grapple - no good, the party likes Freedom of Movement too much.
Shade - thanks. speaking of clerics... the ones who were leading the undead around did fairly well. a group of PCs ganged up on a bunch of skeletons, so the clerics blasted them with a flame strike, mass inflct moderate wounds, and slay living. the enemies would have done better if not for the fact that the mage cast repulsion with a caster level check SO DAMNED HIGH (feats, among other things) that two 16th-level clerics failed to defeat it with greater dispel magic... now that PC is almost as much trouble for me as the tempest! the clerics made their saving throws against repulsion but the undead did not. and you don't get to be 16th-level by charging alone at a group of obviously powerful enemies.