How do you use summoned creatures?

[Stalker0]

A lot of people consider the summon spells a bit on the weak side until VI. I was curious, for those who use summoned monsters what do you use them for?

 

[Crothian]

I'm curios why people think they are weak. Our summoner uses them all the time. He can usually summpn the right creature that will fill the weakness of whatever we are fighting.

 

[Kershek]

Personally, I think it's because of the short time creatures are around at lower levels. I wish summoned creatures were around for minutes instead of rounds. Or, at least have an option for it by reducing the power of the creatures accordingly. Or, creatures that were available in the range of hours and consider them temporary companions (that would be cool for elemental summoners). Perhaps offset that with a longer casting time (1 minute?).

Spending a full round casting them can be a liability, especially when you can be interrupted by an arrow shot, for instance.

 

[WizarDru]

I have one word for you: Rast.

In our game, I had a trap that summoned a monster if tripped. I made it a cast Summon V, and had it summon a Rast. My players liked to joke that the picture of it in the Monster Manual should have said "Actual Size."

IMHO, most of the creatures you can get with Summon Monster are like that...ineffectual in combat by the time you can summon them.

 

[Wippit Guud]

There's about a billion and one uses for summouned monsters... lets just touch on the basics... lets use Summon Monster III, the one I used most offen on low levels. 5 round duration at level 3, when you get the spell:

We assume everything can fight.

Celestial bear - move/lift objects, carry you over burning groud (it has resist elements), shield against missile weapons

Celestial bison - Set off traps in long hallway, battering ram

Triton - retrieve submerged objects, short-duration aquan translator, help swim across water without the skill.

Celestial dire badger - Badgers? We don't need no steenking badgers! Short-duration excavation. Possibly herd larger animals, badgers are crazy

Azer - start a controlled fire, short-duration fire-talking person (forget the language)

Elemental - A lot should be self-explanitory

Thoqqua - One of my favorites... used him to get through bars/walls, burned right through them.

Fiendish dire weasel - Set off traps, carry stuff across acid pools (fiendish template), scale walls

Fiendish gorilla - Scale walls on assault

Fiendish snake, constrictor - Interrogation, take items into narrow spaces

Fiendish boar - good forest distraction, set off traps

Fiendish dire bat - short-duration air escape (for small creaures), retrieve/deliver items in high/low places.

Fiendish lizard, giant - same as weasel, but slower

Salamander, Small - same as Azer, different alignment

Fiendish shark, Large - scare tactic (most things in water fear sharks), help swim across water, attack boats (sharks can makes holes in wood boats)

Fiendish viper - milk for poison (the poison remains when the creature leaves, else it's attack is pretty much worthless

Fiendish crocodile - Help crossing swampy areas

Dretch - Same a lemure

Fiendish leopard - short-duration tracking, catch dinner, help scaling walls

Fiendish wolverine - short duration fighting whillwind , burrowing

 

[Pielorinho]

My druid character uses summoning spells all the time, to great effect -- and druids are usually weaker summoners than wizards (due to the untemplated nature of the beasts). I've picked up the augment summoning feat, which gives an extra +1 to every hit die, attack roll, and damage roll, and that helps a lot.

Basically, it's the flexibility of the spells that makes them great. You can summon a fire creature to attack ice creatures, bats to fly into darkness, arrowhawks to attack heavily-armored or flying enemies, bears or snakes to grapple spellcasters, apes to attack creatures with reach, and so on. Summoning a nasty creature is very useful if you're trying to escape from overwhelming odds: often, the enemy will attack the summoned creature while you run away. The rogue always appreciates having a flanking partner.

And as a 10th-level druid with a companion and a bag of tricks, a great trick is to get a bag-of-tricks creature out to follow me around, and when we encounter a big fight, cast summon monster IV to get 1d3 level-III creatures and then cast animal growth on the whole lot of them. In two rounds, I've filled the room with very big, very angry critters: it's a great tactic.

Daniel

 

[Number47]

One nice fix would be if the spell let you communicate with the creatures summoned. The biggest problem often is that a creature like the Thoqqua has no language. You cannot direct it at all, so all it will do is attack your enemies.

 

[Caliban]

Fiendish viper - milk for poison (the poison remains when the creature leaves, else it's attack is pretty much worthless

Everything from the creature goes away when the spell ends, including any parts, fluids, or eggs.

So unless the spell lasts more than 10 rounds, it will end before the secondary effects of the poison occur. (The poison will go away, but the ability damage will remain.)

And you are right, they are pretty useless at the lower levels.

 

[Caliban]

double post.

 

[Wippit Guud]

I think the casting of the spell infers an intent upon the creature being summoned. Otherwise, how does the summoned creature know what is an eneny?