Summoning in D&D and GURPS

Summoning in D&D and GURPS

Summoning is an iconic area of magic that is present in many TTRPG systems and fantasy stories. Evil cultists summon fiends, priests call upon extraplanar divine allies, wizards summon spirits of the dead to learn forbidden knowledge, and adventuring spellcasters summon things like… celestial badgers to fight off goblins. While I do not have experience with many different TTRPG systems, the experience I have with D&D 3.0/3.5/PF tells me that people often considered summoning wonky and/or broken, usually referring to “breaking” action economy and allowing the summoner to gain access to certain spells and abilities he wasn’t supposed to have. Right now, I’m running a test GURPS game where the only player character is a summoner with the various wizardry summoning spells (and teleportation too, but that’s another topic). Even though there has been barely any action, the game raised lots of questions in terms of game mechanics, in-universe metaphysics, and game design. This calls for an in-depth analysis of summoning in D&D, GURPS, and possibly even other systems to untangle this mess.

D&D 3.0/3.5

My GURPS games use material adapted from D&D and other games, but I do not transfer mechanics one-to-one. Since D&D 3.X is the edition I’m the most familiar with, I’ll start with it, and then branch out to other editions/systems to see how it was different there. First, we have to open up Player’s Handbook and see how the summoning spells work there.

In D&D, there are two types of summoning - summoning and calling. There are also creation spells that, when it comes to creating creatures, for the most part act as summoning spells. I will discuss them separately.

Summoning is defined as follows (PHB, p. 173): “A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from, but a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this. A summoned creature also goes away if it is killed or if its hit points drop to 0 or lower. It is not really dead. It takes 24 hours for the creature to reform, during which time it can’t be summoned again.

When the spell that summoned a creature ends and the creature disappears, all the spells it has cast expire. A summoned creature cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have, and it refuses to cast any spells that would cost it XP, or to use any spelllike abilities that would cost XP if they were spells.”

Page 172 also mentions “Conjurations bring manifestations of objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you (the summoning subschool)...”

I always told my players that summoning spells do not actually bring a real creature from another plane, but instead create something of a simulacrum out of planar energies. Where did I get that from? I actually have no idea, but I hope that this post clears this metaphysical question up. The description above has something to this idea, but not exactly the same. It does mention the 24 hour reformation timer, which implies that it is indeed a specific creature (or at least a manifestation of a specific creature). Summoned creatures being unable to summon other creatures is a reasonable restriction to prevent recursive summoning, but the fact that the summoned creature refuses to use anything that costs XP is a reasonable game-mechanical restriction to prevent the summoner from gaining the benefits without spending his own XP, but also an implication of a semblance of free will of the summoned creature.

Even if a summoned creature is merely a manifestation of a specific extraplanar being, is the being itself aware of the fact that it has been summoned? Does it retain any memories of the experience? It is physically removed from its native plane upon being summoned? More importantly, can it refuse the summon? Also, what happens to a summoned creature that enters an antimagic zone? If it can do that, what happens if it “dies” there? Can a summoned creature be dispelled? Does the summoner lose control of the summoned creature if he is in an antimagic zone, but the creature is not? Does a summoned creature show up as magical to detect magic? For now, this is unclear, but hopefully, we will find answers to these questions, even though most of them are in the “shit no one cares about” category. Some of these mechanical questions aren’t answered in GURPS either, but they are important.

Calling is defined as follows (PHB, p. 172): “A calling spell transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin, although the spell may limit the circumstances under which this is possible. Creatures who are called actually die when they are killed; they do not disappear and reform, as do those brought by a summoning spell (see below). The duration of a calling spell is instantaneous, which means that the called creature can’t be dispelled.”

The same page also mentions “...actually transport creatures from another plane of existence to your plane (calling),...”

I believe that this description describes summoning spells more clearly, saying that they are indeed brought to the summoner’s plane, and disappear and reform upon “death.” As for the calling spells, they are much less vague in terms of metaphysics. However, the question of being able to refuse the call still stands (perhaps it’s explained in the spell description - it’s been a long time since I read them, and my memory may be hazy).

Can a called creature be dispelled? What happens to it if it enters an antimagic zone? What happens if the return clause triggers when the called creature is in an antimagic zone or under the effects of dimensional anchor or a similar spell? Does a called creature show up as magical to detect magic? Hopefully, we will find out later.

Now let’s check out the non-summoning spells that have something to do with summoning/calling to answer some of the questions:

First, we have antimagic field (PHB, p. 200). It has the following:

“Summoned creatures of any type and incorporeal undead wink out if they enter an antimagic field. They reappear in the same spot once the field goes away. Time spent winked out counts normally against the duration of the conjuration that is maintaining the creature. If you cast antimagic field in an area occupied by a summoned creature that has spell resistance, you must make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against the creature’s spell resistance to make it wink out. (The effects of instantaneous conjurations, such as create water, are not affected by an antimagic field because the conjuration itself is no longer in effect, only its result.) [...] The spell has no effect on golems and other constructs that are imbued with magic during their creation process and are thereafter self-supporting (unless they have been summoned, in which case they are treated like any other summoned creatures). Elementals, corporeal undead, and outsiders are likewise unaffected unless summoned.”

This answers most of the questions with regards to antimagic field, summoned and called creatures. Called creatures are not affected, as they have instantaneous duration. However, the question of called creatures returning to their home plane while inside an antimagic field remains, as does the question of the summoner controlling a summoned creature from within an antimagic field.

Detect magic (PHB, p. 219) does say that summoned creatures show up as magical, but does not say anything about called creatures. This implies that called creatures do not show up, unless they are magical and would show up due to that. This is reasonable.

