Wizard Summons, then what?

[ddgon]

I know that the Summoning spells are great, but at low level you summon then do what for the next few rounds of combat? If you are not trying to blow all your spells at once, can seem hard to contribute.

I know the problem will decrease once you get more spells.

Also, should a Wizzard that summons buff his/her summons? and there are few low level buffs that can be applied, whats up with that?

[Hawktitan]

Summoning at low levels isn't all that great. I mean at level 1 you are spelling a full round casting a spell for a weakish monster that will itself only last 1 round.

Typically you don't buff your minions, but if it's a spell that you or someone else would cast anyway then it wouldn't hurt of course, but don't go out of your way to do it.

[Helaman]

Around level 4 summoning isn't bad... most combats are decided, if not won, in 3-4 rounds.

A Conjurer Wizard gets an extra round for every 2 levels... you can whistle up something at level 2.

The best summoning at low levels is Monster Summoning 2 and whistle up some Celestial Riding Dogs... those bad boys smite and tear critters apart in short order at levels 3-6.

[cartmanbeck]

Helaman wrote:

Around level 4 summoning isn't bad... most combats are decided, if not won, in 3-4 rounds.

A Conjurer Wizard gets an extra round for every 2 levels... you can whistle up something at level 2.

The best summoning at low levels is Monster Summoning 2 and whistle up some Celestial Riding Dogs... those bad boys smite and tear critters apart in short order at levels 3-6.

Actually, Riding Dog was removed from the summon monster I list and replaced with just Dog in the most recent printing of the core rulebook. The regular Dog is much weaker than the Riding Dog, sadly.

[Helaman]

Suckage

[SaddestPanda]

After you summon you draw your heavy crossbow of course. My wizard had 2 of them and a pepperbox, it allowed me to fire then drop the first draw the second as a move the next round and fire again. That already covers three rounds with the summon and most combat doesn't last much past that.

[Blave]

I actually like the small earth elemental. +6 Attack and 1d6+4 damage is solid. And most of the time +1 to both thanks to earth mastery. Add in augment summoning and maybe +2 attack from a charge or flanking and it packs quite a punch for the first few levels.

[Tels]

I like using 1d3 Celestial Eagles myself for Summon II. A favorite, for me anyway, is on the round I finish summoning my Eagles, I cast Grease on the square the enemy my Eagles will be attacking. Eagles don't need to make an acrobatics check to avoid slipping, while the big dumb Orc might just fall on his butt.

[SmiloDan]

At extremely low levels, it might make more sense to make scrolls of summon monster 1 and use your regular spell slots for more effective spells.

Also, light crossbows can help. Or heavy like SaddestPanda suggested.

At higher levels, multi-target buffs are great, like haste.