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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CM" data-source="post: 5882058" data-attributes="member: 18340">As long as we don't return to the days of the druid summoning a dozen animals and spending the next two hours throwing various buff spells on them... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />I very much like how 4e handled familiars and summonings. Unless you focus on controlling them directly (by spending your own actions) summoned creatures would act according to their nature. For example a mage in my campaign summons hell hounds frequently. They act on a very simple instinct: If they are close enough to attack an enemy, they will do so, attempting to breathe fire on as many creatures as possible. They have no compunctions about breathing on the summoner's allies, either. If they're not close enough, they will instead move toward the nearest enemy.Basically, for the summoner these creatures are on autopilot, acting as the DM decides by following its simple instinctive "script" and only following the summoner's orders when controlled directly. I think that's a really cool, speedy way to handle them, as opposed to earlier editions where they were basically an extension of the summoner's will. I feel other companion-type creatures and NPCs should act this way, as well. Hopefully this gets carried over into 5e.</blockquote>

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