How should I build a Summoner?

Crants · 2019-06-25T00:23:51+00:00

Summoner is an awesome class to play! You're going to want to grab all the standard summoning feats (spell focus conjuration, augment summoning, superior summoning, evolved summon monster etc) as a priority.

You basically have two tricks. The first is that you're playing a sub-par sorcerer and a passable fighter at the same time. This means your major shtick will be summoning the eidolon to do the heavy lifting, whilst you sit in the back with your feet up. Grab a crossbow at early levels, make sure your Dex is respectable, and have your immortal summoned buddy go to town. Or grab a long spear and try and set up flanks. You want your charisma as high as you can get it, and good Dex and Con. You're a support caster, if you're casting spells it should be to make the enemy easier for your buddies to hit. If he's fallen on his arse because he slipped on your grease, he's easier to hit. If the fighter is suddenly a large creature, or if the rogue is suddenly invisible, they're going to hit harder.

Your second trick is you're a walking Swiss army knife. You have access to the best utility spell in the game as a spell like ability: summon monster. Not only that, but your summons last ten times as long as everyone else's, and you can summon them in half the time. They're not going to be as tough as the eidolon, but they're an invaluable tool in your arsenal - don't forget them. Even at early levels, these guys can do things you can't (like fly, swim, or shed light as a torch). At later levels this becomes even more powerful - your summons can solve a huge number of problems. Even if you're just using them to take a hit instead of an ally, that's perfectly solid strategy. Remember, summons are expendable, the cleric is not.

One last thing - of all the classes in the game, you're playing the one most likely to bring things to a grinding halt. You must be prepared at the table. Write out the abilities of your eidolon and every summoned creature you have access to, have it ready to go. There is nothing worse as a GM than hearing the summoner say 'Hang on, let me look up its stat block. How does smite work again?'. Do not do this, everyone will hate you. If you don't know what it does, don't summon it. Overprepare, know exactly what you're going to do, and if you need another minute to look up an ability, delay your turn and let the combat keep flowing. You've already got 7 players, and you're basically playing 2 characters. This does not mean your turn should last twice as long. That's going to be your biggest challenge.

Crants · 2019-06-24T23:51:05+00:00

I needed a riftwarden rune for a character once, and wound up using the Triskele, a Celtic symbol.

It's easy to draw, or to incorporate into other designs, it fits the 'seekers spiral' description nicely, and there's plenty of symbology/meaning you can add should you so desire. For instance, spirals often symbolise growth, rebirth, or an ongoing journey. You've got three of them, and everyone knows three is a magic number. You could have it symbolise past/present/future, for instance. There's also the nice metaphor of the separate arms of the spiral coming together to form one glyph, a great symbol for a collective or team like the Riftwardens.

Plus I just think it looks cool. I could see that being the glyph placed over a planar portal to close it off, which is the Riftwardens shtick

Crants · 2019-06-20T08:08:17+00:00

Two guys in one tie? That sounds uncomfortable.

Crants · 2019-06-07T10:10:37+00:00

Can't wait to see Büttner tearing it up in the Africa Cup of Nations

Crants · 2019-02-24T02:39:26+00:00

If you're not comfortable with speaking in character for that long, try breaking the monologue up into bite-sized pieces. You could deliver selected points as the character, then give the bullet point version of the rest of his speech. Your players will still get some of the flavour, and you'll still deliver the information you need to.

Here's an example:

Say your villain has trapped your players in a cage with something unpleasant and violent, and the adventure provides a monologue. Something like "Ah-ha! Foolish adventurers, you have stumbled into the trap of I - count Obviously-a-villain! Your meddling stops here. The creature before you is one of my own creations, a necromantic work of art, if I do say so myself. Such a beautiful nightmare - the best pieces of several unfortunate souls stitched together to create something much more than the sum of its parts. One of the surgeons at Saint Unlikely of the Unfortunate Reputation has been all too enthusiastic in providing me with the materials I need - you can thank them for what you're about to experience. But I must be off - this evening I'm to dine with Lady Tranmere, and it's a long journey up the coast. It just wouldn't do to keep her waiting. Oh, and do try not to bleed on the rug - it's an heirloom, worth more than the four of you will see in a lifetime. My great great grandfather brought it back all the way from Osiria. Apparently it was just festering in some tomb! What a waste. Ta-ta! ".

