Animal Summoning

[AQuebman]

Hey All,

So i've been digging through the book and I don't really see many animals listed in the monsters. What have you other Judges been using when a wizard casts animal summoning? Im really just looking for some different combat statistics and maybe some variety if I can find it. Im unfamiliar with creating my own monsters so if that's easy enough I will do that as well.

Thanks,

[TheNobleDrake]

simple solution is to just use Hit Dice as the only statistic you need to worry about, though treating the saving throw bonuses as warrior of level = hit dice might be a little better to prevent super-high saving throws.

Then, all you have to do is decide what sort of animal has how many hit dice...

Edit: forgot to even elaborate.

HP = Roll of hit dice
AC = 10 + Hit dice (assume some combination of naturally tough hide, instinct, and agility as an explanation)
Attack = + Hit Dice to attack rolls, damage of 1d6 + hit dice (or half hit dice if you prefer smaller damage)
Saves = as fighter of level = hit dice
Initiative = pick a number that seems right for how quick on its feat the animal is (-2 for an elephant, or +4 for a tiger for example)

I would put a dog or cat (domestic in either case) in the 1 Hit Die range and expand upward from there to 16 Hit Die being things like elephants or large dinosaurs.

[AQuebman]

Thanks for the reply. While not the quick solution I was hoping for that should work in the temporary. I'm running through a module on my own just to see how some of the battles and mechanics work before I try to actually run people through it.

[dark cauliflower]

maybe the annual will have a quick chart of chickens and walruses to use in our game? I don't even know what the annual is supposed to be about but I hope its useful.

battle on!

[cjoepar]

This strays a bit from the spell as described but I did this: I created my own chart with 6 different animals for each HD. A couple of them are not "ordinary" animals, for two reasons:

1. I'd rather have a spell with lots of possibilities that I can have the caster randomly determine since this adds more flavor to the unpredictable nature of magic. You can only have so many animals of a HD before they start getting redundant as far as their capabilities.
2. In a world with fantastic creatures, there would obviously be nothing to distinguish a tiger from, say, a pegasus from the point of view of an inhabitant of that world. They would both be "natural" animals.

I made one animal of each HD a mount, to allow the spell to have other uses, and I ruled that the caster can use spellburn to influence the die roll to select what animal gets summoned for animals of equal or lessor HD than his level.

[GnomeBoy]

Working up some Summoning results for my upcoming con game, I've adapted the Familiar rules to to create some animal stats, along with using or adapting entries from the monster section.

[viruswithshoes]

Working up some Summoning results for my upcoming con game, I've adapted the Familiar rules to to create some animal stats, along with using or adapting entries from the monster section.

I'm really interested in checking this out if you want to post it! I didn't realize this was a problem until one of my players asked about it. I've got no problem making it up as I go but I like a little random structure.

[cjoepar]

I know you didn't ask me, but this is the chart I made up. Sorry for the huge post:

1 HD:
1. Wolf
HD: 1d6
Init: +3
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +2 (1d4)
AC: 12
MV: 40'
F+3, R+2, W+1


2. Giant Rat
HD: 1d6+2
Init: +4
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +2 (1d4+1+ disease: FDC7 or additional 1d6)
AC: 13
MV: 30'
F+2, R+4, W-2

3. Pony
HD: 1d8+2
Init: +1
AD: 1d20
ATTK: hoof → -1 (1d2+1)
AC: 11
MV: 50'
F+2, R+3, W-1

4. Giant Ant
HD: 1d8+2
Init: +0
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +2 (1d4+1)
AC: 16
MV: 40'
F+5, R+1, W-3


5. Large Hawk
HD: 1d6
Init: +5
AD: 1d20
ATTK: claws → +2 (1d4)
AC: 12
MV: 60' (fly)
F+0, R+5, W+1

6. Stag
HD: 1d8
Init: +3
AD: 1d20
ATTK: Antlers & hooves → +1 (1d6+2)
AC: 11
MV: 60'
F+2, R+4, W+0

2 HD:
1. Dire Wolf
HD: 2d6
Init: +5
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +6 (1d6+2)
AC: 14
MV: 40'
F+4, R+4, W+3

