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Summoner tips and tricks
What is this?
This is part of what I hope to eventually turn into a Summoner handbook after I have more experience with the class from actual play. Originally it was part of a handbook I was writing for summoning-focused conjurers in PF, but the summoner has effectively obsoleted that particular role (though summoning is still a solid side option for conjurers).
Obviously the formatting is pretty simple at this point: the PF boards are pretty mundane, so I'll host the eventual guide over at a different board if I ever finish writing it.
Anyhow, what follows is useful information for players who are learning to play a summoning-based class for the first time. None of it is specific to the summoner, and there are no real notes on the Eidolon. Please feel free to add your own tips and tricks for playing a summoner to this thread as well.
The following sections are included:
1. Standard actions = Good
2. Some items you might not have noticed
3. A bunch of nifty things you can do with summons.
4. How PF summon monster is different from 3.5
5. List of Summon Monster spells with rankings for individual creatures up to SM IV. This is the big one!
Why are standard action summons a good thing?
1. Surprise rounds. You can only take a standard or move action in a surprise round.
2. Mobility - often you will need your move action to maneuver into position to cast the spell, or run away from the opponent, or draw out a scroll or wand.
3. Quickly controlling the battlefield. I've had games where I won initiative and the surprise round, and by the time my opponent's turn came up, he was already surrounded by 3 summoned monsters.
4. No concentration checks. If you spend the whole round summoning, you might get hit by a ranged attack and lose the spell.
5. It makes you less of a target. If an opponent has a dire bat in his face and the summoner's already moved 30 feet away, it's generally a lost cause to try and deal with him.
PATHFINDER-SPECIFIC ITEMS
Varisian Idol (Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide, Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide, Organized Play: Legal): For 50g, you can add an idol as a material component to any summon monster or summon nature's ally spell. In return, the creature has an additional +2 hit points per hit die. Highly recommended if your DM has opponents regularly attack your summons.
Barbed Pentacle of Asmodeus (Gods and Magic 54, Organized Play: Legal): 3,000g for a necklace that gives +1 deflection to AC, plus if Asmodeus is your patron then you can use Charm Person 1/day and prick yourself with it to add +1 to the DC of any writing-based spells, specifically including a magic circle against evil to bind an outsider.
Preklikin's Book of Cults (Gods and Magic 59, Organized Play: Legal): It's a book written by insane gnome Cthulhu cultists. If your character also worships the Great Old Ones, then it works as a rod of lesser metamagic extend, but only for conjuration spells that summon or call an evil outsider, plus it grants a +1 bonus to your Will saves. Cost: 1,500g, so half that of a normal rod.
Summoning Tricks and Tips: 25 Ways to Make the Most out of your Extraplanar Friends
1. Always make sure any animal-type uses 'Smite Evil/Good' as part of its first and subsequent attacks. Free damage is good, especially when it lasts the whole combat in PF. Look up the new paladin smite if this confuses you.
2. If a summoned monster has only 1 attack, try to position it at least 10 feet away so it can charge the enemy and gain +2 to the attack. If it has several attacks, summon it right behind an opponent and have it make a full attack.
3. Try to summon animals in places where your melee's can't get to easily - typically on the other side of a doorway.
4. Take advantage of flanking whenever possible, especially with a rogue in the party.
5. Remember that you choose the animal you summon at the end of the spell - so if you readied an action to cast Summon Monster when the fighter opens the door, you can choose at that time to summon an eagle, a wolf, or any other creature, for example.
6. Flat-footed creatures can't take Attacks of Opportunity (AOO's). If you win initiative and summon a n animal to grapple that doesn't have improved grapple, that means it won't risk any AOO's when it makes the attempt that first time. The same goes for bull rushing and overrun attempts from your summoned creatures.
7. Use your summoned creatures as physical walls - most opponents won't want to risk the AOO's to get to you.
8. Keep pre-made sheets with the stats of 1-2 creatures that you commonly summon each level, factoring in celestial/fiendish and Augment Summoning modifiers. It will save a lot of time in-game.
9. Use your summoned creatures to soak up AOO's from opponents. If your melee allies need to get into a room, it might be a good idea for a summoned creature to arrive, hit the opponent, and then walk away so that your allies can move more freely.
