Summoned creatures, unlike called ones, are magical copies
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The only reason those unseen servants were summoned was because the house needed cleaning up! If the conditions were that sanitary, we wouldn't need to summon unseen servants!
The Wizards guild would like to point the contract between Local Summons Union for unseen servants states the purpose of the contract is for unseen servants to be summoned at any time of the day regardless of working conditions, in exchange for the unseen servants being provided glimpses to life in Golarion.
I imagine a huge poster across the planes. "Want adventure? Have an opportunity to fight against the greatest denziens of evil, in the comfort of your own bed! See the sights of Golarion without a plane shift!"
With the creatures volunteering to be summoned being plugged to a dream machine, and when they're summoned, its a highly realistic dream. Once the duration is up, their dream ends, they give their spot to the next summoned creature.
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As I am the original poster, I'm now going to summarize some of the more interesting valuable opinions here so far, adding a few of my own.
1. Summoned critters actually serve other greater lords of their plane, (like elemental lords, demon or devil princes, etc.) so if those powerful entities did not want their minions activities interrupted, it would be known. (A courier with a critical task that was interrupted by a summoning would have consequences.) Therefore these powerful creatures are probably involved somehow.
2. Cross planar travel is powerful magic, which means that a summon spell probably requires there by powerful magic on the other end to allow for the piercing and travel between the corresponding planes when a summoning spell is cast. Example: A creature (or powerful lord) than can easily send multiple creatures across the planar divide finds the magic "sent" to summon the creature to be "valuable," therefore it is simply sending creatures within its domain on a "harvesting" mission, because if summoned creatures were not helpful/useful, then who would sent the summoning magic their way?
3. A variant on the #2 above, is that a summoning spell is simply "pulling the trigger" on a gun that already exists, and the summoner isn't actually loading the bullets, but rather the bullets are being provide by others. If powerful beings help enforce their domain by creating powerful magic to allow for their minions or residents to be summoned, there must be a reason for it.
A) As Punishment (Lawful alignments simply punish in a more organized and disciplined fashion)
B) Because creatures "wanted" to be summoned for their own reasons.
- i) Example: There are no "weekends" on certain planes; just as the plain of air is air, air, clouds, and more air, it then means that if a you want a good story of what you for a weekend equivalent, you pretty much need to be summoned somewhere radically different from the same-old same-old.
- ii) The creature wants to impress (or pay) a more powerful creature on its own plane, and is therefore highly motivated to be effective/subservient to the summoner, even if chaotic or evil.
- iii) Each transport across the planar divide may provide the more powerful creature who is the "boss" of the lower types, some sort of benefit that comes from the occurance of a crossing of the planar divide itself. (i.e. Conjuration magic gives something that is desired by those who've created the ability to have creatures summoned from their side.)
3. Being able to be summoned is not a natural state of a creature on a plane, rather it has to become something that can be summoned because an outside force or energy allows for it, such as either being punished by a creature that can make susceptible to summoning, or being sentenced to being available to being summoned.
4. Getting summoned gives you bragging rights AND you get to experience something rather different from your own plane. (i.e. You get to go to normally inaccessible area, but only at the cost that you have to do exactly what the person who brought you there requests.) Or it may allow you to pay off a debt or accrue credit, either from a powerful planar being, or for something else.
5. Some people/creatures are complete homebodies, and would never leave the house, while others on the opposite side of the bell curve are thrill seekers, and willing to endanger themselves in a non-permanent way because for them, both change and thrill is good. Perhaps like kids on a bicycle who work on a trick until either they master it, or get bored.
6. The risks that come from avoiding being summoned are less than the reward of allowing oneself to be summoned OR the reward of seeking out being summoned.
7. Being summoned from your own plane is actually a CURE (to whatever). Anything less than total commitment is like not taking every pill of penicillin at the time you are supposed to take it.
I can add other items to this list and can repost them if there are relatively short and coherent.
If the creature is sentient and feels pain then it is worthy of respect whether it is a copy or not. If anything you are more responsible for it as its creator.
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I imagine a huge poster across the planes. "Want adventure? Have an opportunity to fight against the greatest denziens of evil, in the comfort of your own bed! See the sights of Golarion without a plane shift!"
With the creatures volunteering to be summoned being plugged to a dream machine, and when they're summoned, its a highly realistic dream. Once the duration is up, their dream ends, they give their spot to the next summoned creature.
My wife played a 900-year-old lyrakien bard named Moonrider in my Rise of the Runelords campaign. Her first visits to Golarion had been as a summoned creature, serving on the summoning call list for a century. Fortunately, as a lyrakien, Moonrider was summoned for scouting or music rather than combat, so it was not painful. She worked her way up to becoming a familiar for a bard. That role lasted the lifetime of the bard. During the game, she had been promoted to divine messenger for Desna, yet Desna allowed her to vacation on Golarion after any message. Joining the party was an adventure on her vacation time.
(My wife had health problems and had to skip games. The excuse was that Moonrider had been called away to deliver a message.)
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You just gave me a wonderfully evil idea for a future game. LOLHmmm....
Isn't being summoned part of a punishment -- like community service?*I sentence you to 20 hours of being summoned by casters!*
In the case of evil entities, what the summoner doesn't know may be that they're gathering a large number of favors they owe to some demon lord.
When's that demon lord going to collect?
....to spy on the material plane while they're summoned, to tempt/redeem their summoners, to advance their superiors causes.
Brilliant idea. Being summoned by a powerful mage means you begin to gather information on this mage, his "group," his powers, and his interests. This would not necessarily be a bad thing as at some point meeting a powerful planar lord, he doesn't go "Who are you?" but rather "oh yes, you are familiar to me."
This opens the possibilities that they might want something from you, or be able to offer you something you want (Plot Hook) because they know you and they can profit from the results, which doesn't necessarily mean profit at your expense. "YOU (and your friends) might be the perfect mage (and company) for the Job, and I'll pay you well!" (Because taking a lot of effort to figure out how to screw you simply isn't worth it, especially if they may need you again.)
:-D
