Pathfinder Player Companion: Monster Summoner's Handbook (PFRPG)

Anyon3 else having problems with the pdf crashing? Using iBooks.

I had no problem with it in Acrobat Reader.

It opens in Goodreader but not in iBooks. Also viewable in izip

Any ideas if or when material in this book will become PFS-legal?

The fey-templated summons would be perfect for a fey-themed gnome PC that was created before the option for First-World Summoner was released.

So this will cover all Summoner well what he can summon from basic to well crazy stuff these guys come up with?

Any ideas if or when material in this book will become PFS-legal?

Good question. Would love to know when it will be added to the Additional Resources document. A new version was recently released/updated and it wasn't on it.

So this will cover all Summoner well what he can summon from basic to well crazy stuff these guys come up with?

No, it has very little to do with the Summoner class. It is mostly about tools that affect the Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally spells.. for any classes that can use them.

Here's a question..

The Herald Caller is a cleric archetype and thus all the basic rules of the class apply. How does this work with a cleric of a "philosophy".... a cleric in this sense is capable of utilising SM spells, so as the Herald Caller is a cleric archetype, it seems like this should still apply?

After all unaligned clerics are still granted spells by "someone"..... would thus the default in the case of an unaligned Herald Caller be based on the characters alignment instead?

Here's a question..

The Herald Caller is a cleric archetype and thus all the basic rules of the class apply. How does this work with a cleric of a "philosophy".... a cleric in this sense is capable of utilising SM spells, so as the Herald Caller is a cleric archetype, it seems like this should still apply?

Noting that this is not official errata or a FAQ:

Specific overrules general.

Since the herald caller says "A herald caller can use summon monster spells only to summon summon creatures particularly appropriate to her deity." I'd assume that a Herald caller with no deity can't summon anything with summon monster spells.
Which makes it a terrible choice for clerics with no deity.

Silver Surfer wrote:

Here's a question..

The Herald Caller is a cleric archetype and thus all the basic rules of the class apply. How does this work with a cleric of a "philosophy".... a cleric in this sense is capable of utilising SM spells, so as the Herald Caller is a cleric archetype, it seems like this should still apply?

Noting that this is not official errata or a FAQ:

Specific overrules general.

Since the herald caller says "A herald caller can use summon monster spells only to summon summon creatures particularly appropriate to her deity." I'd assume that a Herald caller with no deity can't summon anything with summon monster spells.
Which makes it a terrible choice for clerics with no deity.

Which makes sense because the archetype is called the "herald caller." If you don't worship a deity, who's herald would you be calling? And if you're calling the herald of something other than a deity, chances are you're not a cleric.

I do see what you mean, but then ALL clerics are granted ALL of their spells by a deity of some description.

The rules state that the a cleric can worship a "divine concept".... but all their spells still have to be granted by "something". That "something" might not have a specific name (eg Asmodeus) but nevertheless divine powers are granting their spells.

I do see what you mean, but then ALL clerics are granted ALL of their spells by a deity of some description.

The rules state that the a cleric can worship a "divine concept".... but all their spells still have to be granted by "something". That "something" might not have a specific name (eg Asmodeus) but nevertheless divine powers are granting their spells.

In Golarion, which the Player's Companion line is written for, there are no clerics of "concepts" or "philosophies" - only specifically named deities. So, in the setting for which this archetype was written, it is a deity granting their spells, or they aren't clerics at all.

Note that this is a specific and intentional deviation from the Core Rulebook.

Which makes sense because the archetype is called the "herald caller." If you don't worship a deity, who's herald would you be calling? And if you're calling the herald of something other than a deity, chances are you're not a cleric.

Outsiders, agents, and elementals who share a similarly aligned philosophy with the Cleric. I don't see how deities have anything to do with it?

Finally getting around to making that Morphic Savant. Noticed something kind of weird, though- it can only summon chaotic creatures (Summon Neutral Monster, here I come), but it can swap Celestial or Fiendish out of Entropic. The only things on the Summon Monster list with those templates are TN. I'll be running it by the GM for permission to cast the animal summons with the Entropic template, but it does seem a little odd.

So I'm confused - on Herald Caller wouldn't any creature on a summon list with a * count for having the correct alignment? Considering that calling one of those creatures makes it have an alignment that matches the caster (which must be within one step of the deity) and thus the resulting summon should match at least *part* of the deity's alignment?

I would like to see summon monster 1-9 with monsters from Bestiary 5.
I have all five Bestiary's and this book only covers Bestiary's 1-4.

Honestly the spell is already so flexible, I don't know that we'd be likely to expand it yet further with another bestiary worth of spells. Even if we force players to swap out existing options, they'd obviously pick those that gave them the most flexibility.

We may well write new spells that can summon monsters from B5, obviously.

The rings from the ACL already help a ton to expand the list. I recommend the one which gets you the Movanic and Monadic Deva, those are some of the best summons possible at SM VII and SM VIII.

Honestly the spell is already so flexible, I don't know that we'd be likely to expand it yet further with another bestiary worth of spells. Even if we force players to swap out existing options, they'd obviously pick those that gave them the most flexibility.

We may well write new spells that can summon monsters from B5, obviously.

Such as Entice Fey, Lesser & Greater from Ultimate Intrigue?! Yep. That is awesome. Now I can recruit a Muse or Shadow Collector to help me carry out my plans!!!!!

Is Expanded Summon Monster correct? 18 monsters the first time you take it, then 2 more each subsequent time? Seems a little lopsided, not sure how useful a second or third selection would be.

It's 2 per level each time you take it.

Does the player make all decisions related to monster advancement when attuning their Guardian Spirit to a new spell? Feats, skills, ability increases, languages, etc? If so, are there any restrictions (beside listed prerequisites) on which feats may be taken?

Also, a weirder side question: Might size change be considered one of those choices? The Monster Advancement rules *suggest* a size increase at every +50% HP, which I guess would be at SMIV and every two spell levels afterward. I realize the imp example is still Tiny, but the MA rules imply that it might be optional. I also realize the Guardian Spirit rules don't mention size, but they also don't mention languages and the example has gained one.

Neophyte here, so I apologize if I missed something obvious or if this isn't the right forum. Been banging my head on this feat for two weeks, now. I'm enjoying the book. Thanks to anyone who can clear this up for me.

The player chooses all advancement options for the Guardian Spirit when he performs the upgrade ritual. Size change is not one of the things that the player can choose because it is not mentioned in the template or in the standard level advancement rules (which is where the Guardian Spirit would gain additional feats and skill ranks).

Standard level advancement rules?! I can't believe I never thought of those! It never occurred to me to treat them like a player character... I guess since they advance in CR and HD but not 'level' per se... Thanks again, David.

On the spell Master's Mutation is the poison ability identical to the Eidolon ability, or can I pick any kind of poison I want?