Help with spells for a generic Cleric (lvl 4)

[Balor01]

Imagine a lvl 4 cleric with a few accompanying war beasts and barbarians. It's an NPC and you need to create a "macro" for him to use in combat. Cleric and his party is mainly facing humanoids.

Since I lack optimization skills, I came up with this:

If surprised:

1.st round - Hold person (at 140 ft - good stuff)
2.nd round - Hold person
3.rd round - Command (drop) (at 35 ft)
4.th round - Command (drop)
5.th round - Command (drop)
6.th round - Command (drop)
7.th round - go into melee

If there is time for preparation:
1.st round

1.st round - Bless (himself and party)
2.nd round - Hold person (at 140 ft - good stuff)
3.rd round - Hold person
4.th round - Command (drop) (at 35 feet)
5.th round - Command (drop)
6.th round - Command (drop)
7.th round - Command
8.th round - go into melee


... Should I go some other way with this? I have read cleric manuals, but I am unsure if my approach is right one.

thanks

[Balor01]

Still in hope of at least one answer: I picked this because locking down an opponent with Hold feels like strongest option. Is this proper mindset when playing cleric?

thanks.

[caden_varn]

Hardly much of an optimiser myself, but I'd consider buffs too. No chance of them being saved against for a start, and still works if you are facing non-humanoids.

Bulls strength on one of your barbarians gives them +2 to attack and +3 to damage assuming a 2 hander, and the +2 to attack can help feed power attack for more damage. Lasts 4 minutes, so plenty of time for a normal combat.

Hold is going to work best for a single tough but low will enemy. If you have a spell caster, silence might be better (also targets will, but you can cast it on a companion of the caster and hope he doesn't know which way to move). It also disrupts communication, but that is down to your DM to know whether it is effective.

This is just looking quickly through core spells. Probably better choices outside of that.

[Darrin]

Hold person is nice when it works, but relies rather heavily on your target failing a Will save. Throwing down one of these on the biggest meatbag is a pretty decent strategy. However, I'd probably replace the 2nd hold person with spiritual weapon. This is a good "fire and forget" spell, which keeps attacking while you do something else.

Spamming command is also very reliant on a blown Will save. Against low-level opponents, cause fear might be more effective here. If the target blows a Will save on that, they flee from combat for 1d4 rounds. Even on a successful save, they are shaken for one round.

Your last 1st level spell should be magic stone or obscuring mist. The former gives you three ranged attacks before you have to close to melee, while the latter gives you cover for an escape ("Aigh! They're not dead yet? I'm outta here!").

[Diarmuid]

The thing to remember about Hold Person is that the target gets a save every round. Previous versions meant failing the save involved being "held" for the duration of the combat.

You're also not accounting for varying different types of humanoids. Some are going to have better Fort than Will saves and vice versa.

I have found 3.5's version much less potent and rarely use it. At level 4, you're probably going to be better off with a Bull's Strength, Bless, Divine Favor and wading into Melee.

If you want to stand back, Sound Burst and Spiritual Weapon can both be good options from an action economy perspective.