S. Monster CRs by Spell Level and Alternate Summon Monster List Proposal

mercucio · Jul 9, 2004

I was bored the other day and have been frustrated over the weakness I have perceived in the Summon Monster spell list in 3.5, name the puny CR of monsters summoned.

First thing I did was take the summon monster list found in the 3.5 srd and assign each creature on the list it's CR as per the 3.5 SRD. I then broke that down into a CR range per spell level, give below:

Code:

SPELL NAME             CR Summonable 
Summon monster I       1/2
Summon monster II       1
Summon monster III      2
Summon monster IX      3-4
Summon monster V       4-5
Summon monster VI      6-7
Summon monster VII     7-9
Summon monster VIII    9-11
Summon monster IX      11-12

* There is +1/-1 varience in CRs observed at levels IV-IX

The breakdown by spell level is given below:

Summon Monster

1st Level
Celestial dog (1/3) LG
Celestial owl (1/4) LG
Celestial giant fire beetle (1/3) NG
Celestial porpoise1 (1/2) NG
Celestial badger (1/2) CG
Celestial monkey (1/6) CG
Fiendish dire rat (1/3) LE
Fiendish raven (1/6) LE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Medium (1/2) NE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Small (1/2) NE
Fiendish hawk (1/3) CE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Small (1/2) CE
Fiendish octopus1 (1) CE
Fiendish snake, Small viper (1/2) CE

2nd Level
Celestial giant bee (1) LG
Celestial giant bombardier beetle (2) NG
Celestial riding dog (1) NG
Celestial eagle (1/2) CG
Lemure (devil) (1) LE
Fiendish squid1(1) LE
Fiendish wolf (1) LE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Large (1) NE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Medium (1) NE
Fiendish shark, Medium1 (1) NE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Medium (1) CE
Fiendish snake, Medium viper (1) CE

3rd Level
Celestial black bear (2) LG
Celestial bison (3) NG
Celestial dire badger (2) CG
Celestial hippogriff (2) CG
Elemental, Small (any) (1) N
Fiendish ape (3) LE
Fiendish dire weasel (2) LE
Hell hound (3) LE
Fiendish snake, constrictor (2) LE
Fiendish boar (2) NE
Fiendish dire bat (3) NE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Huge (3) NE
Fiendish crocodile (2) CE
Dretch (demon) (2) CE
Fiendish snake, Large viper (2) CE
Fiendish wolverine (2) CE

4th Level
Archon, lantern (2) LG
Celestial giant owl (4) LG
Celestial giant eagle (4) CG
Celestial lion (4) CG
Mephit (any) (3) N
Fiendish dire wolf (4) LE
Fiendish giant wasp (4) LE
Fiendish giant praying mantis (4) NE
Fiendish shark, Large1 (3) NE
Yeth hound (3) NE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Large (3) CE
Fiendish snake, Huge viper (4) CE
Howler (3) CE

5th Level
Archon, hound (4) LG
Celestial brown bear (5) LG
Celestial giant stag beetle (5) NG
Celestial sea cat1 (5) NG
Celestial griffon (5) CG
Elemental, Medium (any) (3) N
Achaierai (5) LE
Devil, bearded (5) LE
Fiendish dire ape (4) LE
Fiendish dire boar (5) NE
Fiendish shark, Huge (5) NE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Large (4) NE
Shadow mastiff (5) NE
Fiendish dire wolverine (5) CE
Fiendish giant crocodile (5) CE
Fiendish tiger (5) CE

6th Level
Celestial polar bear (6) LG
Celestial orca whale1 (7) NG
Bralani (eladrin) (6) CG
Celestial dire lion (7) CG
Elemental, Large (any) (5) N
Janni (genie) (4) N
Chaos beast (7) CN
Devil, chain (6) LE
Xill (6) LE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Gargantuan (8) NE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Huge (7) CE
Fiendish snake, giant constrictor (7) CE

7th Level
Celestial elephant (9) LG
Avoral (guardinal) (9) NG
Celestial baleen whale1 (8) NG
Djinni (genie) (5) CG
Elemental, Huge (any) (7) N
Invisible stalker (7) N
Devil, bone (9) LE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Huge (7) NE
Babau (demon) (6) CE
Fiendish giant octopus1 (10) CE
Fiendish girallon (7) CE

8th Level
Celestial dire bear (9) LG
Celestial cachalot whale1 (9) NG
Lillend (7) CG
Elemental, greater (any) (9) N
Fiendish giant squid1 (11) LE
Hellcat (7) LE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Colossal (11) NE
Fiendish dire tiger (10) CE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Gargantuan (10) CE
Vrock (demon) (9) CE

9th Level
Couatl (10) LG
Leonal (guardinal) (12) NG
Celestial roc (11) CG
Elemental, elder (any) (11) N
Devil, barbed (11) LE
Fiendish dire shark1 (11) NE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Gargantuan (12) NE
Night hag (9) NE
Bebilith (demon) (10) CE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Colossal (13) CE
Hezrou (demon) (11) CE
1 May be summoned only into an aquatic or watery environment.

