3.5 Summoner

[kayden87]

What is the better class to be a summoner? or does it matter, Wizard or Sorcerer?

( I have to be an arcane spell caster, so sorry no druid. )

Sorc or Wiz + PrClass that's good for summoning.

My objective is to summon 1-2 Creatures and buff them and use them to attack. I don't need a swarm of things. Just 1 or 2 Creatures that I can beef up. Any suggestions?

[Urpriest]

Malconvoker is a prestige class that's famously good for summoners. Look for a Malconvoker handbook and you'll likely find lots of other summoning advice.

[tiercel]

The aforementioned Malconvoker Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=289.0).

Of more general interest (from said handbook):

The Summoning Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19864066/Summoning_Handbook)

An expanded list of valid summonable (non-Core) monsters (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872206/Legal_3.5_Summonable_Monster_List?pg=1)

The Conjurer's Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19863086/The_Conjurers_Handbook) -- may help you decide between playing a specialist wizard summoner vs a sorcerer-based summoner.

[Manateee]

Wizard gets Rapid Summoning in Unearthed Arcana. That alone puts it ahead. Then faster spell advancement, more PrCs (eg. Master Specialist), fewer feat taxes (eg. Rapid Meamagic) and better ACFs put it miles ahead.

Arcane Disciple->Thaumaturgist is worth considering. At no CL loss, the Thaumaturge gets a bunch of very powerful abilities abilities like an extra contingency, a free feat, a summon extender and an Outsider cohort.

Malconvoker can also be added to this framework, but it might be worth some thought, rather than immediate acceptance. The 1-level casting penalty is more meaningful than it might first seem.

Until ECL 6, Malconvoker and non-malconvoker builds will be matched.
Through ECLs 6 and 9, the Malconvoker will actually be a worse caster/summoner than the non-Malconvoker.
From ECL 10 to 17, the two builds will trade dominance with every level*.
At ECL 18+, the Malconvoker is indisputably better at its job.

*(eg. at ECL 10, the Malconvoker and non-Malconvoker each have the same level of spell access, but the Malconvoker will get double the returns on its summons, making it better at its job; at ECL 11, the non-Malconvoker will have access to a higher level Summon Monster, which can be used to summon 1d3 of the same monsters that the Malconvoker can summon 2 of, or 1d4+1 of the monsters that the Malconvoker can summon 1d3+1 of as well as having access to higher level non-summoning spells and free level 5 spell slots compared to the Malconvoker.)

The Malconvoker is definitely a strong class, but it deserves more consideration than an immediate acceptance - especially when considering the opportunity cost of missing other PrCs with those levels, such as Master Conjurer, Incantatrix, Thaumaturgist or War Weaver.

[AugustNights]

I know this is about 3.5, but if you can convince your DM to work with you to port pathfinder material to 3.5, you may consider the Summoner (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner) base class.
Some DMs are cool with that sort of thing, others are not.

[FMArthur]

Know that a Focused Specialist wizard always has more of its highest level slots than a sorcerer, even at levels divisible by 2 (they only equalize at 20th level). As a dedicated summoner there is little reason not to be a Focused Specialist Conjurer unless you are doing a druid-based summoning solution.

[ExemplarofAvg]

I'm kind of an advocate of Druid Summoners. But I really REALLY have to second using the Pathfinder Summoner. It won't break game in 3.5. But it is excellent. And can buff as well.

[sreservoir]

druid and spirit shaman summoners can basically take a ring of the beast and pop out they highest-level summons without their highest-level slots, or generally summon stuff out of a slot a level lower. this is often useful.

[Eurus]

Druids also have Greenbound Summoning, which is very potent.