D&D 5E (2014) I thought about summoning spells too hard

[Wednesday Boy]

What if beings on another plane developed a Conjure Humanoid spell or something? Hm, actually, that sounds like a neat plot hook...

I thought it would be interesting if a wizard the PCs were facing cast a Summon spell and the individual that the spell randomly summoned turned out to be one of the PCs who would then have to fight their companions. I thought there was a Summon spell that would allow this without requiring a homebrewed Summon Humanoid spell. Maybe it was in 2nd Ed.

 

[raleel]

Maybe it's a job. Like you are in the elemental pool and you get paid for sitting around on call then occasionally get pulled into battle or other tasks. I imagine it pays pretty good. Risk pay even.

 

[amerigoV]

I recall under 3e that it did bring a critter from another plane and if they "died" it just returned them. I actually used that concept to introduce 3e mechanics to my players. Someone from another plane summoned (Monster Summoning I) the PCs to fight some Modrons. That way if a PC died in this little scenario, it was not permanent.

 

[Alzrius]

I believe in 3e, it was explicitly some sort of copy of the creature, so that the creature itself didn't die when the summoned effect did.

I don't think that was the case. While there was a caveat that a summoned creature didn't die if it was killed while summoned, there wasn't anything about it not being the real creature.

Summoning

A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

When the spell that summoned a creature ends and the creature disappears, all the spells it has cast expire. A summoned creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it refuses to cast any spells that would cost it XP, or to use any spell-like abilities that would cost XP if they were spells.

What if beings on another plane developed a Conjure Humanoid spell or something?

And what if it was a spell called Catherine?

 

[ki11erDM]

As I recall in Planescape some of the flavor text indicated that it was a kidnapping. It even went so fare as to indicate that what ware fair for the PCs was fair for the monsters... so it would be possible for a PC to get summoned to the outer planes.

 

[Joe Liker]

In one of the old Manuals of the Planes (probably 1st or 2nd ed.), it mentions a pseudo-physical phenomenon that pops up in a random spot on an elemental plane whenever a wizard tries to summon an elemental. If you touch it, you get summoned.

It doesn't mention any reward for this, or any other reason you'd willingly touch one other than ignorance, but I like to think the elemental gets something out of the deal, even if it's just vaguely stated Sailor-Moon-style "energy."

 

[I'm A Banana]

I don't think that was the case. While there was a caveat that a summoned creature didn't die if it was killed while summoned, there wasn't anything about it not being the real creature.

Summoning

A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

When the spell that summoned a creature ends and the creature disappears, all the spells it has cast expire. A summoned creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it refuses to cast any spells that would cost it XP, or to use any spell-like abilities that would cost XP if they were spells.

Kind of an unsettling way to torture someone, come to think of it.

Find them on their home plane, and shove 'em into a pit, and shut the door.

Go to another plane, summon them, and force them to do horrible, degrading, painful things. Summon them over a vat of acid. Summon them and make them kill babies. Whatever your twisted little mind can come up with. Kill them -- slowly, but before the spell expires -- once you've had your fun.

Creature re-forms 24 hours later. If they haven't told you where the terrorisms are hiding (or whatever), continue your advanced interrogation technique.

Summoning is messed up.

 

[Dausuul]

How do spells like Conjure Fey work? I mean, are we magically kidnapping unsuspecting pixies and forcing them to fight for us? Did a green hag mysteriously disappear from her coven and find herself the unwilling ally of an adventuring party? How does a mid-level spell have such a hold on every being in an entire dimension? Do the fey mind the fact that they could get pulled away at any moment? What if beings on another plane developed a Conjure Humanoid spell or something? Hm, actually, that sounds like a neat plot hook...

But seriously, this is kinda worrying. I'm sort of afraid to summon anything now. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems, and the summoned creatures are actually just mindless fey spirits taking the forms of regular fey when we call for them? But why do they get so angry when we lose control of the creature? They must not like what the spell does. Or maybe the shapeshifting fey spirits are just always like that, and will strike out at anything like a wild animal unless controlled by magic? This raises so many questions...

Well, the short answer is to ask your DM how summoning works. As far as I know, the 5E rules don't go into much detail on the subject, so it's going to be on the DM to fill in the gaps.

In previous editions, summoning typically worked something like this:

• The summoned creature is in fact being taken from somewhere else (usually another plane).
• While on your plane, the summoned creature enjoys the same sort of protections that you do while using astral projection. If it is slain, it merely returns unharmed to its own plane. It doesn't actually die.
• What happens when you're on a different plane and cast a summoning spell targeting a native of that plane? Uh, hey, look over there! *sound of designers running away*

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

In Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books, I can recall two different approaches two different incarnations of the Eternal Champion took... In the Elric books the Melniboneans had pacts set up with various elementals, etc, and that allowed him to call on them when needed. In the Corum books, he had a magical eye and hand; with the eye, he could see into a pocket plane where the spirit of the last creature he had killed lived, and with the hand he could summon them out to fight on his behalf.

 

[jrowland]

My memory is fuzzy on this, but I am pretty sure in older editions there was a distinct difference between conjure and summoning. Conjuration sort of 'creates' thing from the raw stuff of the planes where Summoning actually brings a being from another place (where the spells conjuration (summoning)? yeah, that rings a bell).
[MENTION=2067]Kamikaze Midget[/MENTION] had the right idea: Fiends, eg, want to be summoned: they can't get to the prime material without it and it allows them to corrupt (devils) and destroy (demons). They know they cannot die but are merely sent back and fight accordingly (read fluff on fiends in MM). I imagine conjured Fey behave the same way. They get to frolic on the material plane for a while with no consequence to their actions on their home plane.

I tend to think of different planes as being so foreign, so removed from "reality" that it might seem like a dream. A Fey coming to the material plane feels like its a weird dream, same for fiends, etc. In fact, I've done one-off adventures using that when I only have 1 or 2 players show up to a game: They are "summoned" to an outer plane to aid some caster there and when they die they wake up from the dream...