ExMachina said:
Herremann, so how exactly have you addressed this issue with your DM? Do you use the 'special' critters, sans pseudo template? Or have you stuck in abberrations as I have with my DM? I'm still in the process of just having switched to Alienist and would love some pointers as to what has worked and been balanced.
We have it that anything that Lucifus summons is Psuedonatural in origin and make-up. It does not make sense that it's something you can switch on and switch off. Reaching to the multiverse is part of his being and inclinations. Note though that if he was reading a normal wizard's monster summoning scroll, it would be stock standard and not psuedonatural.
However, in terms of balance, the feat we (the DM and I) created is a good model, even if you do not wish to have it as an actual feat. Effectively, you replace a creature on that list with another that has the same CR or less. The psuedonatural template adds +1 to the CR for creatures with 4 to 11 hit dice while it adds +2 the CR for creatures with 12 or more hit dice. [1 to 3 Hit Dice means the CR stays the same.] By swapping things in and out on the list, you keep the number of options down meaning that any change made has got to work and not be wasted.
This would work with the majority of creatures. However, there are a few that can really cause havoc for their CR. It is up to the DM to decide if an ability is too powerful (I think a recent thread mentioned the Grig in the summon nature's ally list only being a CR 1.) In the end, it comes down to commonsense. I'd be wary of creatures that can really take advantage of the true strike ability in terms of abilities that go with it.
Lucifus has worked the bone devil back into his repertoire but as a SM VIII rather than VII. A Xag-ya energon is most likely his best bang for buck as a SM V. In retrospect, I'd most likely take this up to a six or even a seven. Incorporeal positive energy wielding bad dudes are REAL handy. He got back a couple of elementals but at SM levels one higher. He got back his deific-quality wine producing djinn too but as a SM VII.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
PS: And by the way, a summoner is only as powerful as the player running him/her. If the player knows their creatures inside out, they are always going to make things awkward for the DM. If they don't know their creatures that well, then the summoned creatures become just meat shields (which to be honest is not that bad).
