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<blockquote data-quote="Madfox" data-source="post: 27167" data-attributes="member: 1714">Those who say that the Summon Monster string of spell suck, clearly never used that spell to their fullest potential. Besides combat, in which they can be very useful, if only to distract opponents, you can also use them outside of combat. My favourite use to let them set of traps and trigger ambushes. If your DM is a bit lenient, he might also allow the summoned monsters to destroy doors (and hence taking the ready actions of the opponents behind the door), and do some other actions that require more then a simple attack command. If facing creatures with reach, those summoned monsters are also very good at drawing AOOs away. It is not as if you have to summon the beasts in such a position that you immidiately outflank opponents. The only problem is that once you reach a particular level the lower level summon spells become useless in combat (still great for trap chechking). This makes the spell a bad choice for sorcerers. In a particular one-shot adventure for 9th lvl characters summon monster was very useful and saved the lives of our cheesey group numerous occasions.Personally, all spells are useful in the right conditions. That does not mean that a wizard (let alone a sorcerer) will bother preparing such a spell or even writing it in his spellbook. I voted for gust of wind, since it is just not a 3rd lvl spell. Even when you use it to extinguish unprotected flames or to cause a cloud of debris cover your attack or retreat.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Madfox, post: 27167, member: 1714"] Those who say that the Summon Monster string of spell suck, clearly never used that spell to their fullest potential. Besides combat, in which they can be very useful, if only to distract opponents, you can also use them outside of combat. My favourite use to let them set of traps and trigger ambushes. If your DM is a bit lenient, he might also allow the summoned monsters to destroy doors (and hence taking the ready actions of the opponents behind the door), and do some other actions that require more then a simple attack command. If facing creatures with reach, those summoned monsters are also very good at drawing AOOs away. It is not as if you have to summon the beasts in such a position that you immidiately outflank opponents. The only problem is that once you reach a particular level the lower level summon spells become useless in combat (still great for trap chechking). This makes the spell a bad choice for sorcerers. In a particular one-shot adventure for 9th lvl characters summon monster was very useful and saved the lives of our cheesey group numerous occasions. Personally, all spells are useful in the right conditions. That does not mean that a wizard (let alone a sorcerer) will bother preparing such a spell or even writing it in his spellbook. I voted for gust of wind, since it is just not a 3rd lvl spell. Even when you use it to extinguish unprotected flames or to cause a cloud of debris cover your attack or retreat. [/QUOTE]

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