3.5: divine spells to track & taunt?

[aboyd]

My DM has provided probably 100 plot hooks as well as 2 or 3 dozen long-standing enemies over the past year. Because our crew was low-level, we had few skills to track enemies, and rarely bested them in combat. We're about to hit 7th level, and I believe that opens up 4th level spells for clerics. This is where clerics start getting capable, but I could use some tips. I want to start taunting/tormenting my enemies from a distance, scrying them, invading their thoughts, etc. I know wizards get spells like whisper (although that's of limited range), but what do clerics get? I can use PHB & Spell Compendium. I found Circle Dance, but it's not very precise. Locate Object is OK but limited range. What other spells do you suggest for turning the tables and starting to take control?

 

[shilsen]

If you want to be taunting them, Sending is a pretty basic way to go.

 

[aboyd]

Thanks! I will add Sending to my repertoire. I don't like that the tauntee can taunt back, however. But that might be useful at a certain point.

By the way, have I posted this in the wrong place? Would it be better suited to the D&D Rules forum?

 

[Aus_Snow]

By the way, have I posted this in the wrong place? Would it be better suited to the D&D Rules forum?

You'd get more responses there. But I'm pretty sure either one is OK.

 

[aboyd]

Is there a nice mod out there who might move this? Or can I? I couldn't find a way.

 

[aboyd]

Well, I took a couple of hours to go through the lists of spells. Here is what I found.

1. Chain of Eyes - see what others see, good for infiltrating the enemy, but limited range.
2. Interplanar Message - like Sending, but they can't taunt back. Yay. But it's limited because you must touch the enemy first.
3. Summon Hound Archon - a lawful good creature that can do Greater Teleport. Nice for reconnaissance. Probably wouldn't participate in acts of revenge, though.
4. Sending - 25 word message, 25 word reply
5. Locate Object - Limited range
6. Helping Hand - Not really a taunt, but maybe could be used as a lure?
7. Divination - Answers to questions about events occuring with 1 week.
8. Circle Dance - Use your body like a compass, get direction (but not distance) of a person.

So my cleric's ability to cause nightmares, invade minds, and hunt down our enemies is actually pretty limited. These spells are not as cool as I had hoped. I think it will really come down to Circle Dance and Summon Hound Archon. Very little ability to taunt the enemy. I'll simply have to track them down and maybe get a little recon if I'm lucky. Perhaps multiple castings of Divination could reveal quite a bit about our enemies, but the spell description says that asking about the same topic gets the same answer each time. So the real question will be "how broadly does our DM interpret the 'same topic' to be?"

I think I'm going to look into purchasing services from a wizard. Time to look at their spells. I think I'd be willing to pay for a Nightmare.