Are there any effects that specifically prevent one tradition’s spellcasting

metamagicmonsterspathfinder-2espellstraps

I'm designing an upcoming encounter. The villain of the adventure knows the party well, and intends to create countermeasures against them. They believe the party will consist of two Arcane spellcasters, and two Divine spellcasters. Being an Occult spellcaster, he would naturally be interested in spells or hazards, or even summoned creatures, that would be able to nullify or weaken spells from either of those traditions but not his own. Do any such effects exist within published Pathfinder material? Material from Pathfinder 2e would be preferred, but anything from 1e that I could convert would be appreciated.

Best Answer

Yes, see the Abandoned Zealot, a level 6 ghost of someone tormented by religious crisis. It has a constant melee ability that specifically interferes with divine spellcasters.

Rend Faith When hit by an abandoned zealot's hand of despair, a creature capable of divine spellcasting or with divinely granted abilities must succeed at a DC 24 Will save or be unable to use those spells or abilities until the end of its next turn.

If that's not enough, it has a reaction to interrupt divine spells from being cast nearby.

Elegy of the Faithless Reaction (abjuration, divine, mental) Trigger A divine spell is cast within 30 feet of the abandoned zealot; Effect The abandoned zealot howls an elegy of regret, forcing the spellcaster to attempt a DC 22 Will save, or DC 24 if the caster is a member of the zealot's former faith. On a failure, the elegy disrupts the spell.

The ghost can also cast a heightened Crisis of Faith, which is a divine spell that deals extra damage if the target is a divine spellcaster:

You assault the target's faith, riddling the creature with doubt and mental turmoil that deal 6d6 mental damage, or 6d8 mental damage if it can cast divine spells. The effects are determined by its Will save.

Other creatures, like the level 5 Shrine Skelm, have a Reaction that functions similarly to Counterspell and can counteract divine spells.

Seize Prayer Reaction (abjuration, concentrate, occult) Trigger A creature the shrine skelm can hear within 30 feet Casts a divine Spell with a verbal component; Effect The shrine skelm utters an incantation and attempts to counteract the triggering spell [...]

If magical blasters are expected, then a high level Occult caster might get the 5th level Shadow Siphon spell. This doesn't prevent spellcasting, but it would reduce the effectiveness of an otherwise well-placed Fireball.

Attempt to counteract the target spell. If the attempt is successful, any creatures that would be damaged by the spell instead take only half as much damage, but the spell otherwise works as normal. Treat shadow siphon's counteract level as 2 higher for this attempt.

More generally, any effect that gives the Stupefied condition will reduce the effectiveness of spellcasters. The Stupefied value penalizes their spell attack rolls and spell DCs, and is added to a DC 5 flat check that the caster must succeed whenever they attempt to cast a spell.