Summoning rules from Dragon #302

[Kaji]

I tried to get my DM to let me use them, but he says that the existing list is powerful enough and that giving my character more options to choose from would unbalance the class.

Try providing your DM with a new list that does not include any of the monsters from the old list. Make it slightly smaller than the original to enhance the perception that you are taking a slight hit inflexibility to gain this customized flavor options. I'm a DM, and I'd buy that.

 

[dcollins]

I think they also suggest starting a caster with a list of 3-5 creatures they can summon, and treating gaining a new creature for the list almost like how a wizard gains a new spell (i.e., you have to research it or find it somewhere). In other words, you're still limited in the number of creatures you can have on your list. They give three different options for how to handle the limitations, however.

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was looking for. Might be a bit rough to generate that for every NPC spellcaster, though.

 

[Pielorinho]

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was looking for. Might be a bit rough to generate that for every NPC spellcaster, though.

True. For me, the useful part is the "permission" to give different summoning lists to every caster.

I already did this a little bit -- one of the main evil groups in my campaign worships a god whose symbol is a scorpion, and I had his clerics summoning fiendish giant scorpions -- but I would worry about what i was doing, whether I was unbalancing the cleric, making the battle tougher than it should be by giving him these unique summoned critters. It's kind of nice for me to see some balance guidelines for doing this.

In the future, I'll continue to have NPCs summon unique critters. I won't create a spell list for them, though -- instead, I'll decide ahead of time one (or possibly 2) creatures that they're likely to summon, write those stats up on the NPC sheet, and call it a day. Unless the battle shapes up very differently from how I predicted (e.g., instead of happening in the cleric's multileveled, fiery temple, it happens in the cleric's bedroom), I'll have the cleric summon that one creature. If things go wonky, I'll just have him summon something from the normal list.

The most useful part of the article, IMO, is the list of appropriate creatures for each level of the spell (and for Nature's Ally).

Daniel