Summoned _____ Howls

[CrazyJ]

Can we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get an option to turn this off?

Summons spam their howls at the start of combat, and make the enemies run off in all different directions. This makes AOE spells useless, and often ends up drawing in a lot more enemies than there would otherwise be (gotta follow if you want to kill the monsters).

On a side note--when is the Slaad going to be replaced or rescued from stinkage? Give neutrals a Nymph Knight or Forest Giant... Just give the Solar a different voiceset and appearance & call it the Neutral summon & I think everyone will be happy.

I'd play a druid-monk but I don't want to be stuck with the Salamander of Stupidity any more. Only way to get a Solar or Balor as a druid is to give up the monk...

[kingfatzo]

*laughs*

[Mythri Wolfwood]

I have had the same experience with summons that tend to howl before getting into attack mode. One thing that I have tried is to burn the howl attempt on easy enemies or lone monsters. It's certainly a pain when you've set up the mob for an AoE spell and your summon howls the minute you set it to attack mode. However, by burning the howl attempts, this problem becomes manageable.

[VagaStorm]

Can we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get an option to turn this off?

Summons spam their howls at the start of combat, and make the enemies run off in all different directions. This makes AOE spells useless, and often ends up drawing in a lot more enemies than there would otherwise be (gotta follow if you want to kill the monsters).

On a side note--when is the Slaad going to be replaced or rescued from stinkage? Give neutrals a Nymph Knight or Forest Giant... Just give the Solar a different voiceset and appearance & I think everyone will be happy.

I'd play a druid-monk but I don't want to be stuck with the Salamander of Stupidity any more. Only way to get a Solar or Balor as a druid is to give up the monk...

Do what ya whant with the other sumons, but do not tutch the aperance or voice of my solar, I love it the way it is "CrazyJ has erned no whater" :p

[disastro]

actually I've found that the AI on all the lower level undead is much superior to the animal summons' ai. I never had a problem with "attack nearest" on my skellies, and they have no spells to speak of so they just get in there and start beating 1d3 damage on things.

mummy dust and death slaad ai have real problems with attack nearest, many times it will get fixated on a target across the zone and ignore the 10 bad guys right next to it. I've had to simply hit "follow" and let it do nothing to avoid this behavior (both the mummy king and the death slaad have this problem).

the howl HAS saved my [censored] on a number of occasions though.. i just wish it was a bit smarter about using it.

[Lorkar1]

Whats really cool(not) is when the mummy king is attacking something and then charges off across the map and hits something else twice and runs off again and attacks like he is on the U.N. peacekeeping tour. One hit here, one hit there, here a hit, there a hit, everywhere a hit hit...except WHERE YOU WANT HIM TO HIT!!! AAARGGHH!!!!

[disastro]

yeah that's a problem too. a few times i've seen him repated switch from one out of reach target to another, and causing him to basically spin in place. never seen that on the regular casted summons.

[Binkyuk]

random target switching happens all the time with all the summons.
count yourself lucky he's Undead, otherwise they become sneak and crit magnets when they go flatfoot while deciding what to do next.

[CrazyJ]

Which is part of why the Slaad stinks.

He casts, and doesn't have the concentration, DC, or damage to make it worthwhile.

Guard Me helps somewhat with the summons--IF you are a meleer. Otherwise it doesn't help until something gets past your tank party members.

Archers in particular really screw summons up.



IDEA: How about linking summon special abilities (Stinky Sally's casting, Puppy howls, etc.) to the "Heal Me" command. I don't think any of the summons have healing AND special abilities that hurt the enemy... this would give the player some control over the non-melee stupidity.