Summon: Heroic Adventurers

[Rybaer]

Here's a rough outline of an idea that I'd had some time back but never developed. I'm opening this to suggestions and ideas on how this could best be implemented.

Basically, the premise is that the PC's are the subject of someone else's Summoning spell. Essentially, "Summon Heroes" or some such thing. Depending on the level of the characters, this could be a high level spell or even Epic level - the specifics are unimportant.

The PC's get ripped out of their daily activities and suddenly find themselves in the middle of a fight. They also feel compelled to fight on behalf of the one who summoned them.

The upside is that they cannot actually die. I think I read somewhere that the interpretation of a Summoning spell is that when the creature is "killed", it merely disappears back to whatever plane or alternate dimension it belonged to...completely unharmed. For this reason, the players could get pulled into a situation which would otherwise be much too dangerous for them.

On the downside, I'm not sure how to handle expendable resources...spells, potions, wand charges, and so on. It would be somewhat unfair to force the players to expend these on their summoner's behalf. But on the other hand, summoned creatures are generally expected to act to the best of their abilities. Suggestions on how to handle this???

A sample scenario would be to have the group summoned by a powerful wizard. This wizard and his companions are down in the Abyss, trying to recover an item or something...doesn't matter too much as the PC's won't be around long enough to find out. The group that summoned them are busy dealing with a big ol demon prince or the like, and our PC's are summoned to fend off the advancing horde of lesser demonlings.

I'm thinking a scenario like this would only be worth partial XP...perhaps half or a quarter...due to the fact that they cannot actually die.

A twist that might make this a bit more interesting or meaningful would be if the PC's knew the wizard who summoned them. Perhaps he is a powerful outsider that they sought out for help once upon a time. This might make the PC's a bit more inclined to help in the fight.


Anyway, I'm just throwing this out there for feedback and ideas. I have no immediate plans to use it, but might develop it as a quickie adventure that would catch the players off-guard. Could be a fun "turn the tables" on the party for all the creatures they've summoned over the course of their adventures.

Thanks!

 

[Furn_Darkside]

I would allow them to die- then that would take care of many of your concerns.

It is an interesting idea- I would make the spell specific. The caster needs to summon precise people.

Part of the casting cost could be part of the hero- so at one point the adventurers run into a travelling barber they save from set-up fight. He offers to shave/groom them in return for their heroics.

Many adventures later- aren't they surprised when they suddenly find themselves serving the "barber" in a battle.

FD

 

[Tonguez]

Its got potential but as a PC I'd hate having to be at the beck and call of a summoner and the game would soon become a case of how do I destroy the Summoner

Of course GURPS used this concept in its Yrth setting - the Orcbane spell was cast by Elves to bring about the end of Orcdom, instead it summoned groups of humans from Earth and set them down in the new world as the Orc Bane...

 

[Wicht]

Curious, I was just playing around with this idea in my head when I saw this post.

My idea however was to have a set of cursed items, magic rings for instance. A master ring somewhere allows the owner of that ring to summon whoever is wearing the servant rings and force them to fight on his behalf. If you make them artifact status rings, a simple remove curse would not solve the problem for the PCs. This could set them up to have to try and figure out how to kill the owner of the master ring or how to remove the curse.

It would be really funny if in such a situation, it was a dragon for instance in control of the master ring and he summoned the PCs to fight whenever his lair was attacked by adventurers.

 

[Pyske]

I had a similar idea that I haven't actually used yet.

In my version, the summoner conceals his identity, is ambiguously good / evil, and most importantly, mostly occurs off screen. It was intended as an in-game device for explaining the 'disappearance' of PCs when the players were absent. (I've always hated trying to run missing PCs or explain away their sudden non-participation.)

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[the Jester]

Heh... a 2e conjurer, Delilah the Damned, researched two cool 3rd-level conjurations back in the day: summon bard and summon cleric. I haven't converted either of them, yet, but I'll have to put 'em on the list.

 

[ZSutherland]

I actually don't see much of a problem with this at all. Either the PHB or DMG (can't remember which atm) lists a variant rule for summon monster spells and their ilk, which is that the caster always summons the same bunch of monsters. They use Miallee (sp?) as an example and say that she always summons the same handful of formians. They even have names. They suggest if you do this that you actually roll stats for these particular creatures and keep short character sheets for them. This would be a similar situation and might not even require a new spell. The only thing that seems problematic about it is that I don't think you can summon a non-outsider with Summon Monster, which is why everything is celestial this or fiendish that at low levels. However, if as someone suggested the summoner is an outsider...

 

[Guilt Puppy]

You could look at it this way: Summons on the PM plane pull creatures from extra planes. Summons on extra planes could well pull creatures from the PM plane.

I could see it really messing with the players' heads afterwards... I'd use it once, and only once, and then probably explain it afterward.