I was wondering if anyone has a good way to keep all of your summoned creatures organized. In a few fights, I've had as many as 9 lantern archons summoned (ranged touch attacks are great), each with two attacks, on top of the other spells I was casting. 18+ attacks/round gets to be a bit much, but it saved the party last game.
The way I keep organized is to copy the stats of the most-used monsters into a binder arranged by level of the summoning spell. I'll use a small dry erase board to mark what I've summoned, their hit points, how many rounds they've been around, and what their attack and damage rolls are (I roll these ahead of time). When it comes to my turn, I'll tell the DM what the minions are targeting (usually same target to keep things simple), the ACs that my minions hit, and add up the damage appropriately.
I've had other players roll attacks for some of my minions, but I don't like having to take their attention away from what's going on so they can do the work I'm responsible for.
Has anyone else come across a simpler way to handle all the number crunching? I was also thinking of coming up with formulas for determining average damage per round and just multiplying times the number of minions, but I doubt the DM will go for that.
Has anyone else come across a simpler way to handle all the number crunching? I was also thinking of coming up with formulas for determining average damage per round and just multiplying times the number of minions, but I doubt the DM will go for that.
Maby if you told him of all the paper work involved he might let you asking is always worth trying. DM's know what paper work is all about and if you talk to him I am sure something could be worked out.
I simply limited summoning, can't have more than the maximum a single summon can do at a time, that is about it, wizard needs to have the stats charted and multiple dice ready.
I also like teh use of white board for minions. Going to get some for my players to use for undead and the like. Thanks for the idea.
A DM could definitely institute a practical limit of one summon spell active + active bindings (if any). That way you might have 4 summoned creatures plus whatever big bad thing you've got as a bodyguard via planar binding.
Beyond that, I really like the custom summon variant as a DM. If the PC is always summoning the same creature with summon monster V each time it can be a big time saver. That way they can just whip out a sheet and a mini and they are good to go. As a player they are more secure with the tactical options of the summoned creature and as a DM I'm not going to be surprised by what shows up.
Thanks for the suggestions! I think I'll use the writable tokens to keep track of hp and summoning durations. The average damage per round based on target AC formula can be more cumbersome than it's worth, so I think I'll stick with rolling the dice ahead of time.
For those who have a DM who doesn't want players to roll ahead of time, you can use a tackle box to help keep attack/damage rolls organized. You can keep a d20 and a damage die in each compartment of the box, shake the box, and you have a dozen separate attack/damage rolls without having to sort though a table full of dice to match the d20's with their same-colored damage dice.
In my defense, the party was getting stomped. One pc died and a few others came close. I normally summon only a few big things, but we were fighting incorporeal monsters, and lantern archons were the best choice I had for dealing with them.