Summoning spells... rituals?

[Dragonblade]

Oooooh, a Summoner class could be very cool in 4e. Takes me back to playing Final Fantasy on my SNES.

It would be easy to balance too given the new one monster = one PC paradigm. Under the assumption that the summoner would be a controller, it would be cool to summon soldier monsters and stuff to fight for you. And summon little elementals and stuff to carry stuff or do tasks for you.

 

[Stalker0]

Necromantic Binding
Necromancer Utility 1, Standard, at-Will

Target: 1 dead creature
Benefit: You create one skeleton minion with the stats provided below.
Special: Sustain Minor

Skeleton Minion
HP: Any damage dealt to the minion destroys it.
Attack: Necromancer's charisma attack.
Damage: 1d6 + necromancer's charisma.
Fort Defense: Necromancer's Fort Defense +2
Reflex Defense: Necromancer's Ref Defense
Will Defense: Necromancer's Will Defense - 2
AC: Reflex Save + 2.
Speed: 6

 

[VBMEW-01]

One idea would be to have powers summon minions. Thus a necromancer could raise a whole horde of skeletons out of the ground and there wouldn't be a lot of bookkeeping; one hit they're gone. But more powerful summoning would be a ritual. If the same necromancer wanted to bind a mummy into service, he'd have to perform a ritual. It would take time and money, but he'd get a more powerful servant in return that isn't a one-hit minion.

I thought this would work well too. Minions do bring so much to the table, and to be honest most of the 3E SM & SNA spells really summoned weak creatures that weren't going to be around for long anyway. Minions keep the DM less busy, as they aren't likely to steal the show.

I also like those necro and summoner power ideas, and may use them if we aren't given a similar option soon enough. I love summoning classes, I can barely count the number of characters I have had with the infamous bag of tricks.

Its just great stuff.

 

[Falling Icicle]

I hope summoning spells will be rituals. It would be very disappointing if there isn't some way to summon creatures, as that is a staple of fantasy magic. It would also make it feel more arcane and less like pokemon.

 

[mach1.9pants]

IIRC it was mentioned that the stats for summoned monsters would be in the PHB (along with magic items etc) under their spells descriptions which seems to say there will be summoning spells. But I could be wrong or getting it mixed up- I can't find the quote grrrrrr