Results 1 to 18 of 18
Thread: Summoner?
-
2009-10-11, 02:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Summoner?
I was going through my old character sheets from a few years ago and I stumbled across a sorcerer I was going to be playing for a campaign with only about a month or two of game time. Essentially it was just a quick thing to do while we were waiting for a couple of gamers to get back after work and life settled down again.
The thing is, it was a summoner with spells aimed at boosting the abilities of the summoned creature... the character was 8th level. Now, I think summoning quite sucks at anything below 5th level and is only moderately meh until at least the teens, but I never got to see how the buffs would have impacted it. And from a character point of view I think it would have been an amusing character to play.
Has anyone done this to make a summoner not as sucktastic? If so, how'd you do it?Game systems played: D&D Basic (and other rainbow coloured boxes), AD&D, D&D 2, D&D 3 & 3.5, Champions, GURPS, Warhammer, Cyberpunk, Rifts... and more I can't remember.
Current Campaign(s): Savage Worlds post apoc.
-
2009-10-11, 02:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2004
- Location
- Enterprise, Alabama
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
-
2009-10-11, 02:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
- Location
- Elyria, Ohio
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
I think druids make better summoners than arcane casters, simply because they can spontaneously cast SNAs.
Of course, sorcerer's can spontaneously cast everything, but druids also get some great low level buffs for animal summons, as well as feats like Rashomen Elemental Summoning and Greenbound Summoning that greatly increase your power.How to Play Rogues Properly:
SpoilerLike this:
-
2009-10-11, 02:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- Broken Damaged Worthless
Re: Summoner?
Summoning? Time to toot my own damn horn some more! If you aren't adverse to homebrew, check this out: The Summoner, by yours truly. It's a base class that is summon focused in nature.
All that I say applies only to myself. You author your own actions and choices. I cannot and will not be responsible for you, nor are you for me, regardless of situation or circumstance.
-
2009-10-11, 02:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: Summoner?
I don't have a lot of books, so going into any kind of PrCs was quite far beyond me at the time. :)
What do metamagic feats do to summoning spells? For instance, does Maximize just summon the max number of creatures or does it max their HP and everything other variable too?Game systems played: D&D Basic (and other rainbow coloured boxes), AD&D, D&D 2, D&D 3 & 3.5, Champions, GURPS, Warhammer, Cyberpunk, Rifts... and more I can't remember.
Current Campaign(s): Savage Worlds post apoc.
-
2009-10-11, 02:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2009
Re: Summoner?
Game systems played: D&D Basic (and other rainbow coloured boxes), AD&D, D&D 2, D&D 3 & 3.5, Champions, GURPS, Warhammer, Cyberpunk, Rifts... and more I can't remember.
Current Campaign(s): Savage Worlds post apoc.
-
2009-10-11, 03:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2004
- Location
- Enterprise, Alabama
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
Last edited by Starbuck_II; 2009-10-11 at 03:00 PM.
-
2009-10-11, 03:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
- Location
- Broken Damaged Worthless
Re: Summoner?
All that I say applies only to myself. You author your own actions and choices. I cannot and will not be responsible for you, nor are you for me, regardless of situation or circumstance.
-
2009-10-12, 08:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Summoner?
I'm going to second the notion that arcane dudes, because they can't get hardcore stuff like the Summoning Domain or spontaneous summoning, generally aren't the best for the hordes-o-creatures character.
However, to throw out another homebrew suggestion, the Tome of Fiends has a really nifty Summoner base class in it (seeing as the document itself is really long, the class can be found maybe a fifth of the way down, or with some ctr-f shenanigans). If your DM is adverse to the thought of using a homebrew class, maybe show him/her some of the other sections of the Tome, like the parts about Alignment or High Adventure on the Low Planes so that he/she know that F&K really do know what they're talking about.
-
2009-10-12, 09:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- Finland
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
Druids by default can make decent summoners from level 1, although that requires unfortunately large amounts of resources (mostly, Spellgifted-trait [which is painful to take] and Ashbound-feat).
