Looking for a different kind of Summoner.

[FoxWander]

I want to find or make a Summoner class that, instead of summoning random blah monsters off a chart, summons specific critters with various abilities. Like he'd have a fighter thing, a stealth/scout thing, a flying thing for mobility, a healing thing for support- that kind of stuff. It'd be like summoning limited-use specialty party members. Maybe it'd be the same creature, for that role, each time- so the basic brute fighter you summoned at 1st level would be the same critter at 15th level, but it developed as you did so now it's a lot deadlier. Or maybe you just get access to bigger, and better things as you progress. So a Summoner with a necromancy theme would start off summoning skeletons and zombies, but would eventually be calling spectres and vampires. Or you're basic mount critter eventually becomes a gryphon and at much higher levels a dragon. The Summoner itself would have some limited casting ability, but the main focus would be the creatures he could call. The extra spell casting could be limited to a school or domain of spells so you'd have different types of Summoners. I've mentioned a necromancy theme summoning undead; you could have a nature theme summoning elementals or various beasts, demonic/infernal summoners with demon/devils, a tinkerer who summons clockworks or animated objects. There are all kinds of ideas you could go with.

Obviously, this is part Pokemon and part Everquest/DAoC pet-summoner, but I think it could be a fun, versatile, interesting and balanced class. The thing is- I'm sure some publisher or somebody here has developed the idea already. So have you seen/made something like this? Or have you had similar ideas you'd like to discuss? I'd really like to develop this further but I need some help with the specifics, or an existing idea to tweak and adapt. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

Obviously, this is part Pokemon...

That explains why I can't stop running "Gotta cast 'm all, gotta cast 'm all..." through my head. This is going to be with me till I get to sleep, you evil bastage!

Hatchling Dragon

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Interesting, perhaps a prestige class (or core class perhaps) with different Paths that you can go, like the Clockwork Path, or Undead Path, etc...

Perhaps make it like Astral Constructs, each summoning spell level has a base HD amount, but since depending on your path you summon different types of monsters, and therefore they'll have different BABs/HD, etc... And then also give them a list of abilities they can choose from/or preset abilities that all monsters of the path gain.

Ex Path:
Undead:
Base Power: Undead Subtype (Including no con, d12 HD, wizard BAB, etc...)
(Assuming like, at 2nd level and oh, every 3 levels afterwards you gain a special ability you can place on critters you summon, monsters summoned from 1st-3rd level spells can have 1 of these abilities, 4th-6th can have 2, and 7-9th can have 3)
Aura of Fear (creatures who attack must make a will save or suffer a -2 morale penalty to attack)
Crippling Touch (either 2 points of Str/Dex Damage or 1 Con Damage)

etc...

And then just have some general powers people can choose from, perhaps a chain line of powers like:
Durability-Summoned creatures gain 1 extra temporary Hp per HD they possess
Greater Durability (Requisite: Durability)-Summoned creatures gain 2 extra temporary Hp per HD they possess
Equipment-Summoned creatures possess non-expendable nonmagical equipment worth up to 50 gold per summoner level when they arrive, this equipment automatically vanishes when they leave.
Weapon Proficiency (Martial)-Summoned creatures are proficient with martial weapons (this assumes that all of them are already proficient with simple ones)

etc...

Unlike wizards probably, Summoner's summoned critters would last 1 minute per level, or 1 hour per level if the summoner used a spell slot 2 higher than the critter's normal spell level required (Summon Monster V for a 3rd level Summoned critter)

er, just random ideas here, maybe some one can work with them

 

[Dirigible]

My advise : Axiomatic owls.

They're CR 1/2 (approx) summonable with SM I, meaning you'll be able to get multiple with one spells pretty quick. Why is that an advantage? Linked minds. Summon 2+, keep one with you and send the others out. Over the link, they can report instantly.

I found an earth-elemental mule handy for carrying.

edit : I just realsied that this wasn;t the question you were asking. Sorry.

 

[The Forsaken One]

been playing too much NightElf BeastMaster abuse combos at Warcraft 3 have we?

 

[Voadam]

There is an everquest RPG book with a summoner class and a necromancer class (for summoning undead). Worth checking out.

 

[Shallown]

My only ideas is Forgotten Realms has Sumon undeaed if I remember correctly which I have seen used effectively in a game and my other idea is Summoning people with classes. Say you can summon a CR 4 creature with Character summoning IV then you can get a 4th fighter or a 4th cleric or a 4th expert etc with approipriate NPC equipment.

