I am not seeing many spells that can stop or contain a flying creature very well. Anyone have any suggestions?
I am sorry. I mean spell level 3 or less.
Well right now I am thinking Slow would be the best spell. But i was hoping someone knew something better.
Hold Person--any paralysis effect makes flyers fall down. Also, isn't the Fly spell 3rd level? You could just fly after them.
Maybe Gust of Wind, or something similar that makes it harder for it to make its Fly checks?
Oh, Stunned and Dazed also knocks most flyers down since they can't take actions to fly. Sound Burst, Ear Piercing Scream, Color Spray, Limp Lash, stuff like that.
My big spells are grease, color spray and create pit.
My big spells are grease, color spray and create pit.
Those are all level 1 spells--I thought you said you had access to level 3 spells?
That said, Color Spray will stun if you can get close enough, and that will ground them temporarily. Hopefully long enough for your big dumb fighter to grapple them (or your Alchemist to tanglefoot them) or something.
I assume you want spell suggestions to combat flyers (rather than to 'contain', 'stop' or trap them). If so, here is some help.
Pyrotechnics (fireworks): will blind them if they are within 120'.
Spectral Hand: will allow delivery of touch spells to opponents within medium range (100'+). Combine with a Vampiric touch/Shocking Grasp/Ghoul-Touch.
Sleep/Deep Slumber: (close range for Deep Slumber)the flyer will have a really rude awakening...
Obscuring Mist/Darkness effect: any of these will make sure the flyer cannot target you.
Glitterdust/Blindness-Deafness (blindness): better than pyrotechnics for ensuring the flyer cannot be effective.
Summon Monster/Fly/Summon Swarm (bats): bring the fight to the flyer.
Suggestion: suggest the flyer engage you on the ground.
Dispel Magic: if the flyer is a wizard
Fireball/Lightning Bolt/Scorching Ray/MagicMissile: more direct route
depending on how good it was at flying, anything that would cause blindness(glitterdust is what im thinking) would cause them to slow down to half speed, which would force fly checks if they flew under half or fall, or force acrobatic checks if they flew faster than half or fall.
readied action to cast web would work if you could catch it between 2 trees or something to anchor it with.
cleric - command to 'approach' would get it near you to throw a net or something (or use it to get it caught in the web spell above)
sound burst could stun it for a round forcing it down
summoning enough flying creatures around it so it could not enter the squares around it would work but it would require a lot of them.
Chain of Perdition is a new spell that creates a chain of force. it is only short range but you could direct it to entangle a flying creature if within range.
technically Stumble Gap doesnt say it cannot be cast in a square in the air
Ear-Piercing Scream will daze it for 1 round forcing it to crash
hideous laughter would force it to fall
deep slumber would put it to sleep
hold person would stop it if it was humanoid
suggestion to get it to fly to the ground
most of these spells are level 2 so should be easy to get ahold of. in any event Staggering Fall would be good to keep it on the ground if someone can cast it while its falling.
I use the 0 lvl spell Askew Balance. It causes the target to become prone. I cast it when I can cause the most falling damage
I will be get a level 3 spell next level. Thats whY i have level 3 or less.
ah it took me 20 minutes to come up with my list, i see now you are looking for wizard spells. well most of mine are wizard, i think just command and sound burst you couldn't use.
are you a sorcerer?
Since I will be 6 I think i will trade out summon 2 and replace that with glitterdust and take my third as summon 3.
I do have one level of oracle with command.
Thanks a bunch.
I am not seeing many spells that can stop or contain a flying creature very well. Anyone have any suggestions?
Slow prevents them from doing anything other than flying (because it limits them to one attack or move action).
Stinking cloud is a cloud that can be set in the air to make flying difficult and visibility poor (which means it's also a good spell to cast overhead if you want to create some serious concealment vs flying enemies).
Summon monster III can produce a Dire Bat to pester them in the air, a Lantern Archon to chase them around shooting them, or a Dretch who can also cast stinking cloud 1/day as a spell-like ability (again see stinking cloud).