Next post: Alternate CR by spell level chart, and alternate summon monster I-IX lists based on those guidelines.

mercucio · Jul 9, 2004

Based on the chart and list given above you can see a typical summon monster spell summons a monster whose CR is X less than the minimum wizard level required to cast the summon monster spell as follows:

Code:

SPELL NAME             CR       CL      MOD
Summon monster I       1/2      1st     -1
Summon monster II       1       3rd     -2
Summon monster III      2       5th     -3
Summon monster IV      3-4      7th     -4
Summon monster V       4-5      9th     -5
Summon monster VI      6-7      11th    -5
Summon monster VII     7-9      13th    -6
Summon monster VIII    9-11     15th    -6
Summon monster IX      11-12    17th    -6

You will not the poor scaling in power level per increased spell level. A creature summoned from the summon monster VI list (CR 6-7) isn't even a speed bump to party of four 13th level characters. To be honest it isn't really even a speed bump to one 13th level character. And the disparity gets worse as the level of the summon monster increases.

To remedy this I offer the following alternate guidelines for determining what creature CRs should be assigned to each summon monster level.

Code:

SPELL NAME             CR Summonable 
Summon monster I       1/2
Summon monster II       1
Summon monster III     2-3
Summon monster IV      4-5
Summon monster V       6-7
Summon monster VI      8-9
Summon monster VII     10-11
Summon monster VIII    12-13
Summon monster IX      14

Note: If a monster has the ability the cast spells, the highest level spell it is capable to casting should be two or more levels lower the level of the summon monster spell used to summon it. i.e. summon monster I - no spells; II - no spells; III - 1st level spells; IV - 2nd level spells; V - 3rd level spells; VI - 4th level spells; VII - 5th level spells; VIII - 6th level spells; IX - 7th level spells.

Essentially the CR range for summon monster IV-IX level breaks down to the minimum caster level -4.

Alternate Summon Monster I-IX Monster Lists

1st Level
Celestial dog (1/3) Any good
Celestial eagle (1/2) Any good
Celestial owl (1/4) Any good
Celestial giant fire beetle (1/3) Any good
Celestial porpoise1 (1/2) Any good
Celestial badger (1/2) Any good
Celestial monkey (1/6) Any good
Fiendish dire rat (1/3) LE
Fiendish raven (1/6) LE
Fiendish monstrous centipede, Medium (1/2) NE
Fiendish monstrous scorpion, Small (1/2) NE
Fiendish hawk (1/3) CE
Fiendish monstrous spider, Small (1/2) CE
Fiendish octopus1 (1) CE
Fiendish snake, Small viper (1/2) CE

2nd Level
Elemental, Small (any) (1) N
Formian worker (1/2) LN
Lemure (devil) (1) LE

3rd Level
Archon, lantern (2) LG
Cervidal (guardinal) (2) NG
Dretch (demon) (2) CE
Elemental, Medium (any) (3) N
Formian, warrior (3) LN
Hell hound (3) LE
Imp (devil) or Quasit (demon) (2) LE or CE
Magmin (3) N
Mephit (any) (3) N
Salamander, flamebrother (3) any evil
Yeth hound (3) NE

4th Level (4-5)
Achaierai (5) LE
Archon, hound (4) LG
Barghest (4) LE
Djinni (genie) (5) CG
Devil, bearded (5) LE
Howler(3) CE
Janni (genie) (4) N
Shadow mastiff (5) NE

5th Level (6-7)
Babau (demon) (6) CE
Barghest, greater (5) NG
Belker (air) (7) NG
Bralani (eladrin) (6) CG
Chaos beast (7) CN
Devil, chain (6) LE
Elemental, Large (any) (5) N
Fiendish girallon (7) CE
Formian, taskmaster (7) LN
Hellcat (7) LE
Invisible stalker (7) N
Lillend (7) CG
Lupinal (guardinal) (5) NG
Salamander, average (6) any evil
Xill (6) LE

6th Level (8-9)
Avoral (guardinal) (9) NG
Devil, bone (9) LE
Efreeti (genie, no wish) (8) LE
Elemental, Huge (any) (7) N
Movadic deva (angel) (9) NG
Night hag (9) NE
Vrock (demon) (9) CE

7th Level (10-11)
Bebilith (demon) (10) CE
Couatl (10) LG
Elemental, greater (any) (9) N
Formian, myrmarch (10) LN
Hezrou (demon) (11) CE
Rakshasa (10) LE
Salamander, noble (10) LE

8th Level (11-12)
Devil, barbed (11) LE
Elemental, elder (any) (11) N
Firre (eladrin) (10) CG
Leonal (guardinal) (12) NG
Monadic deva (angel) (12) NG

9th Level (13-14)
Astral deva (angel) (14) NG
Ghaele (eladrin) (13) CE
Glabrezu (demon) (13) CE
Ice devil (13) LE

* italic monster entries denotes not SRD monster.
** I didn't feel like reassigning the celestial/fiendish animals/vermin. Feel free to do so on your own time =)

Aust Diamondew · Jul 9, 2004

I like the idea. Might be some balance issues but I don't think there will be. I'll show it to my DM maybe he'll allow the changes. He's starting a campaign and I'm going to be playing a conjurer

S. Monster CRs by Spell Level and Alternate Summon Monster List Proposal

mercucio

First Post

mercucio

First Post

Aust Diamondew

First Post

Similar Threads

AD6_gamerati_skyscraper

Upcoming Releases