Summon Self [Spell, 3.5]

[ideasmith]

Summon Self

Conjuration (Summoning) [see text]

Level: Brd 6, Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, F/DF
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect: One summoned creature
Duration: 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell summons you. You appear where you designate.

While summoned, you cannot summon or otherwise conjure another creature, nor can you use any teleportation or planar travel abilities. You cannot summon yourself into an environment that cannot support you.
You cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can you appear floating in an empty space. You must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting you.
You must appear within the spell’s range, but you do not have to remain within the range.
When the spell ends or is dispelled, you are instantly sent back to where you came from. You also return if you are killed or if your hit points drop to 0 or lower. You are not really dead. You take 24 hours to reform, during which time you can’t be summoned again.

When the spell ends and you return, all the spells you have cast while summoned expire. While summoned, you cannot use any innate summoning abilities you may have, and cannot cast any spells that would cost you XP, or use any spell-like abilities that would cost XP if they were spells.

When you use a summoning spell to summon an air, chaotic, earth, evil, fire, good, lawful, or water creature, it is a spell of that type.

Arcane Focus: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

[Pyromancer999]

Wow,um, this sort of looks like a higher-level, less-beneficial Teleport spell. Only works for a few rounds, teleports you anywhere you want, but only temporarily, and makes you unable to use conjuration spells, which puts a damper on any summoner-based spellcaster that might consider choosing to learn this spell. I can see a use or two it might have, but I'dsuggest severly lowering the level of the spell.

[Phosphate]

So you just casually cast this every time you are in danger of dying? Pretty cheap is you ask me.

[Phosphate]

Wow,um, this sort of looks like a higher-level, less-beneficial Teleport spell. Only works for a few rounds, teleports you anywhere you want, but only temporarily, and makes you unable to use conjuration spells, which puts a damper on any summoner-based spellcaster that might consider choosing to learn this spell. I can see a use or two it might have, but I'dsuggest severly lowering the level of the spell.

No way. It's basically an 86400 round immortality. What's not awesome about that? If anything, level should be increased.

[NecroRebel]

Do you take 24 hours to reform if the spell ends or you are dispelled, or only if you die while you're summoning yourself? There's a bit of syntactic ambiguity there, as the reformation clause doesn't refer to death at all and can be taken to mean that you take 24 hours to reform no matter how you are returned whence you came.

This is a pretty powerful spell, though. It basically means that you have a few rounds during which your death doesn't count, even if you can theoretically die during it. Of course, if circumstances dictate that the place where you were is dangerous or deadly after you return, that would be problematic, but the "get out of hell free" thing still makes this a pretty good spell.

[gkathellar]

The immortality part is true, but where are you getting 86,400 rounds from?

EDIT: 24 hours. Got it. That said, if you're reforming, you can't really do anything, so ...

[Phosphate]

The immortality part is true, but where are you getting 86,400 rounds from?

EDIT: 24 hours. Got it. That said, if you're reforming, you can't really do anything, so ...

An offensive orc army approaches.Thinking you can overcome them by yourselves, you (as wizzie) and your party, plus a couple dozen soldiers stationed there, come out of your outpost and strike them. All is going well until you suddenly get hit by a sharp arrow, which staggers you. People are dying around you. What are you going to do?

Well, laugh it off, mostly. Quickened Sending to tell someone in the nearest town about the advancing army and to get reinforcements for the outpost. Then just Summon Self...and stab yourself, if you're feeling bored. Wait patiently.

After a day, all defending forces near the outpost were slaughtered. Pleased by the victory, the orcs decided to rest there, and continue their march later. Suddenly, reinforcements are heard coming. The orcs, dazzled by this, still have a numeric advantage. Or do they...

Cause right then and there you come back from za dead, Maximize or Enlarge their behinds, and Summon Self again, just to make sure you never actually, you know, die for real.

[gkathellar]

That's ... extremely situational. And I'm not even sure why Summon Self was essential or even useful to your scenario, actually. There's nothing that was done there which you couldn't do better with, say, invisibility.

I'm not saying immortality at level 11 isn't stupid-crazy-broken, mind. It totally is. I'm just pointing out that going out of your way to die under the effects of Summon Self (as opposed to using it as a last-ditch defense when you're going to die either way) still puts you at a disadvantage.

[BillyBobJoe]

Also, it's close range, so you can only go a little bit away from your self.

[John Cribati]

I think the idea was that someone else summons you.

EDIT: NVM. You appear where you designate.

[Eurus]

I thought this was basically the whole point of astral projection.

[Drachasor]

I think the idea was that someone else summons you.

EDIT: NVM. You appear where you designate.

That's what Contingencies are for. There are probably a dozen ways to get someone else to summon you with this spell before you consider enchanting hollow red and white spheres.

My only complaint is that the material component should be a small piece of cheese.

[Yitzi]

Summoning spells "bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you". Thus, the whole spell makes no sense (which is why it's so absurd), as what it would have to do is bring a manifestation of yourself, rather than the actual thing.

[Drachasor]

Summoning spells "bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you". Thus, the whole spell makes no sense (which is why it's so absurd), as what it would have to do is bring a manifestation of yourself, rather than the actual thing.

More technically, it is overpowered. You can't summon something as powerful as yourself with a 6th level spell (nor really should you ever be able to).

As an avoid death spell, I think something like this might be able to work and be called "Temporal Hijinks" or the like.

[Ingus]

Seriously, it is terribly overpowered. Basically, I can't think any other spell to cast in the first round of combat.

Play for laught it is almost perfect.
I would like to see more of them, like Slay Self. Or maybe Blindess: Personal, the whole spell to give meaning to "Don't touch yourself or you'll become blind"

[John Cribati]

I was thinking along the lines of:

Alice the Wizard teaches Bob the Sorcerer the Summon Self spell.

They go their separate ways.

Bob is in trouble, so he Summons Alice.

Alice and Bob fight and win.

Alice is dismissed, and goes back to whatever she was doing.

[Amechra]

Don't Calling/Summoning spells not affect creatures on the Material?

Or is that just Frank/K?

[Drachasor]

Don't Calling/Summoning spells not affect creatures on the Material?

Or is that just Frank/K?

Well, if you want to get down into the nitty-gritty of how the spell works, it makes a tiny (microscopic!) gate to another plane, teleports the caster there, and then summons him back from that plane. At the end of the summoning, this process is reversed.

L2Spell, dude.

[Epsilon Rose]

Actually, this could probably be a really useful spell if the immortality got dropped and the level was lowered while the duration was increased.


Why would that be useful you ask? Well, infiltration, obviously.
If you're a rogue type the ability to summon yourself (possibly bypassing a wall) and then sneak about with a seamless extraction (the duration expiring) waiting for them at the end of their caper.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that in the right hands this could be so useful that a clause stating that they lose anything they didn't summon themselves with upon un-summoning would be perfectly reasonable.

[ideasmith]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. You have convinced me that a Conjuration (Summoning) spells that summons the caster, while amusing, is not a viable concept for 3.5.

The 'immortality' bit that causes all the problems is straight from the rules for the Summoning subschool. Removing it would make the spell unambiguously Conjuration (Teleportation). This does not inspire me to work further on the spell.

Again, thank you. I hope that you have enjoyed commenting on my idea, and that at least some of you get ideas from this discussion.