Now, that's it. The Summon Fire Warrior power has the Implement keyword, but nothing indicates this really means much at this point. Neither the power nor the summoning rules mentions any effect that the Implement has at this point.
It means that you can use the enhancement bonuse of the power with attack rolls and damage rolls with the power you use through that implement. That's what the keyword allows you to do. At this point, you have used the power through that implement. It's bonus is extremely meaningful.
In the next round the PC decides to attack with his fire warrior. It has an attack which is melee 1, Int vs Ref, etc. Note that it has no keywords, nor is it described as a power. The general summoning rules simply note that "If a summoning power allows the summoned creature to attack, you make an attack through the creature, as specified in the power description. If the summoned creature can make a skill check or an ability check, you make the check. Attacks and checks you make through the creature do not include temporary bonuses or penalties to your statistics."
Not arguing that point.
The question that inevitably arises here is in regard to implements. The standard interpretation is that the attack has the keywords of the summoning power, which means it has the Implement keyword. Now, some people have interpreted this to mean that the attack gets the benefits of the implement in use when the power was first used, and others that it gets the benefits of the implement the caster is wielding at the time of the attack (remember, the attack is made BY the caster). "temporary bonuses and penalties" however don't apply.
Here's the thing, Implements ONLY grant their bonuses to powers used through that implement. The ONLY power with the implement keyword involved here is the original one, the subpowers do not. Which means that the only power used through the implement is the original power.
At that point, the implement is locked in, so to speak.
Now the simplest interpretation of temporary in this context is something with a duration or relating to some state of the caster or situational to the caster. One can easily argue that what implement is being wielded falls into this category (I don't agree with that personally, but it can be legitimately argued) just like the fact that the caster might happen to be standing in the zone of Sanctified Ground is situational and not a permanent fact of the caster.
Implement keyword is actually pretty specific. Power used through it. Not attacks made by it. It only cares about the initial use of power to determine stats. After that, any attacks made by that power are determined by that initial stat, because that's the only time a power was used through it.
Flaming Sphere works the same way, because the only time you used a power through the implement is at the beginning.
Using a power refers only to the powers initial activation, not subsequent actions which follow different rules.
The point is there are at least two points that are open to dispute here, which implement bonus applies and does one apply at all?
Only those implement bonuses that were present when the power was used apply. Subsequent rounds do not use subsequent bonuses.
As for the Flaming Sword, it would absolutely work. It's being used as an implement and the attack has the implement keyword.
Irrelevant. You are not using a power through the implement, and therefore nothing about the implement applies. Also, there are no summonings that have powers that you use.
What summonings have are called 'commands' and while those commands are certainly attacks, they are not considered powers, and are certainly not considered powers of the respective keyword. They ARE effects of the respective keyword, but the Implement keyword does not trigger by -effects- of that keyword, but by 'using a power through an implement.'
At no point after the initial activation are you using any power through that new implement.
The wielder of the sword is making the attack. Thus the attack is eligible to have its attack type changed to fire. (obviously if its a fire warrior its redundant, but whatever).
Correct, the wielder of the sword is making the attack. But there is no single point in this sequence where he is making an attack through the sword. The sword is not channeling anything.
This, however, does mean that if he -summoned- the summoning with a flaming sword, and then pulled out some other implement... yes, he could still deal fire damage through what he did... so long as he activated the free action before changing implements.
Now, all these issues have been debated and hashed out and a rough consensus seems to exist at the Q&A board that the implement the caster has in hand when making the attack counts.
What is interesting after this is that there is no power that happens after the summoning for the new implement to enhance.
Which one was in hand when the power was used is simply irrelevant because there's simply nothing for it to enhance.
Except for -every- attack and damage roll made by that power. You claim there is nothing, and then you claim you can switch implements to affect the something that is there.
That is a contradiction.
This is still disputed however and not established incontrovertibly AFAIK (its possible there's a newer FAQ entry on it by now, I haven't reviewed them in a while).
Until you can show a summoning power that has a power, not merely a command, then I have no idea which sort of power you're talking about. No summoning I've seen has powers, only commands. Perhaps if I saw the one you were talking about, it'd be easier to discuss.
Fire Warriors, by the way, have commands, not powers.
