Summon Monster I-IX Is it worth it?

[frankthedm]

I tend to Summon Fiendish Monsterous Spiders after the wizard has dropped a web on the enemy, handy being a CN cleric (although the paladin keeps giving me funny looks when I do).

He is just making sure you stay CN. Summoning an evil creature is an evil act.

 

[Thanee]

Actually, I'd argue in favour of the Cleric as the best summoner.

Conjurer specialist with UA conjurer variant is pretty good, especially summoning as a standard action and no need to take Spell Focus (conjuration) as a prerequisite for Augment Summoning.

Wizards can learn Celestial as well.

And Wizards don't really have few spells known (fewer than clerics, of course ).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Moorcrys]

If you use shadow conjuration to create an illusion of an evil creature, do you consider that an evil act?

 

[Thanee]

No. Shadow Conjuration is not [Evil], regardless of the spell you mimic.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Beckett]

The bad thing about Summon Monster is, that only really the highest level spell is truely viable at most times. It's not a spell to use in lower level slots usually. There are other spells, which are still very useful, even if they are lower level, but Summon Monster not so.

QFT. One of the contributions to a near-TPK in my AE game was one of the (8th? 9th level? it's been awhile) characters, rather than running, was summoning monsters to block the powerful pursuers, but was down to low-level spells. His 2HD elementals didn't even slow the enemy down. This does, however, work somewhat in the cleric's favor, as he already gets all the Summon Monster spells, where Sorcerers/Wizards need to learn each spell.

My usage of Summon Monster is usually with solo NPC casters who, as mentioned up thread, use the monsters more to block than for the damage output; something that a wizard who doesn't have to worry about melee can normally provide.

 

[Pickaxe]

Actually, I'd argue in favour of the Cleric as the best summoner. It means you can take Celestial as a language and talk to them, which adds a lot to the versatility of the spell, and which the Druid can't do. And access to the alignment domains makes the duration sufficient for a low-level caster; you've got Bless and Prayer etc to buff your new allies, and being able to spontaneously cast healing means you can often just learn Summon Monster spells with spare spell slots.

Plus, of course, you don't have to take it as one of the precious few known spells that a wizard or sorcerer does.

I think that's a good point, but a druid can at least cast speak with animals to overcome that limitation. Granted, that takes a spell slot, rather than a couple of skill points (if that), unless the druid is allowed to use Handle Animal to direct the summoned animals. Keep in mind, though, that celestial animals only have an Int of 3 (going by the example), and, since the celestial template doesn't specify the ability to speak or understand language, a DM might rule that summoned creatures don't understand the cleric. Also, intelligent summoned creatures like elementals, giant eagles, and unicorns show up earlier in SNA than in SM. Like the cleric, the druid can take the appropriate language, or in many cases the creatures speak common.

The cleric buffs are certainly a plus (and buffs are one reason that a summoning bard is not a bad option), but druids get at least one very nice buff for summoned animals: animal growth.

--Axe

 

[Stalker0]

As other have mentioned, summons are very versatile, they can also be like free healing if they absorb any damage.

And some can a lot of uses, for example summoning a big critter to grapple the wizard is always a good option.

 

[jcfiala]

I've recently been running a Conjurer in a game, and I had a lot of fun with the Summon Monster spells. I grabbed Augment Summoning, and then another feat (from FrostFell) which allows you to summon your monsters as Cold subtype creatures with +1d6 damage on natural attacks.

It's useful to be able to whip up extra combatants, which can help establish flanks, soak damage, and do AoO in case oppontents start heading towards you.

If you can talk your GM into letting you use the Sudden Conjuration ability in UA, where you give up your familiar in exchange for making a Summon spell casting time a standard action, I do recommend it.

 

[Rackhir]

Agument Summoning has a hidden benefit with single attack creatures like the Bison or Dire wolf (Your best mid level summons) in that you eake out an extra point of damage due to the x1.5 str bonus damage.

The extra 2xHD hp from augment summons also helps greatly for making them significant damage soaks.

I find that calling a 1d3 of the creatures from the next lower level list is generally optimal. Two or three [Lv-1] creatures are significantly tougher than a single creature off of the current level list and you will get more than one, 2/3rds of the time.

As a cleric this might not be an option, but the best thing about the alienist pseudonatural summons is that they get true strike. Which will just about guarentee at least one hit for each of your summoned creatures and is a great way of getting something's attention on the summons and not the PCs.

Summons with DR are very useful against small or swarm creatures, as even the minimal level of DR will block most or all of their attacks.

 

[lukelightning]

Technically all fiendish/celestial creatures speak, or at least understand, common. Yeah, it seems like they should speak celestial/infernal/abyssal but RAW in the absence of a specified language a creature speaks common.