Summon Minor Monster

[Nefreet]

Summon Minor Monster wrote:

School conjuration (summoning); Level antipaladin 1, bard 1, cleric/oracle 1, sorcerer/wizard 1, summoner 1, witch 1

CASTING
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, F/DF (a tiny bag and a small candle)

EFFECT
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect 1d3 summoned creatures
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

DESCRIPTION
This spell functions as summon monster I, except you can summon 1d3 Tiny or smaller animals, such as bats, lizards, monkeys, rats, ravens, toads, or weasels. The summoned animals must all be the same type of creature. As with animals summoned with summon monster I, you may apply one alignment-appropriate template to these animals.

Section 15: Copyright Notice: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Magic.

I got the cool idea a few weeks ago from one of the rules forums here that you could summon a skunk:

Skunk CR 1/4 wrote:

XP 100

N Tiny animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +5

DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 3 (1d8-1)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +1

OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +4 (1d3-4), 2 claws +4 (1d2-4)
Ranged spray +4 touch (musk)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 2-1/2 ft.
Special Attacks musk

STATISTICS
Str 3, Dex 15, Con 9, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 6
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Perception +5

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Musk (Ex)
Up to twice per day, a skunk can spray a stream of noxious musk at a single target within 10 feet as a standard action. With a successful ranged touch attack, the creature struck by this spray must make a DC 11 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d4 rounds and then sickened for 1d4 minutes by the horrific stench. A successful save reduces the effect to only 1d4 rounds of being sickened. A creature cannot use the scent ability as long as it is affected by this musk. The save DC is Constitution-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus.

Section 15: Copyright Notice: Bestiary 3

In my local Society group there is a gnome bard that said he used this combination before. He just had to bring a copy of Bestiary 3. The rationale being that there are so many tiny sized animals in Pathfinder that not all of them could be listed within this one spell (and so that as more were developed, they could be included). Not even all the tiny sized animals in Bestiary 1 are listed, such as hawk, which is certainly legal.

Mark Moreland addressed a question asking whether or not an expanded list for Summon Monster would ever come out, to which his reply was "no", but I believe this is a separate question. There is no "list" for Summon Minor Monster, only the phrase "tiny or smaller animals, such as..."

I've checked the Additional Resources page and FAQ and can't find anywhere that it states this combination could not be used.

Any chance there could be an official response?

[CRobledo]

No an official response, but in PFS when using spells that have that wording "such as..." you will encounter table variation for anything except the provided list.

I would say that you should stick to:
bats
lizards
monkeys
rats
ravens
toads
weasels

This is similar to the spell bestow curse where it says "you can also invent your own curse" but in PFS you have to pick from the three in the list or you are running into GM fiat.

[Mergy]

Err on the side of not being able to summon anything out of Bestiary I unless something specific is named.

Although I would really like to summon 1d3+1 (Superior Summoning) skunks as well.

[Michael Brock]

As Carlos mentioned above, we are going to stick with the animals listed in the description of the spell.

[Nefreet]

Not even hawks, then?

[Mergy]

Nope. Michael Brock was pretty clear that only listed things are options.

[CRobledo]

Nefreet wrote:

Not even hawks, then?

summon monster I will summon eagles (which are the same as hawks, hence why the answer is probably no; otherwise it would be equivalent in power to summon monster II with 1d3 eagles)

[Nefreet]

Wow. That's brutal. Cat, owl, and viper are the other Bestiary 1 animals that got left off the list, too.

[CRobledo]

It's a level 1 spell... can't expect it to be all that and a bag of tricks :)

[Mergy]

I plan to get some use out of bats combined with the Feral Speech wizard discovery. First level spell to help me aim glitterdust. :)

[Michael Brock]

Nefreet wrote:

Wow. That's brutal. Cat, owl, and viper are the other Bestiary 1 animals that got left off the list, too.

Nah, brutal would be to just ban the spell altogether. I simply limited it to what the spell calls out.

[BigNorseWolf]

Summons 1d3 candiru for some insane bonuses to intimidate

[John Pryor]

It seems to me that under the RAW concept, skunks should be allowed. The list in the spell description is preceded by "such as" which clearly makes them examples rather than the exclusive list. To look at it another way, summoning a group of skunks, is, I would argue, on a par with color spray. It has longer range than color spray and is disabling, but not as badly as a knockout spell like color spray, and the save DC is only 11. I will admit that I'm not the DM, but IMO forbidding skunks is unreasonably restrictive. I can see it would be annoying to a DM to have a group of say goblins nauseated and sickened, but truly, that's no worse than having them knocked out by color spray. Just my 2 cents' worth.

[DrSwordopolis]

I don't think anyone's making the argument that summoning skunks is overpowered - it's just that given the inherent amount of variation in PFS (different GMs, players, and circumstances at each table), one of the base principles of the campaign is to limit variation when possible. This way we don't need to worry about an obscure corner case when they publish stats for a Corgi in Bestiary 5 and its overwhelming cuteness aura interacts strangely with the Kineticist's Hurl Cute Creatures SLA.

[John Pryor]

Hmmmm.... Not sure I've seen the principle of limiting variation anywhere; do you have a source reference? I'll grant that that makes the life of a DM easier. Given the number of variations that are possible in classes, for example, my first reaction is I'm not sure such a thing as a variation limiting principle applies. Regardless, I think RAW trumps it. The other principle that I think should apply, although I've never seen it anywhere, is that every spell should have at least some usability/applicability. If Summon Minor is limited to bats, lizards, monkeys, rats, ravens, toads, or weasels, off the top of my head I cannot conceive of any use anyone would ever have for the spell. Just a vanity spell, so you can say Ta Dah, watch my monkeys?? Why bother to publish it? I also think you would see what you see with any of the Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally spells: within a few months everyone will summon exactly the same 2-3 creatures, determined by effectiveness, and then the variation vanishes.

[Jeffrey Fox]

Since Mike Brock made his ruling, RAW doesn't trump it for the purposes of Pathfinder Society play. His ruling is the only one that makes sense to guarantee that players don't pick a spell that changes based on what GMs table they sit at.