New Summoner Feat?

[sirdanile]

I like that idea! A feat that could scale your summons to quest or player level!

All summons gain Cr (level/stat bonuses) enough to boost them up 1/2 your caster level, meaning at level 20 a hezrou would be cr 26 and a dog would be cr 11, at level it would probably allow summons to be useful but not overpowered.

[Raodin-bel-iori]

I think it would be cool to have a summon swarm option or spell as well. Swarms would take less damage from melee and more from AoE attacks, could attack multiple monsters that are caught in their area, and could have other options like a poison, drain, or other attacks. A swarm of will-o-wisps would be pretty cool.

[Zilta]

technically you already can have 3 summoned at once. summon monster, pm summon, and create undead.

[nitronisto]

though i am sure its already been put up but if u removed the AI controlling the summoned and put it with more a player input ability that alone would be enough that u wouldn't have to really beef up the summoned pets. i mean i know ddo is based on pnp but they need to look at the EQ mage who up until 2 years ago was total underdog with pets at higher lvs. but they were still tough because a skilled player could control the pet and focus the pet on the toughest mobs and if u got in trouble u could withdraw the pet. here its like that's a leash u don't want. even if the pets were beefed up 200% and u could swarm pet, with a AI controlled pet it still doesn't do a lot of good in my opinion
why my ddo wizzy gets no love from me atm :S

[PopeJual]

technically you already can have 3 summoned at once. summon monster, pm summon, and create undead.

You can also have any number of Ooze Guard pets.

[h4x0r1f1c]

You can also have any number of Ooze Guard pets.

And hirelings.

[sirgog]

I don't like this idea, because of the lag issues with having enormous amounts of summons.

Raid bosses pretty much crash (and don't attack or defend themselves) if there's dozens of summoned monsters as well as a dozen players that they can attack. There used to be a widespread exploit that took advantage of this, it's no longer possible to do.

Letting each player have three summons might bring this cheat right back into the game. (36 may not be enough summons to cause problems, but I think it might be).

[Zachski]

How about having Heighten affect summons?

[Doxmaster]

I would be happy with summoning 1d3 monsters from a lower summon. Maybe the 1d3 could be 1 per character level above the lower level summon spell maxing out at 3.
---edit---

I don't like this idea, because of the lag issues with having enormous amounts of summons.

Raid bosses pretty much crash (and don't attack or defend themselves) if there's dozens of summoned monsters as well as a dozen players that they can attack. There used to be a widespread exploit that took advantage of this, it's no longer possible to do.

Letting each player have three summons might bring this cheat right back into the game. (36 may not be enough summons to cause problems, but I think it might be).

Hmm...Must test this. 12 Pale masters with 12 hezrou and 12 PM skeles (archers, knights or a combination of the two). Then, mid fight, everyone casts Create undead and summons 4 ghouls. 84 enemies to target.

If that doesnt shut down the boss's AI, then we dont have a problem.

[Inspire]

I wouldnt mind the metamagic heighten affecting the CR rating of your summoned minion.

[ryingar]

[Indeed]

To the OP:

I kind of like this idea since the summons really are kind of weak compared to the mobs we face. It would be an interesting solo option (not a great one), but it would have some viability at least. I think this could be kind of fun like a necromancer or druid on Diablo2. Some people like playing these kinds of characters in games and I see no reason why we couldn't implement such a thing here.

Do you remember all the Dense earth eles running around before they limited it to one? Some runs through the shroud you would have 20 + earthies easy. Some people had packs of 8 following them and a summons. I like the "new" limit of one.

Though I could see a summoner Pre for wiz. you wouldnt have an over abundance of summoned critters then.

[Scraap]

I'd settle for Pale Master being able to retain control of 1-2 created undead instead of augment summoning kicking in and watching them break off in 6-8 seconds (though I will admit the summon 4 cr1s option and watching them go after each other is somewhat amusing). Just saying it seems counter-intuitive.

[IanYang]

Also, since you can't have 3x Hezrou or 3x Earth Elemental, I fail to see how this would ahve a significant effect on PvE.

Agreed. Efreeti and Dog won't be very useful in level 18 and above quests.