[PF] Good Utility Spells

[RndmNumGen]

In my current game I'm playing a NG Gnome Transmuter, a semi-pacifist(He avoids conflict if he can help it, but will use lethal force if needed) who I built with the intention of being a buffer for the party. In the last campaign session however, I had a rude awakening when I realized that sometimes, buffs won't help at all and it is more important to have some utility spells on hand, just in case you need them.

A quick summary of the session is in the next two paragraphs:
With one of our players gone for the week, the DM had the rest of us hang around the town for a while before we learned of an approaching Gnoll invasion. The Duke of the town we were in brought our three characters in to see him, and gave us a mission: Infiltrate the gnoll's warcamp and kill their shaman leader to disorganize them and deprive them of a strong magic only the Shaman knew. He also mentioned they were working on a machine of some kind under the guidance of two hooded men, a weapon of horrible destructive potential that we should try and destroy as well.

We set out to find the camp, and promptly botched everything. Poor stealth rolls aside, we did what might have been the second worst possible thing to do; we tried to sneak directly into the camp, without a diversion of some sort and when the guards spotted us, kept going until the alarm was sounded(There were 2,000+ gnolls in the camp). This led to us running away from their scouting parties for a good day and a half, fatiguing us and wasting valuable time. After this, I got the idea to make a tar bomb with some supplies we had and cast Shrink Item on it before giving it to my familiar to drop on the main tent in the camp. While this was going on, I (much more intelligently) cast Invisibility on myself and ran around setting smaller tents on fire. We caused significant damage that night, but took so long getting to that point that now the gnolls will be at the town gates in one day and we're not sure if the leader or the machine(which we never actually found, though we did find metal mechanical parts) were destroyed.
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After we were wrapping us the session, I realized we probably could have been much more effective if I sneaked into the camp on my own while Invisible, casting Detect Magic to try and locate important targets. We could have been much more effective if we tried to make traps between the town and the army to slow them down. We could have been much more effective if we did just about anything other than what we did(the firebomb was the best thing that happened, and while it caused significant damage the leader and machine are probably still out there). Our ineffective blundering did get me enough XP to hit level 6 though, so,now that we're back in town, with one day before the army gets here, I'm trying to secure some new spells for use when the army hits the gates. Even non-magic utility suggestions would be welcomed, because I need ways to make us more effective that being a minor nuisance.

My current spell list:

Cantrips: All, but usually have the following prepared:
Ray of Frost
Acid Splash
Mage Hand
Detect Magic
Read Magic

1/day SLAs:
Prestidigitation
Ghost Sound
Dancing Lights
Speak With Animals

1st Level:
Grease
Color Spray
Mage Armor
Identify
Burning Hands
Enlarge Person
Reduce Person
Expeditious Retreat
Protection from Evil
Magic Weapon

2nd Level:
Bull's Strength
Cat's Grace
Resist Energy
Invisibility

3rd Level:
Hold Person(Enchantment is Opposed for me, I found this in another's spellbook)
Shrink Item
Dispel Magic


Since I have leveled up, I get two more spells this level. I'm not sure what to take, but I need something that has more utility purposes. We're playing Pathfinder, and while the DM allows some stuff from 3.5, it's safe to say most Spell Compendium stuff is banned.

[DraconicPaladin]

Haste and Fly? Summon Monster III might not be a bad Idea.

[ericgrau]

I think if anything you need more 3rd level combat spells like haste, slow or fireball.

EDIT: For army fighting try pyrotechnics. If the enemy isn't carrying torches, then try spells like flame arrow on the party archer or other ways to introduce some fires. Fireball is also ok. Clairvoyance is good for scouting, or detect thoughts at closer range. Don't forget that detect spells can work through doors, tent fabric and other thin things. So even detect magic could scout for major foes inside a tent.

Other random utility:

For utility things I like to just buy scrolls since their cheap. That way I don't have to waste prepared slots on things I might never use today. Possible utility scroll options include: alarm, hold portal, protection from evil (more for stopping charm/dominate/summons than as a buff), mount, unseen servant, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, detect undead, floating disk (usually at caster level 2 or 3 for more carrying capacity), disguise self, silent image, expeditious retreat, jump, magic weapon, arcane lock, protection from arrows, alter self (aquatic campaigns), invisibility, spider climb, whispering wind. Most of these are lousy to prepare in the morning, but a couple also have uses in normal fights and thus could be prepared too.

[RndmNumGen]

Well, we do very well when fighting things head-on is a good option. It isn't hard for us to rip level-appropriate encounters apart. The problems come when we're confronted with an obstacle that isn't feasible to fight, and we need some other way to deal with the issue. As I already mentioned, creative use of Shrink Item(Actually, I suppose it wasn't even THAT creative) was the most effective thing we were able to do. Running into the camp and attacking the gnolls with Fireballs may have killed a dozen or two, but that would have ultimately been of little consequence.

I'm a little confused on how Pyrotechnics is that useful.... maybe as a distraction or for a temporary debuff, but otherwise? Maybe someone can elaborate on this?

The party summoner already has Haste and Fly, though I could probably pick up Slow. Fireball or Lightning Bolt could be useful as a long-range option, so I might pick up one of those as well... Hmm...

[ericgrau]

Once they reach the town you team up with the town army, drop pyrotechnics and blind 50 enemies every round. Fireball likewise could kill 10 per round. Up to 4 times as many in both cases if they're tightly packed such as when crossing a bridge or if they fight in a tight formation. Slow is more useful in regular fights rather than army fights to inconvenience maybe 7 foes who fail their save.

For now there are a number of utility options in the spoilered list like disguises and divinations. You'll probably want to invisibility a rogue or some such to assassinate a few important gnolls in their sleep. Or go yourself. If the cleric can tag you with silence then even better. Make sure you bring a weapon with a high crit multiplier so they die instantly.

[RndmNumGen]

The town's 'army' consists of roughly 1,200 milita - while they have fortifications, they can't really stand up to 2,000 trained warriors on their own. I can only cast 3 Fireballs a day, so that's what... 40 gnolls? 120 if I'm really lucky? Not enough to make a huge difference.

Sneaking in at night to assassinate their leaders would probably be more effective, though there isn't much time left for us to do that. We'll see, I guess.

[ericgrau]

Pyrotechnics is a 2nd level spell though which you can cast more times per day. And city walls do help tremendously, or whatever fortifications they can make. I'd say disabling hundreds of gnolls could be enough to turn the tide of the ensuing battle. Ya, I posted it b/c you're running out of other options. You might be able to squeeze in 1 more stealth strike but what you really need to do immediately is send someone to warn the town so they can set up fortifications and keep guards ready to go. That's the town's best bet and then if you can seriously hamper hundreds of gnolls on top of that they could win in spite of inferior training.

I mean ideally you have stone walls, arrow slits for +10 AC and loads of archers. But even some debris set up for +4 AC from cover is already a big advantage. Gnolls are fairly strength focused so the initial ranged fight is more of a level playing field even without fortifications. The fortifications + PCs could make up for the difference in numbers.

[RndmNumGen]

Yes, I suppose anything we can do to better hamper their progress will help in the long run...