As a GM I hate Summon X Spells, whether they’re the Monster, Nature’s Ally, or variation thereof. I get that they’ve been nerfed in Pathfinder but I still think they’re overpowered. I’ve a pretty solid understanding of the mechanics behind these spells, so my question doesn’t relate to the rules.
I’m interested in what people think about the flavor behind the Summon Spells. Can a player summon an animal or monster that's on the spell list that the character doesn’t have in-game knowledge of?
For example, in my Runelords game, I have a druid in my campaign who has never been outside of Varisia. He has most likely met an befriended a dire boar or two so it makes sense that he can summon said dire boars or their kin. But what if he wants to summon a Deinonychus? On Golarion, dinosaurs only exist in the Mwangi Expanse. Flavorwise, it doesn’t make sense to me that a druid can summon an “ally” he’s never met or couldn’t possibly have heard of. The same is true of Cyclops and the like. From my understanding, Cyclops are in a global decline on Golarion so there’s little chance that the druid would have encountered one.
Yes. I confess this is a veiled attempt to further nerf Summon Nature's Ally. But I want a flavorful reason for it instead of GM's fiat.
The flavor on the spells is that you're summoning a creature from another plane.
Also, while the characters may not have met the creatures they've summoned, they might have heard of them (I know of Lions, Tigers, and Bears, but I've never met one.) I also don't think you need to befriend a creature to summon them considering when you summon a creature, unless otherwise, it has an alignment matching yours, regardless of their usual alignment.
On the in-game knowledge, I'm assuming that since they studied the magic for years (arcane) or have divine knowledge of it, they would know what they can summon.
(This is just my opinion.)
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Also, while the characters may not have met the creatures they've summoned, they might have heard of them (I know of Lions, Tigers, and Bears, but I've never met one.)
This would be my view on it. Now you could require the summoner to keep their Knowledge Nature/Planes at max ranks in order to be aware of what they can summon. That doesn't seem an unreasonable requirement.