Post by Hackmaster on Sept 13, 2006 2:37:20 GMT -5
WARNING!!! THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES! THERE IS MUCH WHINING AND COMPLAINING AND MOMENTS OF EXTREME FRONTAL CYNICAL BEHAVIOR.
THIS RANT HAS BEEN RATED LW (Long Whine)
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
hahaha DM Anuir always starts the good stuff while Phelzaron is away! You did this on purpose man and now I hate you so very...very much ;D
Man I want to scoop up a little of this action! Not the True seeing thing though...screw that spell...I can't cast it any damn ways being a necromancer haha 
As for how would Soulfien feel if a rogue had something that negated his magic...I don't know how he feels but I can tell you how a necromancer feels.
Necromancers are among the weakest starting out, gets the fewest spells to choose from in a school save divination, when they finally gain some power you find out everyone is walking around with a magic item or spell that protects against negative energy , Death magic, or even worse Necromancy that are permanent or last basically until they rest again! Man did I get hosed!!!
Someone please name one other bloody school of magic where we get immunity to it through magic items or spells...I mean....I got hosed so bad other spell casters get to just make themselves immune to me! Who here is immune to the rogues back stab? The fighters Crit? *listens and only hears crickets in the back ground* Yeah...thats what I thought. Yet you can go to your local grocers and buy you...for the right price, a little something that allows you to laugh at Phelzaron's spells.
I have been assassinated three times by the way, by players. Waiting for Phelzaron's defenses to be down after I rested walk up to me fully buffed pretending they had no ill intentions and then break into combat with me while my poor mage is completely unprotected. Meanwhile, they do not have to click me hostile can break strait into combat and if I want to cast a friggan spell I got to find their name in the player list and click em hostile first meanwhile they are beating the living crap out of me abusing those game mechanics. I should log on and just click everyone hostile just in case!
I got a lot to worry about people. I get the fewest selection of spells save maybe divination as necromantic specialist, my wizard is good so I can't use some of the ones I get, people can make themselves immune to my most powerful aspect. Premonition? HA I can't use it so with all my power I got to still be dressed in the latest stone wear fashion. True seeing? HAHAHAHA I can't use that neither so rob me, back stab me, listen to all my bloody conversations not a dang thing one of the most powerful player wizards can do about it.
Cry me a river! Life's tough get a helmet!
So I don't care if your thieves can't stay hidden cause a player used true seeing and I don't care if your mages get stabbed multiple times cause you ain't high enough level to cast it yet. I really don't care when a fighter gets his and is fried to a crisp and I don't care that clerics can save everyone else but nobody is ever able to save them back! HAHAHAHA I am GLAD HA!! *goes a little crazy*
Thats Phelzaron's life too!! He has to worry every moment he is on and made plenty of enemies over the years. Now he is in the line of fire as a War Wizard all the more reason for some groups to want him very dead. I laugh in their general directions cause Phelzaron kicks major butt when he wants.
;D
Ok....now that that is out of the way....oh...and I do care that all these things happen to you all haha Balance is hard to achieve people is more what I mean and if I wanted to make sure I was ALWAYS a butt kicker I can tell you A Necromancer would have been FAR from my first choice...probably my second to last...my last being a specialist Diviner....theres a winner!
I do have a few things to point out though on spells modification since we are all in the mood and some are actually taking place....like......SUMMONS.
Planar Ally lasts WAY to long. It would be fine if knocked down to 1 turn per level. In fact I think any and all summons spells should be 1 turn per level. Why? Cause we earned it thats why. While everyone else got to hog the glory for the first 15 levels or so we had to look like weaklings who needed constant protection at least for the REAL magic users...Not you pansy I can't take a beating so I will take two classes characters.
