EFU:M Summoning System

[Pigadig]

Introduction

EFU:M has quite a number of diverse summoning themes available to casters. These themes vary from animals to planar beings and more. While the specifics of what themes there are available and what each theme summons is considered knowledge that PCs should find out in game, there are a number of mechanics that people should know about from an OOC perspective to ensure that your PC can make the most of the system.



Sources of Summoning

Items, spells, wands and scrolls are all sources of summon spells in EFU:M. Do note that it is only spells cast by a spellcaster class that can have more than one summon controlled at a time. Summons through items, scrolls and wands are limited to a single creature at a time. Also note that some items and wands have innate summoning themes, while others may have their theme set by external means.

The only exceptions to this is the summoning spell Lesser Planar Binding, which has been changed to summon a level 3 summon from your currently selected theme, and Shadow Conjuration, Summon Shadow. Both of these spells do not allow any other summons at the same time.

A warning: using a summoning item will unsummon all currently summoned creatures from caster class spells. Likewise casting a summoning spell will unsummon any creatures currently summoned by an item.



Summoning Themes

Each caster class PC may, at creation in the introduction area, select a basic summoning theme based on their class and alignment. Do note that while some caster classes may not be able to select a theme, or access certain themes at creation, it is more than possible for them to change their theme once playing EFU:M properly.

A PC can change their theme temporarily through use of an item called a "Conjuration Focus". They are available from many merchants in the game. When targeted upon certain items it will either select the item as a summoning "tome" or a summoning "reagent". Summoning tomes are rare items that act as permanent sources of summoning themes, while summoning reagents are only good for a single summoning spell, but tend to "empower" a summoning spell beyond its innate level. For instance Reagent X might summon a creature from Theme Y but by using it with Summon Creature I they will instead summon the creature in Theme Y meant for Summon Creature II. Some powerful "tomes" can also do much the same on a permanent basis.

Do note that the Conjuration Focus can select just about any item in the game as a "reagent". This does not mean the item will act as a reagent, and the game will give feedback after casting a spell as to whether or not your selected reagent did anything.

Additionally there are methods to permanently alter your base summoning theme after the introduction zone, but such are meant to be solely discovered in game.

To use your default theme, simply use the Conjuration Focus on itself to clear all currently selected reagents and tomes. To see what currently selected reagents and tomes you have, use the Conjuration Focus on your PC.



Summoning Duration

Unlike default NWN, the duration for the Summon Creature line of spells in EFU:M is at base 4 rounds per level. This can be increased by the feats Spell Focus: Conjuration, which increases duration to 5 rounds per level, and Greater Spell Focus: Conjuration, which increases duration to 6 rounds per level.

Additionally the duration can be increased for wizards by selecting Conjuration as a Specialist School. This increases the duration by a further 2 rounds per level.

This means that at maximum a summoner PC can achieve 8 rounds per level duration on their summons. Extend Spell metamagic functions as normal however. Shadow Conjuration, Summon Shadow and Lesser Planar Binding's durations are unchanged.



Multiple Summons and the Points Pool

One of the most useful features for summoner PCs on EFU:M is the ability to summon multiple creatures at a time. As balance however there is a cap on the number of creatures one can have out at any one time. This cap is decided by the Summoning Points Pool.

Each caster has a number of Summoning Points equal roughly to 20 x Level. Some things, such as one of the current Sorcerer background Perks "Cultist", can increase this point pool.

Each creature summoned by a caster using a prepared spell temporarily occupies a number of points of this pool until such time as the summon dies or is unsummoned. The number of points occupied varies by three variables.

• The first is the level of the spell. Summon Creature I summons will take up fewer points than Summon Creature II summons, and so forth. Also note that if you have a means of increasing the power of, say, a Summon Creature I spell to a Summon Creature II spell by means of a reagent or tome, the associated points cost will be equivalent to the power of the summon, not the spell cast. So a Summon Creature I spell "improved" by one level  will cost the same as if you had cast Summon Creature II.

• Additionally each theme has different point costs associated with it. For example Theme X's first level summon might cost 10 points, whereas Theme Y's may cost 20. This is generally down to matters of balance and may be subject to change.

• Finally, the feats Spell Focus: Conjuration and Greater Spell Focus: Conjuration can reduce the points cost by varying amounts depending upon themes and level of the spells cast.

Please note that in order to summon multiple creatures one must cast summoning spells multiple times. I know that in the past that some players have been confused by this. For instance if you want to summon three level 1 summons, a wizard must prepare three Summon Creature I spells, and then cast them all to achieve this.



Controlling Summons

A very useful tool for the summoner PC is the Player Tool: Control Companion, outlined in this thread. It allows the summoner to direct their summons into battle, away from battle, to attack specific targets and so forth. Keep in mind that the control can only affect one summon at a time, and so to give specific orders to many you will either need to use Voice Commands from normal NWN, or to control each summon individually with the tool.

Additionally there are EFU specific text commands that enable you to better RP and control your summons.

/c recall

This text command will, so long as you and your summons are not in combat, bring all your summons to your side. Useful if any get stuck upon terrain and/or transitions.

Also there is a method of making your summons speak, as explained by this quote:

/v blah blah blah

 Here, refers to a single letter which  refers to the type of summon you wish to speak incase you have more than  one type of summon out at once.

• a = animal companion
• d = dominated creature
• f = familiar
• h = henchman
• s = summoned creature

Example:

• /v f Hello! will make your familiar say "Hello!"

[SanTelmo]

Starting themes:

In the starting area, you are allowed to change the default island theme to a variety of choices, depending on the type of your character. Below I've listed them and which themes are allowed to different classes/types. You can choose any of the themes from 1 to 12 if you are either a Sorcerer class or a wizard of conjuration spell school.

1. Spider Enchantment School/Generalist School/Druid/Cleric/Ranger
2. Spirits Divination School/Necromancy School
3. Earth
4. Rats Enchantment School/Generalist School/Druid/Cleric/Ranger
5. Illusion Illusion School
6. Animated
7. Insects Enchantment School/Generalist School/Druid/Cleric/Ranger
8. Fire
9. Water
10. Air
11. Shadow Necromancy School
12. Snakes Enchantment School/Generalist School/Druid/Cleric/Ranger
13. Light (Divination School only, intended?)


Cleric domains: Some clerical domains will grant you a certain theme, for instance Fire Domain will grant you Fire summoning theme, Water Domain will grant you Water theme and so on. However, it seems that some domains are preferred over others in the system either purposefully or unpurposefully. For instance, Earth Domain and Fire Domain on the same character will always result in the player getting Fire theme summons, no matter in which order he picks the domains in the character creation step. (He can neither change Fire theme to Earth theme on the summoning table in the starting area)