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So I'm playing a druid in our Rise of the Runelords campaign. We're level 11 now and just over halfway through the book.
I used to be skeptical but now I can clearly see the "druids are way too good" argument.
To the point, I can use call animal to call any animal in the area of up to cr 11. Also, I have vermin heart so I can use the spell to call vermin in the area of the same cr.
Once they arrive they are most likely indifferent. I need to make a 25 on a wild empathy check to make them helpful, and after that I use the request table in diplomacy. I'm level 11, so taking 10 already gives a 21 (meaning I could just have the animal be friendly and still be able to ask for dangerous aid), but i also have a charisma mod and a circlet of persuasion.
So what I've used this for most in the past is calling large birds to fly us around southern Varisia. Recently though, I've used a roc to lift an ogre off a dam and drop to it's death. And then to fight a bit more stuff after that (very much a slippery slope).
I guess my ending thought and question I want to bring to discussion is:
Isn't call animal way too good for a first level spell? What was the intended use for this spell? If it's a druid version of planar ally, why is it level 1 and why does it do cr based creatures instead of HD based?
Call animal usually takes another spell or ability to work. Its just a way for a druid to use wild empathy or charm animal when the dm isn't putting such critters directly in their path.
I'm the GM of said game, looking forward to seeing what the Paizo boards have to say. A couple of things I'd like to note though: I'm not letting the roc just do anything as though it were an animal companion or cohort. It is probably not confident enough to go fighting dragons or something, or go underground. And that's probably true of other animals. But sure, it'll fly someone somewhere if it's not too far from home. Or pick up an ogre that is much weaker than it, and drop it off a dam. It's friendly, after all, not a servant.
It is rather powerful for a first level spell, but I don't think it's game breaking. That animal companion, on the other hand... but that's another story ;-)
True, but then the druid's probably veering towards evil.
(Edit: but we can always chat outside the board, so I'll take a backseat and see others' views here.)
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As BigNorseWolf said, it's intended to provide a druid with targets for Wild Empathy, Charm Animal, Speak with Animal, Animal Messenger, and yes, even Dominate Animal, when the druid is in suitable terrain but the GM isn't placing those creatures directly in the druid's path. That is to say, it's a spell that makes it easier to use all those other nice druid abilities that depend on the availability of animal targets. The usefulness of Call Animal is limited by the successful use of those other abilities. So if you have decent skills or use up an additional first-level spell, you can pretty easily get animals to fetch objects out of your reach, carry messages, inform on the terrain, maybe even act as guides or assist in hunting game. Once you're able to call a Roc it's not unreasonable to expect they could carry the party around within their territory - but that's only possible if you're in warm mountain terrain. Remember that your ability to call an animal is limited by:
1) Being in suitable terrain
2) Having animals of the desired type within range (and even if you're in the right terrain, the GM may rule that there are no animals of the desired type in range, or roll to see if you got lucky with a rare animal)
3) The amount of time it takes the animal to get to you (if they're far off it might take a few hours, so not great for urgent tasks)
Once you've called your animal, you may be able to get them to fight for you, but it's dependent on a very high Wild Empathy or Dominate Animal and limited by the strength of the enemy. Sure, you can get a CR 9 Roc to drop a CR 3 ogre off a cliff, but at level 11 you can also squish that ogre yourself without much effort. The Roc isn't going to attack things that you would consider very dangerous because those things are also very dangerous to the Roc.
Even Dominate Animal explicitly states that the creature won't undertake obviously suicidal or self-destructive acts, such as attack a creature two or more size categories larger than it. Attacking an "unnatural" creature such as undead or aberrations may also qualify, since Handle Animal requires two tricks to overcome the aversion of most animals to the bizarre creatures that often threaten high-level adventurers. And remaining in combat once heavily wounded probably also counts as self-destructive, so even if an animal attacks your enemy (because it looks like a reasonable target), it isn't likely to fight to the death.
And yes, if a druid induced animals to perform dangerous tasks (fighting an apparently weak but actually deadly monster, walking down a trapped passage) I'd consider it a minor evil act. If they do so repeatedly or frivolously I'd even consider loss of druid powers. A druid is supposed to respect and protect nature, after all, and if they're using their powers to knowingly send a trusting animal to their deaths, they'd better have a very good reason.
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A summoner is more effective at it, since they have better control over their summoned creatures' and eidolons' actions, including being able to make them fight to the death no problem, and their summoned creatures have a wider range of abilities (animals tend to be pretty limited compared to extraplanar creatures). But that's just fine, because summoning is the whole point of a summoner, and the various "animal ally" druid abilities are just a part of what a druid does.