Rules for controlling monsters you have summoned

[Popertop]

I looked it up and it doesn't appear to be listed anywhere.

I'm looking for things like what kind of action it would take
to direct a group of monsters I've summoned,
or to direct one monster, proximity, extent of the actions,
that sort of thing.

[Vangor]

I looked it up and it doesn't appear to be listed anywhere.

It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions.

Merely need a way to communicate, and this would be generally a free action such as speaking or telepathy.

[Thurbane]

Yep, communication is the main issue. If you don't share some kind of common language, the commands you give your monsters are going to be pretty limited.

You will also be limited as to what commands you can give them by their INT - creature with very low INT (2 or less) are pretty much going to be limited to the same commands you can give animals.

[Gamer Girl]

A related question:

Is a summoned monster just an extra character for the player? That is does the play have exact and total control over the creature and can 'say' the creature will do whatever the player wants.

Or does the DM keep control of a summoned monster and the player can simply tell it what to do?

[Vangor]

A related question:

Is a summoned monster just an extra character for the player? That is does the play have exact and total control over the creature and can 'say' the creature will do whatever the player wants.

Provided the summoned monster has an intelligence high enough to follow the directions given (note all celestial/fiendish creatures have an int minimum of 3 which should suffice) and you can communicate, this is basically how this will work in game. The DM could control the monster but needs to follow as well as they imagine one could.

[panaikhan]

We generally rule that a summoner has the same 'influence' over their summons as a Druid has over their animal companion - unless the creature is capable of communication, in which case the summoner simply says what he wants.

This does mean that the summoner has to make 'animal handling' rolls (we say as a swift action - any time, but only once/round) if he wants the creature to do something other than attack the nearest bad guy.