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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thyrwyn" data-source="post: 4127266" data-attributes="member: 12354">You limit it to one to preserve the economy of actions among the players - so one player does not have 50 cohorts tagging along, bloating combats, slowing down the game. That is not a 'typical encounter' - if it is you should drag out the Warhammer fantasy Battle Miniatures rules and go to town.We are discussing summoning and allies and their effect on encounter balance.  But this does speak to the fact that balancing encounters based on expected player tactics is fraught with peril, as evidenced by. . . Never rely on player's doing anything.  Hopefully, the changes in 4e will 1) extend the number of rounds in a typical fight to the point where the party will have time to realize they are in over their heads and bug out.2) allow or more coherent balancing.  The 3.x CR system was too problematic. Agreed - but it can cause balance issues.  The 'inherent' aspect escaped the 3.x designers to the extent that these spells/abilities/effects were as notoriously problematic as summonings (and for the same reasons).  Even trying to read through the Errata'd rules for these abilities (conveniently spread between the PHB and MM books & Errata for each) can give one a headache.</blockquote>