Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 2Chlorobutanal Oct 05, 2014 17:49:43	So, the time stop spell seems fairly weak to me in 5e due in large part to the concentration mechanic.  Most spells that would not affect another creature or object directly now require concentration, limiting their use during a time stop, and most spells that do not require concentration are instantaneous and affect another creature or object.   What are the best uses for time stop in 5e?   I've heard some people discuss creating a few instances of delayed blast fireball (or Otiluke's Freezing Sphere) , but in this case I think swapping time stop for meteor swarm may be largely more effective.   The caster could use a few buff spells such as mirror image or blink during the time stop, and end with a concentration effect.   The only legitimate "offensive" use of time stop that I could conceive so far involves spells that deal no damage instantly but deal damage at the start of another creature's turn, such as cloudkill.  A Wizard could cast time stop, then cloudkill, then enclose the affect creature(s) in a forcecage (which does not require concentration).  The trapped creature would take up to 500d8 damage over the course of 10 minutes if the Wizard were able to fully concentrate on the cloudkill, save for half, so this should kill anything not immune to poison (or resistant to poison with high HP and a good Con save).  Even this one is a little questionable though.
#2 AaronOfBarbaria Oct 05, 2014 21:34:54	Time stop is not meant to be an "offense" spell.   It's best uses in 5e are for retreat, and for when you have been caught mostly unprepared - since you can use it to cast any non-concentration buffs you normally use (mage armor for example), get into a good position on the battlefield with it, and so on.
#3 2Chlorobutanal Oct 05, 2014 22:25:06	Is that really an effective use of a 9th level spell slot?  I'm having a hard time imagining where my most powerful daily spell is best utilized for non-concentration buff spells (of which there aren't many) and/or short-range repositioning.   In previous editions, time stop could at least be used to conjure walls or monsters quickly, or cast multiple short-term buffs (such as shield, magic weapon, haste, etc.).  However, most of these spells either no longer require time stop because they are reactions (shield), or they last so long as to make it unlikely to cast during combat (mage armor), target other creatures, or utilize concentration, making them exclusive (haste, protection from energy, stoneskin, blur, magic weapon).   If relocation is the only issue, a single casting of dimension door or misty step would probably do the trick instead of time stop.  I imagine, however, that maybe a combination of the above would be useful enough to warrant casting time stop:   One could potentially, with a good roll: cast time stop cast blink cast dimension door cast a concentration effect that doesn't directly affect another creature or object (self-buff, maybe) cast any offensive or creature-targeted non-concentration spell to terminate the time stop in one turn.   I suppose that may be worth using over the other options at 9th level.