Avernum 2 Crystal Souls：Summoning

[Kaka]

Hi guys. After spending a few hour playing A2CS. I feel that sumonning is not worth investing anymore. With Call beast 2 + 2 Summoning Focus, I can only summon 1 creature ( occasionally hellhound (hasted,frenzied) and they only does ~18-30 damage. Isn't it much weaker than the previous game?

The summoned creature also doesnt follow and attack enemies even if they are only 5,6 space away when they cant directly see the target

 

Also, I wonder if Summoning Focus help with monsters whose souls i captured?

[Lilith]

Summoned monsters have never been very good at doing damage compared to player characters. Higher-level summons can often take hits better than party members can, though, and with Capture Soul/Simulacrum you can pick a specific monster that has elemental immunities suitable for the enemies you're currently fighting, or useful support abilities like Battle Frenzy.

 

Summon Focus probably affects Simulacrum the same way as other summoning spells, but you also probably have better things you can do with your traits.

[Kaka]

Summoned monsters have never been very good at doing damage compared to player characters. Higher-level summons can often take hits better than party members can, though, and with Capture Soul/Simulacrum you can pick a specific monster that has elemental immunities suitable for the enemies you're currently fighting, or useful support abilities like Battle Frenzy.

 

Summon Focus probably affects Simulacrum the same way as other summoning spells, but you also probably have better things you can do with your traits.

 

Thanks. I recall Summons used to be soooo strong in AEFTP or A6 when you can summon max 2 creature and they all do like 80% damage my party member does to any single target and absorb most of the damages

[Randomizer]

For a singleton game Summon Shade creates a more powerful ally than in a party of 4, but only because you are casting from a higher level. But even this weakens by mid game.

 

The best uses for summons is meat shields especially if you need a specific immunity.

[Slawbug]

I'm pretty sure PC level does not affect the level of your summoned creature. At least I tested that heavily in the last few games, and it was only affected by explicit bonuses like the summoning trait. Are an extra 6 levels worth it? If you're actually relying on the creature for offense or for absorbing physical hits, they might be. If you care more about Speed Burst or immunities, probably not.

[BlackDragon]

Personally, I've found summoning to be worthwhile in drawn-out fights just for the sake of spawning one or two extra targets for the enemies to attack - spreading their fire over 6 targets instead of 4 can make a lot of difference, especially if you're dealing with large numbers of ranged troops. (And of course, using Simulacrum to create a nigh-indestructible meat-shield just means that you'll spend less time replacing them. Bonus!) Of course, none of that necessarily justifies spending points on the 'Summoner' trait... but it's still hardly the MOST useless trait. Lots of competition in that area, after all.

[Laertes]

Simulacrum can be very useful with the right creature. I captured a drake, and now I use it in every single difficult fight. Lots of hp, spells like a cone attack and ensnaring enemies, plus it summons its own pet! Two pets for the price of one! And often that pet is something with a useful special ability, like a brain rat or a null bug. Their damage output still falls behind my actual characters, making them mostly meat shields, but every little bit helps.

 

Another handy aspect of summons is creating creatures with damage immunities. For example, undead are mostly immune to cold attacks. Your priest can summon a shade as a meat shield when fighting an enemy that uses cold to attack, and it can literally ignore 100% of the damage each round.

 

All this doesn't necessarily justify spending points on the summoning trait though. That little bit of extra health might not really matter, since you could also just heal your pets to keep them alive, or summon a new one when it dies. Doesn't mean it's not nice to have stronger pets though.