Are there any guidelines for customizing the summon monster list? I saw classed monsters were included in the Core Beliefs: Heironeous article.
Thanks
Sterling
Sterling,
I think the best guideline is to let common sense and your imagination be your guide.
If you find a monster you think would be nice to add to a summoners list just make sure it's comparable to other monsters in terms of CR the character would be able to summon at that level.
For example, I let the clerics of Wee Jas in my game summon undead and human mageblades (an Arcana Evolved class) as long as their CRs equal the CRs of the monsters on the standard summoning lists.
Although, if someone does have official guidelines I'd love to see them too.
A rough rule of thumb that I use is the CR of the creature being summoned is the level of the spell * 2 - so summon monster I gives a CR of 1-2, summon monster V is a CR of 9-10, etc.
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A rough rule of thumb that I use is the CR of the creature being summoned is the level of the spell * 2 - so summon monster I gives a CR of 1-2, summon monster V is a CR of 9-10, etc.
Is that just your house rule? The reason I ask is that in the PHB, the strongest creatures you can summon even with Summon Monster IX are no more than CR 12-13. The relative weakness of the summonable monsters relative to the characters level when he can cast it gets really skewed at high levels and is the primary reason it is very hard to play an effective "summoner" build. I like your idea as a house rule as it is reflective of the characters power at that point. Anyhow, just wondering where you got your formula from.
Is that just your house rule?
Yeah, just a house rule, but one that makes sense to me. :) You could probably add the caveat "as long as the CR of the monster being summoned is less than or equal to the caster's."
To get a quick list, you could use the Encounter Generator to quickly get a list of summoned creatures, in case the caster wants to summon multiple low-level creatures (which, if I recall, the summon spells let you do). I would tend to go with the first column of "Easy" encounters so that it doesn't get too weird. Or just bypass the multiple summoned creatures entirely and stick with one creature only. :)
Also: never allow a creature with a spell like ability of higher level than they can be summoned as. Summon Monster is already pretty useful to get cloudkill from dretches ect, don't let it be abusable.
Also: never allow a creature with a spell like ability of higher level than they can be summoned as. Summon Monster is already pretty useful to get cloudkill from dretches ect, don't let it be abusable.
I'm afraid you're confusing stinking cloud with cloudkill...
Actually, use EL rather than CR. A monster in the hands of a PC that can give it complex orders is essentially a temporary PC, so you should compare its power as a PC rather than just as a monster.
Sucros' suggestion of not allowing summonables that can use abilities of higher level than the summoning spell is an aspect of this.