seedjar
2008-05-06, 01:46 PM
So, I'm looking to create a series of spells that summon items and people from the same plane, a la Refuge/Word of Recall, and I need help working out the appropriate numbers. Roughly, the spells would allow the caster to summon willing assistants (or equipment) from the same plane under a variety of circumstances; one at a time, a small group, etc. - maybe even one that mimicked Mirror Image and summoned a group of real NPCs disguised as the caster.
For a baseline, I'd like to discuss the spell level and associated costs of summoning a single Large or smaller creature and a single Small or smaller object for durations of 1 round/lv, 1 min/lv and instantaneously (i.e. teleportation rather than summoning.) The spell must be cast on the same plane as the summoning source (or a plane to which it is physically coplanar like the ethereal plane.) Otherwise, the range is unlimited. Feel free to offer ideas on restrictions based on what's being summoned/teleported, etc., but keep in mind that for my purposes I'll be in control of what is available for PCs to summon, so I'm not worried too much about abuse.
Since Refuge is a lv 7 spell, and I want these to be somewhat more accessible and definitely more powerful, I plan to put in a couple of basic general nerfs to keep things manageable. One will be that things can only be summoned from a prescribed area and through the intermediation of some large central magical item, likely an artifact. There may be a failure chance involved with no one being able to answer the caster's call. Another, along the same lines, would be that casters of these new spells would need expensive focus items/material components.
My hope is to give my PCs limited-duration support for when they're outnumbered but not really outclassed. (Everybody rolls a 1 on a Move Silently check eventually, right?) Unlike other summonings, death/destruction are real threats (maybe) to whatever is summoned, since they're from the same plane (perhaps.) Use of the spells (and likely some consumable magic items for my non-casters) will be a service offered by one of the party's benefactors.
Helps?
~Joe
For a baseline, I'd like to discuss the spell level and associated costs of summoning a single Large or smaller creature and a single Small or smaller object for durations of 1 round/lv, 1 min/lv and instantaneously (i.e. teleportation rather than summoning.) The spell must be cast on the same plane as the summoning source (or a plane to which it is physically coplanar like the ethereal plane.) Otherwise, the range is unlimited. Feel free to offer ideas on restrictions based on what's being summoned/teleported, etc., but keep in mind that for my purposes I'll be in control of what is available for PCs to summon, so I'm not worried too much about abuse.
Since Refuge is a lv 7 spell, and I want these to be somewhat more accessible and definitely more powerful, I plan to put in a couple of basic general nerfs to keep things manageable. One will be that things can only be summoned from a prescribed area and through the intermediation of some large central magical item, likely an artifact. There may be a failure chance involved with no one being able to answer the caster's call. Another, along the same lines, would be that casters of these new spells would need expensive focus items/material components.
My hope is to give my PCs limited-duration support for when they're outnumbered but not really outclassed. (Everybody rolls a 1 on a Move Silently check eventually, right?) Unlike other summonings, death/destruction are real threats (maybe) to whatever is summoned, since they're from the same plane (perhaps.) Use of the spells (and likely some consumable magic items for my non-casters) will be a service offered by one of the party's benefactors.
Helps?
~Joe