Get rid of Druid summoning?

[haakon1]

IMC, part of the problem is it's over email, and the druid is a slow and lazy poster. So, I create the monster, and track it, and move it, and do it's attacks. And remember it for the days and days it takes to play out a several round fight over email. That character was created in 1st Edition, ported to 3.0, and ported to 3.5, so I permitted the character to be created long before the offending rule came into existence.

For the DM in the campaign I play in, I'm not sure the exact issue, since we've never had a druid, but he specifically sited Summon Nature's Ally as his reason for banning the class. I think it also has to do with them being kinda lame, like a weakened version of a cleric.

So, anyhow, as to the question of alternative versions of the druid, it seems that the 3.0 one -- which simply doesn't have the summon anything all the time ability -- is the only other choice people are using? No thousand points of alternate rules, like the Ranger?

 

[Mercule]

Hey now, no discussions of politics on ENWorld, especially not when it comes to political pork.

Boo, hiss.

That degraded rather quickly.

 

[Kesh]

You need Unearthed Arcana. I do believe there are alternate versions of the Druid in there. Or, alternately, just pick another spell for them to spontaneously cast. They can still summon nature's ally, but only as a normal spell prepared ahead of time, which brings it to a more manageable level.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I use DMGenie, so it takes me all of about 5 seconds to put a SNA creature, or any other summon, into play. When I'm not using DMGenie, I have the player keep miniature character sheets for anything he's going to summon ... and THEY play the creature. It's his spell effect, after all. He can deal with it.

--fje

Same here. If you don't have the stats or effect, you get it next round.

 

[Mercule]

Heh. Probably could have mentioned the earlier, but it didn't really click until the UA comment.

We're about to start the Age of Worms AP. One of the players is chomping at the bit to play a dedicated Summoner, so he's going to play the specialist Conjurer variant from UA -- the one with shortened casting of Summon Monster and auto-augmenting of all his beasties. Another player is seriously considering playing a Druid. I will be requiring them to have the stats available before they cast the spell.

Talk about summoning overload.

 

[MoonZar]

Solution

The DM of the game I play in (as opposed to the one I run) has just banned druids. His reason is that he hates Summon Nature's Ally -- it's just too annoying to create a new monster and deal with it, when you're already running the bad guys.

I actually feel precisely the same way, and in my campaign, I've told the druid to cool it on the summoning.

So, I'm thinking this is not an isolated thing.

What do you do with druids? Did you learn to live with summoning, or change the rules?

Ask the druid player to prepare all the sheet of the creature he will summon before the game session. Then he have to roll the HP on the fly when he cast the spells. Ask the druid player to roll attack and dmg of the creature he summoned.

 

[Intrope]

I've played a Druid Creature Monger before. It's loads of fun, even with Pokemon jokes running wild But I'd have to agree: the Druid MUST run their own creatures, and have the stats ready.

For my part, I got monster cards from http://www.theothergamecompany.com/projects/monstercards.htm. After I'd printed out my creatures, I also penciled in changes from a feat I had (added +4 STR and CON, forget the name). I could run them very easily that way (just slap it on the table). If I was still playing that character or something like that I'd probably use the SRD to make up custom summon cards (as a word doc) so I could make the cards disposable (easier, that way--I could mark off damage on the card and toss it as it dies).

 

[farscapesg1]

The problem with the Enhanced Summoning ability in the Unearthed Arcana is that it is based off the wizard's bonus feats. If you enter a prestige class, you don't gain any of the advancement abilities. Not to mention you loose the Scribe Scroll feat as a bonus feat That is THE most used item creation feat for wizards.

 

[Mercule]

Not to mention you loose the Scribe Scroll feat as a bonus feat That is THE most used item creation feat for wizards.

While I agree with your sentiment, my players have yet to pen a scroll.

 

[Hypersmurf]

IMC, part of the problem is it's over email, and the druid is a slow and lazy poster.

I'm playing several druids in PBP/PBEMs at the moment, and any time I summon a creature, I include its stats either in the email, or in a post in the Rogues' Gallery for that game.

Doing otherwise is just impolite!

-Hyp.