The World of Avlis

Time Stop
Transmutation
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 stnd action
Range: Personal
Target: you
Duration: d4+1 rounds

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 froze, though they are actually 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 can not 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 (such as cloudkill) have their normal effects on other creatures once the time stop ends. Most spell casters use the additional time time to improve their defences, summon allies or flee from combat.

(other stuff not realy pertinent to the point at hand)

Now stop telling me that the spell works properly on avlis. It works properly in the SP where I attempted to use it like I have seen it used in avlis and ended up wasting my one scroll of timestop as I could not target Maugrim with anything.

Time Stop is the single most abused spell on Avlis. The fix is simple: if someone is in a timestop they are invulnurable, it is a simple straightforward fix. You are not supposed to be able to:
Time Stop, Mordecains, Horrid Wilting, Horrid Wilting
Time Stop, Mordecains, Horrid Wilting, Chain Lightening
Time Stop, Mordecians, Chain Lighening, Chain Lightening

or whatever the hell Xal Mor's leiblings sequence was.

The spell description clearly states what it is for, and the above is not that.

What is the 3.0ed description for it?
Thanks in advance

seems simple enough then, when everyone's in a timestop, make them immune to everything.

Yeah that is cool and informative but Avlis in NwN and in PnP is a 3.0 campaign

3.0 PHB

Time Stop
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9, Trickery 9
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Personal
Target: The character
Duration: 1d4+1 rounds (apparent time)
This spell seems to make time cease to flow for everyone but the character. In fact, the character speeds up so greatly that all other creatures seem frozen, though they are actually still moving at their normal speeds. The character is free to act for 1d4+1 rounds of apparent time. Energy and effects present can still harm the character. While the time stop is in effect, other creatures are invulnerable to the character's attacks and spells; however, the character can create spell effects and leave them to take effect when the time stop spell ends. (The spells? durations do not begin until the time stop is over.)
The character cannot move or harm items held, carried, or worn by a creature stuck in normal time, but the character can affect any item that is not in another creature?s possession.
The character is undetectable while time stop lasts. The character cannot enter an area protected by an antimagic field, or by protection from chaos/evil/good/law, or by a magic circle spell, while under the effects of time stop.

d4+1 rounds? I thought it was only 1.5 rounds (9 seconds) duration in NWN..

Thats pretty much how it works with NWN's original timestop spell. None of the spells you cast happen until the timestop ends. Only difference is that you are not made undetectable during the timestop in NwN.

I miss the old timestop that paused the server and worked like PnP. You knew a high level mage was tearing shit up and it was kind of fun. It made timestop less powerful because you couldn't see the effects of your spells until the timestop ended (for example, you don't know which of your opponents died or how badly they are wounded, whether they made their saving throws, etc).

The original timestop got old really fast when we had high level NPC's casting it repeatedly.

FunkOdyssey wrote:I miss the old timestop that paused the server and worked like PnP. You knew a high level mage was tearing shit up and it was kind of fun.

Rest assured that the rest of us who were forced to sit and wait while a sorcerer chain-cast TS don't miss it at all.

I guess thats your answer then spellsinger. hehe

Most spell casters use the additional time to improve their defences, summon allies or flee from combat

Im not sure what your beef is really. Mordekainens and Horrid Wilting are both AoE spells and dont need to be targetted on an enemy.
Personally Id rather face Horrid Wilting than a water elemental

i think the main point is that currently, any additional spells cast by the initiator of the timestop take effect immediatly, instead of waiting until the timestop finishes.

I think Spell Singer is absolutly correct.

Timestop should last 1d4+1 rounds, just like it does in 3.0 !

Can I ask why it doesn't ? Other than the same old dead horse reasons such as mages being to powerful, etc and so forth ?

Jordicus wrote:i think the main point is that currently, any additional spells cast by the initiator of the timestop take effect immediatly, instead of waiting until the timestop finishes.

Thanks for the clarification, was hard to tell among all that rant

Hey Chas! If you want it to use 3.5 edition rules, then sure, have your d4+1 rounds of timestop. There was a reason they changed it you know.

Titanium Dragon wrote:Hey Chas! If you want it to use 3.5 edition rules, then sure, have your d4+1 rounds of timestop. There was a reason they changed it you know.

if you look at my post, you'll find that the 3.0 rules also specify d4+1 rounds, so that is not a 3.5 change

Oh, I am more than aware of that, Jord. Thing is, that was a much-needed change to balance the spell. As people have pointed out, nine seconds already makes it a bang-you-win spell. d4+1 rounds would be just gross.