10. Use summoned creatures to disarm traps.
11. Don't let your healers waste spells on summoned creatures - they'll be gone too soon for it to be worthwhile in most cases. Likewise, don't cast individual buffs such as Mage Armor on your summons.
12. Keep a 'cheat sheet' of useful abilities from any given Summon Monster level, such as Darkvision, Climb/Fly/Swim/Burrow speeds, Blindsight, spell-like abilities, auras, DR, scent, etc.
13. If the creature can't hit the opponent's AC or if it has weak damage, have it use 'Aid Another' on an ally to aid an ally's attacks or defense.
14. Note any useful skills that a summon might have. High level creatures frequently have good Knowledge skills or stealthy skills that you can use.
15. Use summoned monsters to aid the party's mobility, such as summoning dolphins and dire bats for the other party members to ride.
16. Don't be blinded by pure damage output - look for creatures that can trip, grapple, use spells, trample, ignore a specific DR, etc.
17. Always cast the highest level of summon monster available. Don't waste time with Extend Spell or Enlarge Spell - only Quicken Spell might be worth the effort, and there are better utility spells to quicken than SM.
18. Summon early and often - each time you summon a creature, you effectively give yourself 2 rounds of action each round, so it's often best to summon creatures and then focus on debuffing opponents or blasting.
19. Go ahead and hit your summons with area spells like Stinking Cloud if it will catch opponents as well - especially if the summon is immune to the effect. Most summons have some resistances from the fiendish or celestial templates!
20. As a corollary to the above, summon bats and scorpions, then cast Darkness or fog spells, and laugh as their blindsense kicks in.
21. At the end of the day before resting, check to see if you have any summons that can do utility things for you, like Lantern Archons casting Continual Flame. No sense in wasting an unused slot.
22. Don't restrict your summoning if at all possible - stay (true) neutral so you can summon creatures of different alignments and choose between fiendish and celestial creatures each time.
23. Never buy a wand of summon monster I, since it only lasts 1 round and doesn't include Augment Summoning, but look long and hard at a Bag of Holding (Tan) if you're in the mid-levels: 6,300g is incredibly affordable for a list of creatures that are all in the SM IV to SM VI range, last 10 minutes, and has 10 charges/week (which all replenish between modules in POP).
24. Work with your DM to try and add new creatures to the list that fit your characters' theme, replacing other creatures. See how open the DM is to other variants, such as summoning the same creature each time or rolling for stats for your favorite summons.
25. Remember: a dead summon is one that has done its job well. Don't hesitate to sacrifice them for your party.
What's different about the Summon Monster spells in PF?
1. Different list - the lists are shorter and the CR of creatures is less haphazard, which is both good and bad. In general, there is at least 1 monster per level that is better than anything on the list in 3.5.
2. Different modifiers for celestial/fiendish. Smite Evil/Good now lasts until the opponent is dead, which is awesome. On the downside, the SR from the template is weaker, and some benefits such as DR 5/Magic come a bit later than in 3.5 - not in time for SM III, unfortunately. Finally, the templates no longer grant an Int of 3 for animals/vermin, nor do they change the creatures' alignments, so it is more difficult to command those creatures to do complex tasks.
3. You can choose whether you summon a celestial or fiendish creature if you're neutral, or can only summon 1 version otherwise. Needless to say, versatility is good, so this is a buff from 3.5.
Note: the following parts are all based from Treantmonklvl20's superb guide, Mastering the Malconvoker. I've used his format for ranking the creatures with his permission.
Summon Monster I (CR 1/2)
For non-core summonable creatures from 3.5 - please check THIS and THIS (link to re-posted handbook on summonable creatures) out. Nice DMs will let those creatures be added to the Pathfinder list as well.
Overall, Summon Monster is stronger for SM I, II, III, and IV, and the jury's out on the higher level ones while I do my research.
Many thanks to treantmonklvl20 for allowing me to use his handy format from the Mastering the Malconvoker guide for rating these summons. In several cases I copy+pasted directly from his handbook, especially the listings for spell-like abilities.
All of these creatures are statted with Augment Summoning already.