Lets face it....the spells are all screwed up. I can summon an Planar Ally and he is a mere 6th level spell yet is better without buffs then an unbuffed 9th level summon creature spell who lasts a shorter time??? Am I missing something? This should just be fixed folks if you have ever summoned these you two would say...wtf??? I have looked at the stats extensively playing a wizard on here for 2+ years. Worse still and confusing as hell is 1 hour per level summons for Planar Ally. Thats 19 game hours for me folks or 3 hours 10 mins REAL time. Even I have to admit thats nuts. However, that being said...1 round per level is ridiculous as well.
Take Greater Planar Ally for instance. A powerful spell I think 8th level or might be if the duration wasn't 1 round per level! It costs me a 8th level spell slot and lasts barely long enough to hurt everyone in the party not even getting through all the spells it wants to cast first before unsummoning. It literally hurts everyone in the party! In PnP the chances are small this would happen...also that spell likely just helped handle 1/10th of the nights total battles Even if this is the duration in PnP play one must remember that in the course of a single night of playing PnP you may have maybe 5-10 battles? say for a 4-6 hour session. A 4-6 hour session in FRC you could potentially see 100 battles if questing or playing in a group or even solo. So....we get to use it 1/100th of the time then? Yeah that sounds great....so summon Greater Planar Ally let it last long enough to half fry my party members and then wink out...Yeah...I want to use that 8th level slot for that spell...where do I sign up! So thats yet another of many spells I cannot use....great.
Another thing is, and think it's soloing all you want but fact is we ALL need to solo from time to time. Real Life just does not allow us to group all the time. Different play times, huge level differences, conflicting groups, low server population (not common but happens at certain times of day or night) these are all factors not to mention RP reasons we all have these from time to time as well. I will acknowledge some are farmers...I realize this Make em feel pain then...they probably do deserve it. It's annoying and not in spirit of the game. Soloing is not wrong though...FARMING is...remember the difference and know it can be just as easily if not more so accomplished in groups as a solo farmer. I am surprised we are not all mad at grouping for Pete's sake...thats where farming is easiest!
Near any fighter class, cleric type, and even thieves although to a lesser extent can take care of themselves for fairly long periods out exploring. Mages, are forced to use spells and run out VERY quickly, even Phelzaron at level 19 all by himself runs out of spells in minutes if fighting his quality of monster that gives more then 1 XP.
Point being...we NEED a meat shield and call it what you want it is needed or we can never go anywhere solo. Even now Phelzaron almost never explores on his own. Everyone always tells me about these places they have seen that I never have!! I outgrew my Planar Ally levels and levels ago. I only gain DM XP anymore no fun for me to hack a few heads off cause I can't! Many of them several levels lower then me. So anyone mind if I think complaining that I might have a meat shield that lasts longer then PnP might seem to me like thats not so bad? I am sorry I can buff and make a half-ass warrior out of a summons. I can't even make a poor warrior out of me so whats the big deal? In fact in a PvP situation players ignore summons altogether and go straight for the throat of the wizard cause what happens game mechanic wise if you drop the wizard? Oh thats right the summons is gone and no longer a threat. That seems like abusing the game mechanics to me when you know very well the summons is supposed to act as a deterrent and defend the wizard while he casts but everyone conveniently forgets the summons like it is not a threat. So I am not sure how most can get up in arms about this.
As to worrying that we are able to easily hack our way to glory with these so called "Tanks" Something like Planar Ally might seem tankish to a mid-level I grant...for a few levels the wizard gets to breathe a sigh of relief knowing the things he will fight with his ally will have to fear him. It is a very short sanctuary my friends....maybe 3 or 4 levels tops and it allows them to gain XP at the same rate as a equal level fighter...course never mind the fact they spent the first 11 levels dieing countless times a week for paltry amounts of XP cause they can't fight on par with others of their level. While 10th level warriors are taking out a owl bears cave or the head of Grumsh or killing ettins a 10th level wizard is still wondering if he can take a single ogre down or if he can make it alive to the chieftains hut in the kobold cave. Is always wondering if more show up does he have a good back up plan to escape the situation. So Yeah....We EARNED the Planar Ally Ok and we deserve the right for it to stick around and kick some butt for us cause thats what wizards do...they use magic to overcome the things they cannot do normally...like fight!
