The Totem archetypes of the Druid can summon certain animals as a standard action
|
"Useless"? I think you're missing something vital here.
It seems as though the blaster sorceress and kineticist usually dispatch our foes before the summoned critter gets here. Or, specializing primarily in archery, I am too far away from the action for the summon to be much use.
I guess I need to do the summoning right at the beginning of combat.
This spell is pretty much useless between the 1 round casting time and the short range. Is there anything I can do about this?
Summoner can Sla of it with right archetype as a standard action that lasts minutes.
Generally summoning is done as a nice opening move yes, but it sounds like you might be blasting down a couple of enemies in which case summoning might not be the best route, the spells are always geared so you summon things a few challenge ratings lower than on level enemies so they'll be unlikely to leave a big dent in the enemy.
They're more useful for crowding the playing field, acting as pseudo walls or to take advantage of a particular ability. Or tying up enemy damage and enemy mooks. In a DPS race their might be better options.
You can start a summoning spell as a standard action and finish as a standard next round. So if you have a high initiative it's not a bad way to spend a surprise round. You can standard action start and then act quickly to finish before others have acted.
That would allow what you summoned to get some hits in on some flat footed people.
You can? This is the first time that I have heard about this.
Not exactly, but I'm fond of Summon Guardian Spirit. It adds a new summoning option- same casting time, but it lasts for a minute per level and gets a choice of SLAs. The duration is long enough to pre-cast.
Also if you have any idea whether your adventure will include Mythic tiers I believe their is a mythic path ability called Speedy summons or something similar which makes summoning quicker.
You can? This is the first time that I have heard about this.You can start a summoning spell as a standard action and finish as a standard next round. So if you have a high initiative it's not a bad way to spend a surprise round. You can standard action start and then act quickly to finish before others have acted.
That would allow what you summoned to get some hits in on some flat footed people.
"Start/Complete Full-Round Action
The "start full-round action" standard action lets you start undertaking a full-round action, which you can complete in the following round by using another standard action. You can't use this action to start or complete a full attack, charge, run, or withdraw."
Sadly it doesn't quite seem to work how you're suggesting, as summoning is a 1 round action which has some extra caveats beyond just being a full round action. I'll post the relevant text from the prd.
A spell that takes 1 round to cast is a full-round action. It comes into effect just before the beginning of your turn in the round after you began casting the spell. You then act normally after the spell is completed.
...(some stuff about multi-round spells)
When you begin a spell that takes 1 round or longer to cast, you must continue the concentration from the current round to just before your turn in the next round (at least). If you lose concentration before the casting is complete, you lose the spell.
So while you could start casting this during a surprise round, all that would give you would be a move action during that first full round in addition to having the spell go off at it's normal time, with all the inherent concentration difficulties.
It sounds from the archery comment that you may well be a Hunter, in which case SNA is not that great particularly as you level up because your SNA spells lag behind the summon spells of other casters. If you are a druid then I have always found that they have some use. Our 7th level druid solo's several encounters by casting SNA from wildform of a bird and having them kill all the opponents, it burned out all his spells for the day but he managed to kill off a lot of mooks.
|
|
It sounds from the archery comment that you may well be a Hunter, in which case SNA is not that great particularly as you level up because your SNA spells lag behind the summon spells of other casters. If you are a druid then I have always found that they have some use. Our 7th level druid solo's several encounters by casting SNA from wildform of a bird and having them kill all the opponents, it burned out all his spells for the day but he managed to kill off a lot of mooks.
I am indeed playing a hunter (feral).
We are currently level 9, so I have SNA 3 and Pack Summon. Since I almost always have Aspect of the Tiger active, if I summon a leopard, two will come. And they will hang around for 9 minutes. One thing I would like to do is summon flankers for the rogue.The GM has said that the encounters in the AP (KLngmaker) seem underpowered. He has started applying templates to monsters. Which we like. Most monsters as written are too easy.
I am indeed playing a hunter (feral).
We are currently level 9, so I have SNA 3 and Pack Summon. Since I almost always have Aspect of the Tiger active, if I summon a leopard, two will come. And they will hang around for 9 minutes. One thing I would like to do is summon flankers for the rogue.The GM has said that the encounters in the AP (KLngmaker) seem underpowered. He has started applying templates to monsters. Which we like. Most monsters as written are too easy.
You'll probably find that because APs are I believed designed for a 15 point buy on a fairly un-optermized party, safe to say a properly built blaster Sorc doesn't fit that bill :P
If your summons are going to hang around for 9 minutes you can call them before you get into combat , if you don't mind risking wasting a spell if you get it wrong and there is no fight
However I think a much better idea is using those 3rd level spell slots on Named Bullet for your arrows it is much more effective. Your summon natures ally 3 spells are far too weak to be effective, a full caster summoning would be using the level 5 version. You get a leopard they get a Dire Lion....
Summon natures ally is not a particularly useful feature of the Hunter class after the first 2 or 3 levels were your summons are competive by this level they suck.
|
|
You'll probably find that because APs are I believed designed for a 15 point buy on a fairly un-optermized party, safe to say a properly built blaster Sorc doesn't fit that bill :P
I am indeed playing a hunter (feral).
We are currently level 9, so I have SNA 3 and Pack Summon. Since I almost always have Aspect of the Tiger active, if I summon a leopard, two will come. And they will hang around for 9 minutes. One thing I would like to do is summon flankers for the rogue.The GM has said that the encounters in the AP (KLngmaker) seem underpowered. He has started applying templates to monsters. Which we like. Most monsters as written are too easy.
You ain't just whistlin' Dixie!
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Oh, missed the part where you gave up full progression. Don't bother burning precious feats or dipping into another archetype if you are a Hunter.
Not worth it since your SNA is so far behind. You are summoning CR 2 critters into CR 10 fights....they are monster kibble.
Aye, they're monster kibble. But every attack against an expendable summoned animal is an attack not against one of us. On the other hand, if the monster ignores the summoned animal, then the rogue has a flank. So the summoned animals may not contribute much directly, but they can help indirectly.
You can indeed use a standard action to start a full round summons and complete it the next round by expending that standard action. To state otherwise is erroneous.
