Revised Summoning (3.5e Variant Rule)

= Revised Summoning =

Introduction
Summoning. That is to say; pulling creatures from their native plane and conjuring them to do your bidding, is one of the most awesome displays of magical power that exist in D&D. However, for all its awesomeness and thematic potential, the whole summoning thing is pretty underdesigned (and, as a result, underused). Aspirant summoners are given nine tiers of summoning spells to work with, with the sole option of summoning a larger amount of lower-leveled creatures to enrich the mechanic. This leaves for a lot of untapped potential.

The goal of this variant is to enhance all the aspects of summoning magic. It aims to give the aspirant conjurer sufficient material to work with and give him appropriate options to deal with a wide variety of situations.

To start with, a summary of changes I am planning to make. Please direct any suggestions you care to make to this article's talk page:


 * Revised summoning lists: summons, on the whole, will be more varied and, at higher summoning spell levels, more powerful, at the cost of a restriction to the amount of active summons. More versatile summoning lists will make summoning more thematically and tactically appealing and aims to make the entire subschool more accessible to player characters regardless of alignment (doesn't it suck that evil summoners get most of the goodies?), combined with summoning restrictions to prevent summoners from cramming the battlefield full of summon after summon, which will quickly grant them an unreasonable amount of influential actions per round by proxy, which can mess up game balance.
 * Increased summoning options: summoners currently have the option to sacrifice individual monster strength to gain greater numbers, but there should be much more that can be done. Many feats, official or homebrew, metamagic or otherwise, give summoners the power to do things that by right shouldn't require a feat, such as extending the time of a summoning. I also plan to release a string of feats that allow access to additional special creatures for summoning. Thematically arranged summoner booster packs, if you will, without the frustration of getting the same magikarp twice.
 * Summon Monster/Nature's Ally X: While the 9th level spell level cap is appropriate, the lack of any spell level increase at 19th level kind of restricts a would-be summoner from getting to the really cool creatures. Higher level summonings will default at conjuring creatures of a CR roughly 3 lower than the spellcaster's level (or maybe 2 or 4 depending on how the creature measures up to its CR). 19th and 20th level characters should be able to conjure forth a CR 16 creature to do their bidding.

Rule Mechanics
This variant will make summoning more powerful and varied, but summoners will no longer be able to summon monsters and control them without limit. The base duration of a summoning spell is now 1 minute/level, and a spellcaster can control up to his caster level - 1 in summoning spell levels (minimum 1) at once. For example, a level 13 wizard is capable of maintaining one 7th and one 5th level summoning spell at the same time, or two 6th level ones, but not two 7th level or one 6th and one 7th level. Likewise, a level 1 summoner may cast and control only a single summon monster/nature's ally I. A spellcaster may use and control any number of summoning spells as long as their combined level does not exceed this maximum.

Summoning Creatures
In most D&D games, the game runs smoothest when the player characters are of good or neutral alignment. Some games or DMs even enforce alignment restrictions, to avoid internal strife or grudges around the table. Regardless, the great majority of high level summons are evil, and not your garden-variety evil either. The 9th level summoning table is replete with fiends galore, while any would-be good summoner would have to contend with a celestial roc or a leonal (which, while badass, does not really make for many options). Unless your devout cleric of Lathandar has a proper justification for unleashing hellspawn upon the enemy hordes, this is a problem.

Summoning Levels: This variant uses 10 levels of summoning spells, starting with the eponymous summon monster/nature's ally I up to XI. At 19th level a conjurer gains access to summon monster/nature's ally X, and may henceforth use spell slots of one level lower to prepare or spontaneously cast summoning spells. Summoning spells so cast still count as their appropriate level. For example, a level 19 wizard may prepare summon monster VIII in a 7th-level spell slot (but still counts as an 8th level spell), and a druid may spontaneously convert a 0-level spell slot to a summon nature's ally I spell (effective spell level 1st). To benefit from summon monster X and related changes, a spellcaster must have Spell Focus (conjuration) and the Augment Summoning feats.

Summoning Power: The CR of a creature summoned by a summoning spell depends on its level, and at higher levels will default at roughly 3 or 4 less than the caster level of a prepared spellcaster at the time of attaining said spell level. A summon monster V spell, attained normally at 9th level, calls forth creatures of roughly CR 5 or 6, give or take one point depending on how a creature measures up to its CR. Certain monsters with troublesome abilities will require a higher level summoning spell than their CR suggests, and certain monsters gain requisite advancement Hit Dice to better balance them.