summoning spells

black thor · Post by **black thor** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:10 am

wich is the correct use of spells like "summon earth elmental, summon air elemental"?

for example: when my mage (Nalia) summon a lesser earth elemental, during a combact, at the beguinning he's neutral (blue circle) and only after a few rounds he becomes green and attac enemies
after summoning, Nalia has a sort of rigid think (concentration?): must she concentrate or could she make oter actions(spells, attak...)?

I continue using Nalia after the summon spell...does anything changes?

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 11:07 am

If I understand you correctly, then the answer to your question is that whatever mage you use to summon lesser elementals cannot do anything while focusing on their new arrival. They're locked in a battle of wills to determine who has control: the elemental, or themselves. There are rings which will grant a greater degree of control over specific elements, but I don't think they'll lessen the time your mage has to spend waiting for the summoned creature to give up and obey them.

Typically, I prefer to avoid lesser elemental spells for just this reason. Either summon other creatures, or use an elemental wand--far better, no chance of elementals running amok, and no wait while they fight you.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:38 pm

or have a druid or cleric summon them...there is no "cooling off" time for divine summoning of elementals...

mage summons also do not have a cooling off time, and skeleton warriors and mordenkainen swords are the best summons anyway, except for the tob summons.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:46 pm

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly
or have a druid or cleric summon them...there is no "cooling off" time for divine summoning of elementals...

I think their summoned critters are also referred to by slightly different names: fire elemental, as opposed to lesser fire elemental, if I recall correctly.

SwordfortheLord · Post by **SwordfortheLord** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 5:13 pm

Ah, the art of summoning

I enjoy plaing a summoner. Cleric/Mage is the best combo, IMHO.

Using the mage spell summon elemental is not the best choice, but if you need to use it, then make sure to use it before you get into battle. The mental struggle takes a round or two, which can be terrible in the middle of battle, not to mention if you fail to control it, then you have all the enemies AND an elemental to fight.

One strategy with a summoner, against mages, Lichs and other spellcasters is the to work the system backwards. Meaning, start by summoning the lowest, weakest pets. They will innocently wander into sight of the caster, and draw out The most powerful spells first. Eventually, as the enemy looses spells, you will be summoning stronger and stronger pets. I usually start with monster summoning 1 as it has the shortest duration, then work up from there. I usually end up with a few Skeleton Warriors, Fire Elementals, an Efreeti, and an Areal Servant. Then, before sending them into battle, I prep them with protection from evil 10', Haste, and finally bless. This combo packs a powerful punch. If you have enough spells, you can cast imroved invisibility on each one, making them more spell resistant. Its fun to try this, then just sit back and watch the battle text scroll by. Of course, keep yourself out of harms way.

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 9:09 pm

Re: Ah, the art of summoning

Originally posted by SwordfortheLord
One strategy with a summoner, against mages, Lichs and other spellcasters is the to work the system backwards. Meaning, start by summoning the lowest, weakest pets.

This is a good idea, but it won't work with Kangaxx because he imprisons your pets and they are still counted as being under your control. So before too long, you have reached the 5 summon limit. But for just about anyone else, it works quite nicely.

SwordfortheLord · Post by **SwordfortheLord** » Fri Feb 27, 2004 1:34 pm

Agreed, the first time I faced him, I was toast after 6 imprisonments, all five summons, then me. DOAH.

If summons get imprisoned, they never expire, putting a cramp in my summoning style. I had to change all my memorized spells for him. I chose spell immunity for all my lvl 5s, then melfs minute meteors. That worked pretty well, took a while though.

Bruce Lee · Post by **Bruce Lee** » Sat Feb 28, 2004 5:54 pm

Efreetis are cool but not very practical... the always seem to turn hostile after a while..
Some monsters cast deathspell as soon as a summon appears which makes summoning harder.

Boris · Post by **Boris** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:36 am

Efreeti are b*ggers!

I don't know if they're any more likely to turn on the party than any other critter (I think they still have to be "attacked" by a member, eg. by being caught by an area-effect spell), but agree that they're more trouble than they're worth, anyway.

They have a nasty tendency to let off fireballs indiscriminately, often blowing up the party & turning any other pets hostile!

Incidentally, note that some summonings are incompatible - in general, air & fire elementals will fight each other, though I'm not sure if this also applies to Aerial Servants, Invis. Stalkers, etc.

B.

SwordfortheLord · Post by **SwordfortheLord** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 5:07 pm

As to the Efreeti, yes they can turn on you, but as the description of the spell, they turn on you if they are killed. As long as you pull them out of battle before they get killed, then they get unsummoned, and are no worse off.

As to the death spell, yes, it does kill summons instantly, BUT, that's why I start with the small guys, one at a time, and waste an entire death spell on one monster summons 1. The best is when you cast the spell and get three Kobalds. Put in one at a time, they each soak up high-level spells. No enemy has too many death spells to waste, so they they don't have any more when it comes to the higher summons.

Xyx · Post by **Xyx** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 6:40 am

The Lesser elemental summonings are useless during combat, but since they have a duration of 8 hours you can cast them way in advance. Still not the best of level 5 arcane spells, though.