Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MysticTraveler 04-28-05, 12:05 AM	Hey all, My usual DM has understandably been trying to curb the spellcasters from summoning lots of creatures during combat. It can really slow down combat with all that rolling. However, if you're facing an army, many lesser creatures may be more useful than fewer bigger ones. I've suggested rolling once for all similar creatures. For example, if I'm a druid and have summoned 6 panthers and 3 crocodiles, I'd roll for one panther and again for one crocodile, and apply these to all panthers and crocs respectively. The immediate problem with this method is, if the spellcaster rolls particularly bad, it particularly hurts all creatures in the group, and vice versa... it's a very high risk solution that allows things to go improbably very bad or improbably very good far too often. I'd just like to know how others reasonably handle summoning large numbers of creatures. Thanks!
Torack 04-28-05, 01:49 AM	Exactly in the way you described. Basically you turn the summoned creatures into cohorts. One roll affects the whole cohort equally. You should pick up the Miniatures Handbook for more specifics on dealing with mass combat.
Cymraegmorgan 04-28-05, 01:57 AM	Even though Summoning hordes of creatures is unwieldy, I would, if I were you, strenuously resist any attempt to limit those Summoning spells beyond RAW. Tell your DM to roll faster. :D
Colmarr 04-28-05, 03:53 AM	Given that the spells have a casting time of 1 round (ie. they don't go off until just before the caster's initiative in the next round), I've always considered the best way of countering summon spells to be to attack the caster. It's not even particularly meta-gamey. If you saw that a caster was in the middle of casting a particularly difficult (and therefore presumably powerful) spell, wouldn't you try and distract him?
SnowbearK 04-28-05, 04:01 AM	Get your DM a felt-lined cup for each type of summoned monster you plan on summoning during any given encounter (if it's more than three, he has every right to throw them at you). Put in 1d20 for each summoned monster of a given type. DM: Shake up cup a bit, slam it down like an empty shotglass on the table, thus guaranteeing a random result on each d20. Resolve damage in similar manner, each attack that hit, toss in the dice for the damage -- be sure to remove the d20s first, not that it should need to be said, but there are some fairly stupid folk out there... There ya go. Using this, I can resolve up to 10 individual attacks in about 30 seconds. Thank you Yahtzee.
MysticTraveler 04-28-05, 08:15 AM	I see some very good ideas and points here I will consider, such as telling my DM to roll faster. :P Thanks everyone for the responses!
Clawhound 04-28-05, 11:51 AM	In our game, the summoner handles all summoned creatures. He can usually churn out the numbers faster than the DM, as he knows what he's summoning. This keeps the game flowing. The DM gets no extra work. All summoned animals, animal companions, or such go on the character's initiative.