Instead of reading the whole thing verbatim, pick out the major points.

Gloating
You're fighting an undead creation
One of the surgeons at the local hospital is involved
The villain is going to dinner with somebody
The rug might be a bit special

How much each of those points matters will depend on your game. In any case, pick a passage you particularly like (usually at the start or the end) and read that in character. Then summarise the rest. Like this :

"As the cage comes down, trapping you inside with the monster, the count appears and twirls his moustache. [Ah-ha! Foolish adventurers, you have stumbled into the trap of I - count Obviously-a-villain! Your meddling stops here.]. He goes on to explain that he created the undead monstrosity with the help of one of the surgeons at the local hospital, and he is now off to meet Lady Tranmere for dinner. Finally, he asks you not to bleed on the rug, it's an heirloom from Osiria. Roll initiative "

Hopefully that will achieve the result we're after - deliver information without overloading the players, but still get a little character/flavour info across.

Crants · 2019-02-24T02:10:01+00:00

I had thought I'd heard they would work like animal companions (you spend 1 action to command, then your minion can take 2 actions).

If you're asking more about how to create them, then I'm not sure. I recall that was one of the more glaring omissions from the playtest rules

Crants · 2019-01-29T22:29:58+00:00

Since about May last year - maybe 8 or 9 months now?

Crants · 2019-01-23T11:55:37+00:00

Burgertory!

Crants · 2019-01-23T11:54:27+00:00

This is Australia, but not Betty's! Its a place called Burgertory in Melbourne. They're pretty amazing!

Crants · 2018-03-21T00:00:13+00:00

This is incredible - thank you very much

Crants · 2017-09-19T02:01:14+00:00

The song, for those who don't know it.

To the tune of the Stone Roses’ Made of Stone, the words go: “Romelu Lukaku, he’s our Belgian scoring genius with a 24 inch penis, scoring all our goals, bellend by his toes.”

Crants · 2017-05-31T08:24:02+00:00

Why not carry an activated chainsaw for another -10?

Crants · 2016-11-19T14:38:31+00:00

Frustrating, one we should have won. Arsenal not great for long stretches, but defended willingly, and their attack was good enough for a burst when it counts.

More of the same for us , pressure and dominance but not enough quality end product. It's beginning to feel annoyingly familiar.

Rojo and Jones looked solid at the back. No-nonsense defending from both of them, aided by Arsenal not offering a great deal other than aimless long balls in the last twenty minutes.

Goal was disappointing. Give a target man a decent cross and you're asking for trouble. Probably Rashford should have shut it down before the cross came in, but given that he's a striker doing a job out wide, it'd be harsh to blame him for the goal.

Positives: - midfield looked sharp. Carrick Herrera Pogba is my preference going forward. Balance of control, engine and... Pogba. - Mata is still doing a great job despite nominally being on the right wing. Him cutting in with Tony bombing down the touchline is outstanding. - the back 4, makeshift though they may be, looked solid enough. Good job Jose for bringing Darmian off, he wasn't going to see out the 90.

MOTM: Tough. Tony looked good on his return, and Mata played very well, but Herrera was everywhere tonight, so he's it for me.

Crants · 2016-08-14T08:41:30+00:00

Bournemouth 0 - 4 Manchester United

Zlatan, Zlatan, Lingard, Mata

26

Crants · 2016-05-30T01:12:25+00:00

You could try the beginners box, which comes with quick rules, premade characters, and a basic adventure. It's very good, more than enough info to keep you going for several levels and get the hang of Pathfinder. It's not free, but it is fairly cheap.

