Fix Summoning Spells

[zendalure72]

I hope that I am not the only one who noticed how absurd and obviously lazy on DDO's part the summoning spells are. For one thing a good cleric WOULD NEVER summon a fiendish or lower planer creature for aid. For another nuetral aligned (on the good/nuetral/evil side of alignment not law/nuetral/chaos side) should rarely have power over a celestial or upper planar unless their deity was allied to another of the upper planes. And since we dont truely pick our deitys (another sad thing) its moot to allow them to do so. Nuetral should be calling from the planes of nuetrality or elementals. And where is the great lesser planar binding and greater planar binding (clerical versions too!)? Or gate, which is the top most powerful summons in D&D ever (another that should summon based on alignment). PLease make a few new mobs to replace the summons that exist so that they better follow alignment and the true nature of the spells based on 3.5 D&D rules. I mean honestly is alignment only in game for item useage?
MY friend plays a paladin who is a Knight of the Chalice, and a cleric multi classed. I chuckle everytime he summons his hell hound (doesn't he do more damage to these things hehehehe). I played and worked with NWN for year, reduing tilesets, building persistant worlds, making new content yes we had custom spells, prestigue classes and the such) and I know its not that much work to make summoning spells morally correct. Undoubtedly I bet alot of the needed creatures may exist in game already.. Here are some examples of what could replace the good summons as they are:

Monster summoning I : Remain as is
Monster summoning II : Celestial Bombardier beetle
Monster summoning III : Celestial dire badger
Monster summoning IV : Lantern Archon (buffed up some for game purposes)
Monster summoning V : Hound Archon
Monster summoning VI : Celestial dire lion
Monster summoning VII : Djinni
Monster summoning VIII : Avoral or Lillend
Monster summoning IX : Couatl or Leonal

As for the gate spell you could put: GOOD : Deva
Nuetral : Marut
Evil : Pit Feind

Honestly this would make the game much more interesting and alignment more viable than "oh gee i need take good so I can use holy and pure good weapons...." ...
For nuetral aligned i suppose on creation you could have them decide if they summoning the celestial of feindish routes, or simply add more elemental summonings (though those may best be left for the druid class should it ever make it in game).

ITs a suggestion and a desire I am sure on many players list, and honesly not a hard one to fullfil... PLease consider this...

[r3dl4nce]

Summons are generally so weak that they are a total waste of sp/spell slot. They should bring the summons more in line with the HP/damage/speed/abilites/resistances of mobs and players, otherwise no need to waste dev time on them.
The problem is that giving more power to summons can easily overpower them

[Ganolyn]

Summons are generally so weak that they are a total waste of sp/spell slot. They should bring the summons more in line with the HP/damage/speed/abilites/resistances of mobs and players, otherwise no need to waste dev time on them.
The problem is that giving more power to summons can easily overpower them

So far the only real use I've found for them is cheap diversion.

[Antheal]

I mean honestly is alignment only in game for item useage?

Yes.

As for summons, they're nothing more than disposable aggro magnets.

[fatherpirate]

I use scrolls to summon...keeps the spell slots open for other things.

[Chaosprism]

Sadly yes, alignment is supposed to affect the gameplay a bit as well but is currently overlooked. Though in a future update alignment is meant to be more fluid so we may see things that care a bit more about it than simply what weapon enhancements you can use.

Chaotic or Lawfully aligned armor etc is another option as well.

And alignment does affect your ability to cast the various level 4 cleric smite spells.



I do agree there should be more options , theres is a HEAP of creatures in the game already that could be summoned. An evil, neutral and good option for each level is feasible.

I agree that they should be a big tougher, they should get some more hitpoints at least.

Charming the enemy seems way more effective, and it shouldn't really be the only option. The hezrou certainly seems more effective than some, but why should we wait for a summon IX spell for that to happen.?

Earth elemental has a nice ability, but why should he be the only one?


Augment summoning feat is coming in Update 5.. but the base summons also need toughening up, especially in hard and elite missions.



Speaking of lantern archon, just being able to summon one for a second light source in the den of obscurity would be great