Good spell to cast via Miracle for my evil cleric?

[Physiker]

Dimensional Lock eliminates the teleportation out of the cage and it's a cleric spell. Again you don't have to aim nor does it grand a saving throw. But it would mean to use an other action against an already trapped enemy...

Maze is slightly better, but a lot less predictable, while you see your enemy in the force cage, maze takes him of the battle field, so you can't hurt him while he is trapped. The duration is up to ten minutes which should last for a whole combat, but he could come back with a succesfull int check.
I guess the paladin has a Int of 15 so he would need a 17 on a check he can make every round. The chance that he is still traped after one minute is only 10% after two minutes you are at ~1%.
So it's not that impressive I think.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Dimensional Lock eliminates the teleportation out of the cage and it's a cleric spell. Again you don't have to aim nor does it grand a saving throw. But it would mean to use an other action against an already trapped enemy...

Maze is slightly better, but a lot less predictable, while you see your enemy in the force cage, maze takes him of the battle field, so you can't hurt him while he is trapped. The duration is up to ten minutes which should last for a whole combat, but he could come back with a succesfull int check.
I guess the paladin has a Int of 15 so he would need a 17 on a check he can make every round. The chance that he is still traped after one minute is only 10% after two minutes you are at ~1%.
So it's not that impressive I think.

well, eliminating a powerful foe for 2-3 rounds can turn the tide of the battle and/or force the party casters to use a dispel (Otto's Dance) or similar for their turn.

And, the one time I used Maze on the party was a fail for my caster... the lich with Ironguard as a buff had cast Maze on the goliath barbarian with a 10 INT, as she was one of two melee combatants that did not have a metal weapon. The next round, the goliath rolled a 20 on her INT check. However, that is a full round action, so the goliath was at least out for a round.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I don't know, but that reminds me that Otto's Irresistable Dance is level 6 for Bards...

I know, huge touch AC. But, there are buffs to help with that if getting off one spell is really important. Even a quickened True Strike from...some source...would help.

Back to Forcecage, I forgot about MIC, lol. That book lets you short range teleport 3-5 times a day for the price of two full plate armors. But hey, if the PC didn't bother with any of those, I say he deserves to get locked in place.

Otto's is a great choice in most cases, but it is also a mind-affecting compulsion.

 

[Runestar]

How the heck did your paladin get a touch AC that high? 10base, +5deflection, +5expertise, add some for a decent dex and some misc dodge bonuses perhaps?

 

[NewJeffCT]

How the heck did your paladin get a touch AC that high? 10base, +5deflection, +5expertise, add some for a decent dex and some misc dodge bonuses perhaps?

Improved expertise at level 18 means he can take a -18 to hit and get a +18 dodge bonus to his AC.

Similarly, he has a +4 defending sword, so gets a +4 bonus from that that stacks with anything. That is +22.

His DEX is in the 20s, so maybe another +6 or +7 there (don't have the sheet in front of me). +28/+29

Ring of Protection +3 or +4 gets it up another +3 or +4, as it is a deflection bonus. So, +31, 32 or 33 there, meaning a Touch AC of 41-43.

edited to add: he might have another item in there as well, but I can't recall.

If he is Hasted or subjected to Prayer, that is another +1.

Granted, if he is at -18 to hit, he is not going to hit a lot of well armored or well buffed opponents (his lack of damage has been a running joke throughout the campaign...)

Plus, the Champion of Corellon PrC allows him to wear heavier armor and retain his DEX bonus to AC, which allows him to get his regular AC up much higher than that... He was able to stand in front of a dragon and laugh at its full attack on him (all misses), but also couldn't do any damage to it in return.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Hmm, so he's a "turtle," then? I changed my mind. THe most evil thing you can do to him is ignore him. The way he fights, he leaves himself as no real threat, save for perhaps a readied attack to disrupt casting. Don't bother with him. Have the cleric laugh in his face, "5 ft step" (should be able to with a fly spell) away, and decimate his party. I'm sure the fact he went to so much trouble tanking up only to not get targetting will eat away at him.

Up until now, I had assumed the basic idea that a big, stupid fighter pursuing you like a bat out of hell was something scary and in need of immediate attention. If he's just a foam nerf bat in reality, treat him as such. Until he stops with the Expertise to make himself a threat. THEN hit him with Avasculate or some other nasty touch spell.

 

[Allegro]

If the cleric is buffed with freedom of movement, the solid fog spell could give the cleric a tactical advantage. The cleric could move freely and the barbarian and paladin would be reduced to moving 5 feet at a time. Additionally, depending on the weapon choices of the party summoning bat and locust swarms may prove effective. The bats and locust are diminutives and are immune to normal weapon damage. They don’t need to hit the elf they simply need to move into the elfs square. Special ability damage such as flaming still hurts swarms normally so this might not work.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Hmm, so he's a "turtle," then? I changed my mind. THe most evil thing you can do to him is ignore him. The way he fights, he leaves himself as no real threat, save for perhaps a readied attack to disrupt casting. Don't bother with him. Have the cleric laugh in his face, "5 ft step" (should be able to with a fly spell) away, and decimate his party. I'm sure the fact he went to so much trouble tanking up only to not get targetting will eat away at him.

Up until now, I had assumed the basic idea that a big, stupid fighter pursuing you like a bat out of hell was something scary and in need of immediate attention. If he's just a foam nerf bat in reality, treat him as such. Until he stops with the Expertise to make himself a threat. THEN hit him with Avasculate or some other nasty touch spell.

Well, he just smote the cleric for 60+ damage last round (Rhino's Rush to double charge damage - which includes doubling the smite damage - plus a blessed weapon to auto-confirm crits). He is also at the level in his PrC where he can add both his STR & DEX to damage, which can add up on a crit.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, he just smote the cleric for 60+ damage last round (Rhino's Rush to double charge damage - which includes doubling the smite damage - plus a blessed weapon to auto-confirm crits). He is also at the level in his PrC where he can add both his STR & DEX to damage, which can add up on a crit.

Was that a fluke and he just rolled really high to hit? IF he's not much of a threat, ignore him. You described him just a few posts ago as seldom hitting and/or doing any real damage. If he just got lucky and rolled high, I still say ignore him for now. It's a cleric, afterall. Damage can be healed, as long as it doesn't all spike in a short amount of time.

If he can reliably hit and maim the cleric, then ignore my last post. You just...left the impression that wasn't the case.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Was that a fluke and he just rolled really high to hit? IF he's not much of a threat, ignore him. You described him just a few posts ago as seldom hitting and/or doing any real damage. If he just got lucky and rolled high, I still say ignore him for now. It's a cleric, afterall. Damage can be healed, as long as it doesn't all spike in a short amount of time.

If he can reliably hit and maim the cleric, then ignore my last post. You just...left the impression that wasn't the case.

True, that is my fault. He actually does a decent job dealing out damage now that he can add his STR & DEX. However, for a long time, he would get a Crit and would do like 12-14 points of damage total, which I think the goliath barbarian can do just by just flexing her muscles.

But, while I know that as a DM he does not deal out huge damage, the cleric just took 60+ points of damage from him. Does she want to take the chance he can't do that again? While she might realize that he got more damage due to the charge-enhancing spell, he is now in full attack range and can likely do that much damage again with 2-3 hits.