And yeah, Wizard with Rapid Summoning going into Malconvoker is really, really impressive by midlevels. Particularly with Focused Specialist to prepare a lot of Summon Monsters per day. This is all basically SRD (Core & Unearthed Arcana in this case) + Completes.Campaign Journal: Uncovering the Lost World - A Player's Diary in Low-Magic D&D (Latest Update: 8.3.2014)
Being Bane: A Guide to Barbarians Cracking Small Men - Ever Been Angry?! Then this is for you!
SRD Averages - An aggregation of all the key stats of all the monster entries on SRD arranged by CR.
-
2009-10-12, 09:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
Re: Summoner?
What crack are you smoking? The best summoning spells are SM 5 and 7. Calling creatures is also a great option at the higher levels.
Summoning is effective because it allows you to act outside of the action economy. If a creature has a spell-like ability or spellcasting ability, you're effectively using one spell to cast 2 spells/round without using additional spell slots. Its a commonly recomended tactic because it works. Conjuration is the strongest school in the game for a lot of reasons, but Calling/Summoning is one of the big contributors.
Look at Summon Nature's Ally. You see the Unicorn on that list (level 5 IIRC)? The Unicorn gets Cure Moderate Wounds 1/day, Cure Light Wounds 3/day,a constant Magic Circle against Evil effect, and a few other SLAs I'm missing. For a 5th level, you effectively get a mini-Cleric, immunity to Charm/Dominate effects, and a meat shield for X rounds. And you can still cast spells while it acts.
And then there's SNA 3 (hint: Pixy).
-
2009-10-12, 10:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
SpoilerI'll have a signature one day...
Thanks Mr. Saturn for the awesome Pokeatar
-
2009-10-12, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
- Location
- Michigan
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
I'll also throw my hat to the Malconvoker. Gigantic centipedes can be fun, and having access to wall of ice twice a round for 2x caster level rounds when you banned evocation? Priceless.
I am a big fan of treantmonk's guide on the subject matter.
In core, though, Druids are probably slightly ahead of arcane casters, but at least the SM spells don't require you to push animals, which the SNAs might require, depending on the creature.
-
2009-10-12, 10:46 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
- Location
- Fl
Re: Summoner?
@d13 The exception is summon nature's ally 4, the unicorn is a great healer (and handy to have spontaneously).
I think the standard build for a serious summoner was
Focused Specialist Conjurerer (bar Evocation, enchantment and necromancy)/Master specialist/MalconvokerLast edited by deuxhero; 2009-10-12 at 10:50 PM.
-
2009-10-12, 10:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
Re: Summoner?
Here's the Malconvoker handbook on BG, by the inestimable treantmonk. It also has several links to other summoning handbooks.
Mastering the Malconvoker
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...hp?topic=289.0Handbooks: (Hosted on the new MixMax forums)
[3.5] The Poison Handbook
[3.5] (New) Master of Shrouds Handbook
[3.5 Base Class] Healer's Handbook
Trophies!Spoiler
Thanks to Strategos and Jumilk for the awesome Iron Chef trophies!
-
2009-10-13, 05:55 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Location
- Cascadia
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
Also, a guide to summonable/bindable evil outsiders. Helpful if you go the Malconvoker route.
-
2009-10-13, 07:05 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2007
- Location
- Manchester NH
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
if it needs to be sorcerer I would take the fiend ancestory out of Phb2 or what ever the semi evil one was... It gives you a +2 cl to evil summons then go to malconvoker.
It's pritty sweat especialy makes malkonvoker easyer as you have a higher charismaWhen the end comes i shall remember you.
I sorry i fail Englimish...(appologise for Spelling/Grammer Errors) Please don't correct my spelling or grammer eaither.
-
2009-10-13, 07:17 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2009
- Location
- Heilbronn area, Germany
- Gender
Re: Summoner?
The Imbued Summoning feat from PHB2 has errata that clarifies that your secondary spell applies to all the creatures summoned by the primary summoning spell.
In a Core-only game, consider the Thaumaturgist from the DMG.