(Start of a magic spell suggestion)
Fact is I EARNED the right to cast Greater Planar Ally and I should be able to make it worth casting but it ain't...so I am still fighting creatures that 10th to 14th level people are fighting at 19th level when soloing....How many 18th+ can say they still fight hill giants other then for RP reasons because it's too hard to fight something harder? Cause my archon cannot handle better then that with Phelzaron's Buffs! Know what I get for Hill giants? 1 XP I cannot fight anything stronger and even hill giants hurt my archon...Mountain giants? Now I am using spells WITH the archon...using about 4 heal kits a battle on the poor guy if he survives all for maybe 8 XP per battle for two of these suckers.....I usually die if I take on more then say 5 of these battles without a rest. Phelzaron outgrew Planar Ally many levels ago and should get an ally commensurate with his abilities so I think Greater Planar Ally should be changed to 1 turn per level. Even if I extended the spell as a 9th level slot it still would not last until my next rest period. Those unable to use 9th level slots would at least have something to look forward to while still being able to use the spell in a useful way for a shorter but respectable duration. Like I say...a wizard player gets that far they deserve a bone to be thrown to them. Spells are not forever but they are powerful. Warrior types are constant never have to worry about being caught off guard or limited to the number of sword swings they can make in a day or how long they can wear their armor. (End of summons suggestion)
(Ranting continued)
Let us shine too and stop thinking we are getting these awesome benefits of unfettered power. I truly am tired of so many thinking we got it good when I can count the number of Mages over 18th level on one hand and can think of only one currently on as a regular.
Any mage player on here can tell you truly you have to be able to take a true beating to earn levels as a mage. Oh and let us not forget so MANY players love to threaten the lowly wizard while they are easy to kill. Phelzaron has had more unprovoked attacks and the..."Let's take this outside wizard!"...line then most will ever see. While many people threaten in RP to fight most times they split up, a wizard is rarely so lucky...they are an easy smack down and any player worth his lucky twenty sider knows it. It's dirty...it's cheap, it's an easy kill but Hey you didn't pick the wizard I did. Bad mouth a fighter he will likely fight back...bad mouth a wizard he will likely back down knowing he needs space and time which no player will in their right mind ever give a wizard.
My wizard is obviously well past the taking crap off anyone stage being able to best most anyone while in his full I will kick your butt mode. A high level wizard is hard to stop and full of spectacular visual effects and it makes us seem over balanced and maybe at that point we are but as I say...we deserve it...we take a lot of crap to get there. Sometimes more then our personal dignity can handle HAHA Sometimes it's hard to separate personal feelings from RP when any player with a half evil itch wants to make you look weak and pathetic every other day and the fact is at low to mid level we are pretty weak and pathetic...parties would not even take us along if we could not buff them probably. haha
Every class takes their licks and has to earn respect. I am not trying to rob anyone of their hard earned levels. Just stop trying to rob me of my very hard earned power. This is not directed at DM's or the builders by the way. You all already know I hate you so very ...very much. ;D Please forgive the huge rant as I have been gone from Internet for two weeks moving and dealing with finals. I come back to find out I missed out once again on a huge discussion regarding magic. Of course every time magic is brought up it's a pretty big deal and though everyone is more then entitled to their opinions about the subject most times it seems the most vocal and demanding to nerf magic happen to not be wizards at all and are usually on about a spell that they find to be an annoying obstacle for their special character abilities.
Personally I don't see a problem with reducing the area of true seeing...makes sense to me I mean usually outside of 20 feet they are behind an obstacle anyways so I should not see them anyways. Most players drink up and run to the hiding players position though going what are you doing? Even though they may have been hiding around a corner or behind some rocks. Since this may be complicated to change I think arguing for or against radius reduction is moot.
