Ways to boost Summon Elemental?

[Jack_Simth]

The Summon Elemental Reserve Feat specifies that the resulting "elemental acts as if summoned by a summon monster spell". So, in theory, anything that would boost an elemental summoned by a Summon Monster spell will also apply to those from the Summon Elemental Reserve Feat.

So what all ways are there to boost said elemental that can be used all day?

Now, I'm familiar with the setting-and-region-specific Rashemi Elemental Summoning, and I'm familiar with the Core Augment Summoning, but what other ways are there to boost a Summoned Elemental that can be used at whim?

[AmberVael]

Specialist Wizard (Conjurer) variants.

Beckon the Frozen from Frostburn. (Cold Subtype, +1d6 cold damage)

Corrupt Summoning from Dragon 347 (turns them evil and gives them the evil subtype).

Icy Calling from Frostburn. (Will only work for the Reserve feat in conjuction with Beckon the Frozen. They gain bonuses in cold areas).

Imbued Summoning, from Player's Handbook II.

Purify Summoning, from Dragon 353. (Become good and gain the good subtype).

Stalwart Planar Ally might apply... Planar Handbook.

[Jack_Simth]

Cool...

So let's see... the specialist conjurer (at 20th) would have +8 Str/Con to the summons, just for taking the variant specialty to 20th (+4 from Augment Summoning, +4 from the specialist variant).

Orglash (Rashemi Elemental Summoning) would get +2 NA, +50% cold damage (base dice only - not strength bonus), 3/day Cone of Cold (which works really interestingly... except that the caster level will be low; the most you'll get from the Summon Elemental Reserve Feat will be 8 hit dice... and that with an 8th level spell in reserve at 15th), and another +4 Con.

Thomil (Rashemi Elemental Summoning) would get +2 Natural Armor, a funny attack, DR 10/+1 Magic, Cold resistance 5, a tiny amount of SR (for the level), and +4 Con

Either version from Rashemi Elemental Summoning gets +4 Con, +2 Natural Armor (and are usable on Earth or Air elementals only)

Beckon The Frozen: Cold Subtype, +1d6 Cold Damage (not applicable to Fire elementals)

Icy Calling... requires a cold area (Control Weather needed?) grants +4 Enhancement to Strength and Dex.

Corrupt Summoning... doesn't do much, mechanically (Evil subtype isn't particularly useful). I'm having a spot of trouble finding Purify Summoning - does it work about the same way?

Imbued Summoning... is metamagic, and requires you burn the spell slot - so it can't be kept up all day.

Stalwart Planar Ally: Is defensive only (mostly pointless on something you can replace with a single standard action), requires a second feat, and is mostly incompatible with Rashemi Elemental Summoning (which does boost the offense).

So at, say, 10th in a "normal" environment, that's an Air Elemental with:
+6 Strength
+10 Con
+2 Natural Armor
+1d6+1d3 extra cold damage on a slam attack
So ...
HP: 4d8+28 (46 hp)
AC: 20 (+5 Dex, +5 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 15
(Full) Attack: Slam +13 melee (1d6+6) plus (1d6+1d3) Cold damage
Special Qualities: +Immunity to Cold, Vulnerability to Fire

In cold areas, that's an extra +4 Strength and Dex:
+10 Strength
+4 Dex
+10 Con
+2 Natural Armor
+1d6+1d3 extra cold damage on a slam attack
So ...
HP: 4d8+28 (46 hp)
AC: 22 (+7 Dex, +5 natural), touch 17, flat-footed 15
(Full) Attack: Slam +15 melee (1d6+9) plus (1d6+1d3) Cold damage
Special Qualities: +Immunity to Cold, Vulnerability to Fire

Using an Earth Elemental (still using Orglash, just because you technically can...) instead, that would be:
"normal" environment
+6 Strength
+10 Con
+2 Natural Armor
+1d6+1d3 extra cold damage on a slam attack
HP: 4d8+32 (50 HP)
AC: 20 (-1 Dex, +11 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 20
(Full) Attack: Slam +11 melee (1d8+12) plus (1d6+1d4) Cold damage
Special Qualities: +Immunity to Cold, Vulnerability to Fire


