Conjuration paradox: aquatic and flying summons and suggested fix

[Atarlost]

A problem with the summoning rules has been brought to my attention.

PRD wrote:

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.

I cast Summon Monster III for a shark. Where is this useful? The surface of a body of water will not support it. RAW it can only be summoned on dry land where it will die immediately or on the seabed.

Is this the intended behavior?

If it is not the intended behavior does similar logic apply to creatures with supernatural flight like air elementals and lantern archons? What about winged creatures like eagles?

I would suggest the following change. This clearly allows aquatic summons in water and floating creatures in air. The prohibition on appearing floating in an empty space is redundant with the sentence after and can be removed to free up word count. The ambiguity about winged fliers can be addressed in a FAQ.

suggestion wrote:

A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface or in a medium capable of supporting it.

[Dasrak]

I think the RAI is fairly clear here: if you want to summon it into the water, it must have a swim speed; if you want to summon it into the air, it must have a fly speed; otherwise it must be summoned on a solid surface sufficient to support its weight.

[Gauss]

That seems to be the intent the way I read it. Air supports a flying creature while water supports a swimming creature.

However, this has come up a number of times so I will FAQ it and hope they resolve this once and for all. :)

- Gauss