Warlords and Summons

[BobTheNob]

Let hypothetically say that there was a summoned creature (let call him "Jack")out there with a basic attack so we can broach the original question.

Most of the time action economy dictates that the summoner must use an action for the summoned creature to act. The concept is that you can bring more creatures onto the field, but you cant bring more action. For the creature to act, someone has to pay a price from their own action budget.

Following that, if we had said that a warlord uses commanders strike to allow Jack to make his basic attack, I as a DM would have absolutely no problem with this what-so-ever, because it is consistent with the concept of the action budget. In this case the warlord has used some of his budget instead of the original summoner, but a price has been paid.

My take, as long as a creature has a basic attack, I would pay it

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Let hypothetically say that there was a summoned creature (let call him "Jack")out there with a basic attack so we can broach the original question.

Most of the time action economy dictates that the summoner must use an action for the summoned creature to act. The concept is that you can bring more creatures onto the field, but you cant bring more action. For the creature to act, someone has to pay a price from their own action budget.

Following that, if we had said that a warlord uses commanders strike to allow Jack to make his basic attack, I as a DM would have absolutely no problem with this what-so-ever, because it is consistent with the concept of the action budget. In this case the warlord has used some of his budget instead of the original summoner, but a price has been paid.

My take, as long as a creature has a basic attack, I would pay it

Yeah, I don't think there is even a question there rules-wise. If it is an ally and has a BA then Commander's Strike will work by RAW as DS has said.

So the only real issue in the Summons vs Warlord question is that the vast majority of summons lack a BA of any kind. This generally also means they are unable to OA, though there are a fair number that specifically DO have an attack that can be used as an interrupt or reaction IIRC.

 

[im_robertb]

The vast majority of creatures created by Figurines of Wondrous Power also lack basic attacks.

 

[spayne]

As the rules state, summoned creatures have no actions of their own. The summoner can have them act by using the commands listed in the power (or a minor action to make them move).

If a summoning power allows the creature to attack, the summoner makes the attack using his own statistics. There is no rule for using the summoner's statistics for attacks that are not commanded by the summoner using the actions listed in the power.

Even if the creature has a basic attack listed, it only works when the summoner uses an action to make the attack, since the creature has no statistics of its own and there are no rules for most summoned creatures attacking outside of when they are being commanded by the summoner.

 

[DracoSuave]

As the rules state, summoned creatures have no actions of their own. The summoner can have them act by using the commands listed in the power (or a minor action to make them move).

If a summoning power allows the creature to attack, the summoner makes the attack using his own statistics. There is no rule for using the summoner's statistics for attacks that are not commanded by the summoner using the actions listed in the power.

Even if the creature has a basic attack listed, it only works when the summoner uses an action to make the attack, since the creature has no statistics of its own and there are no rules for most summoned creatures attacking outside of when they are being commanded by the summoner.

Every power in the game consumes an action of the user. If someone uses a power that allows you to utilize a power on your turn, you are not required to spend the action for that power.

As a relevant example, if you get Commander's Strike'd, you do not have to spend the action cost for the melee basic attack that you make. Granting others attacks circumvents action costs.

The same applies to summonings. If the summoning has listed a basic attack, then Commander's Strike will allow that to work because Commander's Strike circumvents all action costs.

And the fact it uses your attack roll and your attack stats? Irrelevant.