I am planning an encounter for my PCs where the Evil High Priest will be accompanied by several spellcasting acolytes. The basic question is, what are some good spells I can give the acolytes?
The details:
--Players will be 11th level, and there are a lot of them - between PCs and friendly NPCs, probably about a dozen characters.
--In addition to the Evil High Priest and the acolytes, there will be plentiful melee meatshields. The High Priest is a major-league spellcaster who'll be slinging around Blade Barrier, Blasphemy, and the like.
--I'm using the Rule Zero Underlings rule, which is basically an adaptation of the 4E Minion rules. For our purposes, each acolyte has a Caster Level of 12, has six Spell Levels worth of spells (so, say, a Shield of Faith and a Flame Strike) per day, and the DC is the lowest possible for the spell (so Flame Strike would be DC 17).
The best spells would be:
--Something that can be cast multiple times and be useful each time
--Be useful despite low DCs (ideally no-save spells, but things with a useful partial effect on a save will also do)
--Be reasonably easy-to-use (no complex positioning or pre-conditions)
--Preferably Cleric spells, though Sorc/Wiz spells can also work.
My first thought is to load them up with a Flame Strike and a Shield of Faith each, or make them wizardly acolytes and give them a pair of Fireballs. But I expect there are more interesting spells.
what are the abilities of your PCs?I'm not saying to pic spells that'll completely counter the party but it's something worth keeping in mind. Perhaps rather then all the casters focusing on slinging spells one of the wizardly acolytes could focus on counterspelling?
If you want to seriously annoy the PCs, make one of the underlings a spell warrior skald that does nothing but Enhance Weapons raging song and ready an action for counterspelling. And don't forget to make one of the spells known dispel magic to attempt to counter 5th- and 6th-level spells.
Basic cleric buffs work quite well - someone casts prayer, someone casts bless, someone casts resist energy, someone casts magic circle, someone casts weapon of awe, and suddenly the high priest is much more enduring...
Another tactic is to spam lots of low-levels spells that require saves - command, sanctuary, hold person, sound burst ... One or more of the PCs is going to roll low if you make them make enough rolls.
Shield Other with a paired meat shield, having them heal themselves and thus extend the meat shield's usefulness.
Silence (cast on objects) and Darkness for battlefield control.
Dispel magic and invisibility purge for debuffs.
Cures for the conditions the PCs throw out will likely help - look up soothing word for example. A minion with heal would be exceptionally useful if only once.
PCs are a bit of everything. We've got a Paladin and a melee Mesmerist, an evoker and an enchanter, a buffing cleric and a melee oracle, a bard, and a couple of tag-alongs.
Anyway, counterspelling/dispelling is entirely plausible, especially since my PCs are very fond of spending the first round casting buffs (Haste et al)
Numerous buffs would, strictly speaking, not work (all the acolytes have to have the same spells, RAW), although passing out more potent single-target buffs is a possibility.
And the idea of acolytes with Heal has a definite appeal. Maybe not with the High Priest (who is more of a debuff/control type), but... one of the other villains is a melee brute who is very, very hard to hurt. I suspect if he gets Healed mid-battle, the PCs may cry. Come to think of it, Harm would also be a good spell. It's a melee touch attack and has a save, both of which are annoying, but if the acolytes are well buffed with Inspire Courage/Bless/etc, they can probably hit a Touch AC, and even on a save, 60 damage is nothing to sneeze at.