In cold areas, that's an extra +4 Strength and Dex:
+10 Strength
+4 Dex
+10 Con
+2 Natural Armor
+1d6+1d3 extra cold damage on a slam attack
HP: 4d8+32 (50 HP)
AC: 22 (+1 Dex, +11 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 21
(Full) Attack: Slam +13 melee (1d8+15) plus (1d6+1d4) Cold damage
Special Qualities: +Immunity to Cold, Vulnerability to Fire

As for the feat cost:
Augment Summoning (Bonus ACF)
Rashemi Elemental Summoning
Beckon The Frozen
Icy Calling (skip this if you're going to be in warm areas most the time)
Snowcasting (requirement - skip this if you're going to be in warm areas most the time)
Summon Elemental (Reserve Feat - the point of the exercise)

Costing: 2-4 feats, and requiring a particular variant class. Is this doable at 10th? Looks like it is (uses feats at 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th), for basically any race. Nifty. Now the question becomes: Is that Summoned Elemental sufficiently useful to be worth the action cost in battle at that level?

[Eldariel]

Well, let's see, Whirlwind and Earth Glide are still somewhat useful, but not really with much of offensive or defensive potential. They have +1 to attacks and damage vs. their appropriate Masteries.

Comparing their numbers to an equal level elite array Human Fighter:
Str 17+4 item = 21
Dex 12+2 item = 14
Con 14
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 8

Weapon Focus
Weapon Spec
Melee Weapon Mastery (yeah, yeah, should have charging line but I'm just testing the basic number buffs here)
Power Attack
Combat Expertise
Improved Trip
Improved Initiative
Combat Reflexes
Mage Slayer
Martial Study: Foehammer
Martial Stance: Thicket of Blades

+2 (assuming the spell) Mithril Full-Plate
+2 (assuming the spell) Guisarme
+2 (assuming the spell) Animated Heavy Shield

Attack: 10 BAB + 5 Str + 2 weapon = +20/+15 for 2d4+13 (average 18) damage + Power Attack, Trip at +9.
AC: 10 base + 10 Full-Plate + 4 Shield + 2 Dex = 26
HP: 10+5.5*9+2*10 = 79,5

vs. cold Air Elemental's

HP: 4d8+28 (46 hp)
AC: 22 (+7 Dex, +5 natural), touch 17, flat-footed 15
(Full) Attack: Slam +15 melee (1d6+9) plus (1d6+1d3) Cold damage

and cold Earth elemental's

HP: 4d8+32 (50 HP)
AC: 22 (+1 Dex, +11 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 21
(Full) Attack: Slam +13 melee (1d8+15) plus (1d6+1d4) Cold damage

Quick Table:
{table=head]|

Fighter

|

Air

|

Earth

|
HPs|

79

|

46

|

50

|
Attack|

+20/+15 for 2d4+13 (18)

|

+15 for 1d6+9(+1d6+1d3 cold) (12.5+5 cold)

|

+13 for 1d8+15(+1d6+1d4 cold) (19.5+6 cold)

|
AC|

26

|

22

|

22

|
Special|

Tripping

|

Whirlwind

|

Push

[/table]

So basically, offensively they deal more damage with one hit but have half the Fighter's attacks and aren't very efficient against cold resistant opponents (which you might face in cold climates). Still, they have high enough attacks to hit e.g. the Fighter with decent reliability. Fighter also has by far the best special attack outside when Push can actually knock someone into 20d6 fall or magma or whatever; Trip can just kill people when the check succeeds and the chances at +9 are decent.

Their defenses are rather weak and they'll die in two rounds average against even just this Fighter given no Power Attack. Still, if you can force an opponent waste two rounds on something like a free summon while that summon gets ~20-25 points in, that's not a totally wasted turn. Not impressive; they're mostly still delegated to skill duty, but a good filler assuming you've got few real summons when you face opponents posing a real threat; you can toss few of these after your first summons go off.