Dimensional anchor and dimensional lock (PHB, p. 221) say that they do not prevent summoned creatures from disappearing at the end of a summoning spell. But what about the called creatures? If it is “recalled” while under this effect, does it work or not? If not, does the creature return to its home plane immediately when the blocking effect ends, or does this blocked triggering “expend” the one-use ability to return to the home plane, stranding the called creature? For now, it’s unclear. Forbiddance (PHB, p. 232) doesn’t specify that, but I assume it works the same way.

Dispel magic (PHB, p. 223) clearly states that it can be used to dispel summoned creatures, but not instantaneous effects, so called creatures are not dispelled.

Magic circle against evil (PHB, p. 249) prevents entry of summoned creatures of a specific alignment or, alternatively, restrains a called creature within it. When I was making my wizardry spells, I omitted this spell because I moved all alignment-based spells to clerical spellcasting, and then thought that this spell would be way too expensive to be viable. However, this is such a significant part of the summoning (well, akshually calling) flavor, that I think it must be reintroduced. If I end up doing that, I probably will go for a generic version of it, something like the Pentagram spell from GURPS Magic.

And now let’s get to the summoning spells:

Summon monster (PHB, p. 285)

Okay, let’s do this. This spell summons one or multiple creatures, at a short range, and has a short duration of 1 round/level. There is no saving throw and spell resistance, as the summoned monster is the effect, not the target. Let’s see the description.

“This spell summons an extraplanar creature (typically an outsider, elemental, or magical beast native to another plane). It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions.

[…]

A summoned monster cannot summon or otherwise conjure another creature, nor can it use any teleportation or planar travel abilities. Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them. For instance, a celestial porpoise may only be summoned in an aquatic environment.”

As you can see, while the creature attacks your opponents by default, you still have to be able to communicate with it to direct it. In 3e, this is usually rather trivial, as most outsiders can speak Common and the number of languages has been greatly reduced compared to previous editions. The vast majority of summonable monsters on the aforementioned tables are fiendish/celestial animals. The fiendish/celestial template grants them sapience (Int 3 is borderline sapient), and the introduction at the beginning of Monster Manual says “Any creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher understands at least one language (Common, unless noted otherwise).” Rules-wise, this means that all fiendish/celestial animals understand Common, and hence can be directed by basically any summoner, and that speak with animals is not required. Flavor-wise, this is dumb.

Now let’s take a look at page 37 of Dungeon Master’s Guide. This page has a box with a variant rule - Summoning Individual Monsters. Here are the interesting bits:

“When a character casts a summon monster or summon nature’s ally spell, she gets a typical, random creature of the kind she chooses. As a variant in your campaign, you can rule that each spellcaster gets specific, individual creatures rather than just some random one.

[...]

Summoning Limits: Getting the same intelligent summoned creature over and over again gives a summoner certain advantages. She can, for instance, send a creature to scout out an area for the duration of the spell and then summon it up again to get a report. If the creature is killed (and thus sent back to its home) or dispelled, however, that individual creature is not available to be summoned for 24 hours.

[...]

When a summoned creature disappears, it leaves all the things that it gained while on the Material Plane.”

Now I have another question - does the 24-hour reformation time even come up without this variant rule? It seems that if you, for example, summon a fiendish badger, have it get killed, you can just summon another one, as you are not summoning specific beings.

The final sentence from the quoted part also is interesting.

The “Summoning Limits” part also seems to imply that the summoned creature does indeed retain all memories and experiences of being summoned. However, this is a variant rule, so it’s canon status is questionab-

Wait a second, let’s open up Monster Manual again on page 40.

“Summon (Sp): Tanar’ri share the ability to summon others of their kind (the success chance and type of tanar’ri summoned are noted in each monster description). However, between their arrogance and disdain for owing favors to one another, tanar’ri are often reluctant to use this power until in obvious peril or extreme circumstances.”

The last sentence wouldn’t make any sense if the summoned creature did not retain any experience of it being summoned. Thus, this question is settled then.

Speaking of summoning monsters to gain information. Since you are summoning an actual creature and not some ephemeral copy, why can’t you gain new knowledge from it? In GURPS, this is important, as this ability might require an additional +50% enhancement. Nothing in the rules says that you can’t do that, and the variant rule implies that you can. Also, if you open up the Book of Vile Darkness on page 14, you will be able to read the following:

“Some writers even asked questions of summoned fiends and recorded their words directly.”

Sure, this is a flavor text, but mechanics are supposed to mirror the flavor (especially in GURPS). So, you are indeed able to ask summoned creatures stuff, unless I find something that contradicts that.

An additional question from the ranks of “shit no one cares” about is “What if a summoned creature is wounded, but not killed? Does it return to its home plane wounded?” I actually managed to find the answer on page 11 of Fiendish Codex I:

“When a summon monster or similar spell elapses, the creature returns to the Abyss unharmed, despite any efforts or action taken by it or the spellcaster.”

Thus, you can do anything you want, but the creature returns unharmed.

Seed: Summon (ELH, p. 100)

This epic spell, unlike summon monster, clearly says that you can summon not only an extraplanar being, but also a being from another place on the same plane. In addition, it also mentions that you can summon a unique individual from anywhere, if you know the target’s name, some facts about its life. In this case, you must defeat the target’s SR, and the target can resist with a Will saving throw. In addition, it is under no obligation to serve you. This is actually important, because so far this is the only precedent of a summoning (not calling) spell allowing a saving throw.

The same book also has an interesting bit on page 163:

“Summon Hecatoncheires (Sp): A hecatoncheires can summon one other hecatoncheires once per day, though is loath to do so because then it will be similarly obligated to answer its sibling’s summoning. A summoned hecatoncheires cannot use its summoning power while “summoned.””

