Two houserules to simply my druid's life

[Pielorinho]

I play a 16th-level druid with Augment Summoning. This has been fun, but due to various complications, I've not taken advantage of two major abilities I have:
1) Summoning multiple creatures simultaneously; and
2) Casting Animal Growth on them.

For #1, it just results in too many dice rolls. I mean, summoning a troop of dire apes is just a cool idea, but that could mean making up to 30 extra dice rolls each turn (3 attack rolls + 3 damage rolls times five apes--and that's not counting if any of them rend). That's way too many additional things to keep track of, and that's really going to slow combat down.

For #2, the spell's effects are far too reaching for my tastes. You modify size (which modifies AC, attack rolls, base damage for natural attacks, and reach), str (which modifies attack rolls and damage, affecting damage in different ways depending on the creature's attack routine), dex (modifying AC and reflex saves, and occasionally attack rolls), con (modifying HP and fort saves), natural armor, damage reduction, and all saves. Sure, I could figure that out for each creature I might ever summon, but I'm neither motivated enough to do that or organized enough to keep track of the stats even if I did do it--I've got a hard enough time keeping track of my stats when wildshaped into different forms!

So I've come up with two proposed houserules to simplify things, and wanted to get y'all's feedback:

1) When summoning multiple creatures (or controlling my animal companion+multiple creatures), I'll only roll one attack per creature. If this hits, then all the creature's attacks hit; otherwise, they all miss. If there's a secondary attack, it'll use the same roll with a smaller modification. Imagine I've summoned a creature that attacks with 2 slams at +12 and one bite at +7; I'm attacking a creature with AC 25. I'd roll a single D20, getting a 15. That means the two slams hit, and the bite misses.

This would move me away from average damage a bit, but since I'd be doing this when I have multiple creatures, I'd not stray too far from average damage; and it'd cut down seriously on my combat rolls, I think.

If someone has a plausible way to cut down even further, that'd be great. I thought of just rolling a single attack roll for all my creatures, but that might get very silly. And this way does have a problem inasmuch as certain abilities, e.g., rend, would go off more often. I might deal with that by ruling that these abilities may only be used when the secondary attack is not used, or something.

2) For animal growth, I was thinking of simplifying the spell somewhat. The creature's AC is likely to stay static normally (+2 natural, -1 size, -1 dex). The creature's attack is likely to rise by 3 (+4 str, -1 size). The creature's damage is likely to rise by at 6 (+4 str, +6 for single-attacks, +2 size). The creature's saves will be +3 ref, +4 will, +6 fort. The creature's init will drop by 1, but that rarely matters, since we have companions go on the PC's initiative anyway. My modifications, then, would be this:
+2 hp/die
No change in AC
+2 to hit (knocking it down by one to make up for subtle advantages elsewhere, e.g., the improved touch ac)
+6 damage (again, knocked down from possible +8)
+4 to all saves (ignoring -1 for ref and +2 for fort)
DR 10/magic
Increased size, with increased reach.

That's still a lot to track, but none of the changes have ripple effects: I can just keep a card handy with these changes listed on them, and apply them to any creature without recalculating that creature's scores.

What do y'all think of these changes? Are they reasonable? Are there superior ways to simplify them?

Daniel

 

[EricNoah]

Sounds very reasonable.

WotC ought to come up with stat blocks for all summonable creatures, with appropriate templates in place, and treat animal growth as a kind of template or something.

 

[Quartz]

For #2, you really should have all that statted up beforehand.

For #1, why not apply the mob (?) template?

 

[Pielorinho]

Thanks, Eric!

Quartz, as I said, I'm simply not organized enough to have it all statted up, nor do I have enough leisure time to devote to that. I don't have a laptop to game with, and the four pages of wildshaped forms I bring to each session (along with a four-page character sheet) are already so confusing to me that I'm constantly scrambling for the appropriate page mid-battle. It's simply not an option for me to have it all statted up in advance, which is why I'm looking for a houserule to simplify things.

The mob template might work--what book is that in, and could someone give me a rundown of it? It might well accomplish what I want, and possibly someone in our group has the book it's in.

Daniel

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

For 1)... no go due to things like Rend...
This HR basically would mean your Dire Apes would be horrendously nasty. One good roll and tons of damage.
A trimmed down MOB template might be the right thing tho...

For 2)... I think a trimmed down template would be easiest, trading the players time prepping for less 'true' results. Something that might be faster than your suggestion would be:

Summoned Larger Animal Template:
Gains:
DR +5/-
+2 to attack
-2 to AC
+4 to all Saves
+6 to Grapple checks
+6 to Damage
Increase threat range by 5'

{DR is a compromise between the DR 10/magic and having to bother with increasing HPs...}
This version is a but faster to apply as most of it is basically the DM's best freind.

Side note. IMC pre-stated cards are *required* for summoning monsters. It takes a bit of extra time on the players part.. or downloading the 'Combat Card' pdf that has all of the core ones already. I figure that compared to the amount of prep work a DM needs for a game, a summoner PC should keep thier mouth shut about having to work up a couple extra cards.

{edit..}
MOB Template: Thread Here

 

[The Forsaken One]

Theres a page with all summoned monsters and natures ally thingies statted out. Can't find it in 2 sec and I'm in a hurry but its out there. I got them on my PC somewhere @ my appartment so if noone here can locate the site just post it here and I'll see if we can get touch through mail so I can still pass it around.

From there on its easy to make a templated version or augmented.

 

[Chaldfont]

My suggestion is not for all groups, but this is what I did in a similar situation when my campaign got high level. You might suggest it to your DM.

Hand-wave summoned creatures in "side battles". Treat them and their foes as the minions they are. Quickly estimate average damage for both sides (eyeball it if you have to) and just narrate what happens to them. Summoned creatures and henchmen are almost always there to take care of the main foes anyway--focus on the PCs.

I only did this in large combats, when they started to really bog down. But it left us time to focus on what the PCs were doing. That way we didn't really have to worry about the stats too much.

Here's an example: My PCs fought a group of hill giants and their gnoll slaves in a huge battle. The druid summoned a few dire wolves to harrass the gnolls and keep them out of the fight while the party dealt with the giants. It worked out well, and I let the player describe what was happening in the side battle. Why roll it all out? We knew those gnolls were toast.

But you really do need to stat those guys up for when they take part in the main battle. Its a ton of work and really takes a lot of fun out of playing a druid. That and re-figuring stats for wildshape. The two really cool things about a druid really bog the game down sometimes.