Mummy dust and undead summons

[Donan]

i built a char totally around undead. death realm, all focusing necro etc. This i can fully understand is low priority item but I was kinda bummed when my create undead were mummy/skeleton nothing different just increased stats. I hope that will change but I can see how other things are more important now.

So i get to 21 and being all happy I use my epic feat for mummy dust. I'm sorry but huge disappointment. low ac, 26, ab was 24 even with the help of my feat choices boosting its poor stats. he can barely last a few round with anything its own lvl and can only survive against things lower. even forgetting ac or his ab I would like to see it have a weapon. the mummy uses a few feats for longsword but fights unarmed (1-3 +str modifier) at least with a weapon I can give it keen or darkfire, etc. Since I have no concept of scripting/coding NWN I wont say its easy to add or not but for an epic feat and basically my whole build revolves around necromancy I hope it can be given the weapon if nothing else at the moment.

And yes, I do realize summons are meant to be support not the pure fighter up front but with no elemental damage and extremely low damage it barely does any damage to most monsters.

It is easier to use control undead and get myself a 10x better support then to have wasted this feat.

Since i dont know of anyone else using mummy dust I guess this is very low priority but if adding longsword isnt time intensive I ask please to do it.

I also do like so much controlling 1 undead and summoning another its like my own little army destroying all in its path

[TheBestDeception]

I have worked with the summons for some time and know that they are capable of having good stats...

Did you try buffing up your summon through your spells?
Did you make sure he was cast before any fighting started?

- Undeads (including the mummy) do cold damage, in addition to bludgeoning. Were you fighting Ice Giants, which would have nullified this?

- Being lvl 21 (and immediately taking Mummy Dust), you wouldnt have been able to take Epic Necro focus. This will further improve his stats.

[EDIT]
As noted elsewhere, a pure cleric would not gain the same undead bonuses as, say, a bg or pm ... just depends on how much you truly want to focus in it.
[/EDIT]

[Donan]

I used my summon again giving it every buff I had. Fully buffed it has some survivability, mainly due to improved invis. But I still think it needs a weapon, the 1-3 +str damage is awful. I am always sure to summon outside combat so I get my bonus from focusing, and since I took it at 21 I do not have epic necro focus yet so that will help also I am sure.

I guess after all my rambling the only thing I can say is give it a weapon, all the other factors can be offset with buffs and even more epic focusing on necro but a sword would make a huge difference.

[JesterOI]

Toss on some fullplate too

[Lokey]

I used my summon again giving it every buff I had. Fully buffed it has some survivability, mainly due to improved invis. But I still think it needs a weapon, the 1-3 +str damage is awful. I am always sure to summon outside combat so I get my bonus from focusing, and since I took it at 21 I do not have epic necro focus yet so that will help also I am sure.

What does the equipped item feedback tell you? Creature items (which is what they use) are supposed to override using hands except where a weapon is equipped I think--if not I can always fill the 3rd critter weapon slot and see if that helps. There's still a bug in updating the character sheet, do they only do d3+str in the combat feedback?

[Donan]

I will test and be sure tomorrow..i will just edit this post with my findings....

[JesterOI]

Letting them use an actual weapon and armor allows use of the darkfire/flameweapon spells, and magic vestement.

[Donan]

well i took my summon all over and yes it seems to be doind the 1-3 +str, i did make the mistake about cold damage while fighting ice giants, wasnt paying attention. IMO it is a suitable summon for epic but it definately needs a weapon. With the very low ac even using max buffs it gets hit almost every attack. except the misses due to invis but when the monster has 4 att/round its almost a guranteed 2 hits minn. With a weapon and being able to enhance its offense it kinda offsets the poor ac, of course since im greedy i would love to see armor also for vestment spell but a longsword with cold damage would be great then it becomes something that can hurt others instead of a very short lived meatshield.

But, like i said i have not seen anyone using mummy dust so i will take epic necro and cross my fingers it survives a little longer

[deathdearler1]

the reasons your seeing is why you don't see anyone using it. why waste a feat if its not worth it.

[JesterOI]

I say toss the mummy dust summon a scythe and cloth armor.

[Donan]

Kind of old post but figured i would update it anyways

so i am lvl23 now took all the stuff death domain, epic focus necro mummy dust and here stats

unbuffed:

lvl 23
str 28
dex 17
con 20
ac 26
bab 18
att 31/26/21/16
dmg 1-3 +9 unarmed crit on 20 x2
hp 390

buffed
att goes to 33/28/23/18
ac 31
dmg 1-3+11
hp goto 436
plus it has imp invis from trickery domain

the summons is always cast outside combat for max stats actually the stats themselves arnt bad the 2 probs are obviously the ac 31 isnt bad in general but fighting lvl 23 anything a 31 at best, if not dispelled, will be crushed fast. and the damage is aweful if fighting something with even small bludge resist it will do almost nothing. I think it does 1d6 of cold also.

just thought to update this info havent played my animal summons char to much will post that when i get higher lvl with planer summons and update stats.

[deathdearler1]

just so you have a perspective on your 26ac unbuffed and 31ac buffed summon. my lvl 33monk/SD has 49ac unbuffed. <----see that 49. if i'm not careful in the higher lvl areas say 16-30 range my monk goes down like a ton of bricks. not because i don't have the super damage reduction of the fighters its because a 49 is still within ab + attack roll for most of those mobs. well within reach of anything 20-30. so guess what.....31ac buffed is like an unbuffed mage walking into a hostile city and trying to use their staff to attack like a fighter.....it ain't happenin. thats where the problem lies on the upper summons the ac really sucks for the lvl that they are. they will never be used on this mod if this is never looked at closely. once the high lvl epic areas come in summons will not exist except as drawing points of creatures to get them clumped up for AoE spells.

[deathdearler1]

anyone have any idea why summon undead only yields a lvl 16 skelly that is specialized in longsword and fights unarmed? i'm lvl 29 and i think his lvl should be a little higher. Not to metion why is he specialized and not equipped?

[Lokey]

They're level capped. Use a higher level spell for more mileage.