[The_Snark]

I feel I should mention the Augment Elemental feat, found in... Magic of Eberron, I think? Unlike the Rashemi summoning feat, though, it isn't tied to any region or organization, so unless your DM prohibits all material from setting-specific books there's no reason it couldn't be used elsewhere.

It gives all elementals conjured with summon spells a +2 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls, and temporary hit points equal to twice their HD. In other words, it's almost identical to Augment Summoning, but it a) can stack with Augment Summoning, b) only affects elementals, and c) doesn't require Spell Focus (conjuration).

[Jack_Simth]

I feel I should mention the Augment Elemental feat, found in... Magic of Eberron, I think? Unlike the Rashemi summoning feat, though, it isn't tied to any region or organization, so unless your DM prohibits all material from setting-specific books there's no reason it couldn't be used elsewhere.

It gives all elementals conjured with summon spells a +2 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls, and temporary hit points equal to twice their HD. In other words, it's almost identical to Augment Summoning, but it a) can stack with Augment Summoning, b) only affects elementals, and c) doesn't require Spell Focus (conjuration).

Well... it's not *quite* as good as Augment Summoning, for two reasons:
1) It only applies to Elementals - which are normally marginally harder to come by.
2) Straight Enhancement bonuses to attack and damage don't get the *1.5 damage that you get for single-attack creates from strength.

Still, yeah, it's pretty equivalent.

So if we toss that on there (human?), we've got:

{table=head]Category|Eldariel's NPC Fighter|Air|Air, Cold|Earth|Earth, Cold
HP|79|4d8+28+8 (54)|4d8+28+8 (54)|4d8+32+8 (58 HP)|4d8+32+8 (58 HP)
AC|26|20|22|20|22
Attack|+20/+15|+10|+12|+13|+15
Damage|2d4+13(18)|1d6+8+1d6+1d3(17)|1d6+11+1d6+1d3 (20)|1d8+14+1d6+1d4(24.5)|1d8+17+1d6+1d4(27.5)
[/table]
Hmm... looks like I goofed on the Air Elemental's attack bonus previously - they use Dex, not Strength, due to the Weapon Finess racial bonus feat ... which means increasing strength doesn't increase attack bonus (until it exceeds Dex...)

[Eldariel]

Yeah, the Fighter is Human and while otherwise NPC, has PC WPL ('cause well, we're not accounting for any "gives too much treasure"-problems into this CR). And yeah, given those numbers, you definitely want Earth Elemental. Which seems almost good enough. If only they had a bit extra HD...

[AmberVael]

Corrupt Summoning... doesn't do much, mechanically (Evil subtype isn't particularly useful). I'm having a spot of trouble finding Purify Summoning - does it work about the same way?

They're literally the same down to the wording (Except replace evil with good).

Imbued Summoning... is metamagic, and requires you burn the spell slot - so it can't be kept up all day.

Stalwart Planar Ally: Is defensive only (mostly pointless on something you can replace with a single standard action), requires a second feat, and is mostly incompatible with Rashemi Elemental Summoning (which does boost the offense).

Yeah, I didn't look overly closely at some of the stuff I named- I just tossed out potential suggestions.

[Jack_Simth]

Yeah, the Fighter is Human and while otherwise NPC, has PC WPL ('cause well, we're not accounting for any "gives too much treasure"-problems into this CR). And yeah, given those numbers, you definitely want Earth Elemental. Which seems almost good enough. If only they had a bit extra HD...

... oh, sorry; you can't get a Medium elemental this way until you've got 6th level spell slots, at 11th; my bad.

For extra hit dice, let's look at it at 15th (8th level spell slot, for Large elementals - the peak for this, really, as another five levels only nets you another +2 Str/Con from the Specialist Conjourer ACF-20). Our modifications are all the same (+2 NA, +6 Str, +10 Con, +2 Enhancement to Attack/Damage, +2*HD temp HP, + 1d6 Cold, +1/2 base damage cold; in Cold areas, another +4 Strength and +4 Dexterity):
{table=head]Category|Air|Air, Cold|Earth|Earth, Cold
HP|8d8+80(116)|8d8+80(116)|8d8+88(124)|8d8+88(124)
AC|22|24|20|22
Full Attack|+14/+14|+16/+16|+17/+17|+19/+19
Damage|2d6+5+2d6+2(21)|2d6+7+2d6+2(23)|2d8+10+1d8+ 1d6+2|2d8+12+1d8+1d6+2
[/table]
Anyone want to write up the Fighter-15 for the comparison?