This is another implication of being able to refuse the summoning. Although, this may count as a “unique individual” clause described above. However, now that I think about it, the part about demons being reluctant to summon reinforcements due to owing favors to the summonees afterwards doesn’t make sense, unless they are specific beings who are acquainted with the summoning demon.

There’s also another bit on page 111 of Fiendish Codex I:

“Those who betray a marraenoloth soon discover that no marraenoloths will answer their summons.”

This too seems to imply that one can simply not consent to being summoned. If this is unique to marraenoloths, however, is a bit unclear.

There are many more specialized summoning spells, but they all work the same way, but instead of summoning from the summon monster table, they summon one specific monster type. Before I move to the calling spells and other editions/systems, I would like to check out some third-party supplements, as those sometimes have interesting ideas.

Mongoose Publishing has the Quintessential Wizard and Quintessential Wizard II, but they do not have anything on this topic. They also have Encyclopaedia Arcane: Conjuration. I flipped through the book, and it seems to me that it’s one of the worst entries in the series. Here’s a snippet just for your entertainment:

“Also, a summon monster spell requires an open area within thirty feet of the conjurer for its subject to manifest. The spell gets disrupted automatically if there is nowhere for the monster to appear. Thus, rushing the caster and surrounding him can negate his most impressive spells.”

Yes, great advice.

Just like summoning spells, there are many specialized calling spells. However, the “main” ones are two - planar ally and planar binding - and the rest work more or less the same way, or with differences that do not really affect the bigger picture.

Planar Ally (PHB, p. 261)

I have to note that this is a clerical spell. Unlike summon monster, this spell has a long casting time of 10 minutes, which means that it cannot be used in combat. Duration is instantaneous, because this is a calling spell, and there is no SR or saving throw allowed.

You ask your patron deity for an elemental or outsider, but if you know a specific being, you may request it. However, the deity can always send someone different. You may ask the planar ally to perform one task in exchange for payment, and you must be able to communicate. This is usually trivial, as most outsiders can speak Common and/or have telepathy (seriously, languages are more or less irrelevant in 3e). The creature must be given a payment, be it gold, magic items, cattle, sacrifice, etc., and it does not begin its service until the payment is received. Depending on the length of the task, the payment ranged between 100 gp per HD to 1,000 gp per HD, or more/less, depending on the hazard. Suicidal tasks are refused, as this is a calling spell - the creature will die for real. When the task is completed, the creature reports to you and then departs to its home plane.

More importantly, it must be pointed out that this spell also costs 100-500 XP. I recall people throwing tantrums about spells with XP costs online.

Aside from some esoteric rules interactions that I mentioned before, I don’t really have any questions or complaints about this one. Everything seems reasonable. However, note that the spell implies that a called creature returns to its home plane with whatever was given to it, unlike summoned creatures.

Planar Binding (PHB, p. 261)

Now for the arcane counterpart of planar ally. It also calls a creature, takes 10 minutes to cast, is instantaneous, but offers a Will saving throw. The concept is different - you’re not requesting an ally from a higher power, but forcing an outsider into a trap against their will. The trap itself is the aforementioned inward facing magic circle spell. (Although, is it possible to call an outsider without a circle? Sure, that’d be stupid, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible.)

You can either call a random being of a specified type, or a specific being if you know its name. In any case, the target may resist with a Will saving throw. If it fails, it is trapped in the circle, but it can try to escape once per day with dimensional travel, SR check, or a Charisma check (I’m not sure what the latter is supposed to represent).

You negotiate with the creature normally. If you are successful, the creature is compelled to perform the service. If the task is open-ended, then the duration is equal to caster level days. Once the service is completed, the bound outsider must inform you (“must”, not “may” as for planar ally), and then is instantly sent back to its home plane.

Unlike planar ally, this spell does not cost any XP.

There’s also gate (PHB, p. 234), but for the most part its calling aspect works like planar ally with some rather minor changes that do not affect the bigger picture.

PATHFINDER 1E

Let’s see what was changed in PF1e.

Planar ally doesn’t have an XP cost anymore. In my opinion, this is a very questionable change, but this was lauded as a great change back in the day.

Planar binding is unchanged.

Summon monster is essentially unchanged.

However, we have a specialized supplement called Monster Summoner’s Handbook that may have additional information. First, we have an explanation of the nature of the Charisma check to escape being trapped via planar binding:

“The called creature can still escape by overwhelming the caster’s strength of soul and sense of self—gaining its freedom if it succeeds at a Charisma check—but the diagram makes this Charisma check considerably more difficult.”

And that’s basically it - the rest is character options. However, it does refer to Ultimate Magic as a source of some other info. I gave it a read and found it to be pretty good - it’s a list of what kind of offerings appeal to each kind of outsider. Nice stuff.

D&D 4E

I’ve never played 4e and hence am not really familiar with it. However, the Arcane Power supplement introduces several summoning spells that summon specific creatures, unlike summon monster of 3e. I have not found anything equivalent to calling spells in the rituals section.

D&D 5E

My experience with 5e is very limited, but let’s check out the spells in PHB.

Planar ally (PHB, p. 265) is actually somewhat different from 3e. First of all, you do not petition your patron god, instead you petition a god (or other power). So, if you are a cleric of Pelor, you can request a devil from Asmodeus. That’s… questionable. I don’t like this change.

Second, since there are no HD in 5e, you can request any being. No, there isn’t even a CR limit. Everything is up to the DM now. Also, due to the lack of HD, payment now scaled with time instead of HD, and the typical amount of gold required is higher. So, if you called an imp for a day, you pay him 10k gp. If you called a pit fiend for a day, you would pay him 10k gp too. Not a fan of this.

Third, you can agree upon a time limit, and the outsider may depart to its home plane after this time elapses even if he didn’t complete the task. That’s not bad.

