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This mainly applies to command-word activated items, as wands, scrolls and potions are pretty obvious how rule.
I have an anti-paladin in my game with a Fiendish Servant, which uses the summoning rules. Since it is a semi-permanent summons, it makes sense to give it magic items to buff it up a little. I assume it would follow the items slots for animals chart using the closest form that applies.
First of all, is it legal to equip summoned monsters with magic items? I can find nothing in the rules preventing it, so it veers into house rule territory.
If the Fiendish Servant is slain though, do equipped magic items remain behind, or disappear with the creature?
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If the creature is able to speak the command word and use/manipulate the item as it is intended, then the creature can use it. In the case of wands and scrolls, however, this also includes a UMD check to cast the spell.
Examples: an Imp can speak and is humanoid in shape, so can use any item a person could use; a psychopomp can speak and is bird-shaped, so can use wands (since it can hold them during the activation), but not manufactured weapon (which need to be wielded)
You are free to equip any creature you want with any item compatible with their shape and capabilities. Depending on the summoning method, the equipment may fall on the ground once the creature disappears, or be carried over. Creatures summoned via Summon Monster are copies of their archetypical base creature, therefore any item you give them will fall on the ground once they disappear. Creatures summoned via Gate are instead physically moving into the plane where they have been summoned, and therefore they carry with them any gear they are wearing when they are summoned and when they disappear.
In your case, the Fiendish servant works as Summon Monster III, so your servant is actually a copy of an archetypical base creature. If your servant is slain, the base creature does not die. The servant has no memories of his previous invocations, since there is no continuity across summonings. Similarly, any gear you give it will fall on the ground when the servant is slayed or dismissed.
The creature's status as a summoned creature has no bearing on its ability to use a magic item. A summoned imp can use a wand as well as any other imp. A summoned pig generally cannot, not because it's summoned but because it's a pig.
When a summoned creature returns to its own plane, it returns as it came. If it came with equipment, that equipment leaves as well, even if the creature isn't currently carrying said equipment. Anything the creature picked up/wore/ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane, though--it will remain.
/not bitter about the wand thing or anything
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The creature's status as a summoned creature has no bearing on its ability to use a magic item. A summoned imp can use a wand as well as any other imp. A summoned pig generally cannot, not because it's summoned but because it's a pig.
When a summoned creature returns to its own plane, it returns as it came. If it came with equipment, that equipment leaves as well, even if the creature isn't currently carrying said equipment. Anything the creature picked up/wore/ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane, though--it will remain.
/not bitter about the wand thing or anything
wait... "...anything it ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane..."
so... does it remain behind, partly digested? If the summoned monster swallows a creature, does the swallowed creature "pop-out" when the summoned monster disappears? could it then continue to attack something - picking up where it left off when it was swallowed?
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wait... "...anything it ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane..."so... does it remain behind, partly digested? If the summoned monster swallows a creature, does the swallowed creature "pop-out" when the summoned monster disappears? could it then continue to attack something - picking up where it left off when it was swallowed?
Yes, and poison disappears from a poisoned target, but the damage done doesn't.
It is generally glossed over, but it is how it works.Most of the rules for the long term summons can be found or inferred from the rules for eidolons.
The creature's status as a summoned creature has no bearing on its ability to use a magic item. A summoned imp can use a wand as well as any other imp. A summoned pig generally cannot, not because it's summoned but because it's a pig.
When a summoned creature returns to its own plane, it returns as it came. If it came with equipment, that equipment leaves as well, even if the creature isn't currently carrying said equipment. Anything the creature picked up/wore/ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane, though--it will remain.
/not bitter about the wand thing or anything
wait... "...anything it ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane..."
so... does it remain behind, partly digested? If the summoned monster swallows a creature, does the swallowed creature "pop-out" when the summoned monster disappears? could it then continue to attack something - picking up where it left off when it was swallowed?
Yep, all those things. I'd assume that anything actually digested is now part of the creature, but anything not yet digested isn't. Otherwise you get (a) swallow whole being way crazier than it was meant to be; and (b) weird cases of planar travel via summoned skinsuit. Okay, that last one sounds kind of cool, actually.
In most cases this isn't that weird since summon monster abilities and spells tend to last on the order of rounds or minutes. The antipaladin ability is unusual in that it works off of summon mechanics but lasts for a very long time, so this sort of thing might actually come up if the servant dies/is banished having eaten in the past few hours.
