Summon monster III is where summoning starts to get good with lantern archons, but they're by no means a fighter replacement.
Not even with a summoners SLA making them 1min/lvl
I don't think summons actually replace party meleers. But summoned monsters start coming into their own around summon III, and summon III, IV, VI and IX are probably the best ones, relatively speaking. Dire tiger (summon VI) can carry you through the mid to upper summon levels.
It is a myth. No summon can really replace a fighter. The goalpost is usually changed to the summon can soak up damage and you don't have to heal it.
Eidolons might be a different story. I have seen some legal builds that can match the DPR and AC of a fight.
I will post an exchange I had with another poster recently.
Practically, most DMs want their players to have fun, and will hesitate to limit resting too much, simply because it makes the game not-fun for certain classes if they do.
In short that is not the reality. It is the theorycraft since it is not the norm.
That has not been my experience. In 3.5/PF game I participated that went on for more than a few sessions, the full casters dominated. And why not, when you can summon monsters that are but whose hit points don't matter.
Whether or not class X dominates depends on the GM, and the players. Summon monster, even with augment summon added is not as good as a fighter(insert other melee class as needed) that is in the party, if it is decently built.
Most fighters can fight things of an equal CR in melee combat, and summoning spells summon things below the party's CR so I don't see how something that is CR=APL-2 or APL-3 is keeping up with the fighter in terms of damage output.
That doesn't matter. The critical difference is that you can have three summons die in a combat and no one cares. You don't have to get the cleric close to the summons to cure it, and you can let them block a passage until they die, or whatever. It's perfectly ok to waste their hit points as they are gone in a few rounds anyway.
Yes, lower level summons might not be as good as a melee PC - but their hit points are free, some of them can even cast some spells, and you can summon creatures with just the right resistances and spell-like abilities etc.
I was playing in a runelords campaign, and I played an optimized summoner wizard for a few sessions. I retired the character because the summons were too powerful and made the paladin and the fighter feel useless.
Well that is a different argument. Summons can be dispelled and/or killed quickly. Summoning generally takes one round to cast also so there should be a few spells that get disrupted. I GM'd an all caster party once. Until they got to much higher levels things were really hard for them. Once they got to high levels the difficulty decreased, but it was not as easy as it could have been.
If the casters are being allowed to just hang out while they cast spells, and there is nothing to stop the monsters from getting to them that is on the GM. I understand not all monsters are smart enough to interfere with spell casting, but summoning is not something that can always be assumed to work without a barrier in place until you get the spell up.
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In PFS I play a level 10 Conjuration Wizard who specializes in Summoning Monsters. I almost always summon one level down to get the most out of my Superior Summoning Feat (Yes I also have Augment Summoning) I will place here my list of favorite summons that have worked out the best for me:
Summon Monster I: From this list the Celestial Riding Dog has a trip ability. That can be huge, and really at low levels the attack and damage are pretty decent for a summon.
Summon Monster II: 1d3+1 dogs or Small Earth Elementals. These guys have nasty tricks like say "I summon him in the 5' square beneath the bad guy. Attack"
Summon Monster III:1d3+1 Small Earth Elementals or 1 Celestial Leopard These things grapple and are the excellent Anti Casters because grappling and raking does a lot of damage, especially when they smite, which should always be the first thing they do.
Summon Monster IV: 1d3+1 Celestial Leopards OR Medium Earth Elemental, See Small Earth Elemental for tactics.
Summon Monster V: 1d3+1 Medium Earth Elementals OR 1 Large Earth Elemenal See Previous Earth Elementals for Tactics.
Note When I do this my Favorite Tactic for Defense is simply to Cast Wall of Stone round one forming a dome 5'thick over myself. I'll teleport out later, but it's hard to damage me while I'm inside it. After that I just keep summoning until The elementals tell me the situation is handled, then Teleport out.
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My first (and most powerful) character I ever built was a Summoning Wizard.
3.5 era; I took him from 6th to 21st level.
There around 13, I started being the pivotal factor in all encounters.
I did it with two summons, specifically: Hound Archons and Earth Elementals.
Hound Archons are excellent intelligent fighters who you can rely on to be smart without having to spend time directing them, and their auras are a NASTY thing to pile onto enemies (an enemy has to save and be immune to each one, not all at once).
Then, once you can start cranking out multiple Medium+ Elementals, they serve as the ultimate linebackers. First summon puts one in front and behind me, so anything that comes at me gets pummeled. Second summon puts out one big one of highest level possible, who will be the primary offensive fighter.
Replenish them as necessary, and unless there is an excellent ranged character out there (or powerful caster), fight is over.
As for low low levels, Celestial Riding Dogs are where it's at, as Altus pointed out.
Once you get to really high levels (15+), grab Quicken Spell and always have at least a SM IV or V quickened. Yes, it burns one of those precious high-level spots (use traits/feats to reduce it if you like), but being able to slam 1d3+2 Medium Earth Elementals on the field in the first round can be a lifesaver, and looks damn impressive to boot.
These guys have nasty tricks like say "I summon him in the 5' square beneath the bad guy. Attack"
Can't. Bad guy has total cover.
Total Cover: If you don't have line of effect to your target (that is, you cannot draw any line from your square to your target's square without crossing a solid barrier), he is considered to have total cover from you. You can't make an attack against a target that has total cover.
You may be able to earth glide *moving* through rock, but rock is still rock. If an earth elemental goes up to a rock wall, their slam attack doesn't just ignore the rock. Only *movement* is affected by earth glide.
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These guys have nasty tricks like say "I summon him in the 5' square beneath the bad guy. Attack"Can't. Bad guy has total cover.
Total Cover: If you don't have line of effect to your target (that is, you cannot draw any line from your square to your target's square without crossing a solid barrier), he is considered to have total cover from you. You can't make an attack against a target that has total cover.You may be able to earth glide *moving* through rock, but rock is still rock. If an earth elemental goes up to a rock wall, their slam attack doesn't just ignore the rock. Only *movement* is affected by earth glide.
Fine summon behind him, 5'step up swing. next turn swing and 5'step down. makes their HP last longer.
Here's an older thread on the subject:
For what it's worth, I think lantern archons are kind of overrated.
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As a Master Summoner, probably the most I've summoned is Lantern Archon. Being able to bring 1d3+1 of them out as a standard and have them all blast away quickly wears down enemies. I got a dozen or so of them out in one fight, and with haste, not much will last against them. Add in our bard inspiring them and good-bye. 36 +10 touch attacks even if they are only 1d6 damage not much will last against that.