Summon Creature thoughts....

[Strykr]

I have a wizard that travels here and there named Eredel.  He is very perplexed about the summon creature spells.  Summon Creature 1 is understandibly not a powerful creature.  Summon Creature II summons a celestial dog which is actually a pretty good fighter and decent HP.  Summon Creature III summons a dire hound or something similar in name and has good HP, but horrible AC and dies very fast in fights (faster than summon creature II).  I just recently acquired summon creature IV.  So I was expecting something good.  (Very disappointing).  Summon Creature IV summons a Will O Wisp type creature called xxxx archon.  (Forget the name).  It has, I think 14 HP, very high AC it appears, but can't do any damage to creatures in a fight.  It periodically cast a energy beam for rough 1d4 damage, otherwise hits for roughly 1-2 damage with an extremely low + to hit modifier (+2 I believe)  So in fighting 2 griffons, which my summon creature II could kill off almost complete by itself, I found my summon creature IV going toe to toe for a good minute or more with 1 griffon taking a total of like 5 damage.  So I am left as a caster to do all the rest of the damage.  Problem is, I then take on the aggression of said monster.  

Is there a purpose of having the summoning spells III & IV be so ineffective?  Actually I was expecting a Dire Spider at SC IV, not a will o wisp.  At least a dire spider can hit with some damage fairly regularly against 4-8HD monsters.  

Now all I can do is hope that upon reaching level 9 that summon creature V offers me some sort of saving grace.

Anyone have any input and/or suggestions, I am open.

Thanks.

[ZeroVega]

First off, you can use the "Senser of Arcane Devotion" (I think that's what it's called) which will change the normal wizard summons (which are based off of alignment and grouped as followed, LG, NG and CG in a group, LN, TN and CN in a group and LE, NE and CE in a group) to that of Clerical Summons which are based off the god you follow.

Ie: If you are any of the good alignments as a wizard, you'll get celestial summons. If you are any of the neutral alignments, you'll get constructs. And if you're any of the evil alignments, you'll get demons I believe. Where as if you use the Senser of Arcane Devotion, your summons will become the same as a Cleric that follows the same deity. (An example would be a LN Wizard who follows Lucinda is summoning Celestial Creatures but decides that he would rather have the summons of Lucinda instead, he uses the senser and Poof! he gets Lucinda's constructs now.) The only drawback is that it is permanent.

The other thing I'll say is that every summon has it's uses. Some will be balanced in what damage they take, how often they are hit, how often they hit and for how much damage and others will lean more in one direction than another. Find each summon's uses and you'll do well.

[Nyralotep]

Honestly, the summons don't really become powerful until 8 and 9 from what I have seen.  Having said that they can have uses to get you some temporary breathing room.  Not all evil get demons, some get the shadows, not really sure about them and usefulness though even though that's what Nob gets.    Don't discount that will o wisp though, very useful in some situations.  Looking at your submission you have Lucinda so you'll get the golems with the Censer.
 
  Search on LORE for Diety Summons (linking it isnt working for some reason).

[Variable]

The chart Nyralotep is looking for is Here.   Also as people have stated before each summon has its uses, my level 6 summon the Ancient Dire Wolf does a lot of damage but can't take many hits, on the other hand the level 7 summon the Ancient Dire Bear has a lot of hit points an can take a lot of hits but is nowhere as good as the wolf as dealing out damage. You just have to find the right situation for each summon.

[Talan Va'lash]

The lantern archon has its purposes.  Dealing damage isn't one of them.

[ZeroVega]

Nyralotep: When I was speaking about Good getting Celestials, Neutral getting Constructs and Evil getting Demons I was speaking about wizards who do not use the Senser of Arcane Devotion. If you use the senser your summons will be based off your deity. If you don't use the senser your summons will be based off of Alignment; and if that is the case and you have an evil alignment you will end up with demons as summons. Peace-ness!

[Nyralotep]

Doh!  Sorry dude.  Read to quick.

[ZeroVega]

You speak too quick too... durn gnomes...

[Strykr]

Thanks to all for the replies.  Just curious.  Are the summons of different dieties/alignments more or less similar by level?

[Aqwena]

Can someone tell me the purpose of a water elemental? Besides killing off little gnomes named starr in my group? I have yet to figure out any use for this elemental.

[Nyralotep]

Water elementals used to be my favorite, they are the most balanced of elemental summons I think as far as HP and AB.  Just make sure to be away from it's surge attack.  I have to do the same with the air elemental and it's knockdown attack or I get knocked down too.

[Xandor Loriland]

The water elemental is a great one to send into the fray by itself but when friends are around it can be deadly with it's drown attack.  I have not confirmed this but I have that even immunity to death magic will not protect from death if you fail a fort save from the drown attack.  If anyone knows for sure I would love to have that confirmed.  If true it would basically make the ninth level summons for Aeridin and others useless except for if you solo which I almost never do.  Thanks.