Druid Summons Reduced Casting Time

[arkol]

I think the tittle says it all.

Is there a way for SNA spells taking only a standard action to cast? Without quicken. And doable at lvl1

[Flickerdart]

There's Rapid Summoning, which is...a feat? an Alternate Class Feature for the Wizard? I forget. Either way, that's what you want.

Edit: Yeah, ACF for a Conjurer, gives up familiar and only works on Summon Monster. This is not what you want.

[arkol]

You mean this one?

Doesn't work because
a) it's for SM only not SNA

and even if it worked on SNA

b) you would need to be a wizard1/druid1 so wouldn't work at lvl1

EDIT: you ninja'ed yourself. Sort of.

[Eldariel]

Get Ring of the Beast [Complete Champion], which improves your SNAs by one "level" up. Then get Rapid Spell metamagic [Complete Divine] and apply it to your SNAs. That's the only way I know of that doesn't cost you a level.

[olentu]

Well I can not think of something that can be done at first level but I do remember a way to get the ability to cast a SNA spell as a standard action. The way that I can remember at the moment is the level one shifter racial substitution level for druids in races of eberron. The level trades the animal companion for a beast spirit that at level 12 grants the ability to cast a SNA spell as a standard action as long as the spirit is in the druid.

[arkol]

Eldariel I don't understand how the ring helps. Plus At lvl I can't rapid spell a SNA because I have no lvl2 spells.

Is that feat that reduces all spell metamagic of one school by 1 (school metamagic focus or something?) a wizard only thing? Where is it from?

olentu unfortunelly that is WAY too late for what I need.

EDIT: Hmm seems I found myself a solution. Rapid Spell and Metamagic School Focus: Conjuration.

That's 3 feats. Doable with flaws.

[Eldariel]

I missed the "level 1"-part.

Yeah, Metamagic reducers are the way to go. Druids obviously have it harder than Wizards who just say "Alternative Class Feature!", but that's probably one of the better ways to go about it.

[arkol]

Ok now to make things harder.

We have a lvl1 druid who already has 3 feats selected (lvl1 and 2 flaws).

Spell Focus: Conjuration
Rapid Spell
Metamagic School Focus: Conjuration.

No race selected yet (so we might selected a race with extra feat like human or strongheart halfling).

How to make his summons last more then one round?

Remember that starting at lvl1 means very little gold.

[Eldariel]

This one is easier. All you need to do is to increase your caster level. Good starting point:
-"Spellgifted" trait for Conjuration; means all your other spells are Caster Level 0, but oh well!

I'll come back with more once I think of them (most only apply to arcane spells, unfortunately; Spell Thematics, Arcane Thesis, etc.)

[arkol]

Duh! How did I forgot that one. Nice!

So now imagine you have spellgifted and Asbound (feat). Do they last 3 or 4 rounds? Logic says 4, but things stack in weird ways in DnD.

And that's 4 feats. Doable at lvl1.

[Mavian]

You apply it however is most beneficial, so it would be 2 from CL, extended with ashbound for 4. I think,

[Eldariel]

Dug this up. Might be handy. Couldn't find any other feats for it though.

Ashbound works exactly as you think (obviously) - it doubles the duration and since the base duration for CL 2 is 2 rounds, that doubled is 4 rounds. The pity is that you can't pick up Greenbound Summoning [LEoF] if you take it though. And even Augment Summoning. Meh. Never enough feats.

Mmmh, maybe use Metamagic Storm [Complete Mage] magical location to pick up Rapid Spell? It's probably beyond your funds though :/ Oh well.


EDIT: Oh yeah, Strongheart Halfling could be a very solid pick. The first level substitution of Halfling Druid buys you Hide and Move Silently in class, which seems great for a level 1 summoner. You do lose out on spontaneously cast SNAI - V, but the fact that you still maintain VI-IX should qualify you for Ashbound anyways and you get a bunch of handy stuff (since you're using Metamagic, chances are you'll prepare your SNAs anyways).

[Gaiyamato]

From Complete Mage:

METAMAGIC SCHOOL FOCUS
You are unusually skilled at modifying the effects of a particular
school of magic.
Prerequisite: Spell Focus (chosen school) or specialist
wizard in chosen school.
Benefit: Choose a school of magic for which you have the
Spell Focus feat, or the school in which you have specialized.
Three times per day, you can reduce by one level the cost of a
metamagic feat applied to a spell of the chosen school. If you
prepare spells, you can have only up to three such reducedcost
spells prepared at any time.
Special: A wizard can select this feat as a wizard bonus
feat. This feat can be taken more than once. Each time you
take it, it applies to a different school of magic.

So you only get 3 per day, which is fine at level 1.
But at higher levels it does suck slightly.
If allowed Easy Metamagic from Dragon Magazine 325 is better.

Bah see even sorcerers have it better here as they can get the ability to reduce metamagic costs as a class feature. lol.

[Eldariel]

Unfortunately, Easy Metamagic is capped at +1 and is thus useless for this. Metamagic School Focus and Arcane Thesis (which isn't available for obvious reasons) are the only ones capable of reducing metamagic costs to 0 to my knowledge.

[Gaiyamato]

Ah yes very true.

Is there any way for Wizards to gain SNA under RAW?

[quick_comment]

Ah yes very true.

Is there any way for Wizards to gain SNA under RAW?

There are a few classes (such as the wyrm wizard in dragon magic) that allow a wizard to add ANY spell to his class list.

[Gaiyamato]

There are a few classes (such as the wyrm wizard in dragon magic) that allow a wizard to add ANY spell to his class list.

Ok.. any Full Spellcasting Progression methods that don't suck?

[Eldariel]

This is off-topic, but "Arcane Disciple: Animal" [Complete Divine] works just fine for few of them (4 and 8). "Gnome"-domain [Spell Compendium] adds 9.

[quick_comment]

Ok.. any Full Spellcasting Progression methods that don't suck?

Sure, its not incantrix, but wyrm wizard isnt green star adept either. You give up 3 caster levels, but gain 5 non-wizard spells, some free metamagic on 3 spells, and you gain the ability to negate spell resistance.

[Darrin]

There's also Golden Desert Honey (Complete Mage p. 136, Optional Material Components). It will reduce the casting time for any summoning spell from 1 full round down to a standard action. But it's not cheap... 300 GP per dose, and you need one dose per spell level. So SNA III would cost 900 GP.

What Eldariel meant by the Ring of the Beast: You want to cast SNA III. Instead, you cast SNA II and apply Rapid Metamagic for +1 level, which would be the same slot as SNA III, but the casting time is only one standard action. Ring of the Beast bumps it up to the next SNA level, so it works just as if you'd cast SNA III.