What, in your opinion, are the best divine spells that can control the battlefield, if any? I assume most are on the druid list, but one can always be surprised.
Summon Monster + Sacred Summons is a good one.
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Forbid action and greater forbid action. "Hi you don't think it's a good idea to attack us. " "uh sure I won't attack you" doing this to the big ugly fighter of doom means he can't make any attack rolls until either your next turn or for caster level in rounds (will also effect his friends) for greater
Level 1 and lvl 5 spells respectively.
Summon Monster + Sacred Summons is a good one.
Speaking of summons, is there any sort of feat/item/etc that will speed up the casting time of a summon spell?
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Forbid action and greater forbid action. "Hi you don't think it's a good idea to attack us. " "uh sure I won't attack you" doing this to the big ugly fighter of doom means he can't make any attack rolls until either your next turn or for caster level in rounds (will also effect his friends) for greater
Level 1 and lvl 5 spells respectively.
along this line Terrible Remorse and Jolting Portent are good too - 4th and 7th level spells, no initial save and then they have to save each round. Jolting Portent has the added bonus that if the target makes the save then crits, you can negate the crit and daze them for 1 round.
From the Cleric list:
I like Murderous Command at 1st level, Silence and Soundburst at 2nd, Stone Shape at 3rd, Debilitating Portent at 4th, Greater Command is one of my favorite spells at 5th, but I also like Holy Ice and Wall of Stone. Oh, and obviously all the Summons.
From the Druid list:
Entangle at first, Warp Wood, Wilderness Shoulders, and Wood Shape at 2nd, Plant Growth, Spike Growth, and Stone Shape at 3rd, Obsidian Flow and Spiked Stones at 4th, Transmute Rock to Mud, Wall of Fire and especially Wall of Thorns at 5th. And yeah, all the summons.
I didn't go past 5th level spells because, by that point, it becomes fairly obvious and spells get ridiculous.
To my mind, forbid action and murderous command are debuffs. Also, they offer saving throws. My impression of control spells (as taught by Treantmonk) is that the good ones don't offer a save (especially a will save).
For this list I tried to eliminate most straight up buffs, debuffs, heals, and (most) divinations. I also left out spells that have a casting time longer than about two rounds, thinking they aren't much good to be cast on a battlefield. Some debuffs got through by their lack of save or by virtue of multiple uses and/or saving throws. Some utility spells get through by virtue of multi-uses, like locate object.
So, I'd say
Spark
Darkness
Hide from Undead (against zombies and mindless undead)
Obscuring Mist (especially against ranged attackers)
Summon _____ (pretty much all of them)
Consecrate/Desecrate (Technically a debuff, but it offers no save)
Status (Great for keeping track of buddies in a dark dungeon or under an obscuring mist)
Trail of the Rose
Chain of Perdition (practically a Grasping Hand)
Daylight
Deeper Darkness
Invisibility Purge (technically another debuff, but again, no save)
Locate Object
Prayer (a buff and debuff at the same time, with no save)
Stone Shape
Water Walk
Wind Wall
Air Walk
Control Water
Giant Vermin
Tongues
Fickle Winds
Ghoul Army
Holy Ice
Insect Plague
Plane Shift
Planar Ally series
Snake Staff
Wall of Stone
Animate Objects
Antilife Shell
Wind Walk
Word of Recall
Ethereal Jaunt
Impart Mind
Lunar Veil
Refuge
Repulsion (Will negates, but if this isn't battlefield control, I don't know what is)
Antimagic Field
Dimensional Lock
Earthquake
Rift of Ruin
Spellscar
Energy Drain (a debuff, but save isn't allowed for 24 hours)
Etherealness
Gate
Interplanetary Teleport
Miracle
Polar Midnight
Winds of Vengeance
Summon Monster + Sacred Summons is a good one.Speaking of summons, is there any sort of feat/item/etc that will speed up the casting time of a summon spell?
Wow, I'm an idiot. I asked the question after you gave the answer. That will teach me to not look at the reference before I ask a question.