Summoning Monsters

[Rackhir]

How so?
Just pick up the augement summoning feat (or some such)?

Or are there other things that make you truly "specialized"
It's too late for me to become a specialist Conjurer... so are there other things I can do to make my summons better?

BTW. Thanks all for the help.

You can always ask your DM if you can change your character to be a specialist conjurer. I dumped Illusion and Necromancy for mine.

Glitterdust
Melf's Acid Arrow
Web
Stinking Cloud
Cloudkill

These are all spells that can benefit from Spell Focus Conjuration. Personally, I refer to web as "The Save The Party's Ass" Spell, because it has helped out so much so many times. Glitterdust also seems to be particularly deadly for some reason. Cloudkill and an enclosed area is a deadly combination.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

These are all spells that can benefit from Spell Focus Conjuration.

I think Grease also applies when greasing up an opponent's weapon. Reflex Save's are generally not very good for big fighter types. An extra +1 in assisting them drop their weapon is a lot of fun.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

PS: With my Conjurer/Alienist Lucifus, I also dropped illusion and necromancy... funny that

 

[Endur]

Summon Nature's Ally

Summon Nature's Ally 3 is pretty cool.

Instant Giant Eagle. "The Eagles are Coming".

Or Dire Wolf.

Hard to go wrong with either of those.

 

[Rackhir]

PS: With my Conjurer/Alienist Lucifus, I also dropped illusion and necromancy... funny that

Well who could give up evocation which has all the fun spells. Transmutation is most of your utility spells. Abjuration is all your defensive spells.

So that does leave enchantment and divination that could have been dropped, but I guess great minds think alike.

This thread does have some useful ideas. I may have to book mark it.


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BTW A couple of people had mentioned summoning reference cards. I don't suppose anyone has uploaded one of these into the utilities section? Preferably in some sort of Excel format.

 

[farscapesg1]

For my reference cards, I just print them out on 3x5 index cards. Luckily, I have printer at work that will print on these, since a lot of printers would get jammed.

I can get most of the stat information on the front of the card, then flip it over and print out special ability information.

I don't think a character has to be specialized for summoning spells, though it does help. The +4 Strength and Constitution from Augment Summoning is nice, but not exactly earth-shattering. As others have mentioned, the key is to know the creatures' abilities inside and out and make use of the correct creature for the correct situation.

 

[Nail]

How so?
Just pick up the augement summoning feat (or some such)?

Or are there other things that make you truly "specialized".....?

For me, "specialized" means:

• spent feats/PrCs on summoning,
• the player is very familiar with the summoning lists,
• the player has printed out lists, cards, etc....whatever is necessary to speed play,
• the player has talked the DM into including a few extra (balanced) house rule summoning feats and a summoning PrC.

All of which I've done, naturally. As this isn't a "house rules" thread, I won't get into what house rules/feats I recommend.

One of the pitfalls I've encountered: playing the extra creatures in combat slows down play, and takes some of the spotlight away from the other players. I've worked hard to make my combat time faster, as well as looked for ways to use my summons to boost other PCs abilities (rather than just summoning a combat brute and taking the glory from the fighters).

 

[Rackhir]

As this isn't a "house rules" thread, I won't get into what house rules/feats I recommend.

I'd be interested in your house rules since I am running a summoning focused wiz, if you want to start one. But I don't think anyone will throw a fit if you post them here.

 

[Nail]

My tip: Web+Summon Swarm=death....

...depending on your DM. By RAW, swarms are not immune to the effects of web....so you'd have to do some fast talking to convince someone.

 

[Nail]

I'd be interested in your house rules since I am running a summoning focused wiz, if you want to start one. But I don't think anyone will throw a fit if you post them here.

Well, I'd rather that the Rules forum contain rules discussion, and people's home-brew material be posted elsewhere. Besides, it's no bother for me to post material over here, where it belongs.

A significant difference between our PCs: mine's divine, yours is arcane.

 

[Hypersmurf]

By RAW, swarms are not immune to the effects of web....

Er... so?

You don't control the movement of the swarm, so having them anchored in place is an advantage, if it keeps them in the same square as your opponent.

And the -2 on attack rolls has zero relevance to swarms, who don't make attack rolls...

-Hyp.