No problem.

I'd be willing to trade the damage while in timestop for d4+1 round of duration and the fact that AoE spell doesn't run in its duration within the timestop. That's enough time for me to cast 4 AoE spells stacked them nice and neat waiting for my foe, while I flee 3 areas away. I'd have absolutely no problem with that.

Speaking as a player of course.

The only AoE spells that would work would be those with durations, such as delayed blast fireball, cloudkill, blade barrier, ect. Instantaneous spells (fireball, lightning bolt, magic missle, the missle storm spells, chain lightning, flamebrand, ect.) would not work because they would fizzle before the duration of the time stop was up.

four storms of vengence!

Titanium Dragon wrote:The only AoE spells that would work would be those with durations, such as delayed blast fireball, cloudkill, blade barrier, ect. Instantaneous spells (fireball, lightning bolt, magic missle, the missle storm spells, chain lightning, flamebrand, ect.) would not work because they would fizzle before the duration of the time stop was up.

NOT if it's word for word to the PnP rules. They don't "start to expire" until AFTER timestop is over.

I was referring to 3.5e; sorry I didn't make that clear.

3e yes, that is absolutely correct. Now, if you'd like to lose greater stoneskin and premonition, and add foresight in for premonition, and lower summons times to PnP ones, I'm sure everyone would be happy.

People complain about spells that they feel are underpowered and overpowered, but more under than over, especially with mages.

Spells that are too powerful relative to/do not exist in PnP:
All the bigby's spells
Greater Stoneskin
Premonition
Monster Summoning I - IX
Flame Weapon (should be a druid spell only, instead everyone other than them got it)
Greater Magic Weapon (is not dispelled when dispel magic/greater spell breach/whatever is cast on them)
True Seeing
Original Isaac's Missle Storms
ect.

Spells that are too weak relative to PnP:
Time Stop (3e; 3.5e is about equal to what we have now)
Mordenkaiden's Disjunction (should be able to destroy magic items permanently)
Most divination spells
New Isaac's Missle Storms
Probably some others that I am forgetting

Spells that don't exist in NWN that are not very difficult to implement:
Foresight (9th level divination spell)
Others that I cannot remember off the top of my head

I often hear mages complain that xyz spell isn't as good as it should be, and defeding abc being overpowered to compensate for xyz being broken. I hear mages whine about how knockdown is overpowered, but I haven't yet heard from a mage how time stop really should be as it is in 3.5e as the 3rd edition version is horridly powerful. I hear mages talk about how there are enough no-rest areas, maybe too many, and fighters talk about how there are too few. I hear about mages being perma-buffed with 1 turn/level spells, even though they should last 1/3rd as long as they do and people should only be able to rest once every 8 hours.

At some point, someone brings up permadeath and how there wouldn't be any high level mages if we had permadeath. Then people talk about how permadeath is stupid.

In PnP, mages are balanced by permadeath. That is why high-level mages are so powerful - there aren't many of them at all; they usually die. However, we decided that it isn't fun to have permadeath, so there are a great number of high level magi.

More spells are better than they should be then worse than they should be. If everything was changed to as it were in PnP, 99.99% of Avlis would be dead and buried.

Where is the line drawn?

There ya go TD. That's a nice post

Titanium Dragon wrote: Where is the line drawn?

When Adventuring, make sure you party up and travel in groups with a mixture of classes

Nice post TD.

Titanium Dragon wrote: Spells that don't exist in NWN that are not very difficult to implement:
Foresight (9th level divination spell)
Others that I cannot remember off the top of my head

permanancy; if you think spells last a long time now...
full item creation; Rods of timestop, +5 vorpal swords, haste underware
teleportation; makes timestop look girly as a get out of jail free card.
polymorph other; 'She turned me into a newt'
Stacking metamagic; Oh how I would love to cast 9th lvl stilled and tripple empowered bull str for a +11 average.
contingency; instant teleport to safety if a mage ever goes down in combat. Or maybe some spiteful folks would make it instant horrid wilting if they die, go out with a bang!
10+ lvl spell slots for epic mages. Empowered/maximized horrid wilting anyone?