Finally, if you call an outsider and he joins your party, he receives a full share of XP awarded. That’s sensible.

Overall, while there are some decent minor changes, there are questionable major changes.

Planar binding (PHB, p. 265) takes an hour to cast instead of 10 minutes and is… an abjuration spell. There’s also a 1k gp material component required, and the duration is limited to 24 hours (or longer, if you use a slot of a higher level).

The spell itself has some major differences from its 3e predecessor. The spell itself does not summon a creature, but it is cast on a preexisting creature that is typically (see, now it’s not mandatory) summoned into an inverted magic circle. Instead of negotiating for a service, the target simply makes a saving throw. If it fails, it follows all your instructions for the duration. The return clause is also altered slightly, but nothing major.

Why is this an abjuration spell instead of enchantment? The description screams “enchantment” to me.

Also, here’s an interesting moment - while planar ally lets you summon a celestial, an elemental, or a fiend (why not other outsiders?), this spell lets you bind a celestial, an elemental, a fey, or a fiend. Feywild/Plane of Faerie became a big thing in 4e, and all the fey stuff was pushed in many supplements. Instead of a fey pantheon from the previous editions, now there are archfey who can serve as patrons, but why can’t you use planar ally with them? That seems weird to me. And yeah, I guess most fey now count as outsiders, if they are native to Feywild. Although, do fey who were born on the Material plane count as extraplanar creatures? This is unclear, but I will have to think about this for my games.

Summon monster doesn’t exist anymore. Instead, it was split into separate, more specific versions, such as conjure celestial, conjure elemental, conjure animals, conjure fey, conjure minor elementals, etc. They do not have I-IX versions anymore, but instead are singular spells that belong to level 3-7. For the most part, they work the same way as summon monster, but there is no table to summon from - you just pick any creature of the appropriate type, and there is a CR limit.

I should note that the casting time is 1 minute now, and duration isn’t 1 round/level, but Concentration, up to 1 hour. It seems that the designers wanted to nerf summoning. I’m neutral towards these changes.

D&D 5.5E

Unfortunately for my mental health, I decided to look through these books. Believe me - don’t do it. But the general impression aside, let’s see how the summoning spells have changed - and they indeed have changed. Oh boy.

So, there is a series of summon X spells, where X is fey, fiend, elemental, celestial, etc. For the most part, they work like conjure X spells from 5e, but the casting time is 1 action instead of 1 minute. However, now there’s a mandatory expensive material component (300-500 gp, usually). Instead of flipping through the Monster Manual and choosing a creature of appropriate type and CR, you now summon a generic “spirit” with three minor variations. Thus, summon fiend summons a fiendish spirit, and you choose between demon, devil, and yugoloth. Depending on your choice, one of the abilities of the spirit changes. So, now all summons are basically the same. Also, what bothers me is summon construct that “calls forth the spirit of a Construct”. A what?

There’s also a series of conjure X spells, like in 5e, but they are new. Instead of summoning a generic spirit, they go even further. For example, conjure elemental creates an elemental spirit in an unoccupied space. If someone comes within 5 feet of it, it must make a Dex saving throw or take damage, with the damage type depending on the type of elemental chosen. And… that’s it. This isn’t a creature - it’s an unmoving magical area effect that you cannot attack or interact with. Some other conjure X spells allow you to move the effect, but the gist of it remains the same - it’s a mobile, uninteractive attack spell with an additional ability (for example, you gain an advantage on Str rolls when within 5 feet of it). What were they thinking?

Planar ally is the same as in 5e, and planar binding does not have the “if the called outsider joins your party, if gets a full share of XP” clause.

Miss me with this shit.

AD&D 2E

Let’s go backwards now.

Instead of summon monster, you had monster summoning. Actually, 3.5e books use this name sometimes as well, but that’s probably an editing mistake. For the most part, they work the same as in 3e, but there are some interesting differences:

First, the spell specifies that summoned monsters do not check morale. Morale rules were deprecated in 3e for some inexplicable reason.

Second, you aren’t limited to outsiders, extraplanar magical beasts, and elementals anymore. The tables of summonable monsters actually do not list any elementals at all, and only one outsider - the xorn (maybe it wasn’t even an outsider in 2e). You just summon regular creatures - ogres, trolls, hydras, golems, etc. I appreciate that each spell level has three tables - land, saltwater, and freshwater. The distinction between salt and freshwater doesn’t actually exist in 3.5e. Not even in Stormwrack. Anyway, this greatly changes the flavor of the spell.

Third, the DM chooses the monsters (or rolls randomly), not the caster.

Finally, there’s this interesting bit at the end that solves certain metaphysical questions I raised several pages earlier:

“In rare cases, adventurers have been known to disappear, summoned by powerful spellcasters using this spell. Those summoned recall all the details of their trip.”

Ensnarement is what planar binding used to be called. For the most part, it is the same as in 3e. I assume that the magic circle wasn’t a thing back then, because the spell provides quite extensive mechanics for drawing or carving a protective circle. I quite like them, and will probably incorporate them into the Symbol Drawing skill in GURPS.

There is no HD limit here, but the chance of the bound creature breaking through the circle is based on HD/level difference, so the stronger the creature you are calling, the higher the chance of it pummeling your face.

Exaction is a clerical spell that seems to be the predecessor of planar ally. It is actually quite different from its 3e counterpart, and I believe that these two spells could coexist. Here, the caster casts this spell on a preexisting extraplanar creature (unless my reading comprehension failed me), and the creature must not be on an opposed alignment. Then, a service arrangement is negotiated. An interesting aspect is that if the caster fails to uphold his side of the bargain, the outsider becomes immune to all his spells and may attack the caster. So, this is something between planar ally and planar binding.