I do think that arguing for duration changes though for all types of summoning is important though and should be consistent. I had to learn through trial and error and found out the spells were far from consistent in duration and made little sense. Taking a spell and allowing one to be an hour duration knowing you can change it and then leaving it's big brother which is supposed to be even better but two levels higher and leaving it set at one round per level turning a potentially good spell into a worthless spell and it IS worthless by the way as an Ally I have tried it three times and I only succeeded in making everyone in the party really mad at me. You try explaining to your buddies why your LG Greater Planar Ally just shot three bolts of very powerful chain lightning into their butts!! Oh sure it hit the monsters too but do you think the party cares? Then when it is done casting it's own defensive spells on itself it unsummons.....yeah....everyone was real happy with me on that decision.
I did it a few more times to see if I could make it work. If the rest of the party is dead....yes. It stands casting lightning while I run from the monsters cause my damn archon won't protect me and I am getting hit with the bloody lightning cause the monster is so close. Almost died once for that. My own spell nearly killed me. This is why I am shouting a little more consistency please with these summons durations if we can use them since you mostly Anuir since he is actually changing them currently are in a spell restructuring and balancing mood. All summon creatures and Planar allys with maybe the exception of gate would be IMO very fair if given a one turn per level duration. We still got to rest and take breaks but they are not going to instantly disappear when they summon.
I will never forget the first time I summoned a badger at 1 st level in combat with Phelzaron. It was against 2 kobolds. The badger summoned, apparently did not make initiative in time and unsummoned in the beginning of the next round. So it never got an attack off. I never used it again as I wasted a round and was killed. I realized that by time it lasted long enough to do something that I would be way to powerful for it to be effective.
My understanding is that now Summons creatures at least last I think 8 rounds per level or 6 rounds...something like that but I think 10 rounds is a good even number and easy for us mages to compute quickly in the head. A 3rd level mage could summon a badger if they have extend spell for 6 minutes real time. That makes sense to me. The badger may not live that long but at least the mage will have time to get the thing into a fight! It would take a wizard of 20th level with extend to make that badger actually last for 40 real time minutes. The same amount of time it takes before the wizard can rest again. Does that really sound that bad?
These opinions of course are the soul opinions of the wizard Phelzaron and not necessarily shared by those of the FRC crew
THIS RANT HAS BEEN RATED LW (Long Whine)
VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
hahaha DM Anuir always starts the good stuff while Phelzaron is away! You did this on purpose man and now I hate you so very...very much ;D
Man I want to scoop up a little of this action! Not the True seeing thing though...screw that spell...I can't cast it any damn ways being a necromancer haha 
As for how would Soulfien feel if a rogue had something that negated his magic...I don't know how he feels but I can tell you how a necromancer feels.Necromancers are among the weakest starting out, gets the fewest spells to choose from in a school save divination, when they finally gain some power you find out everyone is walking around with a magic item or spell that protects against negative energy , Death magic, or even worse Necromancy that are permanent or last basically until they rest again! Man did I get hosed!!!
Someone please name one other bloody school of magic where we get immunity to it through magic items or spells...I mean....I got hosed so bad other spell casters get to just make themselves immune to me! Who here is immune to the rogues back stab? The fighters Crit? *listens and only hears crickets in the back ground* Yeah...thats what I thought. Yet you can go to your local grocers and buy you...for the right price, a little something that allows you to laugh at Phelzaron's spells. I have been assassinated three times by the way, by players. Waiting for Phelzaron's defenses to be down after I rested walk up to me fully buffed pretending they had no ill intentions and then break into combat with me while my poor mage is completely unprotected. Meanwhile, they do not have to click me hostile can break strait into combat and if I want to cast a friggan spell I got to find their name in the player list and click em hostile first meanwhile they are beating the living crap out of me abusing those game mechanics. I should log on and just click everyone hostile just in case!
I got a lot to worry about people. I get the fewest selection of spells save maybe divination as necromantic specialist, my wizard is good so I can't use some of the ones I get, people can make themselves immune to my most powerful aspect. Premonition? HA I can't use it so with all my power I got to still be dressed in the latest stone wear fashion. True seeing? HAHAHAHA I can't use that neither so rob me, back stab me, listen to all my bloody conversations not a dang thing one of the most powerful player wizards can do about it.
