No XP for summoned creatures, right?

[Thurbane]

Just want to confirm, that characters do not get XP for defeating summoned creatures, only the creatures that summoned them.

My group last night had a VERY tough battle with some devils (2 Narzugons, 2 nightmares and 4 Spinagons). One of the Narzugons summoned 2 Erinyes, which were by far the toughest enemies on the field.

My players are now pretty miffed that the Erinyes won't be counted in the XP.

Also, a couple of side questions:

Does it seem odd to anyone that a CR 5 Narzugon can summon 1d3 CR8 Erinyes?

Can summoned Devils be dismissed by a Dispel Magic spell?

 

[Thurbane]

Side question

On another tangent, the Erinyes entangled one player with it's Animate Rope ability. The player in question was a Dwarf, and had up a Magic Circle Against evil.

Which of his save bonuses (if any) should have applied to his Reflex save to avoid entanglement: the +2 from the Magic Circle, his +2 against spells for being a dwarf, or both?

 

[Tiberius]

Just want to confirm, that characters do not get XP for defeating summoned creatures, only the creatures that summoned them.

Technically true, though I disagree. A fight where a balor calls up another balor is very different from one where the thing uses its Implosion.

 

[Hammerhead]

Technically true, though I disagree. A fight where a balor calls up another balor is very different from one where the thing uses its Implosion.

Only because Implosion sucks. Duration Concentration? Yeah, that's going to last all of half a round.

 

[DanMcS]

On another tangent, the Erinyes entangled one player with it's Animate Rope ability. The player in question was a Dwarf, and had up a Magic Circle Against evil.

Which of his save bonuses (if any) should have applied to his Reflex save to avoid entanglement: the +2 from the Magic Circle, his +2 against spells for being a dwarf, or both?

Both. The dwarf bonus is a racial bonus, the Magic Circle bonus is resistance. They both apply.

 

[pawsplay]

Does it seem odd to anyone that a CR 5 Narzugon can summon 1d3 CR8 Erinyes?


Somewhat, but it's not a sure thing, and the erinyes cannot themselves summon anything (and hence would themselves rate a lower CR if it mattered, which it doesn't).

 

[IanB]

IMC I give XP for summoned creatures if the party doesn't actually fight the summoner (IE, badguy laughs, summons some stuff to fight them, says "Kill them my minions!" and teleports out in bad cinema style.) Usually done in cases when fighting the summoner would kill them anyway.

If the summoner sticks around, no XP.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Ruleswise, it's no XP, which in the latter situation I'd see it as being jiped if the "summoned" monsters were the toughest part of the encounter.

Unless called in via a summon monster spell or go poof once the summoner bites it, then I'd give the players XP for beating the summoned creatures.

 

[shilsen]

As noted already, summoned creatures don't contribute to XP. This is another of the many situations one avoids by divorcing XP from what one fights. I did that in my games a long time ago and would never go back. Combat being the prime basis of XP is a very arbitrary choice, and I prefer to just award enough XP per session to keep the PCs advancing at a rate that I'm happy with. Keeps things simple and also avoids situations such as what you described, or questions about whether they actually beat an enemy or not, what happens when they fight an enemy multiple times, etc.

As for the other questions:

Can summoned Devils be dismissed by a Dispel Magic spell?

Yes.

On another tangent, the Erinyes entangled one player with it's Animate Rope ability. The player in question was a Dwarf, and had up a Magic Circle Against evil.

Which of his save bonuses (if any) should have applied to his Reflex save to avoid entanglement: the +2 from the Magic Circle, his +2 against spells for being a dwarf, or both?

Only the +2 from the Magic Circle. The +2 racial bonus is only against spells and spell-like abilities, and the erinyes' Entangle ability is neither. It's an Extraordinary ability, which resembles a spell in its effects.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Can summoned Devils be dismissed by a Dispel Magic spell?

Yes, because it's a non-instantaneous Spell-like Ability. Moreover, it's specifically mentioned: "An appropriate spell level is given for each summoning ability for purposes of Concentration checks and attempts to dispel the summoned creature." Since that's written in the Summon ability, it could be argued that it would work even on an instantaneous summons or a Su or Ex one.

Note that the CR for a monster includes its summoning ability. If you decide to award XP for the summoned monsters, then you need to (a) reduce the CR of the original monster, and (b) reduce the CR of the summoned monster because it also cannot summon additional monsters. I thought there were some restriction on summoned monsters not being able to teleport, but I can't find that ATM with a cursory glance.