AD&D 1E

Monster summoning is basically the same as in 2e. What’s interesting is that the player isn’t even supposed to know the summoned monster table - it’s in the DMG. That book also puts extra emphasis on the random determination of the monster, because some are clearly better than others.

There is no “generic” calling spell aside from gate, but there is a more specialized version that appears on a lower spell level - cacodemon. This spell lets you summon a powerful demon, if you know its name. The demon is pissed, so you better protect yourself with a pentagram. In most other aspects, it works like planar binding, but with some specific demon-exclusive bits. For example, if the service requested is impossible or takes too long to perform, the demon has a 50% chance to be freed of the obligation, and will have 666 days to hunt down its summoner before it is shunted back to the Abyss. Cool stuff.

ACKS II

Before I move to GURPS, I’d like to check out how ACKS does summoning. The terminology is shifted around a bit. First of all, now there are three categories of summoning spells - calling, conjuration, and summoning. Calling spells do not pluck the creatures from another place, but compel them mentally to arrive via mundane means. They seem to be restricted to non-sapient animals, akin to the Beast Summoning spell from GURPS Magic. To be honest, I wouldn’t even classify these spells as summoning. The other two types are conjuration and summoning, but they are somewhat different from the D&D spell types in terms of metaphysics.

The conjure X is a series of spells that conjures a single extraplanar being. There’s a separate spell for each type - cacodemon spawn, genie, fiend, imp, major elemental, petty elemental, etc. The duration usually ranges from 1 hour to 1 day, but the caster must concentrate to maintain control over the conjured being, and if the distance between the caster and the conjured being exceeds 360 feet, the control breaks forever. The conjured being then moves to attack the caster. Most importantly, you can conjure no more than one being of a specific type per day.

The summon X is another series of spells that summon one or multiple beings, not necessarily extraplanar ones. Most of them last one day, but some last for months. Most of them require direct control. Each spell can be cast no more than once a day, and some can only be cast once a week. There’s no table or list of summoned monsters - each spell summons one specific type or something from a very limited selection - hellhound, ooze, insect swarms, etc.

GURPS

GURPS, with its multitude of magic systems, has different pre-made ways to do summoning. GURPS Magic has several spells that are relevant:

Planar Summons (p. M82) is a separate spell for each plane of existence. The casting takes 5 minutes, and the duration is 1 hour or until the task is done, whichever is less. The spell is rather costly in terms of FP, so you better drain FP from other mages or have a manastone nearby.

The caster does not control what he is summoning, like in pre-3e D&D. After the summoning is done, the caster must immediately try to control the being - this is a Quick Contest of skill vs. the being’s Will (at +4, if the caster knows its true name). Should the caster win, he may issue a single command. The being is compelled to perform it, and then vanishes. If the caster doesn’t win, the creature either goes on a rampage or departs while pouting, depending on the being.

Summon Demon (p. M155) is a specialized variant of the former spell that only allows you to summon demons, but also allows you to summon multiple beings at once.

Both these spells (and other similar ones) have their FP casting cost depending on the point value of the summoned being, usually 1 FP per 10 points.

Pentagram (p. M124) is somewhat similar to the magic circle, but I will not detail the exact differences. The most important part is that it exists.

However, “vanilla” magic is not the only magic system in GURPS. I’m not going to look at every single one of them here. As I’m mostly interested in how to do it via magic-as-powers, I will focus on that approach.

In GURPS, summoning is done via the Ally advantage, but it’s not very straightforward. It usually requires many modifiers to properly represent a summoning spell. Let’s see all the relevant stuff.

First of all, an Ally has a frequency of appearance that is checked once per adventure. Obviously, if we are to emulate D&D summoning, we have to remove this - we replace it with Constantly, x4.

In D&D, you either had different tiers of summoning spells that limited the power of the summoned being, or you had HD/CR limits, or sometimes nothing of this sort. How do you define the power level of an Ally in GURPS, where there is nothing like HD/CR or levels? By default, you use a percentage of your point total - from 25% to 150% (base cost 1 point and 10 points, respectively). Other books have extended the lower end of this range to 5% (base cost of 0.2 point).

A common mistake new GURPS players make is treating point values as a measure of combat effectiveness. There is a system to derive a Combat Effectiveness Rating (that I’m not a huge fan of), but summons can be used not only for combat, so using CER instead of point totals wouldn’t make sense here. However, using points still has some problems:

• Since summoned being’s point value depends on the summoner’s point value, two different summoners may be able to summon beings of different “power” despite knowing the same spell. This may be okay for some players, but for me this is something I have to suck up and deal with. Another magic system (Incantation Magic) suggests basing summons on a static value - the campaign starting point total, but this doesn’t suit me, as the campaign starting point total is a mutable thing as well.

• Some allies are extraordinarily cheap points-wise. This is relevant not only to summoners but to necromancers as well, as raising undead uses basically the same mechanics. Many animals and undead have their point values in the negatives despite, for example, being quite dangerous in combat. I know that I just said that summons should not be gauged merely by their combat stats, but this is still something that requires consideration. For example, a megaraptor skeleton with a DX value of a whopping 15, ST 24, that runs at Move 13 and deals 2d impaling damage per hit is -21 points. A cloud giant skeleton is 19 points. Thus, theoretically, you could have an entire horde of dinosaur skeletons running around with you for a spell that costs like 2 points, because these -21 points are well within 5% of your point value even if you’re a serf worth 10 points. There are some very common houserules, such as decoupling Will and Per from IQ and Reduced Swing Damage that make the aforementioned monsters even cheaper. For example, the aforementioned megaraptor skeleton and cloud giant skeletons become -122 points and -47 points, respectively. This is insane.

