[Philos]

JSP, I too like to use them like a hand grenade. That way you don't have to bother with trying to lure them in the right direction or trying to avoid it yourself. IMHO, you can usually get more bang for the buck this way. Because if they walk into it, seems to catch 3 or 4 at most as they usually start spread out. But it works wonders in places where there's a big bunch of the bad guys and you can block a narrow gap, like the bridges. The enemy bunch up behind their front row and then by tossing the skull or glyph on someone in the back or middle (depending on the size of the group) you can hammer just about the whole group (with a little practice) and leave your front row fighters untouched.
I agree with you too DaveO that Chromatic Orb is often overlooked. I think many forget that its powers go up "dramatically" with the mage's level. Usually have a couple in the memorized inventory. I locked the game up once because I hit Brother P in the "cave" encounter with one and he failed his save. He was frozen in place and I then proceeded to hit him far beyond what I should have before he teleports out. He was stuck and couldn't teleport and the game wouldn't let him die because he was still needed for the final chapter.