Occultist Conjurer's Focus


Rules Questions


2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

The wording on this is a bit odd. It seems to say that the Summon Monster costs 1 point for SM:1, but 1+Spell Level for SM:2 through SM:9.

Am I misreading it, because it also seems the intention could have been to simply cost 2 points for SM:2 and 9 points for SM:9?


It is a little ambiguous:

"At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level, allowing her to summon more powerful creatures (to a maximum of summon monster IX at 17th level), at the cost of an additional point from her arcane spell reserve per spell level."

It could mean:
A) To increase the power by one spell level, add one to the reservoir cost for each increase.
B) When casting Summon Monster III, it costs 1+3 reservoir. This would not be even in consideration if they added the word 'increase' at the end of that sentence.

Now, usually I've always followed the 'rule' that when in doubt in games, go with the least advantageous interpretation.

In this case, however, I am leaning toward interpretation A as what is being discussed is is an 'power increase by one spell level', and I would link the increased cost to refer to this increase rather than the level of the spell.

If you take out the portion in the middle, it reads a little better:

"At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level at the cost of an additional point from her arcane spell reserve per spell level."


GRAND NECROMANCY!

Yes, I will commit the ultimate necromantic effect, to summon forth the darkest dredges of the Internet!

But seriously, this question has never been answered on this forum beyond "could be A or B", and was not addressed in errata.

Example: At third level, our adventuring Arcanist has 6 arcane points (3+lvl) to work with. The answer to this question changes whether he/she can use 'Summon Monster II' twice, or three times in a day. Pretty valid.

Is there an official ruling, or are we left with a general consensus? Sir Jacobs?


Just as reference to others...

PRD; Arcanist, Class Options, Advanced Class Guide wrote:
Conjurer's Focus (Sp):An occultist can spend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to cast summon monster I. She can cast this spell as a standard action, and the summoned creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level). At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level, allowing her to summon more powerful creatures (to a maximum of summon monster IX at 17th level), at the cost of an additional point from her arcane reservoir per spell level. An occultist cannot have more than one summon monster spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster effect immediately ends. This ability replaces the arcanist exploit gained at 1st level.

I'm not quite sure why it would make sense for Summon Monster I to cost 1, II to cost 3, III to cost 4, IV to cost 5, etc. ...So I'd opt for the simplest answer which is 1 arcane reservoir point per spell level.

When it states it costs "an additional point from her arcane reservoir per spell level", it's likely referring to when "the power of this ability increases by one spell level". It's part of the same phrase. It's not referring to the spell level of the SM spell, but the spell level it's being increased by. (So I =1, II = 2, III = 3, IV = 4, etc.)

Reading it otherwise, it'd be ambiguous enough that you could just as easily make the point costs a hell of a lot higher. By interpreting it as increasing the cost in points by the new spell level at every interval, It would cost 1 at I, 3 at II, 6 at III, 10 at IV, 15 at V... And the arcanist clearly doesn't have enough reservoir points to support this.

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