Better Summoned Creatures (Undead Specifically)

[Kyros Pyralis]

Barring the Augment Summoning feat I haven't been able to find any way to make my undead better. Ideally I would like to be able to summon them with an enhancement bonus of +1 or greater on their weapons/attacks.

I vaguely rememebr a feat that would allow you to summon something with the Magic Fang spell active, but I cannot find it. Anything to this effect would be ideal.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't know of anything in particular, but check out Libris Mortis (which has feats like Fell Animate), Book of Vile Deeds, or Ghostwalk.

And if you're actually summoning undead with spells that are conjuration/necromancy (are there such?), check out the various Completes for a bunch of feats which boost summonings:

Echoing UA's Specialist variants, Focused Specialist from PHB2, and just about any summoning-centric Reserve feats

To paraphrase what I've written elswhere:

1) Check out the Feats (esp. Reserve Feats) & Alternative Class Features:

Imbued Summoning, PHB2 p92 (summoned critters arrive w/beneficial spells)

Cloudy Conjuration, CompMage p40 conjurations accompanied by a cloud of sickening smoke (CompMage p40). The cloud is similar to a Fog cloud spell, and doesn't affect creatures summoned by the spell.

Dimensional Reach reserve feat: if you have a 3rd lvl or higher conjuration spell, you get an at will mage hand effect, and you also get +1 bounus to caster level for conjuration (summoning) spells. (CompArc p41)

Summon Elemental reserve feat: lets you briefly summon elementals, and also givs a +1CL on summoning spells. (CompArc p47-8)

Focused Specialist ACF: give up 1 additional school of magic and one spell slot per level and gain an additional +2 spells in your specialty school (in addition to your initial +1 spell for specialization). That's 3 per level within your specialty.

Abrupt Jaunt Alternative Class feature (ACF): a 10' at will teleport (PHB2 p70)

Residual Magic tactical feat: lets you apply a single metamagic feat for free to a spell that follows a spell that had been cast with that metamagic feat (CompMage p46). That would let you get a metamagically enhanced summons spell for its usual cost.
Rapid Summoning ACF: Give up familiar to drop SUmmon Monster casting time from 1 full round down to 1 standard act. (UA p60)

Enhanced summoning ACF: give up Scribe Scroll and Wizard bonus feats to gain Augmented summoning and have tougher, stronger, less dispellable creatures (UA p60)

Metamagic School Focus: 3x day, reduces the cost of applying a metamagic feat to a spell by 1 level- +2levels becomes 1, 1 becomes zero, etc. (CompMage p45)

2) Summoner Domain, CompDiv p141 (adds +2Cl to summon spells). Combine this with Domain Wizard ACF, CompChamp p52, which lets a Wizard exchange a Wiz bonus feat for access to a Domain's granted power. If the PC has any Cleric levels, he gets full access to the Domain.

Combined with the reserve feats I mentioned before, you'd be adding +4CL to your summonings.

 

[Kyros Pyralis]

That was very comprehensive, and Imbued summoning along with my cleric whose speced out to abuse Divine Metamagic with the Extra Turning feat will be able to easily summon the undead with no level adjustment to the spell.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Libris Mortis:
Necromantic Presence adds +2 enhancement to hit and saves, but not damage.

 

[HoboGod]

Corpsecrafter and Deadly Chill from Libris Mortis do the trick, really. Corpsecrafter gives all your undead minions a strength enhancement, Deadly Chill gives them all +1d6 Cold damage. If your average undead were to wield a longsword, it's equivalent to spawning your undead with a +2 Longsword of Frost, but not dealing magical damage.

 

[Kyros Pyralis]

Corpsecrafter and Deadly Chill from Libris Mortis do the trick, really. Corpsecrafter gives all your undead minions a strength enhancement, Deadly Chill gives them all +1d6 Cold damage. If your average undead were to wield a longsword, it's equivalent to spawning your undead with a +2 Longsword of Frost, but not dealing magical damage.

That'll be helpful early on, but i'm thinking late game when I want to be using summon undead 5 for 1d4 troll skeletons. My DM uses lots of DR/magic effects

 

[HoboGod]

Summoning, eh? I rarely ever go for summon approach. I rely almost entirely upon Animate Dead. Paying the 25 gold per hit dice for a permanent army is more my style. However, I could see the advantage of using summons instead... I'm pretty terrible at explaining to the villagers why they needn't fear the Skeleton Wyvern and Zombie Ogres waiting outside their town.

 

[Kyros Pyralis]

Summoning, eh? I rarely ever go for summon approach. I rely almost entirely upon Animate Dead. Paying the 25 gold per hit dice for a permanent army is more my style. However, I could see the advantage of using summons instead... I'm pretty terrible at explaining to the villagers why they needn't fear the Skeleton Wyvern and Zombie Ogres waiting outside their town.

In spite of the fact that I have the Deathbound domain, my DM has expressed a desire for me to keep my army small. This is the aftermath of him setting 3 raptors on me alone at level 5 and my killing and reviving them all and breaking a large portion of the last campaign we played. The character I'm playing now is a more well thought out version of that one, so it has even more break-potential.

This is my compromise.

 

[HoboGod]

Yeah, sending too many beefy monsters of Medium and Large size against a necromancer is a bad idea, that's the DM's fault. A necromancer's HD limit should never be achieved with less than 5 monsters unless those monsters are of Huge size where they comically can't be used in dungeons. Your DM should have started sending weaker creatures with class levels until one or more of those dinosaurs were destroyed.

 

[Itamu]

my DM also learned the hard way about sending a group of frost giants ( with bags of infinite boulders) after my dread necro/palemaster... needless to say I kept them going for a good while and took out one of the big baddies solo. I'd say anything that improves the hp or strength of summoned undead is good as you won't need much more than that. libris mortis is always your best bet when dealing with undead