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wait... "...anything it ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane..."so... does it remain behind, partly digested? If the summoned monster swallows a creature, does the swallowed creature "pop-out" when the summoned monster disappears? could it then continue to attack something - picking up where it left off when it was swallowed?
Yes, and poison disappears from a poisoned target, but the damage done doesn't.
It is generally glossed over, but it is how it works.Most of the rules for the long term summons can be found or inferred from the rules for eidolons.
so, I poison a summoned monster and it dies - does the used poison appear in a puddle on the floor where the creature fades out?
and the reverse, if a summoned viper bites my PC, does the poison that was injected by the viper disappear with the end of the summon spell? how abut the disease inflicted by being bitten by a summoned Rat?
How much poison did you use if it made a puddle? I imagine it'd be more like a fine mist of poison.
It's really more of an assumption that the summoned creature doesn't take or leave anything, but it's the most likely intention. All of its spells specifically end when the creature leaves, but otherwise we don't specifically know what stays or goes when a summoned creature leaves. It's hard to imagine there was an intention for the spells to fade while the poisons remain though.
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Creatures summoned via Summon Monster are copies of their archetypical base creature, therefore any item you give them will fall on the ground once they disappear.
This sounds like what I remember from the 3.5 rules. Pathfinder is a little different;
"Summoning: a summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower, but it is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.
When the spell that summoned a creature ends and the creature disappears, all the spells it has cast expire. A summoned creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have."
So no 'archetypical base creature'. It's a specific real creature.
Creatures summoned via Gate are instead physically moving into the plane where they have been summoned, and therefore they carry with them any gear they are wearing when they are summoned and when they disappear.
Gate is actually a different method of Conjuration, referred to as 'Calling' rather than summoning... but otherwise, yes Called creatures are 'completely present' and die for real if slain.
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I don't think I would look to Eidolons to determine how long-term summons like the Fiendish Servant work. Eidolons are much more like animal companions and phantoms than summoned monsters.
Also, I would not assume that a creature summoned as a result of an antipaladin class feature would work the same way as a Summoner class feature. For summoners, this is their specialty after all, not so for the antipaladin. But that's just my opinion.
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wait... "...anything it ate will not return to the summoned creature's plane..."so... does it remain behind, partly digested? If the summoned monster swallows a creature, does the swallowed creature "pop-out" when the summoned monster disappears? could it then continue to attack something - picking up where it left off when it was swallowed?
Yes, and poison disappears from a poisoned target, but the damage done doesn't.
It is generally glossed over, but it is how it works.Most of the rules for the long term summons can be found or inferred from the rules for eidolons.
so, I poison a summoned monster and it dies - does the used poison appear in a puddle on the floor where the creature fades out?
and the reverse, if a summoned viper bites my PC, does the poison that was injected by the viper disappear with the end of the summon spell? how abut the disease inflicted by being bitten by a summoned Rat?
To be totally true, I am unsure if it is clearly spelled out in the different rulebooks, so it is more correct to say: "That is how I see it, based on my experience with the different versions of D&D 3.x/Pathfinder."
When you summon creatures, at the end of the summoning or when the creature is killed, it disappears and all its spells expire.
Poison is (or was) part of the creature, so it seems logical that it will go away with it.
A disease is more complicated.
If it work as in the real world and it is a viral or bacterial disease, after the onset time there what is dong the damage is new virus/bacteria, not the original ones doing. The magic of the setting probably makes its onset time faster, but after it started that shouldn't be relevant anymore.
So, if I where the GM, I would rule that, for the disease, after the onset time, it is a "normal" disease and the original virus/bacteria disappearing don't affect it.
If the onset time hasn't jet elapsed, the virus/bacteria disappear before delivering damage and before multiplying, so there is not a chance of contracting the disease.
YMMV, it is a GM call, but I think that my interpretation is reasonably consistent with the general rules.
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I don't think I would look to Eidolons to determine how long-term summons like the Fiendish Servant work. Eidolons are much more like animal companions and phantoms than summoned monsters.
Eidolons are a class feature, but they are explicitly summoned creatures.
Fiendish servants are a class feature that is a summoned creature.The main difference is that Eidolon increase in power with the level of the PC and the Fiendish servant with the level of the spell the Antipaladin uses to summon the servant.