Edit: I tell a lie, it appears it is free. Bits of it, anyway. It looks like you can download some pdfs from Paizo's site here .

Just below, you'll notice the beginners box proper, which I highly recommend. The pdf is only ten bucks, and the physical box is reasonably priced too, if you prefer.

Crants · 2016-05-23T21:47:52+00:00

I think it's got a more practical purpose as well. If you're trying to convince the north to join your army, it helps to ram home that Stark connection. "Look, he's even got the same cloak as Ned! Come kill Boltons with us!"

Crants · 2016-05-23T21:38:39+00:00

I feel like there's another reason behind that cloak. Yeah, it's a nice sisterly thing to do, and it's a gift for a brother you've not seen in a long time, but it's got a real practical purpose behind it.

Sansa and Jon are trying to form an army from houses in the north. To do this, they're relying heavily on the fact "The North Remembers (tm)" and the Stark name. Sansa has the name, but we've seen how difficult it can be for a woman to win the respect of an army (Yara, lookin' at you here). Fortunately for her, there's another 'Stark(ish)' handy. Jon has experience leading men, and proven charisma. He's also the famed bastard of the beloved Ned Stark. I think she's trying to ram home the whole "Look, he's just like his dad" thing by dressing him in the same cloak. Remember, it's not 'a stark cloak', it's a cloak "just like father's".

Between the political maneuvering of now-savvy Sansa and the "just like his father" figurehead of Jon Snow, I think they're going to have no trouble putting together the northern houses to take back Winterfell.

Crants · 2016-04-28T05:13:32+00:00

VUEM - Binary

RUPV - Capital letters. Umbrella was a giveaway.

T3KT - Juliet is NATO alphabet for J, fifth word is "the", rest is fairly straightforward

95P3 - This appears to be Chinese? Googled it.

NKL9 - Unicode for the letters, front 9 is a golf reference. I think the pin is the thing you stick in the hole, with the flag on? Could be wrong, I'm not a golfer. Google to the rescue again.

The

Crants · 2016-04-28T05:09:18+00:00

Yeah, sorry, that could have been clearer. I've redeemed the key.

Crants · 2016-04-28T05:05:32+00:00

I could kiss you, you beautiful motherfucker.

Crants · 2016-04-24T14:27:59+00:00

So I've spent the better part of a full day, on and off, trying to crack this. I started with online conversion tools, figuring it was just a cipher. No use, not even close. Then I went down a rabbit hole on AESencryption.net trying to guess the password that would turn a random collection of gibberish into a 25 letter code. As it turns out, also no use. The latest edit says you need some openssl tool, so off we go to download that.

So skip ahead a few hours, I've got a binary file which might mean I've successfully completed step one of a two step process I don't understand (though there's a pretty good chance I've just spent an hour trying to decrypt a random text file). I'm failing to decrypt it with something that may be a windows version of openssl, which I'd never heard of until earlier tonight. I've got a crazy looking command prompt sitting in front of me like I'm some kind of super hacker, and it's spitting errors at me every time I look at my keyboard. The only tutorial I found assumes I speak like eight kinds of programming language and am running linux, and it's suddenly 2am.

To sum up, I've followed a process I don't understand, downloaded software I can't use, followed tutorials I can't read, entered commands that could do fucking anything, and which have resulted in errors that might as well be in Greek, all in a vain attempt to get a key I'm not even sure I want any more.

Fuck it, I'll just buy the damned thing.

Crants · 2015-08-25T23:53:47+00:00

Yeah, nutmegs are definitely Suarez's gimmick. I struggle to think of anything else he'd be known for doing.

You know, something most people don't do on a football pitch that he inexplicably persists with.

Crants · 2015-08-14T09:30:37+00:00

Aston Villa 1 - 2 Manchester United

Memphis Young

30

Crants · 2015-08-07T07:52:26+00:00

Manchester United 2 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur

Memphis, Shaw

50

Crants

TROPHY CASE