Summoned Monsters - What happens when the person falls unconscious

[Kalraan]

Hello All,

When a spell caster summons a creature with the summon monster spell, what happens to the summoned creatures if the caster falls unconscious?

[Mogart]

Kalraan wrote:

Hello All,

When a spell caster summons a creature with the summon monster spell, what happens to the summoned creatures if the caster falls unconscious?

Unless the summoned monster is an eidolon, the monster stays and continues to fight.

[Purplefixer]

+1.

Spells don't end when the caster falls unconscious unless they have a concentration based duration. Their standard behavior is to continue attacking the nearest enemy or finishing their last instructed orders until complete. Remember that using them for anything other than combat requires the caster to speak their language.

[Kalraan]

This is what happened tonight:

The summoner summoned a fire elemental. The following round she and the only companion she was with fell unconscious. The elemental continued to fight which lasted for 2 rounds. The fire elemental was then by itself until the rest of the party arrived (some 60 seconds later).

What does an elemental do in that time? Just sit there?

Then when new targets arrive (the other PCs), what does it do?

[FarmerBob]

Kalraan wrote:

This is what happened tonight:

The summoner summoned a fire elemental. The following round she and the only companion she was with fell unconscious. The elemental continued to fight which lasted for 2 rounds. The fire elemental was then by itself until the rest of the party arrived (some 60 seconds later).

What does an elemental do in that time? Just sit there?

Then when new targets arrive (the other PCs), what does it do?

I would have the elemental just sit there.

Quote:

It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability.

The new creatures that appeared were not identifiable as opponents of the summoner, and therefore would not be attacked. If they did harm the summoner, then it would attack.

[james maissen]

Kalraan wrote:

This is what happened tonight:

The summoner summoned a fire elemental. The following round she and the only companion she was with fell unconscious. The elemental continued to fight which lasted for 2 rounds. The fire elemental was then by itself until the rest of the party arrived (some 60 seconds later).

What does an elemental do in that time? Just sit there?

Then when new targets arrive (the other PCs), what does it do?

Summoned creatures attack the nearest opponent of the summoner if not otherwise directed. Seeing as the summoner is unconscious so there is not going to be any direction going on here.

The summoner does not need to impart who is an 'enemy' and who is not. This is seen as part of the magic to some extent, but let common sense dictate here.

That said even if the summons were able to heal the summoner it is not required to do so as it was only left with the default instruction of 'attack foes'. Sadly it could let the summoner bleed to death.. perhaps even be happy about such an outcome.

I would have an undirected summon concentrate on combat if possible. If foes have retreated in a direction it heads there looking for them. If none are visible then it takes active perception checks to find more.

-James