Demon summoning?

Remove all ads!

From my very limited testing, I found the following:

Cacofiend spell - Cornugon - Can teleport without error, regenerates, emanates fear (will save), has a stun melee attack (fortitude save), casts lightning bolt. Summons another Cornugon when close to death!

Fiend Spell - Glabrezu - Can teleport without error, Casts emotion: fear and Burning Hands, has a stun melee attack (fortitude save), summons Wight Lemure Slaves when close to death. Does not regenerate. Inferior to Cornugon IMHO.

Gelugon - Can teleport without error, emanates fear (will save), has a physical/ice attack (no stun), many attacks per round, does *not* regenerate, casts Emotion: Despair. Summons another pit fiend or spectral lemur slaves upon death.

Just from the above, I'd conclude that the Cornugon's are pretty good summons for level 7. Does anyone use the Cacofiend spell on a routine basis?

 

Not per se. In my current party I routinely use Shadow Conjuration to summon Glabrezu and Cornugons shades. I like the Glabrezu better than Gelugons or Cornugons because they have a higher damage output even though they have less BAB. Fortunately you can't get Gelugons with Shadow Conjuration. I've only cast Cacofiend/Summon Fiend a couple of times and didn't notice a big difference so I just stick with the shadow variants.

I agree though that all of the demon summons are pretty decent for their level, i.e. better value than any other summoning spell besides SC/GSC/Shades or perhaps Elemental Legion.

-Max

 

I've only used the Gate spell, while in HOF. Once I summoned it into the middle of the room in the Ice Temple that's full of trolls. It was a hoot. The trolls couldn't scratch the demon, and the demon was too stupid to shift to another troll, after getting one to near death. I had to use various flame or acid weapons or spells to kill the near dead trolls to get the demon to shift targets.

Since most seem to be uncontrollable, their use is a bit limited, but the Gate demons are really, really tough customers...

 

You know, I just had a thought: I wonder if you could control the Gated demons by summoning a weak creature (e.g. Monster Summoning I) which is obviously NOT protected by Protection From Evil, unlike your party, and letting the demon chase it into the next batch of monsters.

Six demons might be kind of a fun surprise for Saablic Tan.

-Max

 

Not sure if that trick would work, but who knows?

As for Saablic Tan... let me tell you that (at least in HOF) one Gate demon is enough to completely wreak havoc in that battle!!! Just summon him right in Tan's face and watch him go!!!




On a side note, the summons that I tend to find annoying are the "huge" ones... the ones that can't fit thru a door or some other narrow space... like a rhino beetle or a frost giant. In HOF mode, you have to be careful what summoning spells you use, if you want the summoned monster to be able to hang around with the group in some areas that have narrow doorways, etc.

Flipside, summoning a rhino beetle can be like summoning a 300+ HP moving wall that you can shoot over, but enemy tanks have to hack their way thru to get to you.