Looking through the Bestiary, it looks like the most attractive creature you could get with Lesser Planar Ally would be the Hound Archon. Since any cleric could just cast Summon Monster IV to get the exact same Hound Archon anyway, why use Lesser Planar Ally and have to pay the guy?
From a flavor standpoint, I love the imagery and flavor of the cleric only being able to summon celestial beings, angels, etc, but the fact that you have to pay them seems out of character from that standpoint, albeit not unfair from a game standpoint. You're basically hiring the archon as a short term mercenary, and I can't say I like the sound of that, but even if you grant the role-play/flavor aspect of it, you could just summon the archon and keep the money (plus, as an added benefit to the summoned archon, it has no chance of getting killed if you use Summon IV to get it).
Looking through the Bestiary, it looks like the most attractive creature you could get with Lesser Planar Ally would be the Hound Archon. Since any cleric could just cast Summon Monster IV to get the exact same Hound Archon anyway, why use Lesser Planar Ally and have to pay the guy?
From a flavor standpoint, I love the imagery and flavor of the cleric only being able to summon celestial beings, angels, etc, but the fact that you have to pay them seems out of character from that standpoint, albeit not unfair from a game standpoint. You're basically hiring the archon as a short term mercenary, and I can't say I like the sound of that, but even if you grant the role-play/flavor aspect of it, you could just summon the archon and keep the money (plus, as an added benefit to the summoned archon, it has no chance of getting killed if you use Summon IV to get it).
In case you need the same Ally for more than X rounds.
"Help us navigate through this dungeon, if fighting breaks out, we'll call you in if we need help"
Succubi don't ask for those things.
They might need the money for other reasons. Maybe someone else called(summoned) them that needed money so they can now get it from you. Maybe there is a church they want to donate it too. I can always come up with a reason for them to accept the money.
They might need the money for other reasons. Maybe someone else called(summoned) them that needed money so they can now get it from you. Maybe there is a church they want to donate it too. I can always come up with a reason for them to accept the money.
Agreed. Even the most generous of Paladins will accept rewards - after all, money helps them buy magical equipment, which helps them kill evil. Any intelligent creature will realize this and accept most rewards (though they may refuse a few).
In the case of Planar Ally, the creature is being inconvenienced big time. He might have been in the middle of something important, or about to get laid or something - wait, I already mentioned something important XD.
But yeah, he would accept the money for being forcibly taken from wherever he was and made to serve you. Just think of it that way.
Also very useful if you need to eliver a message very quick (most archons have greater teleport, self ^^)
Also very useful if you need to eliver a message very quick (most archons have greater teleport, self ^^)
this among other things, since summoned creatures are limited in some ways, like summoning and teleporting, unless I am mistaken a called creature also can not be dispelled (at least in the usual way), the payment can often be satisfied by other means, UM has a chapter discussing this sort of spell.
[QUOTE="wraithstrike"
In the case of Planar Ally, the creature is being inconvenienced big time. He might have been in the middle of something important, or about to get laid or something - wait, I already mentioned something important XD.But yeah, he would accept the money for being forcibly taken from wherever he was and made to serve you. Just think of it that way.
Mayhaps if the spell was not a 'request to your deity to send you an outsider.'
If an outsider is asked to serve you per the deity's request I can hardly see that being the case. Dunno.
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The spell pretty clearly indicates that the payment isn't always a direct payment (like a mercenary), but is donations or services as appropriate to the outsider called - and that the payment can be waived completely if your request happens to be sympatico with what the outsider is into doing anyway.
Remember that it's a very generic spell, so the description needs to cover all potential outsiders summoned - good, bad, (or ugly...).
