Can't seem to find the rule regarding summoning monsters/ nature's ally

[CrazyNoob]

Regarding summoning monsters or natures ally, I always believed that if you caste the spell a 2nd time while the first one is in effect, it would terminate the first casting regardless of number of rounds remaining. Maybe i'm wrong, if not could someone point me where this rule is sited? for the time being we're ignoring anything relating to the number of ongoing summons, and ammend next time around.

thanks in advance.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You would need to come up with a book and page number to prove that this rule actually exists, not the other way around. A rules reference to disprove your position that such a rule exists would simply be every page of every book, because it's not printed anywhere.

[bekeleven]

Maybe a rule like this should exist, but I am pretty darn sure it doesn't. Summon away.

[icefractal]

You might be thinking of the Pathfinder Summoner's ability, which does have a limitation like that. Although even a PF Summoner can have multiple summons out if one of them is via a normal spell.

[Bullet06320]

there is no such rule I am familiar with, but I have seen it as a house rule, managing multiple summons can be difficult and can bog down combat

[AvatarVecna]

Yeah, you can have multiple summoning spells active at once. TBH, that's one of the main reasons summon spells can get ridiculously powerful in the late game.

With just Core rules and no metamagic reduction cheese, you can spend 2-5 high level spells littering the battlefield with summoned creatures (who you can then buff, if you so choose); on it's own, that right there just breaks the action economy into itty bitty pieces. With non-Core rules and enough metamagic reduction cheese, you can make basically all metamagic free and have lots of metamagic feats; a good use of a 9th level spell for a Wizard 20 is casting Maximized Summon Monster VI to summon 1d4+1 Lantern Archons (IMO, since they get ranged touch attacks that deal 1d6 damage bypassing DR).

Of course, with the proper build, a Wizard 20 can casting Summon Monster IX (summoning multiple creatures from the level 7 list), and the spell can benefit from Extend Spell, Maximize Spell, Empower Spell, Twin Spell, Repeat Spell, Invisible Spell, and Quicken Spell. You can still cast another spell this round, and you've already summoned 4d2+20 creatures from the Summon Monster 7 list, they will stick around for 40 rounds (4 minutes) or until dismissed/killed, and they are invisible in a way that won't end when they attack. Personally, I recommend Bone Devils, because they get Greater Teleport, Wall of Ice, and Dimensional Anchor (among others) as at-will Spell-Like abilities. Hell, you could spend a second 9th level spell doing the exact same thing, and you'll have another 4d2+20 perma-invisible Bone Devils running around for 4 minutes, for a grand total of 8d2+40 perma-invisible Bone Devils running around just screwing with everybody on the battlefield. That right there could level an army, and you didn't have to do any of the dirty work yourself.

Of course, if you're that focused on summoned creature optimization, you've probably also got Augment Summoning, but at this point that's just gravy. The point is that stacking summoning spell is a ridiculously effective tactic for spellcasters in 3.P, especially against non-spellcasters.

[Douglas]

Certain special abilities have such a limit, and at least one major D&D-based computer game limits summon in general in this way, but tabletop D&D does not. If you cast 15 summon spells before the first one's duration runs out, you have 15 spells worth of summoned monsters on the field.

[Sian]

seems plausible that the misunderstanding is porting computer-specific rules from Neverwinter Nights, entered due to mechanic limitations in how much a computer can handle / a player is excepted to be able to handle in real-time-with-pause.

[Telonius]

Possibly a weird (mis)interpretation of the stacking rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#combiningMagicalEffects)?


Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths
In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.

[Necroticplague]

Possibly a weird (mis)interpretation of the stacking rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#combiningMagicalEffects)?

Except summons don't have an area or a target, they're effect spells.

To reply to the OP alone: that isn't a rule. Summoning spells don't have that limit.

[frogglesmash]

The only rule like that that I'm aware of is the CPsi, Astral Construct nerf, but that only applies to psionic "summoning."

[RolkFlameraven]

The only rule like that that I'm aware of is the CPsi, Astral Construct nerf, but that only applies to psionic "summoning."

And is one of the many things that makes a lot of people hate that book.