Cry me a river! Life's tough get a helmet!
So I don't care if your thieves can't stay hidden cause a player used true seeing and I don't care if your mages get stabbed multiple times cause you ain't high enough level to cast it yet. I really don't care when a fighter gets his and is fried to a crisp and I don't care that clerics can save everyone else but nobody is ever able to save them back! HAHAHAHA I am GLAD HA!! *goes a little crazy*
Thats Phelzaron's life too!! He has to worry every moment he is on and made plenty of enemies over the years. Now he is in the line of fire as a War Wizard all the more reason for some groups to want him very dead. I laugh in their general directions cause Phelzaron kicks major butt when he wants.
;DOk....now that that is out of the way....oh...and I do care that all these things happen to you all haha Balance is hard to achieve people is more what I mean and if I wanted to make sure I was ALWAYS a butt kicker I can tell you A Necromancer would have been FAR from my first choice...probably my second to last...my last being a specialist Diviner....theres a winner!
I do have a few things to point out though on spells modification since we are all in the mood and some are actually taking place....like......SUMMONS.
Planar Ally lasts WAY to long. It would be fine if knocked down to 1 turn per level. In fact I think any and all summons spells should be 1 turn per level. Why? Cause we earned it thats why. While everyone else got to hog the glory for the first 15 levels or so we had to look like weaklings who needed constant protection at least for the REAL magic users...Not you pansy I can't take a beating so I will take two classes characters.
Lets face it....the spells are all screwed up. I can summon an Planar Ally and he is a mere 6th level spell yet is better without buffs then an unbuffed 9th level summon creature spell who lasts a shorter time??? Am I missing something? This should just be fixed folks if you have ever summoned these you two would say...wtf??? I have looked at the stats extensively playing a wizard on here for 2+ years. Worse still and confusing as hell is 1 hour per level summons for Planar Ally. Thats 19 game hours for me folks or 3 hours 10 mins REAL time. Even I have to admit thats nuts. However, that being said...1 round per level is ridiculous as well.
Take Greater Planar Ally for instance. A powerful spell I think 8th level or might be if the duration wasn't 1 round per level! It costs me a 8th level spell slot and lasts barely long enough to hurt everyone in the party not even getting through all the spells it wants to cast first before unsummoning. It literally hurts everyone in the party! In PnP the chances are small this would happen...also that spell likely just helped handle 1/10th of the nights total battles Even if this is the duration in PnP play one must remember that in the course of a single night of playing PnP you may have maybe 5-10 battles? say for a 4-6 hour session. A 4-6 hour session in FRC you could potentially see 100 battles if questing or playing in a group or even solo. So....we get to use it 1/100th of the time then? Yeah that sounds great....so summon Greater Planar Ally let it last long enough to half fry my party members and then wink out...Yeah...I want to use that 8th level slot for that spell...where do I sign up! So thats yet another of many spells I cannot use....great.
Another thing is, and think it's soloing all you want but fact is we ALL need to solo from time to time. Real Life just does not allow us to group all the time. Different play times, huge level differences, conflicting groups, low server population (not common but happens at certain times of day or night) these are all factors not to mention RP reasons we all have these from time to time as well. I will acknowledge some are farmers...I realize this Make em feel pain then...they probably do deserve it. It's annoying and not in spirit of the game. Soloing is not wrong though...FARMING is...remember the difference and know it can be just as easily if not more so accomplished in groups as a solo farmer. I am surprised we are not all mad at grouping for Pete's sake...thats where farming is easiest!
Near any fighter class, cleric type, and even thieves although to a lesser extent can take care of themselves for fairly long periods out exploring. Mages, are forced to use spells and run out VERY quickly, even Phelzaron at level 19 all by himself runs out of spells in minutes if fighting his quality of monster that gives more then 1 XP.
