Time Stop vs. Ready Actions

[fbmf]

Okay, I ready an action so that "If Guy X casts MDJ, I'm going to counterspell it."

On his turn, Guy X throws down a Time Stop and then MDJ's. Does my ready action go off now, or do I have to wait until after Guy X's Time Stop is done?

Game On,
fbmf

[Kirin_Corrigan]

During X's Time Stop you cannot act or react, so X can cast MDJ safely. After Time Stop is over the action of casting the spell has already taken place and you just suffer its effects. In other words, your readied action doesn't go off at all.

[RandomCasualty]

Well, it doens't directly say you can't interrupt a time stop action, however it does say that you are "undetectable" during a time stop, so apparently you can't see the person and therefore couldn't ready an action against them (since you don't know what actions they're taking).

[User3]

1132216414[/unixtime]]Okay, I ready an action so that "If Guy X casts MDJ, I'm going to counterspell it."

On his turn, Guy X throws down a Time Stop and then MDJ's. Does my ready action go off now, or do I have to wait until after Guy X's Time Stop is done?

Game On,
fbmf

Isn't it acceptable to say "If Guy X casts a spell, I'm going to counterspell it."?

So unless the problem is that you can't counterspell Time Stop, this shouldn't be an issue, no?

[Zherog]

A tangential question - isn't Mordy's disjunction useless while in a time stop?

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.

[Kirin_Corrigan]

The answer would be "no" due to the following considerations:

1. MDJ doesn't target anyone so it can be cast normally (everyone already knew that, but it bears repeating)
2. even though you speed up so much that you can take 1d4+1 additional "apparent actions", you keep track of the duration of the spells in "actual time", not "apparent time"
3. the effect(s) of the spell(s) are accounted for at the end of the Time Stop

Now, the above would be crystal clear if they didn't mess up the wording in an interesting way. As things stand one could make a case that Time Stop's "apparent rounds" count towards the duration of a spell (and that's retarded, since it contraddicts the spell description itself) and that Heal or similar spells don't work (and that's even more retarded).

Since I don't go for self-contraddictory interpretations, spells that you are allowed to cast in a Time Stop affect you or the designated area as soon as the Time Stop ends (multiple spells take place simultaneously) and the "apparent rounds" don't count towards the duration of any non-istantaneous spell.

[Murtak]

Not being able to cast Heal (other than on yourself) makes perfect sense to me. If Time Stop stops you from interacting with other creatures there is no reason to assume only harmful spells are affected.

As to the original question, I have yet to read up on Time Stop, but going from memory and looking at what RC stated - you could interrupt a timestop with a readied action but you can never perceive what is happening, so you can never actually trigger you readied action (but neither will you expend it uselessly - until you get to act again your readied action is still valid and you will counterspell the first MDJ after Timestop ends).

[Zherog]

I'm still not quite seeing how mordy's dis can be fired off at your enemies while you lounge around in a time stop

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.

MDJ most certainly affects an area. So we meet that criteria. The duration on MDJ, though, is Instantaneous. So I guess I'm not seeing how an Instantaneous effect works. I don't see it as any different than fireball for example - area of effect, instantaneous results.

[Josh_Kablack]

Under 3.5 Time Stop, no, you can't counter it. But MDJ can't effect item's in other characters' possesions if cast during a Time Stop. So the caster is limited to Disjoining unattended items with such a trick.

Time Stop
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 9, Trickery 9
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1d4+1 rounds (apparent time); see text

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.

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 are undetectable while time stop lasts. You cannot enter an area protected by an antimagic field while under the effect of time stop.

However in 3.0, the answer might just be yes. Under the 3.0 version:

....you can create spell effects and leave them to take effect when the time stop spell ends. (The spells' duration do not begin until the time stop is over).

You can cast a spell that doesn't start until the Time Stop is over, so it may very well be counterable. Of course, the rules don't say much about the precise timing of counterspelling, so you could argue that even in this case, the casting happened when in the time stop and therefore could not be interupted by a counterspell attempt.

[Essence]

The 3.0 version wouldn't allow you to use MDJ that way, either. Read closely:

...you can create spell effects and leave them to take effect when the Time Stop ends...

Effect: Some spells create or summon things rather than affecting things that are already present. You must designate the location where these things are to appear, either by seeing it or defining it. Range determines how far away an effect can appear, but if the effect is mobile it can move regardless of the spell’s range.

This is listed as one of three options under the "Aiming a Spell" section, the other two being Target and Area.

So looking at the text of 3.0 Time Stop above, in order to be used in a 3.0 Time Stop, your spell has to have an "Effect:" line rather than a "Target:" or "Area:" line.

Disjunction has an "Area" line, and thus, does abosolutely nothing if cast in a 3.0 Time Stop.