Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DarknessEternal 09-13-05, 01:45 PM	Someone has probably already done the leg work on this task, and since search is ever so useful, I thought I'd ask. What are the best summons at each level? While I agree that sometimes it depends, it's at least only going to be a coin toss between 2 or 3 things on the list.
tarkin 09-13-05, 01:54 PM	Nope. It almost alwasy depends. Specifically, it depends on what you want them to do. The problem is you are thinking they are good for one purpose: attacking creatures. Summon creatures as a general rule SUCK as attackers. By definition they must be significantly weaker than the summoner for balance purposes, so they are not good against what you attack. Instead, they excel at misceleanneous tasks. For example: 1) Fighting creatures that you can't just attack as normal, perhaps because they are flying/ethereal/swimming/etc. 2) Flankers 3) Distractions/ Trap triggers/cannon fodder 4) Getting someplace you can't easily get to (as they appear where you want them to and can usually go through an Anti-Life shell 5) Using special abilities such as trip/healing that you don't have. For these kinds of tasks, the "best" one almost always depends on the situation, there is rarely a "good one to always use." For example: If you are low level and are ****** off that the monster is flying away with your X, you summon an Owl/hawk to attack it. If you want some light, you summon a firebeetle. If attacking a shark, you get the porpoise/octopus. If tracking a creature, you get a dog. If you want to trap a creature, use a spider (web/poison), to trigger a trap monkey (has hands), fighting in a cloud, scorpion (tremorsense). For a general battle, I might go for the dog, cause he is the strongest of the good creatues, but still, he only has 6 hitpoitns and an AC of 15, I would expect him to get only one blow in before he dies, so it should be a Smite.