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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 852516" data-attributes="member: 1645">Silly SummoningSo our intrepid heroes are about to square off against their first evil sorcerer (or high priest) when he summons an unspeakable evil from beyond to do his fighting for him: a fiendish dire rat -- that does his evil bidding for six seconds before returning to hell.&nbsp;Does this strike anyone else as...wrong? Even a 5th-level spellcaster only summons his evil servants for 30 seconds (five rounds) -- and his options tend to be things like: fiendish dire weasel, 1d3 fiendish squids, or 1d4+1 fiendish dire rats. OK, OK, he can summon minor devils (Lemures, not the ring-tailed kind) too, but still only for seconds at a time. The Planar Ally/Binding spells make sense. Why do these summoning spells seem so silly? (Which reminds me, does anyone else find it odd that Summon Nature's Ally works just like Summon Monster? I naturally assumed it would work more like, say, Aquaman summoning fish; it would bring nearby animals to your aid. Instead *poof* fighting badger!)Are there any examples, from folklore or from fantasy literature, of evil sorcerers summoning fiendish dire weasels for seconds at a time? Did I somehow miss all those stories?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 852516, member: 1645"] [b]Silly Summoning[/b] So our intrepid heroes are about to square off against their first evil sorcerer (or high priest) when he summons an unspeakable evil from beyond to do his fighting for him: a fiendish dire rat -- that does his evil bidding for six seconds before returning to hell. Does this strike anyone else as...wrong? Even a 5th-level spellcaster only summons his evil servants for 30 seconds (five rounds) -- and his options tend to be things like: fiendish dire weasel, 1d3 fiendish squids, or 1d4+1 fiendish dire rats. OK, OK, he can summon minor devils (Lemures, not the ring-tailed kind) too, but still only for seconds at a time. The Planar Ally/Binding spells make sense. Why do these summoning spells seem so silly? (Which reminds me, does anyone else find it odd that Summon Nature's Ally works just like Summon Monster? I naturally assumed it would work more like, say, Aquaman summoning fish; it would bring nearby animals to your aid. Instead *poof* fighting badger!) Are there any examples, from folklore or from fantasy literature, of evil sorcerers summoning fiendish dire weasels for seconds at a time? Did I somehow miss all those stories? [/QUOTE]

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