2. Bat Swarm
HD: 2d8 ½ damage from non-area attacks
Init: +4
AD: 1d20 per target in 20'x20' area
ATTK: bite → +1 (1d3 + disease: see table pg 397)
AC: 10
MV: fly 40'
F+0, R+10, W-2


3. Mule
HD: 2d8
Init: +0
AD: 1d20
ATTK: kick → -1 (1d3+1)
AC: 11
MV: 40'
F+4, R+2, W+2

4. Cougar
HD: 2d8+2
Init: +4
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +5 (1d6+1)
AC: 15
MV: 40'
F+2, R+5, W+1


5. Giant Beetle (roll for subtype on pg 397)
HD: 2d8+2
Init: -2
AD: 1d20
ATTK: mandibles → +3 (1d4+2)
AC: 15
MV: 30'
F+1, R+0, W-3

6. Wild Boar
HD: 2d6+2
Init: +1
AD: 1d20
ATTK: Tusks → +5 (1d4+3)
AC: 12
MV: 40'
F+4, R+3, W+2


4 HD:
1. Bear
HD: 4d10
Init: +4
AD: 1d20
ATTK: maul → +6 (3d6)
AC: 14
MV: 30'
F+5, R+3, W+0

2. Giant Viper
HD: 4d8
Init: +6
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +8 (3d6 + poison: FDC12: 1d4 stamina)
AC: 16
MV: 30'
F+6, R+4, W+2

3. Giant Lizard
HD: 4d8
Init: -3
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +5 (3d4)
AC: 17
MV: 40', climb 20'
F+2, R-2, W-2

4. Ape
HD: 4d8
Init: +2
AD: 1d20
ATTK: slam → +6 (2d6+2)
AC: 13
MV: 20', climb 30'
F+6, R+3, W+1

5. Insect Swarm
HD: 4d8 ½ damage from non-area attacks
Init: +5
AD: 1d20 per target in 20'x20' area
ATTK: bite → +1 (1 + sting: FDC5: 1d4)
AC: 11
MV: fly 40'
F+0, R+10, W-2

6. Warhorse
HD: 4d8
Init: +1
AD: 1d20
ATTK: Hooves → +5 (1d6+3)
AC: 15 (leather barding)
MV: 60'
F+5, R+4, W+3


8 HD:
1. Sabre Toothed Tiger
HD: 8d10
Init: +4
AD: 1d20, 1d20
ATTK: maul → +6 (2d6), bite → +4 (2d6)
AC: 14
MV: 40', jump 20'
F+5, R+6, W+4

2. Velociraptor
HD: 8d8
Init: +6
AD: 1d20, 1d16
ATTK: rake → +8 (1d12), bite → +4 (2d4)
AC: 13
MV: 40', jump 20'
F+4, R+4, W+3

3. Huge Spider
HD: 8d10
Init: +4
AD: 1d20
ATTK: bite → +6 (1d10 + poison: FDC15: 1d4/3d4+CL)
AC: 15
MV: 40', jump 20'
F+3, R+5, W+2


4. Pegasus
HD: 8d8
Init: +6
AD: 1d20
ATTK: Hooves → +7 (1d10+2)
AC: 15
MV: 50', fly 60'
F+3, R+6, W+6

5. Moose
HD: 8d10
Init: +0
AD: 1d20, 1d16
ATTK: Hooves → +7 (1d12+2), horns → +4 (1d6+2)
AC: 13
MV: 40'
F+6, R+0, W+2

16 HD:
1. Huge Scorpion
HD: 16d10+8
Init: +4
AD: 1d20, 1d20, 1d16
ATTK: claw → +12 (1d12+4), sting → +9 (1d8+2 + poison:
AC: 20 FDC16 → death)
MV: 40', climb 20'
F+11, R+5, W+0

