move> Draw 2nd Rod of Maximize
<Standard> Maximize an Empowered Delay Blast Fireball
<Swift> Maximize a Delay Blast Fireball

Round 4:
<Standard> Maximize an Empowered Delay Blast Fireball
<Swift> Forcecage

Round 5:
Whatever you want

Round 6:
Whatever you want

Watch as anything in those cages melts.

[Ridureyu]

Get some sleep.

[jcsw]

Oh, as a caster, I found that time stops are really useful for putting up this one spell. Energy Transformation Field, from Spell Compendium.

It has a *four round* casting time, but can achieve disgusting results, like raining a hundred magic missiles without having to spend half your feats on it.

It's even more powerful if you're, say, a sublime chord...

[weenie]

I once had a mage (Still do) that through Prestige Classing, feats and obscure spells could cast up to 26 spells a round.

Wow, how did you do that?

[Eldariel]

For some caster types, wall them in except for one side, shape an AMF to cover that one side and toss a longterm damage spell such as Maw of Chaos or Cloudkill at them.

[Curmudgeon]

For some caster types, wall them in except for one side, shape an AMF to cover that one side and toss a longterm damage spell such as Maw of Chaos or Cloudkill at them.

Uh, how are you going to get that long-term damage spell at them through walls (which block line of effect) and Antimagic Field (which stops magic)?

EDIT: If you're going to say that the shaped spell prevents an attack, remember that you must have at least a 1' square opening to be able to cast a spell through, and any opening big enough for you to cast out of is also big enough for them to cast back at you.

[Malacode]

Wow, how did you do that?

Beholder Mage gets 10 spells/round, with Arcane Fusion, Arcane Fusion (Greater) and Heightened Arcane Fusion (Greater) that becomes 13 spells of 7th level down. If you had cast Arcane Spellsurge, that is all for a swft action. Then you trade actions down. Like how you can trade a standard action for a move action, to get a double move, but not the other way around. Swift actions are the lowest of the limited-use actions (Free actions are unlimited and 5ft steps are always 1/round), so you can trade your Move/Standard for a Swift... That is, unless someone in my gaming group made up that rule. I swear, we have so many houserules that are just "assumed" and never stated that most of us have forgotten how to play D&D as-written.
There, 26 spells a round. I actually think I had some trick that got me extra swift actions though, like a class ability or something, which is legal-er (If that's a word)

[Curmudgeon]

so you can trade your Move/Standard for a Swift... That is, unless someone in my gaming group made up that rule.

Yes, they made it up. That's a blatant RAW violation.

[mistformsquirrl]

multiple castings of Delayed Blast Fireball goodness, perhaps?

Ultimately yeah; that seems to be the logical way to do what i was after <._.> probably with Energy Admixture or Energy Substitution to make a few of them other element based. (What's better than glassing an area with 4 fireballs? Hitting it with a Fireball, Acidball, Iceball and Sonicball ... because!)

Gotta agree with Yuki about Time Stands Stilll though. Sadly it's not as potent as Time Stop (4-5 rounds of spells vs 2 rounds worth of attacks) - but at least it lets you hit them, unlike Time Stop >.<

[J.Gellert]

Go to the bathroom without anyone noticing.

Seriously. It quickly lowers your level of awesome if your universe-altering near-epic wizard has to take breaks to visit the bathroom.

[Malacode]

Go to the bathroom without anyone noticing.

Seriously. It quickly lowers your level of awesome if your universe-altering near-epic wizard has to take breaks to visit the bathroom.

That is definitely getting added to my repetoire of Time Stop tricks. Just to piss people off

[Khanderas]

Go to the bathroom without anyone noticing.

Seriously. It quickly lowers your level of awesome if your universe-altering near-epic wizard has to take breaks to visit the bathroom.

Or make a 0 level spell, "secret purge" or something, that basically teleports wste to a random location (1d4+2)* 100 yards away.

Because
A: Everything should be solved by magic.
B: Plenty of hilarity for GM's, if so inclined
C: If I were a wizard, capable of ripping reality as I see fit, taking a dump in the forest and use leaves is not gonna happen. This is a spell that will be researched real fast in a world where you get better at casting spells by killing kobolds in tunnels and dragons in ancient ruins weeks away from civilization.

[Set]

Change your outfit, really fast.

Balance flasks of alchemist's fire all over the enemy, so that if they move even the slightest, 'boom!'

Pants everyone and then teleport away, with their pants.

Set poison-coated bear traps with fire trap set to go off if they are opened in front of every moving person. Then tie their bootlaces together.

Replace the BBEGs healing potion with dust of sneezing and choking.

[J.Gellert]

Or make a 0 level spell, "secret purge" or something, that basically teleports wste to a random location (1d4+2)* 100 yards away.

Because
A: Everything should be solved by magic.
B: Plenty of hilarity for GM's, if so inclined
C: If I were a wizard, capable of ripping reality as I see fit, taking a dump in the forest and use leaves is not gonna happen. This is a spell that will be researched real fast in a world where you get better at casting spells by killing kobolds in tunnels and dragons in ancient ruins weeks away from civilization.

Definitely. D&D needs more utility spells - why do people assume that spellcasters only ever create a new spell if they want to kill someone in a new, yet unheard of, way?

[mistformsquirrl]

So what you're saying is... someone needs to make Jarrate, the spell. >.>

[Gaiyamato]

Use it to cast a whole lot of delayed Time stops?

So time stop #1: cast more time stops.

Then use Fabricate or similar spells to do interesting things.

There are rules in the stronghold builders guide that could be useful.
So one second your all fighting in the open, then the next BAM they find themselves in the middle of a dungeon full of booby traps and summoned critters.

They would likely also assume that they were teleported, which would actually be wrong. lol.

[Curmudgeon]

Balance flasks of alchemist's fire all over the enemy, so that if they move even the slightest, 'boom!'

While the time stop is in effect, other creatures are invulnerable to your attacks and spells; you cannot target such creatures with any attack or spell.

You cannot move or harm items held, carried, or worn by a creature stuck in normal time, but you can affect any item that is not in another creature’s possession.

You can't balance anything on another creature. That would make the flasks of alchemist's fire carried by that creature, and you can't move them into that position. Plus that's targeting the creature with a (delayed) attack, anyway.

[jcsw]

You can't balance anything on another creature. That would make the flasks of alchemist's fire carried by that creature, and you can't move them into that position. Plus that's targeting the creature with a (delayed) attack, anyway.

It's not an attack. Attack has a specific meaning, and this isn't it.

You're not moving things carried by that creature, you are moving things he isn't carrying so that they become things that he is carrying, at no point do you have to touch anything he is carrying. In fact, if you insist that things that touch him can no longer be affected by you and are stopped in time, you only need to drop things onto him and they'll stick there until the time stop ends.

[woodenbandman]

Well, I'd personally Favor of the Martyr chain delayed Greater Celerities. 5 full round actions now - 5 swift actions now = 5 full round actions later. If possible, twin said greater celerities.

EDIT: I'd also Minor Creation a bunch of Black Lotus Extract directly above a creature, and the time stop will prevent it from falling for a while.