Summon Monster

[MerakSpielman]

Any player in my group has a list handy with the stats for the summons they can cast. I highly recommend that approach for anyone who is going to cast these kinds of spells, including the DM.

Agreed. If you don't have the stats for the creature, sorry, you can't summon it right now. Likewise if you don't have the stats for a shape you feel like wildshaping or polymorphing into. Work out the stats ahead of time, or don't bother.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

In our party we currently have both a druid and a wizard, so I've seen both Summoning lines in action from 1st-8th level. The Summon Nature's Ally line is almost always useful. The critters have a decent punch, and double by absorbing damage that the fighter or paladin would otherwise have to deal with. It's win/win.

Summon Monster hasn't fared so well, though our wizard stopped at Summon Monster II, picking up Fly and Fireball at 3rd instead of a Summon spell. From what I saw of Summon Monster I and II, the biggest problem was hit points. The monsters were far more easily dispatched than their Nature's Ally counterparts. This might change later on down the line, as another poster pointed out that the Fiendish/Celestial critters start picking up DR and smite attacks.

Our DM uses a laptop while running the game, which is a great help in running a session (I use one myself when I'm in the Chair.) He has a program that keeps track of initiative, spell durations, etc., which also contains the stats for the various Summon spells. So there's no need to worry about looking up stats. Very handy.

 

[Staffan]

As a DM, I despise Summon Monster spells.....especially when the player is unprepared. Nothing slows down combat more.

I have a pair of documents with the complete (well, SRD-complete) Cleric and Druid spell lists, and those documents include stats for all summonable monsters as an appendix. I got the stats from another online document, I just prettied them up somewhat. The cleric document also has each domain list on one sheet.

 

[Berandor]

Would love a copy. Email:jgiesea81mm@yahoo.com.

If free is a problem, let me know how much cash may be needed. Hope you take money orders!!

It costs 3$ from RPGNow.com. The link is in his sig.

 

[PhoenixAsh]

Summon Monster often seems underpowered to me, but there have been a few times that Summon Monster I has actually been very useful in a few recent low-level games, despite its short duration for the casters.

Particularly in a situation when we were pursuing a creature underwater at night into a lake. Seeing it was a big problem, but our sorcerer just summoned porpoise after porpoise (CL 1, so it disappeared after striking once) which had no trouble locating and charging the creature in the lake, and thanks to a critical, battered it into submission.

In another campaign, an invisible opponent was threatening someone the party was trying to protect. A fiendish scorpion with its tremor sense summoned by the wizard was helpful in locating the opponent, and even managed to do some modest damage before going poof.

Of course at later levels there are better spells... but the casters would have probably been stuck twiddling their thumbs with access to only first level spells, if they did not use Summon Monster.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

In the game I run, we have a Druid Summoner - she's been very effective. The larger animal summons are quite dangerous and some of the special ability monsters are nasty - elementals and phase spiders have both been put to very good use in appropriate situations.

I'm finding them rather useful at the moment. I'm playing a 13th level
Alienist. The augmented pseudonatural summons are just mean. True strike is a strong ability for the summoned creatures to have. However, this does diverge significantly from the regular summon spells.

IMO, the Augment summoning feat makes a marked difference to the spells. At lower levels the +4 strength makes them much more effective in combat. At higher levels, the +4 con can make a real difference to the durability. Then again, a 2 feat investment ought to be good.

I think the best value for spell summons are ones that can grapple, some of the bigger creatures are easily capable of locking down human sized opponents. Whether a GM will allow some of the more stupid creatures to grapple is another issue all together.... My favorite is most likely Fiendish Giant Constrictor snakes from the SM VI list.

The full round casting time can be a bit of a problem in all cases, I find getting out of line of sight of oppenents to be vital, before you start casting?

Agree with the other posters. If a player has not worked out the stats for a summoned creature they normally can't use it for combat.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Our high level party has a druid - specializing in summoning
We get a lot of use out of those Augmented Summon nature allays -
Since my PC speaks Terran earth elementals are extra fun, good for scouting through walls, and occasionally using them as primary melee fighters
Last night alone -
small EE for scouting, several Large EE to hold off a mind flayer, Air E to stop a vampire in gaseous form, and a unicorn for healing.
I considered using turning to command his lesser EEs just to get better response to my orders, but I thought of it a round or two late.

Summon monster seems so weak in comparison, hound archerons could be handy, but between Spell Reistance, Rigthtious Might and Quickend divine favor my other spells are much better.

Now planar Allay - Who Boy ! - So my 11th lvl cleric can summon a 14th lvl cleric? Sign me up!

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Would love a copy. Email:jgiesea81mm@yahoo.com.

If free is a problem, let me know how much cash may be needed. Hope you take money orders!!

No cash necessary. You'll be getting it soon. Hope you like the material.

Patrick Y.

 

[ZSutherland]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread. We were swapping computers out yesterday, and I didn't get a chance to check in.

Arcane Rune Press, I really appreciate the offer, but I prefer to support people who write things like that, so I just bought it and a few other things (including your high level fighter feats).

As to everyone else who commented, thanks for taking the time. No one in our group plays druids much, so I had basically forgotten they can spontaneously cast Sum Nature's Ally. Thanks for reminding me. Those loud groans you'll hear shortly are my players. As for the other suggestions, I'll talk them over with my players and see what they want to do.

Z

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Arcane Rune Press, I really appreciate the offer, but I prefer to support people who write things like that, so I just bought it and a few other things (including your high level fighter feats).
Z

Well, I can't be offended by a person who wants to support my kid's college funds.

I hope you enjoy the books.