Summoner

[Nihilarian]

I had an idle thought and wanted to hear some opinions. What would people's thoughts be if Lesser Summons were made into actual spells, unique to the summoner class? They're already very spell-like in effect.

[chaoticangel97]

Of the few changes I'd like to see done to the Summoner, this isn't one of them. I think having the lesser summons be class abilities works fine and fits the flavor of how summons worked in the early games. They're not supposed to be spells, they're supposed to be something different. At least when you look at it from a Final Fantasy standpoint.

[Nihilarian]

Most of the summoners I know of use MP, not uses/day. I honestly think a [Summon] tag and a way to specialize in summon spells (feat, prc, equipment, whatever) would suffice for flavor.

[Gizmo]

Most of the summoners I know of use MP, not uses/day. I honestly think a [Summon] tag and a way to specialize in summon spells (feat, prc, equipment, whatever) would suffice for flavor.

I like how FFXI did summoner. The spells were all MP based. But you got a weaker version of the summons (Ifrit, Titan, etc.) at level 20 (after you challenged them, although that shouldnt be needed in D20), then at level 55 you could go in with a group to fight them then you got a stronger version of the summon (or could choose an item depending on the summon you beat.) I thought that was a really cool design, so at level say level 10 maybe 12 you could go in and fight the stronger version of Ifrit in D20, then get the stronger one as your summon. It's an idea, i enjoyed it in FFXI.

But all of the summons, and their abilities took the summoners MP to use, also i believe summoners has the most MP in the entire game, because of this reason. Also the summons drained X number of MP per / second while they were out. So an idea that the summons while out drain X number of MP per round, up to a max of Y rounds could be interesting.

I hope i explained all the thoughts in my head well, hah.

[Nihilarian]

So lesser summons are cast with a one time MP cost, and greater summons require MP/Round?

Could work.

[Gizmo]

Greater summons would also require a MP cost to initially summon. Could also add master summons or something at higher levels.

[Viladin]

Minor fix idea for Greater Summons: Have them envelope the summoner, basically the summoner becoming the Aeon.

[Gizmo]

Somewhat similar to FF8, where the summons take the damage while enveloping the caster?

[Nihilarian]

I'd absolutely get behind that, though you'd have to work at it to get the flavor right. (If done wrong, it'll feel like transformation effect, which is neat and all but not what you're in the summoner class for.)

[Viladin]

Probably going to use the wording from the Synthesist (sp?) class feature from PF.

[Nihilarian]

Probably going to use the wording from the Synthesist (sp?) class feature from PF.

You should take great care if you do so. First, because the synthesist's eidolon isn't an independant, intelligent entity like summons are depicted as. Secondly, the synthesist, due to vague wording, has sparked a lot of debate about what's replaced and not. Size isn't mentioned, making the Large evolution useless, and it doesn't say if a synth. with a serpentine/quadraped can use his normal bodies arms to manipulate objectd, etc. To put it bluntly, it's not written well at all and they refuse to errata it. This is one of the reasons I like the Aegis class.

If you're careful though, I can see it turning out well.