3rd level clerical spell of grim death!

[Aerich]

Hi all,

Cool new clerical spell and tactic here (or at least new to me...)

With my solo evil cleric (to be dualled to necromancer), I've had to really utilize everything in the spell inventory. My newest love is the spell Glyph of Warding. I cast it for the very first time (went through 2 6-character games without it) to take out the first wight in the Black Wolf Temple. Essentially, it sets up an electrical, movement-sensitive trap in the doorway, and I moved forward just enough for the wight to see me, then backed up. It came into range of the mine, took about 25 damage, then fell to one melee hit (with Strength of One then Draw Upon Holy Might giving my normally 15 STR cleric a STR of 20). Some of the other skeleton types nearby also took damage.

It strikes me that Glyph of Warding is ideal for ambushes; if using more than one character, it should be possible to use a decoy to draw some attention and have the cleric stand in back. With the right timing, a decoy could retreat out of range (having the glyph cast right behind him/her) and the pursuing monsters would impale themselves on the glyph. Also, despite the spell description, I think it can be cast on the floor, no doorways or bridges needed.

I now intend to experiment with multiple glyphs (unless the game doesn't allow them to be cast close together, as I believe is the case in PnP 2nd edition). I bet if I cast a couple glyphs close to the skeleton mage, move into sight then retreat (inducing it to walk over them), I can score one dead magic user with very little effort.

Also, I've thought of a NASTY technique for when I dual to necromancer and gain my clerical skills back. Check this out.

1) Cast glyph behind you.
2) Cast skull trap on top of it.
3) Cast the same combo slightly closer to you, preferably in a line parallel to the direction you intend to return.

4) Go draw some enemies.
5) When you get close to the traps, use dimension door to get beyond them.
6) Watch the monsters get fried and exploded as they try to get to you.

Cheers! Comments welcome, especially from those who have tried this sort of thing before.

[Roboghost]

Well...

If you REALLY want to get rid of a nasty mage or some such creature before you bring the whole gang in to do battle, then do this:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1. Scout an area out (removing the darkness veil).
2. Summon a long lasting summons (skeletons/beetles).
3. Instruct the summons to go snuff them out--moving your scout out before the bad guys see the summons coming!
4. Call the summons back [select all party and un-select your own actual party--the summons will go anyplace you want that is not dark even though you can't see them] and go finish the rest of the enemy off without that nasty mage helping them.

Of course this won't work on monsters that can see scouts/invisible party members!

[Aerich]

Interesting tactic, Roboghost.

I tend to do the summons at the range of my vision then move forward (as I'm sure all summoners do) so that whatever attacks goes for the fodder first. It's simpler for me, and the benefit is, if you stay in sight of the mage or whatever, you can missile him/her to your heart's content. If I understand your tactic, it exploits the fact that opposing creatures won't attack if you can't see them, but allied creatures will. Not sure if that's what you meant, I haven't tried that tactic yet. If it works, it's almost too cheesy, even for me (though I love the multiple static charge + invisibility trick...)

On a side note, I'm happy to say that the skull trap/glyph of warding combination really works. Score a half-dozen yuan-ti priests down with no effort!