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<blockquote data-quote="Gwarok" data-source="post: 7224826" data-attributes="member: 12249">Well I for one am glad that they put in Planar Ally.&nbsp;&nbsp; The game needs a general summoning spell to you know, summon stuff.&nbsp;&nbsp; It's a critical part of the genre especially if you are going to have casters in your campaign, and who doesn't have casters in their campaign?&nbsp;&nbsp; Planar Ally is the only spell that really fits that bill short of Gate, which is the apex of this type of magic, and there needs to be a more ritualized version of it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Granted, it does seem they sorta threw it in there and left things pretty open ended which can require a fair amount of interpretation by the DM.&nbsp; First problem is that it's called &quot;Planar Ally&quot; and only works for Clerics, and Bards at 14th and above.&nbsp; This seems to imply that good clerics can summon angels, bad ones summon fiends, and can be interpreted extremely tightly as never the twain shall meet.&nbsp;&nbsp; But it also says that you can summon by name, a staple of summoning cannon, and this would seem to open things up a bit.&nbsp; Also you can summon to a magic circle and do a planar binding as well, in the fashion more of mighty wizards doing their thing, which I like.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is sorta how I do it, and I would also make a wizard/warlock version of it as well, because otherwise the only real conjurers of demons have to be 17th or higher to pull it off, which seems a bit late in the game to allow players to have fun with that.&nbsp;&nbsp; Since I am DM and can do whatever I like, I more or less eschew the GP based method of determining if they help you out unless it's just a simple no brainer.&nbsp;&nbsp; But really anything of consequence summoned is going to have a non financial agenda(unless it's a Pit Fiend of Mammon or something that embodies greed specifically) and you as DM will have another chance to get your players to jump through hoops to get what they want, which is my favorite pastime as a DM.&nbsp;&nbsp; Have them negotiate, have fun with it.&nbsp; What would a Pit Fiend want vs a Planetar?&nbsp; Or a Marilith vs an Arcanaloth?&nbsp; I have found actually expanding the remit of this spell to be a fun game mechanic and players seem to enjoy it as well.&nbsp; &nbsp; I even expand it to a ritual spell and let non casters with the feat have at it.&nbsp;&nbsp; A bunch of hedge witches getting together on a full moon to summon an evil spirit to do their bidding, as long as they have the sacrifice ready and perform the ritual properly and under the right, and very specific, conditions.&nbsp;&nbsp; That sort of thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gwarok, post: 7224826, member: 12249"] Well I for one am glad that they put in Planar Ally. The game needs a general summoning spell to you know, summon stuff. It's a critical part of the genre especially if you are going to have casters in your campaign, and who doesn't have casters in their campaign? Planar Ally is the only spell that really fits that bill short of Gate, which is the apex of this type of magic, and there needs to be a more ritualized version of it. Granted, it does seem they sorta threw it in there and left things pretty open ended which can require a fair amount of interpretation by the DM. First problem is that it's called "Planar Ally" and only works for Clerics, and Bards at 14th and above. This seems to imply that good clerics can summon angels, bad ones summon fiends, and can be interpreted extremely tightly as never the twain shall meet. But it also says that you can summon by name, a staple of summoning cannon, and this would seem to open things up a bit. Also you can summon to a magic circle and do a planar binding as well, in the fashion more of mighty wizards doing their thing, which I like. This is sorta how I do it, and I would also make a wizard/warlock version of it as well, because otherwise the only real conjurers of demons have to be 17th or higher to pull it off, which seems a bit late in the game to allow players to have fun with that. Since I am DM and can do whatever I like, I more or less eschew the GP based method of determining if they help you out unless it's just a simple no brainer. But really anything of consequence summoned is going to have a non financial agenda(unless it's a Pit Fiend of Mammon or something that embodies greed specifically) and you as DM will have another chance to get your players to jump through hoops to get what they want, which is my favorite pastime as a DM. Have them negotiate, have fun with it. What would a Pit Fiend want vs a Planetar? Or a Marilith vs an Arcanaloth? I have found actually expanding the remit of this spell to be a fun game mechanic and players seem to enjoy it as well. I even expand it to a ritual spell and let non casters with the feat have at it. A bunch of hedge witches getting together on a full moon to summon an evil spirit to do their bidding, as long as they have the sacrifice ready and perform the ritual properly and under the right, and very specific, conditions. That sort of thing. [/QUOTE]

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