Point being...we NEED a meat shield and call it what you want it is needed or we can never go anywhere solo. Even now Phelzaron almost never explores on his own. Everyone always tells me about these places they have seen that I never have!! I outgrew my Planar Ally levels and levels ago. I only gain DM XP anymore no fun for me to hack a few heads off cause I can't! Many of them several levels lower then me. So anyone mind if I think complaining that I might have a meat shield that lasts longer then PnP might seem to me like thats not so bad? I am sorry I can buff and make a half-ass warrior out of a summons. I can't even make a poor warrior out of me so whats the big deal? In fact in a PvP situation players ignore summons altogether and go straight for the throat of the wizard cause what happens game mechanic wise if you drop the wizard? Oh thats right the summons is gone and no longer a threat. That seems like abusing the game mechanics to me when you know very well the summons is supposed to act as a deterrent and defend the wizard while he casts but everyone conveniently forgets the summons like it is not a threat. So I am not sure how most can get up in arms about this.
As to worrying that we are able to easily hack our way to glory with these so called "Tanks" Something like Planar Ally might seem tankish to a mid-level I grant...for a few levels the wizard gets to breathe a sigh of relief knowing the things he will fight with his ally will have to fear him. It is a very short sanctuary my friends....maybe 3 or 4 levels tops and it allows them to gain XP at the same rate as a equal level fighter...course never mind the fact they spent the first 11 levels dieing countless times a week for paltry amounts of XP cause they can't fight on par with others of their level. While 10th level warriors are taking out a owl bears cave or the head of Grumsh or killing ettins a 10th level wizard is still wondering if he can take a single ogre down or if he can make it alive to the chieftains hut in the kobold cave. Is always wondering if more show up does he have a good back up plan to escape the situation. So Yeah....We EARNED the Planar Ally Ok and we deserve the right for it to stick around and kick some butt for us cause thats what wizards do...they use magic to overcome the things they cannot do normally...like fight!
(Start of a magic spell suggestion)
Fact is I EARNED the right to cast Greater Planar Ally and I should be able to make it worth casting but it ain't...so I am still fighting creatures that 10th to 14th level people are fighting at 19th level when soloing....How many 18th+ can say they still fight hill giants other then for RP reasons because it's too hard to fight something harder? Cause my archon cannot handle better then that with Phelzaron's Buffs! Know what I get for Hill giants? 1 XP I cannot fight anything stronger and even hill giants hurt my archon...Mountain giants? Now I am using spells WITH the archon...using about 4 heal kits a battle on the poor guy if he survives all for maybe 8 XP per battle for two of these suckers.....I usually die if I take on more then say 5 of these battles without a rest. Phelzaron outgrew Planar Ally many levels ago and should get an ally commensurate with his abilities so I think Greater Planar Ally should be changed to 1 turn per level. Even if I extended the spell as a 9th level slot it still would not last until my next rest period. Those unable to use 9th level slots would at least have something to look forward to while still being able to use the spell in a useful way for a shorter but respectable duration. Like I say...a wizard player gets that far they deserve a bone to be thrown to them. Spells are not forever but they are powerful. Warrior types are constant never have to worry about being caught off guard or limited to the number of sword swings they can make in a day or how long they can wear their armor. (End of summons suggestion)
(Ranting continued)
Let us shine too and stop thinking we are getting these awesome benefits of unfettered power. I truly am tired of so many thinking we got it good when I can count the number of Mages over 18th level on one hand and can think of only one currently on as a regular.
Any mage player on here can tell you truly you have to be able to take a true beating to earn levels as a mage. Oh and let us not forget so MANY players love to threaten the lowly wizard while they are easy to kill. Phelzaron has had more unprovoked attacks and the..."Let's take this outside wizard!"...line then most will ever see. While many people threaten in RP to fight most times they split up, a wizard is rarely so lucky...they are an easy smack down and any player worth his lucky twenty sider knows it. It's dirty...it's cheap, it's an easy kill but Hey you didn't pick the wizard I did. Bad mouth a fighter he will likely fight back...bad mouth a wizard he will likely back down knowing he needs space and time which no player will in their right mind ever give a wizard.
