Fluff dilema regarding summon X

[Kafana]

Summon Undead, Summon Monster, Summon Nature Ally, all of these spells create various beings, beings which can be found in the "nature", so would it be reasonable to assume that these beings come from the realms of gods that created them, or are they merely a predefined algorithm for the creation of an unstable specific being (e.g. a skeleton which falls apart in 1 minute).

If indeed you say summon an animal from the animal realm (or even from somewhere on "earth") would an evil druid simply stand over a volcano and summon animals until he has no more spells every day, killing them? Would he simply summon reflections of a real animal, without harming the animal being reflected?

[Grand Poobah]

From the SRD.


Summoning
A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

[Inevitability]

A summoned monster that dies doesn't actually die. It merely disappears and reforms where it came from in 24 hours, as said above.

And evil druids don't want to destroy nature, they just view and worship it in a way that leaves little room for compassion, mercy, or helping the weak. In fact, actively working towards the destruction of nature would cause them to lose their powers.

[Zombimode]

Summon Undead, Summon Monster, Summon Nature Ally, all of these spells create various beings, beings which can be found in the "nature", so would it be reasonable to assume that these beings come from the realms of gods that created them, or are they merely a predefined algorithm for the creation of an unstable specific being (e.g. a skeleton which falls apart in 1 minute).

If indeed you say summon an animal from the animal realm (or even from somewhere on "earth") would an evil druid simply stand over a volcano and summon animals until he has no more spells every day, killing them? Would he simply summon reflections of a real animal, without harming the animal being reflected?

Well, ignoring the question why an evil aligned druid would want to kill animals, this quote should be relevant to answers the question:


A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

Summon Monster summons extraplanar creatures.
It is unclear where the creatures summoned by Summon Nature's Ally and Summon Undead originate from. They are not extraplanar, but they have to come from somewhere. There is the idea that summons spells actually create some "platonic ideal" made flesh of the creature (your "algorithm" idea is similar), but if this is the intended fluff, it is not made explicit and is actively contradicted by the description of the summoning subschool.

Personally I like the idea that Summon Nature's Ally actually calls an animal from the material plane (ideally from the surroundings, but this would require houseruling) to the casters side.
I have not made up my mind on how Summon Undead actually works. But I get the impression that the designer of this spell have not thought to hard about it.

[OldTrees1]

Summon Undead, Summon Monster, Summon Nature Ally, all of these spells create various beings

False, the summon spells do not create. A spell that creates would have the [Creation] tag rather than the [Summoning] tag. Rather the creature is summoned from somewhere else*, however remember summoning and calling are also different. Calling actually brings the creature to your location. Summoning kinda brings the creature to your location (but will reform in 24 hours rather than die if slain & cannot access all their abilities).

*The somewhere is not specified because there is a wide range of creatures summoned including ones that exist in mutually exclusive areas. However there is no need to presume they are summoned from a divine realm when the Outer Planes/Material Plane are reasonable sources for Summon Monster/Summon Nature's Ally. Summon Undead would likewise have lots of extant undead to choose from.


If indeed you say summon an animal from the animal realm (or even from somewhere on "earth") would an evil druid simply stand over a volcano and summon animals until he has no more spells every day, killing them? Would he simply summon reflections of a real animal, without harming the animal being reflected?

1) Summon nature's ally forbids summoning an animal into such a hostile environment.

Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them.
2) Slain summoned creatures reform in 24 hours as stated prior

That said, if one independently killed all the wolves in all the planes, then one should expect Summon Nature's Ally to be unable to summon a wolf.

[Shalist]

OOTS pokes at this on occasion:


Inconvenient Summons (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InconvenientSummons):

While Roy is fishing with his grandfather in the Lawful Good afterlife (#498 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0498.html)), the fish suddenly disappears off his hook. Roy's grandfather explains that it was summoned, and remarks that "someone must be having an underwater adventure".

Haley summons Celia (unintentionally) while she is sleeping. She is angry at first because she thinks that it's her mother to ask why she isn't married yet, but when it turns out to be Haley, that's okay with her.

In a Dragon strip #348, a celestial dog is summoned just before it could finish the cure for all diseases.

Elan: Are you sure it's OK to summon celestials just to fight goblins?
Durkon: It's just a dog. It be no harm, no foul.
Fiendish Rat: (summoned by the goblin cleric) Darn it! I can't believe this guy summoned me RIGHT when I was alphabetizing my spice rack!

http://i702.photobucket.com/albums/ww30/123456laughs/fishing_zpstyq3quxy.jpg