• One idea that I have is to have a lower limit based on the summon’s combat capabilities. A difficult formula probably is unnecessary, but you probably could do well with something like ST*10 + highest combat skill * some other number + DR*5. No need to overcomplicate things.

• Point values based on the percentage of the summoner’s point value kind of break down when the latter is 100 points or lower. Fortunately, GURPS accounts for that in GURPS Zombies, replacing the percentage at these point values with (your point value - X). Sure, this is a rather unlikely edge case, but it should be kept in mind.

• Sometimes 150% is just not enough. Some high-power outsiders may have costs of 700+, which makes summoning them seem impossible, unless you’re an archmage on par with superheroes. Perhaps, some mechanics should be introduced to increase your effective point value for the purpose of summoning via sacrifices, rituals, or cooperation with other summoners. I’ll have to think about it.

• Equipment isn’t reflected in the point values, usually. This was talked about a little bit in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners, but it doesn’t actually solve the problem (especially for me, as I abolish the Wealth trait in my games). A regular megaraptor skeleton and a megaraptor skeleton with an enchanted plate barding that was given to it cost the same number of points, even though both of them have no money. A “naked” balor costs the same as a standard balor with a vorpal sword and a flaming whip.

• While the Ally advantage does say that your ally advances at about the same rate as you to keep up with your point value total percentage, it does also say that it must be exactly at that value with “As with Dependents (p. B131), the GM will adjust your Ally’s abilities in order to keep his point total a fixed percentage of your own as you earn points. This will keep his value as an advantage constant. The GM decides how the Ally evolves, although he might ask you for your input.” However, the advantage also says the following: “If the Ally’s point total falls between two percentages, use the higher.”, which implies that it may not be the case. In my opinion, when it comes to summoning, this value should express the maximum point value of a summoned being and not the actual point value of it. Thus, this is more of a cap of your summoning ability than a prescription.

By default, the Ally advantage represents a mundane friend, ally, or whatever. To turn it into a magical summoned being, you have to apply Summonable, +100%. This does the following:

• To summon your Ally, you have to take a Concentrate maneuver. What is often forgotten even by me, is the following: “The GM determines how long it takes summoned beings to appear. This can vary with the circumstances: fire elementals might appear instantly in a volcano but not at all at sea, animals might need to reach the summoner on foot, and so on. This variability makes most modifiers that affect time requirements inappropriate”. This is very vague and arbitrary, which is something I do not like. I would love to have some kind of baseline for this. This is talked about in more detail on pp. 4-5 of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners, where specific Accessibility limitations are provided. For example, Accessibility, -5% is enough to turn one Concentrate maneuver into 1-2 minutes of chanting and simple material components weighing no more than a pound. For any other advantage, this would be about -50% (!!!) (Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, -30%; Requires magic words, -10%; Trigger, Cheap, -10%). As usual, GURPS is bad with consistency, and Pyramid #3-105 has a summoning ability based on Ally that has Immediate Preparation Required. If we assume that DF9 is correct, then that ability should’ve been more expensive.

• If the frequency of appearance roll is a failure, then you cannot try to summon your Ally again for one day. Not one adventure, like before!

• You can dismiss your Ally as a free action, but only if the Ally is physically present. However, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners says that even in the most restrictive cases, dismissing often takes only 2d seconds of quiet speech, and the summoner must consent to the dismissal. That’s a huge change, especially the consent part, and it’s not said anywhere that a limitation is required for this. Is this simply a new rule? What’s going on here?

• You summon one specific individual that cannot be changed, just like with unmodified Ally advantage.

There is a variant that was introduced in GURPS Powers and then reprinted in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners - Conjured, +100%. It works the same as Summonable, but with the following differences:

• You do not conjure the same being, but conjure different identical beings.

• You have to make a reaction roll for every conjured being to determine its willingness to serve you, as they have no prior experience working with you.

• If the conjured being is killed, you have to wait one day to conjure a replacement.

Speaking of obeying orders and the control of the summoned being in general. How does it work? By default, your Ally is a GM-controlled NPC who is generally helpful and agreeable to your suggestions, but isn’t your puppet. So, if you abuse or mistreat your Ally, he will disagree and perhaps eventually leave or even turn hostile. If you endanger your Ally too much, you do not gain character points normally awarded at the end of the session, and if your Ally dies due to your fault, you lose the advantage.

There is the Minion enhancement that makes it so your Ally continues to serve you regardless of how well you treat him. This is a +0% enhancement if your Ally has IQ 0 or Slave Mentality (or Hive Mentality, or whatever they are going to call it in the 4e Revised), or a +50% enhancement otherwise.

On the other end, you have Unwilling, -50%. Yet again, you do not have to treat your Ally well, but he hates you and usually tries to subvert your commands and otherwise act accordingly.

As was mentioned above, if your Ally is Conjured, then it must make a reaction roll upon being summoned (presumably, if it lacks Minion and Unwilling). I assume that this is a general reaction roll, although I believe that most of the specialized reaction tables can be used, depending on the circumstances (such as Request for Aid, Request for Information, Loyalty, or maybe even Recreation, Hiring, Seduction, Commercial Transaction, or Potential Combat). However, remember I mentioned the only (to my knowledge) pre-made summoning ability based on Ally from Pyramid #3-105? It simplified things, saying that the summoned being makes a reaction roll, and on a Poor reaction or worse, it acts as if it had Unwilling. For the most part, this is the same thing, but much less granular.

Until this point, we were talking about summoning a single, specific creature. However, it is possible to make it so your ability allows you to summon different creatures. Not “different” like in Conjured, where you summon different instances of identical creatures, but creatures with different statblocks and abilities. One could achieve that by creating a Modular Ability that is limited to Conjured Ally advantages, but Pyramid #3-105 introduces the Adjustable enhancement that must be combined with Conjured. Let’s open this can of worms.

