StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Ok, so I'm running an adventure, and its going pretty good. But the players are all too damn smart. They all have various protections that they cast on themselves as habit, but the worst has to be the monk/psionicist. He employs the vampiric touch power on himself, so it makes him extremely difficult to deal with in combat (basically, it allows him to heal damage that he does hand-to-hand)

To remedy this, I've decided to develop a new spell, Timebolt. Basically, it has the same range (400+40 ft per level) and area of effect (20 ft radius) as a fireball, but it actually speeds up the flow of time in the affected area so that 24 hours actually pass. You can imagine the havoc this spell would wreak with characters who have any type of protection spells on, the time limits would expire in a single round, leaving them at my mercy.

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions as to what level this spell should be?

Dispel Magic is your friend.

So are undead. Particularly disguised undead. 'I strike the warrior and heal myself!' 'You discover the magic is working, for some reason, in reverse..'

Something that powerful has serious consequences. For example, they'd be fully healed, or they could bleed to death. It's not quite timestop, but its close. Make it 5th or 6th lvl spell. My question is, if I'm suddenly in an area where time is moving faster relative to the rest of the world, how is that not timestop where I can catch my breath, heal myself, and then step outside of the affected area.

Seems to me they could sleep the night, heal, and cast the spells on themselves again before the timebolt runs out. I'd recommend something like negative energy protection or just get spell penetration.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Something that powerful has serious consequences. For example, they'd be fully healed, or they could bleed to death. It's not quite timestop, but its close. Make it 5th or 6th lvl spell. My question is, if I'm suddenly in an area where time is moving faster relative to the rest of the world, how is that not timestop where I can catch my breath, heal myself, and then step outside of the affected area.

Seems to me they could sleep the night, heal, and cast the spells on themselves again before the timebolt runs out. I'd recommend something like negative energy protection or just get spell penetration.

I was thinking that it would be an instantaneous effect. So if someone cast it at someone else, then 24 hours would pass immediately in the area of effect. By the time its the next person's turn, the spell is over, but they have to deal with the consequences of 24 hours passing. They wouldn't get an extra 24 hours to do whatever they want, but they would have to deal with whatever effects they would suffer from 24 hours going by in a second.

But how can you get an instantaneous time-lapse without experiencing the effects of that time shift? For the spell effects to expire they have to experience the passage of time, which means they would be under effects similar to a timestop spell. You can't just time-lapse someone's body without their mind...

or could you?

You'd have to word the spell very carefully to make sure they don't get a timestop. Or just go with an Uber-dispel.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:But how can you get an instantaneous time-lapse without experiencing the effects of that time shift? For the spell effects to expire they have to experience the passage of time, which means they would be under effects similar to a timestop spell. You can't just time-lapse someone's body without their mind...

or could you?

I'm the DM, I can do anything. Of course, it would have to be worded very carefully. The next big encounter they're facing is a 5,000 year old elven lich who's fascinated with time, so I was trying to work that theme into the adventure.

Bah, just use dispel magic.

Defiant wrote:Ok, so I'm running an adventure, and its going pretty good. But the players are all too damn smart. They all have various protections that they cast on themselves as habit, but the worst has to be the monk/psionicist. He employs the vampiric touch power on himself, so it makes him extremely difficult to deal with in combat (basically, it allows him to heal damage that he does hand-to-hand)

Have you never heard of dispel magic?

Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions as to what level this spell should be?

It shouldn't exist. If you introduce it, the players will get ahold of it and go to town. If you employ a deux ex machina to ensure that they can't get it no matter what they do, they will hate you. Dispel magic does the job without the brokenness or messing with time.