Time Stop Lore

[Diegovog]

I've seen a couple of different interpretations to the spell Time Stop and I was really curious to some official word from the DMs as to which is the correct approach in the server.

So basically there is one side that accepts Time Stop as Chronomancy. That means the person is able to bend the flow of time to their own will (to a certain degree). In D&D, there are indeed Chronomancers and they are able to cast as part of their build the spell Time Stop.
The very description of the spell in NWN states: "The caster is able to defy the sands of time, casting spells, moving about, and attacking normally while the rest of the world appears suspended, as if in stasis."
But that brings a lot of problems when it comes to the server and the lore, for example; If one is able to really stop time, why isn't time stopped across all of the island? Someone might even be able to enter an area with time frozen or even two people might be able to stop time in different parts of the world without any effects on each other. Also, if time is really halted, that would mean Mechanus would have to constantly fix and re-adjust time flow through different planes in a constant basis? That seems like such a bigger strain in reality and existence than conjuration could ever do.

But what if Time Stop in the server is more like in 3.5 in which the person's speed is increased to such high levels that it's just the impression that everyone around is frozen, but in reality they aren't? That would certainly fit as a transmutation spell and would have much less catastrophic consequences in the world around.
However, that also presents some counter-arguments. If through time stop, the person only accelerates themselves, then why when two people cast it at the same time, neither of them can move or act? I know it's a mechanical thing, but IC we all know that happens and even use that as a strategy in battles.
Another smaller problem with this interpretation is that in 3.5 the other characters are immune to attacks and spells in its duration while in the server they aren't.

So, is there any official position from the DM team as to which direction is Time Stop in the server? Chronomancy or Accelerating oneself?

[Cortex]

its actually a saveless area wide 9 second long hold person

[Iceborn]

I have one word for you:
Paradigm.
The result is fixed, but the specifics of how you do it and what it entails are specific to your character.
You know the NWN version, you know the PNP version. The rest is up to you.

You are playing a mage. Invent some fancy mystical explanation, yo! That's the best part of being a wizherd.

[If Valor Were Inches]

Do whatever you want with it. There is no DM ruling on it as it's not really bound by the rules.

There are no rules, no shadow rules. Obviously no, for nine seconds your person does not become a god nor a dolphin and no one will believe you if you say this, and you are bound by what you see is what you get, but what you see still has a lot of interpretations.

[gilescorey]

Maybe it just slows other people down, instead of speeding you up.

[Troglodyte Kisses]

Quaruts are among the most powerful of inevitables in existence. They protect two of the most precious and tenuous things of all: time and space. They use their uncanny sense of both temporal and spatial awareness to know when transgressions that disrupt the time–space continuum are taking place, and then they hunt down the perpetrators.

Quaruts are concerned about spellcasters who use such powerful magic as limited wish, miracle, temporal stasis, time stop, and wish. In the eyes of a quarut, the use of these spells plays havoc with the universe and risks all beings. However, despite their displeasure with spellcasters that use these spells and abilities, quaruts employ most of these spells with impunity.

Considering the fact the guys described above don't like magic that messes with time, and they're a pretty scary bunch of dudes, my own interpretation has always been that knowledgeable wizards/sorcs/fighters with scrolls would be skittish of using time stop spells that actually STOP TIME for fear of making one angry.

Which is why most of my spellcasters who used those scrolls RP'd as speeding themselves up, instead of stopping time. (As below)

But what if Time Stop in the server is more like in 3.5 in which the person's speed is increased to such high levels that it's just the impression that everyone around is frozen, but in reality they aren't? That would certainly fit as a transmutation spell and would have much less catastrophic consequences in the world around.

That could present other risks, though...

[Seven Sons of Sin]

Is accelerating yourself that different from stopping time?

[Hunter548]

Is accelerating yourself that different from stopping time?

Practically, probably not, theoretically and potentially reality-destroyingly? Yeah, maybe.

[Tepes]

If it is merely area-wide, you could argue that it is merely a gobule, merely a bubble of stopped or manipulated time or motion, a chronosphere. This does not present the world with realitybreaking paradigma.

[One Two Three Five]

*Quarut voice* stop time do it i dare you

[Rodent]

Time stop scrolls are a long-term plot by Hunter548 to inevitably tear a hole in Arelith's reality and invite the Old Ones in.

I prefer the 'you are accelerated' explanation since it is slightly more doable for a piece of paper (no matter how powerful a mage scribed it) than stopping time for an indeterminate number of people in the region.

[Hunter548]

Time stop scrolls are a long-term plot by Hunter548 to inevitably tear a hole in Arelith's reality and invite the Old Ones in.

the worm is the gate whereby the spheres meet, and He is also the gatekeeper for he knows where They passed through of old and where They shall pass through again. when the time is right and the stars aligned He shall open the gate and breach the barrier

[Peppermint]

Doubt you'll get an official line on this.

But the canon answer is just that Timestop makes you loads faster. On Arelith, Cortex's interpretation also seems... viable.

Lore-wise, there are lots of entities that aren't so keen on people trying to manipulate time. Some which are actually rather important. Mystra, for instance.

[Diegovog]

Thank you! I guess I'll try to see it as actually stopping time then, with dire and problematic consequences to abusing it!

[Iceborn]

Say hi to the Quaruts from part of Kiravias.
They have yet to catch him.