The first thing it does is allow summoning different creatures, and the enhancement value depends on the breadth of the scope. The examples given are the following:

• Very similar individuals with few variations (e.g. baboons), +25%.

• Similar individuals that cover a range of skills or abilities within a single field (e.g. lesser courtier fairies or primates), +50%.

• Broad range of individuals that share some fundamental weaknesses or tendencies (e.g. elementals or animals), +100%.

• A category with creatures that include almost any ability (e.g. living beings or spirits), +150%.

In my opinion, the first (baboon) category is more or less okay. Primates for +50% sounds underwhelming. However, the last two ranges seem way too cheap, especially the +150% one. In part, this depends on what exists in the setting, and the more varied the bestiary is, the more valuable it becomes. Even in D&D, the worth of many summonable entities is gauged by the spell-like abilities they possess, and as you may know, the variety of D&D creatures is huge. In effect, a summoner suddenly gains access to almost all powers, many of which may even be forbidden to player characters! Why bother improvising spells when you can summon an outsider who can do that innately and has a “body” to be used in combat? For example, in my games, I try to limit healing spells to divine spellcasters, but certain creatures still possess innate healing abilities. One of the glaring examples is the protectar (sic) (a rather obscure celestial from the Miniatures Handbook for D&D 3.5), who can cast healing spells innately, but is rather cheap points-wise (~90 points). Why bother investing in medical skills, buying/brewing healing potions, or hiring a priest when you can just summon a protectar to heal you up with Minor Healing, and who is usually very willing to do so, because that’s the main thing of protectars? Usually, healing also costs a lot of FP, but here you’re not the one spending them. Also, the cumulative healing penalty isn’t a problem - just summon a new protectar to reset it. This is merely one example to get the point across, I’m sure I could come up with others, and so could you.

On the other hand, this is something of a signature feature of summoners, and removing it would pretty much ruin the entire concept. There must be both an in-universe and game-mechanical reason for summoning to be attractive to characters and players, respectively. It seems that giving a carte blanche on what you can summon is usually not the way to go, especially for short-duration, cheap summoning spells. The list of what you can summon should be curated and/or you should be limited to, for example, one summon per spell per day, like in ACKS. I will have to think about this thoroughly.

However, this is not the end of the Adjustable enhancement. There’s also this part:

“The GM, as always, builds and runs any Allies conjured by this trait. When you call on an Ally, you may request specific abilities, skills, or other unique traits, but the GM is free to say that no such individual exists in your category or impose a penalty on the Frequency of Appearance roll for unusual requests.”

Thus, if you can, for example, summon outsiders, living beings, or spirits, you aren’t really limited to innate abilities. Nothing prevents the summoner to, let’s say, instead of summoning an angel, demon, etc., to summon a wizard, priest, scholar, etc. to solve any problem regardless of how obscure a skill or ability is required. And the summoning spell won’t even be expensive (however, there are some second-order expenses that I will talk about later).

There is another aspect that is not mentioned in the description of the Adjustable enhancement, but is mentioned in the (Entity) Summoning spell that is based on it:

“Alternatively, if you know a specific being you want to call, you can summon it (although if you don’t have its True Name or some equally significant identifier, you are at -5 on the casting roll).”

Since the spell in question has a Will-based casting roll, the -5 modifier fits. I’m not sure how that would work on an ability without a casting roll. But anyway, summoning specific beings is an interesting and important concept, but it should be explored further. This is also where the distinction between the D&D concepts of “summoning” and “calling”, being able to refuse summons, remembering the experience, and all the other “shit no one cares about” things that I mentioned 10 pages previously become even more important.

Remember AD&D 2e monster summoning?

“In rare cases, adventurers have been known to disappear, summoned by powerful spellcasters using this spell. Those summoned recall all the details of their trip.”

“Adventurers” are not on the monster summoning table, so that spell implied that it’s possible to summon specific individuals. Thus, if, for example, your friend got captured, you can summon him to your side, exchange information (for example, where he’s been taken to), and even exchange objects (from the summonee to the summoner, but not the other way around). If you can call non-outsiders, you can just call your nemesis or whatever villain you’re struggling against into a dark room and beat the living crap out of him. In essence, this turns summoning into a reverse teleportation spell that isn’t even limited by distance. This is one of the reasons why those seemingly innocuous questions were important - if you are basically building your own magic system in GURPS, you have to think this through!

This is not the end yet. The Adjustable enhancement also allows you to summon creatures for information (this is one of the reasons why I was investigating the D&D precedents of that), if you apply another +50%. In this case, the summoned being is treated as a Contact Group with an appropriate area of knowledge that is based on the power level of the Ally - from skill 12 for a 25%-point Ally to skill 21 for a 100%+-point Ally, and the reliability depends on the reaction roll. There are some issues with this:

• Why is the effective skill based on the point value percentage of all things? The summoned being is an actual creature, so it has its own skills. So, for example, you summon an angel without the Expert Skill (Celestials) skill, but since it is worth 100% of your point total, it can answer celestial-related questions at skill 21? And if you summon a lowly imp with Expert Skill (Fiends)-16, it answers questions at skill 12, because the imp is cheap? That doesn’t make any sense. I guess one could argue that this can serve as a limit of the skill level for the summoned being, but this is quite a stretch.

• The Adjustable enhancement doesn’t mention it explicitly, but since such conjured allies act as a Contact Group, all the other Contact-related rules apply here, and they are important. For example, you can only call up your Contact once a day. So, if you conjure a devil, ask him a question, then you lose your ability to cast this spell for a day? (Some would argue that if this spell is part of an alternative abilities array, then you’d lose the ability to cast spells for a day.) Or do you lose the ability to ask the conjured beings questions for a day? So, you summon a devil, ask a question, but all the subsequent devils you summon that day go “Sorry, can’t answer that?” The first question you ask your Contact is answered at full skill, but the subsequent questions have a cumulative -2 penalty, which doesn’t mesh well with the actual skill rules. If a devil has Expert Skill (Fiends)-16, why does it lose knowledge the more questions you ask him?

