spells that you would never want.

[Vaern]

So you're a sorcerer in a 6th-level dungeon, and your DM, rolling on the random encounter table (DMG 79), pits you against 3 gnolls and 2 hyenas in one room, followed by 1 wereboar and 3 boars, then 3 troglodytes and 2 monitor lizards, and finally, 3 locust swarms. Lucky you, you came equipped with stinking cloud, which applies a disabling condition to enemies. Most of these enemies are only about 50/50 to save, and on a failure, they're unable to act for 1d4+1 rounds. Great! On a success, of course, they are unaffected.

Meanwhile, your buddy is also a sorcerer, but she has fireball instead, the poor sap. Her spell deals an average of 21 damage on a failed save, which...kills these enemies in one shot. Huh, okay, not bad. Killing them probably is better than nauseating them for 1d4+1 rounds. But aha! What if they pass the save? Well...they still take half damage, which means the second fireball is guaranteed to kill them on round 2. Hmm.

Actually, stinking cloud nauseates them for as long as they're in the cloud plus an additional 1d4+1 rounds after they leave. The cloud lingers for 1 round per caster level and they must make a new save against it each round they remain within the cloud. Positioning it properly creates a barrier in which anything attempting to attack you has a 50/50 chance of being stopped in their tracks. Stinking cloud also carries the functionality of fog cloud, meaning that anything attempting to attack you at a range through the cloud is effectively blind and has a 50% miss chance due to concealment. This is particularly beneficial against the wereboar and its boar pets, who will survive your average fireball on a failed save with just enough HP to realize that you're probably both the most dangerous person in the room and also the squishiest.