D&D (2024) How should a Summoner/Mob class be implemented in 1DnD?

[kigmatzomat]

I'll confess I don't know Pokemon that well, played once. But the idea of "Pikachu ... I choose you" has gotten to me, so my assumption is that a Pokemon Trainer style Summoner would have multiple options for creatures to summon (Gotta catch them all), but would only have one "in play" at a time. Maybe spiking to 2 or 3 at high levels, but the base assumption is one at a time.

Which is an idea but that is one big pet, in that other thread.
(https://www.enworld.org/threads/how-should-a-summoner-pet-class-be-implemented-in-1dnd.697591/)

this is to discuss summoners who may have two or three companions plus a mob they whistle up with magic.

 

[aco175]

The issue with horde summoners is that they completely drag the gameplay to a crawl, taking ages to control all their minions to have a turn.

I have a campaign going where the barbarian has a group of follower orcs that chose to help the PCs fight the giants. I did not want to have 8 more NPCs to control or for the player to control, so I made a mob monster statblock. I was able to scale it to the PCs level and made it so the mob could be destroyed and only 1 orc warrior would remain. I also made it so the mob could be made again with more followers.