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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4674038" data-attributes="member: 82106">I think you're being way too negative about it. Is a summoning earth shatteringly good? No, its good, but it has its limitations, just like a fighter daily that just does X[W] damage and maybe puts a condition on the target has limitations. Lets look at it reasonably:1) The summoning can appear anywhere within range on the battlefield. I haven't read the thing, so I am not certain what that range is, but SURELY this means the summoner can put the thing in a spot that is quite valuable, like behind the monsters artillery, or in a spot where it can take on a lurker that is hammering on the warlock, or at the very least right behind the big nasty brute that's crushing the fighter so he gets flanking.2) It HAS to require a standard action to make it attack, otherwise the summoner has a power that is out of balance with the other characters. He can still move and use minor actions (some of which can be quite useful). The summoning IS his attack. That's cool, his daily lasts several rounds and makes attacks in each round. I don't see this as a disadvantage really, given that in return the summoner can stay in a safer location.3) Again it has to be not overly powerful either defensively or offensively or it is going to overshadow the other character's dailies. Just how strong that is, well maybe it should be more or less strong than it is, but if its as strong as a whole character that is going to be too strong. Its like the summoner gets to fight for free practically.4) Monsters are not going to just automatically go after the thing any more than they would any other party member. It is quite feasible for the summoning to survive the entire encounter. More likely it WILL get killed, but that is more a function of the fact that the summoner isn't risking a whole lot by putting the thing in danger.5) If you want to make better summonings then toughness and feats/items that increase your AC are the things that a summoner wants to get. Just because YOUR wizard has an AC18 at 5th level does not make you an ideal summoner. In fact I'd say quite the opposite given that is about as weak an AC as a 5th level is likely to EVER have, realistically. As a wizard summoners should have decent INT and probably learn to use a shield or a defensive weapon or staff defense etc. You can easily build a wizard that has defender level AC (at some penalty to other capabilities, but maybe that's what a summoner needs to do).I think you need to look at the whole build of the character and also how the player's are likely to use the power and what things they can do with it, then compare it with the other powers. I think your analysis MAY be a bit simplistic so far. Experience could prove that summoning is weaker than it should be, but I don't see that at first glance being true and I think playing it RAW for a while is certainly worth doing. Too many people crunch a couple numbers in 4e and jump to the conclusion that stuff is imbalanced when they haven't actually played it as written for a while. WotC DOES have playtesters. They aren't infallible, but they have done a reasonable job of getting most stuff pretty close.</blockquote>

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