Alienist summoning question

[Jalkain]

Should alienists really be required to apply the pseudonatural template to all of their summoned monsters? It seems to me that the template should only be applied to those cretaures that would normally have a fiendish or celestial template. A psuedonatural devil sounds a little strange, and the immunities that such a creature would possess could be very formidable.

A kyton, for instance, already has cold immunity. If you add to this the acid and electricity resistance (15 for a 8 HD creature), then you have a creature that is resistant to most energy forms. Furthermore, kytons have regeneration, and acid is normally one of the only ways of inflicting normal damage.

Seems to me that you should either summon a real kyton (standard abilities) or a pseudonatural equivalent (with only those abilities from the template). Has any one else had any problems using the rule as given in Tome and Blood?

 

[gfunk]

I have played an Alienist for several levels and I've always applied the pseudonatural template to everything. Sure it is strong, but considering how weak the Summon Monster series of spells are in general I don't think it impacts game balance much.

Take advantage of it I say! Maximum power attack with your earth elementals while using the True Strike ability.

 

[shilsen]

I think this is probably an oversight in the Alienist description. In one campaign that I'm currently playing in, we have an Alienist PC, and I am anticipating problems for the DM if he allows the ability as written (haven't seen it happen since the alienist hasn't got particularly high level yet). The simplest solution would probably be to allow the pseudonatural template to replace celestial or fiendish ones on existing creatures, and not come into play when non-templated creatures are summoned.

 

[0-hr]

At least Pg. 46 in T&B says "If the selected creature would normally be celestial or fiendish, the pseudonatural template replaces that template."

 

[Kesh]

Right. The Psuedonatural template is supposed to be applied to the normal version of the critter, in place of Celestial or Fiendish.

 

[Jalkain]

At least Pg. 46 in T&B says "If the selected creature would normally be celestial or fiendish, the pseudonatural template replaces that template."

That bit's fine, but the text seems to suggest that it also gets applied to any summoned monster. Here's the full text:

Summon Alien (Sp)
When an alienist casts any summon monster spell, she summons a "pseudonatural" version of a creature chosen from the appropriate list on page 258 of the Player's Handbook. For example, by casting summon monster VI,, she could summon a pseudonatural rast. This adds the pseudonatural template to the summoned creature (see Pseudonatural Creatures below). If the selected creature would normally be celestial of fiendish, the pseudonatural template replaces that template.

The first sentence suggests that the template is compulsory - the alienist doen't even have the option of siummoning a normal creature.

 

[Vecna]

Any summoned creature is pseudonatural.

If they were celestial or fiendish, replace the old template with pseudonatural.
If the summoned creature is "normal", add the pseudonatural template.