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Zergrusheddie
2010-01-27, 11:48 PM
Howdy folks. I was wondering if there was a build to would allow a person to essentially focus on Summoning Creatures as it's primary focus. Obviously, Clerics, Wizards, and Druids can be effective Summoners but those classes have far more effective ways of dealing with enemies that Summoning enemies is inefficient. Are there any builds that can have a load of 'friends' without being one of the Big Three or is there a way for Clerics or Wizards to do it without having to resort to other methods.

Best of luck.
-Eddie

Douglas
2010-01-27, 11:50 PM
Malconvoker is a PrC specifically dedicated to summoning stuff.

IthilanorStPete
2010-01-27, 11:54 PM
Archivists can, due to being able to learn both the Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally lines. Best, however, is a Conjurer that trades his familiar away for Rapid Summoning (casting times go down to 1 sd. action for Summon Monster spells) and prestiges into Malconvoker. The Malconvoker Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=495415056aa824154ff6211650f244 e7&topic=289.0) is a great resource for this, and has links to other, more general summoning guides.

Zergrusheddie
2010-01-27, 11:59 PM
Can Malconvokers be decent enough though to be able to summon enough dude often enough to pull their weight?

And Archivists don't count. They can do everything anyway...

arguskos
2010-01-28, 12:26 AM
Totally not helpful, but this is a great place to pimp my own homebrew: The Summoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5207270&postcount=3). Does what it says on the tin. Ask Sstoopidtallkid, he played one and seemed to enjoy it plenty.

Ashiel
2010-01-28, 12:27 AM
Can Malconvokers be decent enough though to be able to summon enough dude often enough to pull their weight?

And Archivists don't count. They can do everything anyway...

Yes, yes they can. I've played a Malconvoker wizard before and even without the conjurer variant class feature (trading familiar for summoning as a standard action) she was incredibly good. You can summon augmented monsters, and extra +1 monster per summoning, and these monsters are more ferocious than usual. Coupled with the fact a number of creatures get spell-like abilities (such as summoning two ice devils who can harass enemies with at-will wall of ice spells).

The biggest thing you'd have to worry about would be protection from spells and the circle versions. However, these spells give way if the target tries to force them onto the creature's space (so the summons still make good meat shields). Get around those and you're good.

As for pets, I'd personally advise the animal cohort feat on the WotC website (3.5 edition). It gives you an animal companion that's separate from a druid or ranger companion (scales nicely too). Also, I find animate dead ideal for army building (they tend to last longer).

Ultimately, I'd say a conjurer variant wizard + malconvoker + animate dead + animal cohort will get you a ton of pets. For extra fun, take the Summon Elemental reserve feat that let's you summon up to a large elemental for up to 9 rounds, at will (if you summon a shadow elemental, you can get your malconvoker bonuses to affect it too). Finally, you get animate dead on your spell list so you can have a standing army waiting for you as well, which can work even inside anti-magic and magic circles.

Alternatively, a druid + animal companion + animal cohort + spontaneous summon nature's ally I-IX can compete with that very effectively. If you take Greenbound Summoning then it just becomes silly how strong they are. You won't be able to get sheer numbers like the aforementioned character, but it's definitely a well rounded pet-monger.

Food for thought. :smallsmile:

Zergrusheddie
2010-01-28, 02:15 PM
From reading the Class Tier thread, I saw that Binders with "online summoning vestige" are a Tier 3 Class. What is this vestige and how does it compare to the others.

Thanks for all the help y'all!
-Eddie

Sinfire Titan
2010-01-28, 02:22 PM
From reading the Class Tier thread, I saw that Binders with "online summoning vestige" are a Tier 3 Class. What is this vestige and how does it compare to the others.

Thanks for all the help y'all!
-Eddie

It's a Vestige that gives you Summon Monster with a level equal to 1/2 your EBL once/5 rounds. Thus a 10th level Binder would be casting Summon 5 every 5 rounds (4 with a feat), spamming summons because the duration overlaps. This gives you the edge in the action economy. Also, it's a Standard action to use because it's SU.

Thurbane
2010-01-28, 08:14 PM
Not terribly original or optimized, but here's my Spontaneous Summoner Build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132360) :smallwink:

Randel
2010-01-28, 09:02 PM
Not exactly summoning, but artificers can make homunculi (especially the expeditious messengers that let them get a birds eye view of the battlefield and there is the crossbow homunculi that uses an enchanted crossbow to attack).

The homunculi are fairly weak, cost money to create, and if they are destroyed then it damages you... but its an option and you can basiclaly make as many of them as you want (and you are always telepathically linked to them).

There is a 1st level spell in Dragonmarked (an Eberron book) that lets you summon homunculi if you have the mark of making, I used it to good effect in a few games, the expeditious messenger let me scout the battlefield easily.


Other than that... no real ideas.

Alejandro
2010-01-28, 11:22 PM
Worthy of Mordor!

Zergrusheddie
2010-02-01, 05:31 PM
It's a Vestige that gives you Summon Monster with a level equal to 1/2 your EBL once/5 rounds. Thus a 10th level Binder would be casting Summon 5 every 5 rounds (4 with a feat), spamming summons because the duration overlaps. This gives you the edge in the action economy. Also, it's a Standard action to use because it's SU.

What feat reduces the delay time by 1 round?

Jack_Simth
2010-02-01, 05:59 PM
Let's see... there's the Beastmaster PrC.

Incantatrix lets you put in such useful nifties as Twin Spell.

A Sorcerer does well as a Planar Binder (long-duration summons)

Anyone with the Summon Elemental Reserve Feat has an endless supply of elementals... one at a time, and they're pretty weak.

If you're using a Cleric or Druid, it doesn't matter *quite* so much that summoning is inefficient. Really, it doesn't.