My wizard is obviously well past the taking crap off anyone stage being able to best most anyone while in his full I will kick your butt mode. A high level wizard is hard to stop and full of spectacular visual effects and it makes us seem over balanced and maybe at that point we are but as I say...we deserve it...we take a lot of crap to get there. Sometimes more then our personal dignity can handle HAHA Sometimes it's hard to separate personal feelings from RP when any player with a half evil itch wants to make you look weak and pathetic every other day and the fact is at low to mid level we are pretty weak and pathetic...parties would not even take us along if we could not buff them probably. haha
Every class takes their licks and has to earn respect. I am not trying to rob anyone of their hard earned levels. Just stop trying to rob me of my very hard earned power. This is not directed at DM's or the builders by the way. You all already know I hate you so very ...very much. ;D
Please forgive the huge rant as I have been gone from Internet for two weeks moving and dealing with finals. I come back to find out I missed out once again on a huge discussion regarding magic. Of course every time magic is brought up it's a pretty big deal and though everyone is more then entitled to their opinions about the subject most times it seems the most vocal and demanding to nerf magic happen to not be wizards at all and are usually on about a spell that they find to be an annoying obstacle for their special character abilities.Personally I don't see a problem with reducing the area of true seeing...makes sense to me I mean usually outside of 20 feet they are behind an obstacle anyways so I should not see them anyways. Most players drink up and run to the hiding players position though going what are you doing? Even though they may have been hiding around a corner or behind some rocks. Since this may be complicated to change I think arguing for or against radius reduction is moot.
I do think that arguing for duration changes though for all types of summoning is important though and should be consistent. I had to learn through trial and error and found out the spells were far from consistent in duration and made little sense. Taking a spell and allowing one to be an hour duration knowing you can change it and then leaving it's big brother which is supposed to be even better but two levels higher and leaving it set at one round per level turning a potentially good spell into a worthless spell and it IS worthless by the way as an Ally I have tried it three times and I only succeeded in making everyone in the party really mad at me. You try explaining to your buddies why your LG Greater Planar Ally just shot three bolts of very powerful chain lightning into their butts!! Oh sure it hit the monsters too but do you think the party cares? Then when it is done casting it's own defensive spells on itself it unsummons.....yeah....everyone was real happy with me on that decision.
I did it a few more times to see if I could make it work. If the rest of the party is dead....yes. It stands casting lightning while I run from the monsters cause my damn archon won't protect me and I am getting hit with the bloody lightning cause the monster is so close. Almost died once for that. My own spell nearly killed me. This is why I am shouting a little more consistency please with these summons durations if we can use them since you mostly Anuir since he is actually changing them currently are in a spell restructuring and balancing mood. All summon creatures and Planar allys with maybe the exception of gate would be IMO very fair if given a one turn per level duration. We still got to rest and take breaks but they are not going to instantly disappear when they summon.
I will never forget the first time I summoned a badger at 1 st level in combat with Phelzaron. It was against 2 kobolds. The badger summoned, apparently did not make initiative in time and unsummoned in the beginning of the next round. So it never got an attack off. I never used it again as I wasted a round and was killed. I realized that by time it lasted long enough to do something that I would be way to powerful for it to be effective.
My understanding is that now Summons creatures at least last I think 8 rounds per level or 6 rounds...something like that but I think 10 rounds is a good even number and easy for us mages to compute quickly in the head. A 3rd level mage could summon a badger if they have extend spell for 6 minutes real time. That makes sense to me. The badger may not live that long but at least the mage will have time to get the thing into a fight! It would take a wizard of 20th level with extend to make that badger actually last for 40 real time minutes. The same amount of time it takes before the wizard can rest again. Does that really sound that bad?
These opinions of course are the soul opinions of the wizard Phelzaron and not necessarily shared by those of the FRC crew
So much for summoning a horde of undead to wipe out Isinhold...
