Wow, doesn't sound like a very fun campaign. "Forced to start from level 1" is one of those get-out-as-quickly-as-possible warning bells for me. As long as you are actually enjoying it I guess?
Anyway, to answer your question: long term care using the heal rules can restore ability damage, as can simply resting it off. Otherwise yeah, restoration and co are your main bets. Surely these won't be an issue considering the 12th level cleric in your party?
Other options:
-Mythic cure spells if you are mythic
-Stalwart resolve lets you ignore the penalties but doesn't cure.
-Nap stack can be used to naturally heal ability damage quicker than usual.
-Some polymorph spells such as Ice body make the caster immune to ability damage.
The 'Heal' spell restores all ability damage instantly.
To be fair, it isn't like you are going to be staying level 1 for very long (assuming you don't do anything to put yourself in harms way).
You could always go the "prevention" route too. Death Ward, Scarab of Protection or the like.
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Advice: death ward will prevent all ability damage from Shadows and their ilk. It should be on the Cleric's list, and he should be able to get a fair duration out of it, and cover the whole party.
The subject is immune to energy drain and any negative energy effects, including channeled negative energy.
Strength Damage (Su) A shadow's touch deals 1d6 points of Strength damage to a living creature. This is a negative energy effect. A creature dies if this Strength damage equals or exceeds its actual Strength score.
Anything that increases Touch AC - Ring of Protection, fighting defensively - will help against Shadows.
I feel ya TC, recently my party (lv3) had a run in with a few Wraithspawn, and the 1d2 Con Drain per hit really sucked. Worst part is that apparently the party (and GM secretly) were expecting my character (An Aasimar Cleric) to be the star of the show this session because of my access to the Daylight spell and Lesser Restoration . . . Well jokes on them because Daylight doesn't actually make daylight and Lesser Restoration can't do anything for Ability Drain. Thus 7 points total of Con Drain to the Fighter and Rogue(Slayer), 5 days March back into town, and pooling together 3,400gp for scrolls later resulted in everybody just feeling looted.
How is a Wraithspawn CR4 when it inflicts a permanent penalty that can't be healed without access to level 5 resources? Just seems silly.
Sorry to go off on a tangent there. With access to a level 12 Cleric, you shouldn't need to worry about shadow's ability damage too much (if he's Good, then he could probably wipe them all out with one use of Channel energy at that level). The structure of your campaign is a bit odd, but generally It's best to not introduce enemies that inflict ability damage until level 3, and enemies that inflict ability drain until about level 8-9.
I feel ya TC, recently my party (lv3) had a run in with a few Wraithspawn, and the 1d2 Con Drain per hit really sucked. Worst part is that apparently the party (and GM secretly) were expecting my character (An Aasimar Cleric) to be the star of the show this session because of my access to the Daylight spell and Lesser Restoration . . . Well jokes on them because Daylight doesn't actually make daylight and Lesser Restoration can't do anything for Ability Drain. Thus 7 points total of Con Drain to the Fighter and Rogue(Slayer), 5 days March back into town, and pooling together 3,400gp for scrolls later resulted in everybody just feeling looted.
How is a Wraithspawn CR4 when it inflicts a permanent penalty that can't be healed without access to level 5 resources? Just seems silly.
Sorry to go off on a tangent there. With access to a level 12 Cleric, you shouldn't need to worry about shadow's ability damage too much (if he's Good, then he could probably wipe them all out with one use of Channel energy at that level). The structure of your campaign is a bit odd, but generally It's best to not introduce enemies that inflict ability damage until level 3, and enemies that inflict ability drain until about level 8-9.
Assuming the town was big enough (small city), why not get an NPC to cast Restoration? (7x4x10 +100) 380gp per character. CRB, spellcasting services.
As for the CR, it might be "off" a little but wraith spawn are fragile as all get out. Negligible turn resistance, not much in the way of "to hit" bonus (mage armor and/or shield spells, ghost touch, etc will stop the thing in its tracks on average), and barring really bad luck a party will drop it in a round or two if the DM isn't playing it smart and taking advantage of its abilities.
If you read the challenge rating guidelines, it sounds like things worked out they way they should. A CR encounter of higher than your level (so lets call it 'tough') is supposed to drain your resources and possibly KO a character if I remember correctly. Add into that, party composition (which can swing things a huge amount, plus or minus) and some opponents end up "harder" than they could be.
I hadn't read the shadows' ability, so I didn't realize death ward would apply. Would death ward have an effect if a shadow hits you before the spell is cast on you?
It is a preventative measure, it doesn't "heal" anything in effect already (except negating the penalties from negative levels while in effect as stated).