Things to know about SM I:
Tidbits: The first thing you'll notice is that the list got smaller. Way smaller. 14 creatures became 8, mostly losing the vermin. Thankfully most of those creatures sucked anyhow. Remember to always smite whenever you summon! Also, your creatures start off with some resistances and SR - keep that in mind!
Combat: There might be 8 creatures, but there's only one choice for pure combat. The Riding Dog somehow got bumped down to SM I, giving this list a 2HD animal who can trip for free on a successful hit. At 1st level with Augment Summoning this doggie has more HP than your tanks and the same BAB.
A nice tactic for higher levels is after your original summons are engaging the enemy – cast a SM I, pick Riding Dogs, have them flank with your summons' opponent, and have them “Aid another”. That’s +4 or more for your main summon or ally to hit.) Their own damage will often be too small to have any effect.
At later levels, avoid summoning these against opponents with Cleave!
Outside Combat: At mid-high levels the SM I spell ceases to be much use in combat beyond aiding/flanking – however there are other uses.
The main ones are probe/trap monkey. Ponies are the largest creatures on the list, so they're a good choice to set off things. Dire rats are excellent scouts with hide/move silently/spot and listen, and you can threaten somebody with filth fever. Eagles have an insane Spot check of +16.
Missing from 3.5? The small spider. I liked webbing opponents in place. And what, no celestial (trap) monkeys?
Akal’s favorite: The Riding Dog. Wasn't it obvious? While flanking and smiting, that's a +7 Bite for 1d6+8 and a free trip on hit, baby!
They wasted our time with: The frog. And I had such high hopes!
All entries at this level assume you have Augment Summoning
Celestial/Fiendish dire rat - 1 HD Small magical beast, HP:7, to hit +2. It can both climb and swim. Smite +1 damage
Celestial/Fiendish dolphin - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:15, to hit +3. Your only aquatic summons this level, but it's quite good, and comes with 120ft blindsight and 80ft speed. Smite +2
Celestial/Fiendish eagle - 1 HD Tiny magical beast, HP:7, to hit +3. Your only flying summons this level, but it gets iterative attacks, which is nice. Bumped down from SM II. Smite +1dmg
Celestial/Fiendish giant fire beetle - 1 HD Small magical beast, HP: 6, to hit +3. Best AC, but that's it. Smite +0/+1
Celestial/Fiendish poisonous frog - 1 HD Medium magical beast, HP:6, to hit +3. Pass. Smite +0/+1
Celestial/Fiendish pony - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:17, to hit -1. Pass. Smite +0/+2
Celestial/Fiendish riding dog - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:17, to hit +5, 1d6+8 (while smiting). Here we go! Buffed from 3.5 - automatically has Trip now. Smite +0/+2
Celestial/Fiendish snake, Viper - 2 HD medium magical beast, HP:17, to hit+2 Save DC 13 poison – It can both climb and swim.
Summon Monster II (CR 1)
Things to know about SM II:
Tidbits: You can now summon your first outsiders – small elementals and the Lemure. The elementals will see a lot more use than the lemure. Also, now you can summon 1d3 riding dogs or eagles.
Combat: Your best combatant at this level is the drone ant. Medium spiders can web up to large foes, and giant frogs have some cool grappling tricks.
Outside Combat: Earth elementals can scout with earth glide, air elementals are fast aerial scouts.
Missing from 3.5: I liked the old bombadier beetle's acid spray, but I won't miss him too much.
Akal’s favourite: The drone ant. Holy cow, it has the highest AC, highest HP, damage, it's a flier, a grappler, and it even poisons!
They wasted our time with: The goblin dog. This is on par with SM I's Dire Rat, which already sucked.
Celestial/Fiendish drone ant - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:26, to hit +7 (1d6+11 while smiting, and grab), CMB +7 (+9 grapple). The drone gains the advanced template, which gives +4 to all its stats and +2 NA, for AC 19 and all-around awesomeness. Flies at 30ft, and has grab as well as poison and tons of HP! Smite +0/+2
Elemental, small - 2 HD Small elemental. HP:13-17, To hit:+3-+7 Bumped down from SM III to a level where they are actually pretty decent.
Air: Have an insane fly speed at 100ft perfect.
Earth: Can scout with earth glide, which also makes positioning in combat easier.
