Grim Tales: Summoning spells

[king_ghidorah]

So I want to include scary evil demon-summoning bad guys in a future Grim Tales game. The problem is that using the Grim Tales magic system and just giving them Summon Monster spells from the SRD will result in bad guys who are not so much like the demon-summoning guys who would trouble Conan. Summoning Monster spells have such a short duration that they would not be worth the effort compared to animating the dead. Which works just fine, but isn't what I want. I want a guy across the city to summon a demon to hunt the players down. Sure I can just make it a caveat, but I'd like to leave the door open for characters to learn the same kind of summoning abilities, leaving them in a real moral quandry, or leading them into temptation.

So how would y'all implement summoning spells to work like this expand durations by some sort of set amount? And how would you have that affect spell level? I miss spells like the good ol' Invisible Stalker spell from 1st edition. Sniff.

 

[Kunimatyu]

I believe you're looking for good old Planar Binding, a 5th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 6HD or less, and an 8th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 18HD or less.

 

[king_ghidorah]

I believe you're looking for good old Planar Binding, a 5th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 6HD or less, and an 8th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 18HD or less.

Poifect. Thanks!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I believe you're looking for good old Planar Binding, a 5th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 6HD or less, and an 8th level Wiz/Sorc spell for creatures 18HD or less.

Planar Ally (Lesser/Greater) is in the same category. I think it connotes a little more collusion between the caster and summoned being, though, than does Planar Binding.

The nasty Zogar Sag in (IIRC) Beyond the Black River has a demon ally that's more likely the product of Planar Ally than Planar Binding.

If the summoning involves a friendly (however dark and unholy...) bargain between caster and demon, use Planar Ally, I think.

EDIT 1: And there's always Gate.

EDIT 2: If you have access to the d20 Call of Cthulhu, it has a lot of really nice, otherworldly, but otherwise pretty low CR creatures you can use as "Lesser Allies."


Wulf

 

[Old One]

Would ritual-type magic work better for this as opposed to an "off-the-shelf" spell? I know the O-T-S keeps it easy, but when I think Conanesque magic...I think long, complicated rituals and soul-selling pacts.

~ OO

 

[king_ghidorah]

Planar Ally (Lesser/Greater) is in the same category. I think it connotes a little more collusion between the caster and summoned being, though, than does Planar Binding.

The nasty Zogar Sag in (IIRC) Beyond the Black River has a demon ally that's more likely the product of Planar Ally than Planar Binding.

If the summoning involves a friendly (however dark and unholy...) bargain between caster and demon, use Planar Ally, I think.

EDIT 1: And there's always Gate.

EDIT 2: If you have access to the d20 Call of Cthulhu, it has a lot of really nice, otherworldly, but otherwise pretty low CR creatures you can use as "Lesser Allies."


Wulf

I was avoiding the gate solution, that seems too untidy. Planar ally seems a bit safer, planar binding a bit more risky, looking at the SRD.

 

[king_ghidorah]

Would ritual-type magic work better for this as opposed to an "off-the-shelf" spell? I know the O-T-S keeps it easy, but when I think Conanesque magic...I think long, complicated rituals and soul-selling pacts.

~ OO

Well, planar binding and planar ally do have casting times of 10 minutes, which seems right. Gate... well, still seems an untidy. Thanks all for uncloggin' my noggin.