Summoning and other skills

Zortan · Post by **Zortan** » Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:06 pm

One observation... It's damn near impossible to make any kind of progress in certain skills..

I decided to be a summoner this time around, trying to role-play to that, but honestly, my summoned creatures have a hard time against anything! I summoned a fire-elemental and it hardly lasts against any kind of creature..

I'm sure at some point the summoned creature will become more powerful, but as a specialized summoner, my creatures should already be more powerful (to start with) than the standard summoned creatures everyone else gets..

I'm actually twice as high in level in pyromania as I am in summoning.. which sucks, IMHO, because I wanted to be a summoner, and not do what I did with my old character...

I think maybe it would be useful if:
1) At character generation if you specialise in summoning or evocation, etc. you are NOT level limited in that specialization, but you are level-limited in any other skill or there is some sort of penalty for multiple skills (other than having to earn levels in all of them)
2) Specialized characters should start of with more powerful spells/skills for given specialisation..ex: a summoned fire elemental for a summoner should be 2x more powerful than same level summoned creature for someone not specialised in summoning..
3) Some specialized spells/skills for the ones who specialize.. You can be an all-around wizard, or you can be a wizard of fire, ice, etc. The specialised classes get a spell that the generalised class would never be able to..

...On more personal note.. as a summoner, aside from me wanting my summoned creatures to be more powerful than any other classes summoned creatures, I would also like to see #3 above.. Maybe a random chance of getting a "Champion" summoned creature, which would be like #3, but maybe even more powerful...

I like the idea of not being able to cheat (party-cheat)...

Website · Post by **Leaf** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 2:33 am

Zortan wrote: I decided to be a summoner this time around, trying to role-play to that, but honestly, my summoned creatures have a hard time against anything! I summoned a fire-elemental and it hardly lasts against any kind of creature..

Can you provide more details on this..

Your summoned elemental does actually die from damage taken by other monsters, right?
(As in, it's not dismissed because of spell duration or because you cast another spell)

What elemental are you using, and against which monsters?

Perhaps attunement isn't all that helpful for the school of summoning..

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 3:28 am

Fire elemental against zombies.. at level 11 summoning.. fire elemental lasts 45 seconds (I don't believe that's its expire time, but I could be wrong)..

Fire elemental against 1 giants (single giant) lasts about 10-15 seconds..

I'm not saying I should be able to clean a map with 1 creature, but I think it should be a lot better than what it is.. I know we should NOT be leveling from 1 to 100 in a week, but we should also not have to spend 100sp on summoned creatures to get 2-5k experience either.. At level 11, 2-5k experience for 100 sp is laughable.. I spend 100sp on burning hands (basic pyromancer spell) and get about 40-50k...

Just want to have classes more balanced, is all.. I sound like a broken record, but I do NOT want to play a pyromancer.. I chose to be a summoner for a reason.. but with deaths, 110 level limit (is this changed?) I just don't see my self playing for a week to get 1 level (low level any way)..

Logwad the mountain hater · Fri Jan 30, 2004 12:54 pm

I found a rod of summon fire elemental, it's lvl is 107.

When I first found this, I was happy, I said "hey this is so great, now when i find a monster I can't kill, i can just send this thing at it. (I was lvl 23, I am now lvl 42)

After much testing, I found the only things it's good at killing is acid blobs, and then it only kills 3-4 of them. I assume that a lvl 107 fire elemental, is much better than an a attuned summoned fire elemental that is lvl 12.

I have also found a rod of summon golum (lvl 58) that is also pretty useless. (fortunatly I have no need for them anymore)

If my rods, which are easy to use and a stupid high lvl suck, how much more should a summoner have a hard time? (I have done a little summoning myself and also have a ring of the elements)

It would be nice if you got messages when your summoned monster dies, and a command to check if it is still there like "checkpets" to see what you still have. Also the not regaining sp while your summon is out is really annoying.

By the way, earth elementals are really good against hill giants. and by good I mean they don't die immediatly, they only die when the timer runs out, but you can only kill 2-4 before that happens (it takes about 45 seconds). But when you think about it, a simple firebolt can kill rows upon rows of those same giants in the same amount of time.

conclusion, summons are weak, slow and suck.

Zortan · Post by **Zortan** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:15 pm

I'm running into similar problem.. Right now my best spell is summon pet monster.. I'm summoning skulls.. That's all fine and dandy, as skulls are "pretty good" creatures as far as their attack power.. but the problem.. They just float around (even when in SAD mode) and if I have 2 or 3 of them around, they attack maybe every 5-10 seconds at most (with the 3 of them active).. All they seem to be good for is to make a path from point A to point B..

It's strange, because few levels back I was summong daemons, which are less powerful than the skulls, but they move around more and attack more, therefore giving me more room to do other stuff..

Any way.. I hope in couple more summoning levels (still playing my role!) I will start getting things that are actually useful... I spent all day yesterday going from level 14 to 15 as a summoner, simply because the elemental, golem, pet spells are not nearly powerful enough to kill anything..

You'd think at level 14, I would be able to kill those green thingies (goblins?) fairly easily with my summoned creatures.. Those things give 25-50 experience each.. When you need a million experience to level, you can see how pathetic it is to play a summoner

Zortan · Post by **Zortan** » Thu May 13, 2004 4:41 pm

This is old, but now they fixed the bug where angels were the last thing you summoned, no matter what level.. now it's vampires.. but these guys suck! I can't kill a darn thing with them because their behaviour makes them move around, rather than stand and fight..

Also.. I think vampires, being undead, should have drain as their attack type also..

Also.. I think your summoned creature level should be (I don't think it is now though?) based on the summoners level (in summoning)..

I think a vampire at level 25 summoning should be a lot weaker than a vampire at level 50 summoning.. (Since this was a sticky on new skill system, I'm suggesting an improvement/fix)..

Where is this magehound spell! Gaah! Wish it'd go in so I could play test it already!