D&D 3.5 Summon Swarm

[Lord Ashes]

On the surface Summon Swarm seems to be a very powerful spell at lower levels. Swarms are harder to kill than ordinary opponents and once they occupy the same space as their target they do automatic damage (no rolls to hit regardless of AC). However, unless I am missing something, it seems that they are very dangerous because there doesn't seem to be any stipulation in the spell for getting rid of them and the spell indicates that they attack the nearest target.


If no living creatures are within its area, the swarm attacks or pursues the nearest creature as best it can. The caster has no control over its target or direction of travel.

Doesn't this mean that after the swarm is done killing your enemy, it is going to start to attack your party? Does this mean that your own party need to have good means to dispatch the swarm after it kills the enemy?

[Lord Ashes]

I think I found the answer to my question:

The spell is concentration, so I guess the caster can elect to stop concentrating and then the swarm will disappear in 2 rounds after that.

[ericgrau]

The swarm is hard to kill. The party including the caster is not. I mean technical flaming sphere and most other spells are almost completely indestructible and their effect just happens. At a reliable 1d6 damage per round plus a low DC save-or-nauseated plus 1 other minor effect it's pretty mediocre. What really kills its effectiveness is the 1 round casting time, so the damage doesn't even start until round 2 and that's if casting isn't disrupted. Flaming sphere is much better at 2d6 ref save negates per round starting immediately and able to redirect manually.

Getting enemies to focus on the swarm isn't a bad idea though. If you can summon it and close the door it can wreak havoc. Problem with that is the high casting time means you need to start to cast it, then have an ally open the door right before you finish casting it, then have another slam it shut. Then enemies can still rush the door or flee the room. A bat swarm is probably best for this as it does slightly more damage and makes it harder to run away, though they can still rush the door. Casting also makes noise because casting must be done in a strong voice, possibly making enemies go for the door before you finish the plan. So many ways to fail. It's extremely niche this way and usually it's a sub-par spell. Since its power isn't really affected by spell save DC or caster level and a scroll is only 150 gp, you might want to scroll it for the niche uses rather than ever preparing it.

Another niche use for a scroll is a long BBEG/LBEG fight. No, I don't suggest concentrating on it for longer than the round you cast it; you have better things to do. Even then the spell finishes up in round 4. Then the possible nausea and/or added debuffs of a spider swarm can be helpful for a 6-7 round fight. But 95% of the time it's better to end a fight much sooner than that with better damage.

In other words you buy or find 1 scroll ever and hope you even get 1 chance to use it. But having other niche scrolls can help hedge your bet, especially super cheap level 1 scrolls. Still a bit expensive at low level. Spell is super meh.