Summons

[Suspicious Vlish]

Do you think that summons are more useful in A4 than the previous Avernums?

[SevenMass]

I do not have A1-3 so I can't aswer your question that way, but I can tell you this: The summons in A4 are next to useless.

 

In the fights where they can possebly be helpful you do not need them, in the fights where you do need them, they all one hit die to some area of effect damege before they could make themself usefull, even as mere distraction.

[be_cavalier]

Eh, summons could be useful. Slimes were absurdly powerful in the beginning of the game, and if you got lucky, you could summon one with a Call Beast spell. They didn't have too much health, but could shrug off most of physical attacks in the beginning levels.

 

I found Divine Host to be much better than it had been in A1-A3, especially if you were able to summon a Divine Shade. I think that's what they're called, anyway...

[Randomizer]

I found summon shade useful only as a singleton. There were a few encounters where I needed a friend like Nodicuas, the dragon under Reptile Island, and to block the chitrachs from coming out near Fort Remote (if I had kept summoning shades I might have kept that lieutenant alive). When you have a full party then they aren't as helpful.

 

Divine host spell is weaken from the earlier games where you got a group of shades at one time. Shades are nice because they can't be charmed or take cold damage. The mage summons don't give you the control over what will come.