Summoning Solutions
Summon monster—sometimes this spell is so amazingly useful that you can’t remember why you don’t prepare it all the time. Other times, it’s so poor that you wish you had prepared a heightened ray of frost instead. Since summoning monsters and creating magical force blades is so important to our aesthetic of magic, we feel it shouldn’t be something limited to niche situations, or something abusable only by clever players, and it certainly shouldn’t be something that players ignore because they realize that there are far better options available for that damage per turn. To that end, today’s article is devoted to spells which make your summoned creatures a whole lot better.
DEFENSIVE BLUR
School illusion (figment); Level bard 2, cleric/oracle 3, druid 3, inquisitor 2, sorcerer/wizard 3, summoner 1, witch 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (a piece of gossamer)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one summoned creature
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no
You cause a creature summoned by you to become a blur of shadows and swirling images, making it very difficult to fight. This spell can only target a creature summoned by a summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell. The affected creature becomes very difficult to see, as though affected by the spells blur and mirror image.
DOUBLE DOWN
School conjuration (creation); Level bard 3, cleric/oracle 4, druid 4, inquisitor 3, sorcerer/wizard 4, summoner 2, witch 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (a wishbone)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area 30-ft. radius spread
Duration special; see text
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance no
You cause a creature summoned by you to fracture and become two creatures under your direct control. Any creatures summoned by a summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell that you cast since the beginning of you last turn, which are currently within the spell’s area, instantly divide, creating an identical creature, which appears in an adjacent unoccupied square. All creatures created by this spell follow your commands as though they had been summoned by a summon monster I spell, and appear with their maximum hit points, even if the creature they split from is injured. Creatures created in this way last for a number of rounds equal to the number of rounds remaining on the spell that summoned the creature they are a copy of, at which time they vanish.
EXPLOSIVE DISMISSAL
School evocation [force]; Level sorcerer/wizard 1, summoner 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (a fuse)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one summoned creature
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Fortitude negates, Reflex half, see text; Spell Resistance yes
You cause a summoned creature to violently explode, damaging all nearby creatures. This spell can only target creatures that you summoned via summon monster or summon nature’s ally spells. If the target fails its Fortitude save, it explodes, destroying it instantly and unleashing a wave of energy in a 10-ft. radius spread. Creatures in the explosion’s area suffer 1d6 points of force damage per level of the spell used to summon the target. A successful Reflex save halves this damage.
MITOTIC CASCADE
School transmutation; Level druid 6, sorcerer/wizard 7, summoner 6
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M/DF (a live earthworm)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one summoned creature
Duration special; see text
Saving Throw Will negates, see text; Spell Resistance no
You cause a creature summoned by you to spontaneously transform into multiple less powerful creatures. This spell can only target a creature summoned by summon monster or summon nature’s ally spells. If you are the one that summoned the creature, it is not entitled to a saving throw. On your next turn after this spell is cast, the target’s body splits and is transformed into the shape of two creatures that can be summoned by the summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell one level lower than the one used to summon it (for example, a creature summoned with summon monster VII would vanish be replaced by two creatures which could be summoned by summon monster VI). You may choose which creature from the summon monster list that the target transforms into, but both resulting creatures must be the same kind, but you cannot select a creature that you would not be able to select if casting the spell in question.
Both of these new creatures are also subject to this spell, and every 1d3 rounds, on your turn, they transform into two new creatures from the summoning spell one level lower, as described above. Creatures that can be summoned by summon monster I or summon nature’s ally I are not affected by this spell. This spell ends when the duration of the spell that summoned the original target would end, or when all of the creatures created from the original target are creatures that can be summoned by summon monster I or summon nature’s ally I.