Edit:
Oh, and just for grins, if we ignore all the boosting feats, a Greater Earth Elemental (Summon Monster VIII, which the Wizard-15 above is using to power Summon Elemental) has:
HP: 21d8+105 (199)
AC: 20
Attack: +23/+23
Damage: 2d10+10 (21)
If we add all that crazy-Summoner's feats in, we have:
HP: 21d8+252 (346.5)
AC: 22
Attack: +28/+28
Damage: 2d10+15+1d10+1d6
And in a cold environment, it becomes:
HP: 21d8+252 (346.5)
AC: 24
Attack: +30/+30
Damage: 2d10+17+1d10+1d6

[Eldariel]

Let's see, extrapolating the same Fighter to 15:

Str 18+6 item+2 size = 26
Dex 12+4 item = 16
Con 14+6 item = 20
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 8

Weapon Focus
Weapon Spec
Melee Weapon Mastery (yeah, yeah, should have charging line but I'm just testing the basic number buffs here)
Power Attack
Combat Expertise
Improved Trip
Improved Initiative
Combat Reflexes
Mage Slayer
Martial Study: Foehammer
Martial Stance: Thicket of Blades
Robilar's Gambit
Greater Weapon Focus
EWP: Spiked Chain

+4 (assuming the spell+1 CL buff) Mithril Full-Plate of Greater Fortification
+4 (assuming the spell+1 CL buff) Holy Guisarme
+4 (assuming the spell+1 CL buff) Animated Heavy Shield

+1 AC Ioun Stone
+3 Deflection Ring
+2 Amulet of Natural Armor
Cloak of Lesser Displacement
X of Flying
Boots of Speed

Permanent Enlarge Person (or rather just cast every now and then all day)

Attack: 15 BAB + 8 Str + 4 weapon + 4 Focus - 1 size + 1 haste = +31
Damage: 2d4 + 12 Str + 4 weapon + 4 Focus + 2d6 Holy = 2d4 + 20 + 2d6 = 32 average
AC: 10 + 12 Full-Plate + 6 Shield + 2 Dex + 3 Deflection + 1 Ioun Stone + 2 Natural Armor + 1 Haste = 37 AC (20% Miss Chance)
HP: 10+5.5*14+5*15 = 162

Note that Power Attack is getting pretty huge on this level and the +16 bonus on opposed Str-check means that he's capable of tripping most things. Chained Greater Magic Weapon means that dropping the Chain is nay problem, although might wanna replace Greater Weapon Focus/Imp. Init with Quick Draw (didn't wanna think that far).


Anyways, yeah, the elementals get left in dust. Fighter's attack bonus skyrockets while Elementals don't really get any extra. At the peak they're decent combatants but at this point, Fighter's +31/+31/+26/+21 attack run for ~32 damage average + trip + power attack + 20' reach is completely incomparable to them. Fighter has ~one fourth more HP and way, way more AC and miss chance (and better saves if we cared right now). Fighter could also pick up better equipment should he feel so inclined (200k gp, presently utilizing about 36k+36k+16k+8k+8k+20k+12k+18k+36k+9k =~192k).

The Elementals sorta work out when you get medium thanks to the insane static boosts giving them oomph, but the actual Elemental-growth is just way insufficient. So yeah, a decent idea for a level 11 game (although if you got 'em Greater Magic Fang somehow, it'd be much better already) :)

[Jack_Simth]

So it never replaces an actual tank, then? Good.

[Eldariel]

So it never replaces an actual tank, then? Good.

Nope, the reserve-feat is mostly geared towards utility uses like Aid Another, flanking, scouting (especially with the alternative movement forms), blocking vision (Whirlwind) and so on. Not as much good for combat. The actual Summon-spell though? Definitely good, especially with focus.