Deep slumber and sleep can force enemies to the ground where they can be pummeled properly.
Hold person as another poster pointed out will ground enemies to allow you to beat them up.
Shrink item can allow you to shrink something that would ruin a flyer's day and simply un-shrink it at a convenient time. For example, a spiked wooden wall 20 ft. high could be readied to enlarge back to its original composition as an enemy flies past it, effectively putting a trapped barrier in their path as an interruption to their movement.
Alternatively you can shrink small fortresses (like wooden or stone bunkers with murder holes) and carry them around as pieces of cloth to throw down, which make it difficult for flying enemies to shoot or otherwise harm those inside (you can affect 2 cubic feet of material per caster level, and a cubic foot is a lot of mass).
Fly creates an equalizer for the problem.
Blindness/Deafness ruins pretty much anyone, but blindness puts some horrible, horrible penalties on movement forms of all kinds and dexterity based checks (including fly checks), and it's virtually impossible to fly and be dangerous at the same time while blinded.
Hideous laughter forces the creature to fall, possibly inflicting damage and grounding them, and they are ready to be mopped up.
Web cast between two walls, trees, or other locations (particularly as a readied action) devastates flying creatures.
Summon Swarm conjures a bat swarm which many flying creatures have no defense against and cannot themselves hurt. Can be conjured while invisible which means you can really drive flying creatures batty.
Acid arrow forces a fly check each time it deals damage or the target must drop 10 ft. down. The DC is only 10, but if your target is clumsy or debuffed it can happen.
Animate rope can be used to entangle and grasp a flyer with some difficulty.
Silent image can create an illusion of objects to block line of sight and thus make it difficult for flyers if you put a "roof" or "cloud" over your party.
Colorspray as noted can stun (or worse) opponents which will ground them and set them up to get beat up.
True strike and 1 tanglefoot bag can royally mess up a flyer's days at low levels.
Sleep works well vs low-level flyers.
I use the 0 lvl spell Askew Balance. It causes the target to become prone. I cast it when I can cause the most falling damage
I am not familiar with that spell, but I am pretty sure you cannot cause a flying creature to become prone (you cannot trip one either).
The issue with sleep is they will fall take damage wake up and be off again. Hideous laughter is great.
Since I will be 6 I think i will trade out summon 2 and replace that with glitterdust and take my third as summon 3.
Taking Glitterdust is generally a good idea regardless--it's easily one of the best level 2 spells in the game. It is to level 2 spells what Grease and Silent Image are to level 1s and Black Tentacles is to level 4s.
why can you not trip or force a flying creature prone? in 3.5 that was the best way to get them on the ground, and i haven't seen any changes for pathfinder.
can you cite a ruling on that?
If your attack exceeds the target's CMD, the target is knocked prone. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are knocked prone instead. If the target has more than two legs, add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each additional leg it has. Some creatures—such as oozes, creatures without legs, and flying creatures—cannot be tripped.
Right from the prd on the trip rules
yea i had never read the pathfinder rules on trip before. but i cannot find a reference to flying creatures eing caused prone except for the gunslinger playtest version of the target ability, which caused flying creatures knocked prone to fall.
The issue with sleep is they will fall take damage wake up and be off again. Hideous laughter is great.
Once you get them on the ground, keep them there. As in beat the snot out of them, trip them (they are on the ground now), grapple them, make attacks of opportunities if they try to fly away from you (they must leave a minimum of two 5 ft. squares if surrounded and thus cannot withdraw effectively into the air without provoking), toss a tanglefoot bag, or start pounding them with other spells. Sleep is really just to get them to impact the ground and become landbound long enough to beat the snot out of them. :P
Message. Send one to your archer friend. Heh.
But, seriously... Hideous Laughter is a good one. Or summons. Summons are always awesome!
Or cast Fly on your Barbarian friend.