Fire: Nothing special here, except that you can center a Pyrotechnics on it!
Water: This doesn't really match up to the squid or even 1d3 dolphins.
Celestial/Fiendish giant centipede - 1 HD medium magical beast, HP:7, to hit +2. Pretty awful, though the poison lasts a long while. Smite +0/+1
Celestial/Fiendish giant frog - 2 HD medium magical beast, HP:19, to hit +5, CMB +5, +9 grapple. Errata'd to SM II, this is a solid pick. It has some wacky abilities: its tongue can threaten up to 15ft away and grapple people without the frog itself being grappled, pull creatures closer each round with the tongue, and it can swallow whole small or smaller foes! Decent dmg too. Smite +2dmg
Celestial/Fiendish giant spider - 3 HD medium magical beast, HP:22, to hit +4 bite or +5 web. Their main use is for web and 60ft tremorsense. Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish goblin dog - 1 HD medium magical beast, HP:11, to hit +4. A giant chihuahua that sheds a lot. Smite +0/+1
Celestial/Fiendish horse - 2 HD large magical beast, HP:19, to hit +0. Well, you can ride them. Smite +0/+2
Celestial/Fiendish hyena - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:17, to hit +5. PASS. Smite +0/+2
Lemure - 2 HD Small outsider, HP:17, to hit:+2 Can see in magical darkness, has immunity to fire and poison, acid/cold resist 10, and DR 5/silver, so this is a possible defensive choice.
Celestial/Fiendish Octopus - 2 HD Small magical beast, HP:17, to hit:+5 PASS.
Celestial/Fiendish Squid - 3 HD medium magical beast, HP:19, to hit:+6 or +4, CMB +4 (+8 grapple) This one doesn't do much damage, but it can grapple well and has good HPs.
Celestial/Fiendish wolf - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:17, to hit +4, CMB +2. Pass. Smite +0/+2
Summon Monster III (CR 2)
Things to know about Summon Monster III:
Tidbits: Now you can summon your first outsider that isn’t poor. A Dretch doesn’t match up to a fiendish ape, but it can cast a stinking cloud and then scare, and then enter combat – with 3 attacks/round. Lots of 3.5 top picks got nerfed or moved, but there's a few newcomers. Lantern archons are a decent call as well.
Combat: The auroch seems to be the best for damage and tanking. The cheetah has some promise for when you want to hit somebody at an incredibly long range with a cat to the face, while a smiting charge from the leopard will probably do some solid damage. The crocodile is a all-around tank and grappler/slugger/tripper and a solid choice.
Outside Combat: The Dire Bat can serve as a flying mount for medium creatures, while the lantern archon can talk in any language and cast Continual Flame a few times for you, which can turn a tidy little profit every night that you didn't use up a SM III. A wolverine can dig a hole for you.
Missing from 3.5: The Bison got bumped up a level, which makes me sad, as he won me many an arena fight. But his brother the auroch is so kick-ass that I can't really mourn him.
Akal’s favourite: I'll go with the auroch - I like auto-damage options, and I like stampeding cattle. This delivers both.
They wasted our time with: The boar. He contributes nothing!
Celestial/Fiendish solider ant - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:22, to hit +5, CMB +7 (+9 grapple). Heheh. This is the base ant for the drone - looks like Paizo got its critters mixed up. Strictly inferior to the previous level. Smite +0/+2
Celestial/Fiendish ape - 3 HD large magical beast, HP:25, to hit +5, CMB +6. Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish aurochs - 3 HD large magical beast, HP:28, To hit:+9 (1d8+15 smiting), trample 2d6+12 DC 19. Good HPs, even better damage than the old bison, and a trample attack! Three of them together can stampede, which allows them to trample large creatures at DC 21! These are especially good against high AC foes, as they automatically deal trample damage. Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish boar - 2 HD Medium magical beast, HP:22, To hit:+4 Useless. Smite +2dmg
Celestial/Fiendish cheetah - 3 HD Medium magical beast, HP:25, To hit:+8, CMB +7. A tripper with an insane charge distance of 500ft. Perfect for chasing down runners. Also has 3 attacks with good damage - if all 3 hit and you're smiting, it could be 3d6+24 in 1 round! Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish constrictor snake - 3 HD Medium magical beast, HP:25, To hit:+7 (1d4+10 smiting), CMB +9 grappling. A grappler with climb/swim/land speeds and constrict. Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish crocodile - 3 HD large magical beast, HP:28, to hit:+7 and +2, CMB +13 grapple. Has a special charge for 40ft on land 1/minute, and a Death Roll - it's like constrict, except that he also knocks the opponent prone! Awesome choice for grappling. Smite +0/+3.
