Summon Monster I uses

[Larcen]

How close to the temple did you get within the 1r/level duration? I wouldn't have thought the gorilla could have carried it very far

I think Thanee meant that she (?) had the gorilla grab it and then they teleported gorilla and all to the temple. I think.

But yeah, communicating with the gorilla might have been a problem. I wonder how it was accomplished.

 

[Larcen]

Cast by a 1st level wizard it sucks.
Magic Missile/Sleep and other stuff are much better.

But at a bit higher levels, when the summoned creature stays around a bit more, I like to use low-level summon monster to summon a creature to flank with the Rogue or to AID OTHER to give +2 AC or +2 attack bonus to someone, most likely the lone fighter against the big ugly monster.
This is great against special strong lone monsters because a celestial dog (summon monster I) can easily hit AC 10 (needed for Aid Other), and then the fighter gains +2 from flanking and can get an adicional +2 to attack or +2 AC. If the big monster doesnt like it, he´ll have to waste an attack on the dog which is better than on the fighter.

cloaker

I am going to have to look into the details of this. This actually sounds worthwhile and useful! Good thinking.

But then, we have the blasted problem of communicating with the low-level beasties again.

Man, I can't wait until my cleric moves into the Divine Disciple PrC at 9th level. He will then be able to telepathically communicate to all like-aligned summoned monsters, and tactics like this should be a piece of cake. I've got BIG plans for summon monster spells at that point.

 

[Velenne]

Tongues is a 3rd level spell that lets you speak and understand any creature.

But if you only plan on summoning the same type of creature, just spend the two skill points to learn the language.

 

[Vanye]

Tongues is a 3rd level spell that lets you speak and understand any creature.

But if you only plan on summoning the same type of creature, just spend the two skill points to learn the language.

Dog isn't a valid language in most campaigns.

However, the Divine Disciple PrC from the FRCS has as it's first or second level ability the ability to telepathically communicate to divine agents of your deity, or outsiders of your alignment....since a cleric is more or less limited to summoning creatures of their own alignment, that will help take care of some problems for some people....

 

[Thanee]

Well, yeah, Tongues helps a lot there!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

Could also use Rary's Telepathic Bond for such delicate communications.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

How close to the temple did you get within the 1r/level duration? I wouldn't have thought the gorilla could have carried it very far

Teleport is pretty fast!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Gromm]

Well, yeah, Tongues helps a lot there!

Bye
Thanee

Or just set something on the ground, cast the spell, pick up the object, point to the gorillia, point to the object. He'll get the idea.

For tasks like this its not a big deal. If you start summoning things to go down a hall and pull a lever to disarm the trap in front of you, then you might have some problems.

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, sign language should work for simple communication, too.

Altho, the DM can easily foil that attempt, then!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Zhure]

.. a couple of ranks of Innuendo would help out immensely then. For my summoners, I tend to either pick up Infernal, Abyssal or Celestial, maybe one or two of the elemental languages. That should cover most common situations.

Greg