So, if you call an outsider allied to your deity and request of it something that's both in-keeping with your deity's wishes, and the sort of thing the outsider happens to do anyway, then chances are you're all singing from the same hymn sheet and you get a freebie. If you happen to request something it can do, but doesn't usually (like asking a messenger angel... or a succubus... to fight for you) then you'll have to pay; and if it's something only tangentally in line with your deity's portfolio (like a lot of 'adventuring requests' - evil will be smitten, blah, blah, blah, but it's actually more so the PCs can complete the adventure and claim the prize, rather than to glorify your deity per se) then you'll pay more.
It's not so much hiring a mercenary as it is calling up a friend of a friend to ask a favour - how much is this favour going to put the guy out dictates how much compensation you'll need to pony up.
IMHO, natch.
Here's a thought. Use lesser planar ally, call up a creature that serves your deity. It needs to be able to communicate. For the task, ask it to speak on your behalf to its superiors, see if they'd be willing to help out with whatever you're working on. Let it be the diplomat for you, convincing something more powerful to help you out when you use planar ally or greater planar ally later.
Also, lesser plannar ally can be used to conjure outsiders from other source books than first bestiary without special considerations that would be needed in case of summon monster, like asking your GM to expand summoning lists or at least allowing exchange parts of the lists for new monsters.
Lesser plannar ally can be used to access some spells earlier:
for example nongood cleric can call for a nightmare. A 4th level plane shift unavailable through summon monster. Nonchaotic may call Mercane for plane shift without limitation to nightmare and its rider.
Well, it qualifies you for Diabolist. :)
Must have conjured a devil using lesser planar ally or lesser planar binding (or a similar spell) and successfully coaxed the fiend into performing a task lasting longer than 1 day.
Seriously, though, what Drejk said is about right. It gives access to things that the typical lists may not have, for whatever reasons. I've still seen it very, very rarely used.
It used to be better in 3.5, when it was more frequent for outsiders to have low hit dice for their CR.
Lesser planar ally can be used to access some spells earlier:
for example nongood cleric can call for a nightmare. A 4th level plane shift unavailable through summon monster.
Likewise, if you can call a jann, he can cast ethereal jaunt with a duration of 1 hour. You can do a lot of ethereal scouting in one hour!
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Calling outsiders can really save one's bacon. Granted, they'll not be powerhouses in combat (although remember that outsiders have little fear of dying on the material plane, as they can only be truly killed on their home plane. Even then, a good deity may well resurrect an outsider who died in service), but they can do just about anything else.
Summon one with tongues to act as a intermediary. Summon one with detect evil to hunt down the bad guy. Summon one with a Knowledge skill you need. Summon an imp to act as a scout. Summon a familiar with an aura to give you some bonuses. Summon a nightmare to plane shift you. Summon a thoqqua to make fun of it. Summon a crysmal to make you rich. Summon a mercane to buy things with your newfound wealth. Summon a cassisian angel to remember your shopping list. And so on...
Heres what I like to do as a player: Call that hound archon and give him the gear that the party does not what and that he could use. Then when he's called again, he has all the stats of a hound archon plus some useful gear!
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Calling outsiders can really save one's bacon. Granted, they'll not be powerhouses in combat (although remember that outsiders have little fear of dying on the material plane, as they can only be truly killed on their home plane...
Actually if you cast a calling spell, then they can be killed, it's only a summoning spell which means it's kinda' not really them at all, sort of... ;)
It really isn't something that should be routinely used. It is more of an NPC spell, useful for providing muscle for a primay antagonist.
I'd suggest that it depends a great deal on the style of campaign you happen to be playing. If you're the 'classic' always on the move freebooting adventurers / mercenary band, then any spell which involves a little more forethought than usual is a lot less likely to come into play (just as things like Item Crafting Feats will tend to crop up on character sheets less often). If you're playing a game with a home base, and downtime, then the Planar Ally spells and the like are going to see more usage from PCs... IMHO.
I use this to defend temples in my games. If there's a cleric anywhere in the area of 7th level, then there's probably an aligned outsider they can call at a moment's notice if the temple itself is under attack.
This is also why the Thieves guild usually leaves temples alone.