2. Elephant
HD: 16d8+16
Init: +2
AD: 1d20, 1d20
ATTK: Stomp → +10 (3d8+8)
AC: 15
MV: 30'
F+8, R+2, W+3

3. Roc
HD: 16d8+4
Init: +4
AD: 1d20, 1d20, 1d16
ATTK: claw → +9 (1d8+6), bite → +6 (1d10+4)
AC: 14
MV: 15', fly 90'
F+7, R+5, W+2


4. Ki-Rin
HD: 16d12+8
Init: +6
AD: 1d20, 1d20, 1d20
ATTK: Hooves → +11 (1d10+2), Horn → +15 (1d12+4)
AC: 21
MV: 50', fly 60'
F+5, R+6, W+11

5. Allosaurus
HD: 16d8+8
Init: +5
AD: 1d20, 1d20
ATTK: Bite → +9 (3d6+3)
AC: 15
MV: 40'
F+5, R+4, W+4

[cjoepar]

Sorry to double - post. The way I run this spell is that the caster can see the chart for monsters with HD equal to or lower than his level. He can then choose to spellburn after he rolls on this table to move the result by one number for each point burnt.

This version of the spell is a little more useful than the book version because it's not limited to real-earth animals that the caster has seen before, but it is limited to the ones on this table.

[AQuebman]

Wow awesome replies guys ill use a lot of your tips and that huge post of statted creatures will.be awesome to use.

[GnomeBoy]

Here's what I cooked up for the character with Animal Summoning. As it turns out, we didn't use that character, so I admit that I haven't seen these in action.

They are grouped by Hit Dice, and numbered for randomization. The spell specifies that you need something from the actual animal you're summoning, but I was willing to let the player decide if they wanted to randomize things (presumably, the caster has a pouch of mixed hairs, ground teeth, diced claws, etc. that they pull a pinch from to cast, in that case).


Animals (for Animal Summoning)

1 Wolf: Init +3, Bite +2 (1d4), AC 12, HD 1d6, Mv 40', Act 1d20, Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +1

2 Giant Rat: Init +4, Bite +2 (1d4+1 plus disease), AC 13, HD 1d6+2, Mv 30' climb 20', Act 1d20, Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1

3 Giant Insect: Init +0, Bite +2 (1d4+1), AC 16, HD 1d8+2, Mv 50' climb 50', Act 1d20, Fort +5, Ref +1, Will -3

4 Generic: Init +0, Attack +2 (1d6), AC 14, HD 1d4+2, Mv 30', Act 1d20, Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1 Killer Bee: Init +1, Sting +3 (1d4 plus poison, Fort DC 8 or death), AC 12, HD 2d8, Mv 30' fly, Act 1d20, Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +1

2 Tiger: Init +5, Bite +4 (2d4), AC 15, HD 2d8, Mv 50', Act 1d20, Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +0

3-4 Generic: Init +0, Attack +4 (1d6+1), AC 16, HD 2d4+2, Mv 40', Act 1d20, Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +0
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1 Underdark Slug: Init -6, Acidic touch +3 (1d4 plus stuck DC 20 STR to break free), AC 18, HD 3d6, Mv 10', Act 1d20, Fort +5, Ref -6, Will -2

2 Giant Lizard: Init -3, Bite +5 (3d4), AC 17, HD 3d8, Mv 40' climb 20', Act 1d20, Fort +2, Ref -2, Will -2

3-4 Generic: Init +2, Attack +5 (1d8+1), AC 16, HD 3d6, Mv 40', Act 1d20, Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +1
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1 Warhorse: Init +1, Hoof +5 (1d6+3), AC 14, HD 4d8, Mv 60', Act 1d20, Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2

2-4 Generic: Init +2, Attack +6 (1d8+2), AC 16, HD 4d6+2, Mv 40', Act 1d20, Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +1

[Ravenheart87]

So how about a Crawl! #x: The Animal Issue?