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View Full Version : Possible alternatives to summon nature's ally for druids?



EvilNumberLady
2014-10-17, 08:14 AM
Hi!

My group is going to be launching a new 3.5 campaign soonish. We usually rotate DM duties each campaign and this time it will be a guy who has not done it with us before. It sounds like he is going to be house ruling in it heavily but I don't know exactly what all the new rules will be, as it seems like he wants to get everything ready before giving us too many details.

He did, however, give me a heads up that the summon spells would work differently in his campaign. Namely that you can cast them but that there is absolutely no controlling what they do. The way he described it was that summoned creatures would be equally likely to attack the party that summoned them, run away, or just stand there as opposed to helping. He gave me the heads up because he knew I was considering playing as a druid, and they can spontaneously cast summon nature's ally. He also said that since summon spells will be a lot less useful that I could suggest an alternative to that ability for the druid class. That way I could still play as one without a disadvantage.

I wanted to pick druid this time around because I had very little experience with that class, so I'm not too sure what to ask for. I'd like to make a substitution that is equitable but still fits with the feel of the class. Someone suggested I ask to be able to spontaneously cast cure spells instead, but it doesn't quite fit thematically and I really want to avoid being a healbot this time around (I'm a radiant Servant of Pelor in my current campaign).

Any suggestions?

Also, we plan to play this campaign to epic levels if that makes a difference.

Edit: The solution does not have to come from an official sourcebook. Just looking for a modification that the DM would be willing to make to the base druid class so that it is not nerfed in his campaign.

Psyren
2014-10-17, 08:43 AM
Unfortunately, the only official option I know about is Spontaneous Rejuvenation from PHB2, which will push you towards being a healer and it seems you don't want to do that.

Ask if you can take a nature themed domain (treating your druid level as your cleric level) and, instead of getting domain slots and spontaneous SNA, instead let you spontaneously convert your spells to spells from that domain. You could go with the elemental domains, or Creation, Decay, Dream, Life, Moon, Ocean, Pestilence, Plant, Renewal, Storm, Sun, Time, Travel, Weather or Winter.

Another option is to be a kind of nature-themed seer and allow you to convert to a specific list of divination spells that you both agree on (one of each level.)

EvilNumberLady
2014-10-17, 08:51 AM
I think it will be OK if it is not an "official" option. The DM seems quite comfortable with houseruling. It just need to be fair. Thanks for the ideas. I will look into some of those.

eggynack
2014-10-17, 08:51 AM
Other options include spontaneous affliction from exemplars of evil, which is quite bad, and druidic avenger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druidVariantDruidicAve nger), which is also quite bad, but not quite as quite bad, though the loss of the animal companion isn't ideal. A partial option is halfling druid substitution levels from races of the wild, which swaps out the first five spontaneous SNA's with jump, spider climb, protection from energy, freedom of movement, and tree stride. Not a particularly good set of options, in other words.

LTwerewolf
2014-10-17, 08:51 AM
Nature themed cleric or archivist is probably your best bet. His rule makes summons pretty useless the vast majority of the time. The regular summon spells were never really the problem.

Larrx
2014-10-17, 10:19 AM
It seems like the DM is not looking to limit the power or versatility of the druid, but is messing with summons for other reasons, and is open to homebrew (correct me if I'm wrong). Spontaneous access to a list that includes illusions would keep the versatile feel of random sla's, but might not fit a druid theme. The magic(I think)? domain would allow you to access wizard spells through items and anyspell. I wouldn't trade out sna for either of those, but I think it would be a reasonable choice for certain play styles. If it were up to me, I would ask for spontaneous access to druid divination or travel spells. It is a real drop in power, but this is not terrible (the druid is tier one either way) and it keeps the druid "feel."

Chronos
2014-10-17, 02:54 PM
Ironically enough, a cleric's summoning wouldn't be nearly as hard-hit by this, since most creatures on the Summon Monster list are aligned. A wild dog's natural inclination would be to avoid a battle or to defend itself against perceived threats, but a celestial dog's natural inclination would be to help the good guys.