Celestial/Fiendish dire bat - 4 HD Large magical beast, HP:30, to hit:+7 This is actually a strong summons. Blindsense 40 ft. Good HP, attack +7 (1d8+7). Has hide/move silently/listen and spot. Smite +0/+4.
Dretch - 2 HD Small outsider, HP:22, to hit:+6 The SLA’s are mentioned above – once those are used you have a creature with 3 attacks/round. Not a lot of HPs, but tons of immunities and DR 5/Cold Iron.
Celestial/Fiendish electric eel - - 2 HD small magical beast, HP:21, to hit:+5 and +0. An interesting choice - its tail whip is a touch attack that forces a DC 17 Fort save or be stunned for 1d4 rounds - could make for very effective crowd control! It has a land speed and breathes air, so you can summon it on the ground too! Smite +2dmg.
Celestial/Fiendish giant lizard - 3 HD Medium magical beast, HP:28, to hit:+7, CMB +11 grapple Grapples and poisons (but a slow poison). Smite +0/+3.
Archon, lantern - 2 HD Small outsider, HP:17, to hit:+3 touch. The SLA’s and “always on” abilities (Tongues, aura of malice, Aid) are the big draws. More of a defensive choice (for the aura) than an offensive one. The light rays are touch attacks and ignore all DR, which could come in handy - or you can position it behind the tank and have it use Aid every round.
Celestial/Fiendish leopard - 3 HD Medium magical beast, HP:25, To hit:+8, CMB +9 grapple. A pouncing grappler Decent damage. Smite +0/+3
Celestial/Fiendish shark, medium - 4 HD large magical beast, HP:30, To hit:75 Aquatic tank and damage dealer if you don't want to stun or grapple. Smite +4dmg.
Celestial/Fiendish wolverine - 3 HD Medium magical beast, HP:28 (34 raged), To Hit: +6 (+8 raged) Is med size (if size is an issue) and has burrow.
SLA's available with SM III:
Spell Name – (spell level)(Creature who has it as an SLA)(CL/DC)(# times/day)
*Works on “self only”
Aid-(2nd)(Lantern Archon)(3/x)(at will)
Continual Flame-(2nd)(Lantern Archon)(3/x)(at will)
Scare – (3rd)(Dretch)(2/12)(1/x)
Stinking Cloud- (2nd)(Dretch)(2/13)(1)
Tongues*-(3rd)(Lantern Archon)(14/x)(always on)
Summon Monster IV (CR 3)
Things to know about Summon Monster IV:
Tidbits: 5HD is the cutoff point for DR 5 and another 5 resistances, so that's critical for this level. A TON of creatures from SM V were bumped down to SM IV in Pathfinder, and the Rhino went from SM VI to SM IV!
Combat: The Rhino is the biggest, baddest bruiser around with a hefty charge attack and more HPs than the party tank will have, while the brown bear is a solid grappler.
Outside Combat: Lots of utility spells from the mephits here.
Missing from 3.5: What, no howler or Yeth hound?! But we only have the riding dog, goblin dog, wolf, hyena, dire wolf, hound archon, and hell hound to fill out the lupine-themed summoning list!
Akal’s favourite: It's the rhino, even though I know deep in my heart that it won't be as awesome in the final PF Bestiary. Otherwise the Hound Archon is a safe bet for a good defensive summon.
They wasted our time with: The Deinonychus - he just doesn't bring anything to the table.
Celestial/Fiendish Bison - 5 HD Large magical beast, HP:52, To hit:+12 (2d6+15, +20 when smiting), Trample 2d6+15, DC 22. CMB +14 Bull Rush. Like the auroch, only moreso! The bison also has Power Attack and Improved Bull Rush, which opens up some new tactics! Smite +0/+5
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