Help with Designing a Summoner

[Rantar]

I am joining a new campaign and I was thinking of designing a sorcerer who specializes in summoning. Seeing as this board is filled with some smart DnD players, I figured this was the best place to ask for some help with ideas.

First I was thinking about feats:
Extend and Persistant Spell would be handy, as well as all the summon booster feats I can find. I have all of the WOTC rule books at home plus Relics and Rituals and both the Eldrich Might books. I'll have to compile a list of the spells that augment summoned creatures

And then there are spells:
Other than picking up each level of Summon Monster, what other spells would be helpful to a summoner? I was thinking up Invis right off the bat would be nice. Does summon monster break invis? Would any other spells be useful?

Finally are there any handy tricks and unconvential uses for certain summoned creatures outside of combat? Should I lobby my dm to use the modified summoned method from (I think) Tome and Blood?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help. I've read this board daily for a long time, but this is my first time posting.

--Zach

 

[ForceUser@Home]

I did this. If you're going to be a summoner, make sure you pick up the Augment Summoning feat from Tome & Blood. Consider taking the Summoner prestige class from Relics & Rituals. Make sure you speak at least one language a summoned creature speaks, such as celestial or fiendish. When you can speak a creature's language, you can give it complex commands provided it has the intelligence to understand. Finally, make sure that invisibility and levitate or fly are on your spell list. Summon spells do not break invisibility, so the way to go is invis yourself and summon with impunity. With flight or levitation, you can get the bird's eye view of a melee and drop your minions into the best possible spots during the fray. Haste is good to buff your minions with, as is endurance and stoneskin. Any spell that helps your minions tank longer is a good thing, because chances are they aren't the main fighters in your group, and you'll want them to have staying power to assist those fighters. At higher levels, consider taking spells such as lesser planar binding and the like. At 9th level, maze and imprisonment are appropriate and helpful for dealing with planar creatures who choose to defy your control.

Summoners can call forth versatile minions. If you're fighting an evil creature, summon a celestial critter to smite evil. Aquatic creature? Summon a shark or octopus. Fighting a fire creature? Summon water elementals. Summon spells are versatile such that whatever you're fighting, there's usually a counter creature on your summon list. Note: The list in the summon monster I-IX description is merely suggestive. There's a fiendish wolf on the list, so there's no reason you can't summon forth a celestial wolf too. Basically, if a critter on your list is templated, you can summon a version of any template - so you can call up a a fiendish dire wolf, a celestial dire wolf, a lawful dire wolf, or a chaotic dire wolf, depending on your need or preference. Also, if you have the range in combat, always try to summon your critters into a flanking position to help your rogues and other meleers. They will love you for it.

Roleplaying a summoner is a lot of fun. Treat him like a fellow who can't stand doing his own work, and would much rather have someone or something else do it at his beck and call. Spells such as tenser's floating disk and unseen servant both fit nicely into the roleplaying aspect of the summoner.

 

[Shawn Carman]

The characters in my campaigns who like to summon stuff usually pick up a Bag of Tricks as well. Handy things, those bags.

"Hello there! Is that a rhino in your pocket or are AAAAAAAAH!"

 

[Crothian]

I'd take the Summoner Character Concept from Quint Wizard.

 

[Rantar]

Thanks

Thanks guys for all your help.

ForceUser: Good call on the language, that didn't even occur to me. I sould have remembered the summoner in Relics and Rituals. I'll check it out when I get home. I also like the idea of switching templates. I don't remember the lawful or chaotic template though, where are those from? Any other templates you'd allow? Any +1 CR or less template? I'll have to talk to my dm. I liked you roleplaying ideas as well. A cowardly character might also be fun to roleplay

 

[Neowolf]

I believe the Lawful and Chaotic templates are from Manual of the Planes (correct me if I'm wrong), as well as a few other templates you might want to look at. Good luck and happy summoning!

 

[madriel]

Summoning spells may not break an invisibility spell, but the enemy can still hear you casting the spell. You might want to pick up the Silent Spell feat as well.

The Maximize spell feat could be useful for when you call in 1d3 creatures of a lower level. Always get the most bang for your buck.

 

[d20Dwarf]

There is a Summoner PrC in Path of Magic (available next week!), a preview of the class can also be found in the ENnie-nominated netbook, Silverymoon: Gem of the North!

http://www.gemofthenorth.org

 

[Acmite]

One of the biggest limitations on the Summon Monster spells is their limited range (Close).

Consider picking up Enlarge Spell (I think that's the one that extends the range).

I also agree that a large language selection really expands your options--or you could just have multiple tongues spells prepared all the time, but that's a big waste of 3rd level spell slots (or a 7th level if you persist it).

Feats: Augment Summoning, Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Persist Spell, maybe Maximize (as someone mentioned above--although the +3 spell slot really hurts with the summoning spells).

 

[Creamsteak]

Ask if you will be allowed to use the variant on page 96 of the DMG. Summoning Individual Monsters.

Turns them into characters you can equip and provides for much more interesting roleplaying. I think thats the only thing I can mention that hasn't already been thrown at you.