That would make for an interesting way of doing things that way you get your skills/abilities and such without having to rewrite lots of spells.

just an idea.

later

 

[FoxWander]

My only ideas is Forgotten Realms has Sumon undeaed if I remember correctly which I have seen used effectively in a game and my other idea is Summoning people with classes. Say you can summon a CR 4 creature with Character summoning IV then you can get a 4th fighter or a 4th cleric or a 4th expert etc with approipriate NPC equipment.

That would make for an interesting way of doing things that way you get your skills/abilities and such without having to rewrite lots of spells.

just an idea.

later

That's one interesting way of handling the concept. Just a new line of spells- Summon Character (or Ally maybe), instead of Summon Monster or Nature's Ally. The level of Ally you can summon would probably have to be abit lower than the HD you could get with SM or SNA. Maybe if Summon Ally 1 were a second level spell. Or if it were limited to the NPC classes. The ability to summon an Adept, Expert or Warrior still be extremely useful but not as potentially overpowering as summoning a Cleric, Fighter or Rogue. Then if you could get some kind of feat to vastly increase the duration of the spell- because that 1 round per level duration really limits the non-combat usefulness of the spell. (I remember back in 2E using Summon Monster to call up a hoard of kobolds to help us fortify our camp against some approaching bandits. That kind of utility would be impossible with the 3E Summoning spells.)

Does anyone know of a Feat to increase the duration of a Summoning spell? The Extend Spell Feat doesn't really help too much for real utility of a Summoned Expert or Commoner. That's why I figured a new PrC or Core Class would be the way to go. I was thinking of making something with a very limited spell list but the class ability to Summon an Ally of some kind for up to 1 hour per level per day (or if that seems too long, maybe 1 turn/level/day); and that time limit could be used up in smaller increments- 10 minutes for 1 fight and then a half an hour later, up to your limit for the day. As you advance in level you'd get access to greater/more powerful allies, like spellcasters or flying mounts. And the ability to Summon multiple Allies, though each would count against your daily time limit. So if you had a 1 hour limit, then you could get 2 allies for 30 minutes each or 4 for 15 minutes.

But too much more speculation like this and I'll get into House Rule class creation stuff. I posted in this forum mainly to find pre-made ideas like this.
Voadam's suggestion of the Everquest book might be what I'm looking for, since the idea comes from the pet casters of MMORPGs. But since I'm in Korea at the moment I can't just run down to my local gaming store to thumb thru a copy. If one of you nice people that owns the Everquest RPG book could post some details of how the class works for me, I'd really appreciate it.

 

[Shallown]

Yea Fox I just threw out that Idea while typing the post then sort of mulled it over all day. I think Summon character I would be NPC's only. But I could see that being a useful spell especially if you get into the variant summoner rules in the DMG I think about always summoning the same person and such. To save work you just use the DMG NPC ready characters. Maybe you could develop a PrC that would be able to do this then as they gained in level they could extend the duration, choose a maxed skill for the character or choose a spell they have prepared etc. Could be really useful. Like having a flexible leadership feat for very short durations but still kind of coll. I'll have to work on this idea some more.

later

 

[F5]

Does anyone know of a Feat to increase the duration of a Summoning spell? The Extend Spell Feat doesn't really help too much for real utility of a Summoned Expert or Commoner.

Maybe you can build your Summon Ally spell (special ability?) more like the Planar Binding spells? You contact an Expert weaponsmith, summon him and work out a deal, and he crafts you a new sword, and vanishes back where he came from when he's done. You aren't bound to a "rounds-per-level" duration. You also (potentially) get the same expert each time you cast the summoning, so he can advance in level and get better and more useful as you go up in level. The probelm with summoning NPC classes is that it's just as easy to go into town and hire them. I guess the spell could be useful for summoning, say, an Expert Appraiser to appear instantly in the treasure horde you've just uncovered.

To tie it in to your original idea of a summoner that calls beasties that fill specific roles, you could get away with using the Planar Binding spells there, too. You just have to sit down with your DM (or, if you;re the DM just sit down) and work out stats for summonable/bindable critters.

Unearthed Arcana is supposed to have rules for "customizable summoning lists". Maybe this will help you out?