• Is summoning for information a separate use of this ability or something you do in addition to a regular summoning? If due to a failed skill roll or unreliability the outsider says that he doesn’t know the answer, but you can contact him later, do you need to use the mechanics for summoning a specific being described above, but the next day?

Overall, Adjustable is… messy. However, the aforementioned (Entity) Summoning spell sets some other precedents that need to be explored further.

The first aspect is duration. If you recall the D&D spells, most of the calling spells had an instantaneous duration, but some had a limited one. Summoning spells, on the other hand, have a limited duration and sometimes require continuous concentration. Ally is an always-on advantage by default, but if you add Summonable (and, I assume, Conjured), it becomes a transient ability (see p. P154). It is not a switchable ability! Thus, (Entity) Summoning jumping through hoops to avoid maintenance cost, but still sort of requiring maintenance is full of crap! And so am I, because all the summoning spells that I’ve built before were using it as an example. This is why re-reading books thoroughly is important, and this is why I’ve been distrusting pre-made examples in many GURPS publications - always double check this stuff.

Miss me with this shit, GURPS! This is the sort of stuff that should’ve given you a bad reputation, and not the “lol u need to solve integrals to play” memes. (I still love you.) I already ranted about this in my post about the mess that is the Detect advantage, but I am proven right here again.

Fortunately for me, this actually makes things simpler and solves certain issues that I had in mind. I’m still mad though.

Maintenance and the need for constant concentration can be added. But one thing that I liked about Entity Summoning is the planar distance. If you are summoning a being from the plane you are currently on, you take no penalty, and each degree of separation imposes a -5 penalty. In my opinion, this is too harsh, so I decreased it to -3. For D&D cosmology this is actually very neat, as the Great Wheel clearly (for the most part) defines these degrees of separation.

As I mentioned previously, there are some second-order expenses that make summoning in GURPS a bit more costly. First, there is the Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill that I introduced for two reasons - make Symbol Drawing do something, and create a way to negate the harsh planar distance penalties. Second, knowledge skills to know things about the planes and creatures that dwell there. When you can summon pretty much anything, you have to know what there is, and even if you are summoning randomly, you better know what the summoned being can do and what can be done to appease it. Third, planar languages, as you need to issue verbal commands to the summoned being. It may seem trivial, but these relatively minor additions stack up and take up a sizable chunk of your point total, forcing the summoner to specialize on a couple of planes or outsider types.

ANALYSIS

With all that out of the way, before I actually redo my summoning spells, I have to look through what I wrote again and create a list of common features of summoning and calling spells in D&D. This should help me decide which traits are conflicting, which traits I’d like to leave out, and which traits I’d like to keep in my GURPS adaptation. Then, I will see what kinds of summoning/calling spells I need for my games and work out the metaphysics.

So, let’s get started.

Summoning Spells

1. Physically brings a creature to you

2. If killed or dispelled, takes 24 hours to reform

3. When the summoned being departs (willingly or unwillingly), all spell effects cast by it end immediately

4. Objects given to the creature are not transported back with it

5. A summoned being cannot use teleportation, summoning, or anything that costs XP

6. Requires constant concentration

7. Lacks initiative, must be ordered to do things (hostile without active control?)

8. Requires verbal orders

9. Winks out temporarily in no-mana zones

10. Dimensional anchor and similar effects do not prevent the summoned being from going back

11. How does the caster being in a no-mana zone work?

12. Remembers the experience

13. Can refuse a summon

14. Can you summon a specific creature?

15. Is the 24 hour reformation and “unkillability” a function of the spell, or should it be added to the template of the summoned being?

16. Show up as magical to detect magic

17. Can be dispelled

18. When the spell ends, the being returns intact

19. Can provide information

20. Should there be one generic summoning spell or multiple specialized ones?

21. Summoning from a table/list? If so, should the summons be determined randomly?

22. What about the gear?

23. Once per day or other limits?

24. Limited to extraplanar beings or others too?

25. How long does it take to appear?

26. How long does it take to dismiss?

27. What is the lower effective point value limit?

28. Should planar distance be retained?

29. Can you summon creatures with “class abilities” or only basic statblocks from GURPS Monstrous Compendium?

Calling Spells

1. Physically brings a creature to you

2. If it dies, it dies for real

3. Duration is either instantaneous, limited (X hours or days)

4. Possibly, the creature is imparted with a single-use ability to go back home after its service is completed (possibly only after notifying the summoner), or when the duration runs out.

5. Dimensional anchor and similar effects do not prevent the called being from going back. No-mana zones too?

6. Can call a specific being

7. Can resist a call?

8. Do not show up as magical to detect magic

9. Objects given to it are transported with it back to its home plane

10. Cannot be dispelled

11. Can provide information

12. Generic spell or multiple specialized ones?

13. Calling from a table/list or calling anything?

14. What about the gear?

15. Once per day or other limits?

16. How long does it take to appear?

17. How long does it take to dismiss?

18. What is the lower effective point value limit?

19. Should planar distance be retained?

20. Can you summon creatures with “class abilities” or only basic statblocks from GURPS Monstrous Compendium?

I need to write up spells to emulate summon monster, planar binding, and… Halaster’s fetch that I haven’t mentioned previously. While there are other summoning/calling spells, they are merely variations of these three (mostly the first two).

Since we found out that Ally (Summoned/Conjured) is a transient ability, creating a calling spell should be easier now, so let’s start with planar binding. But… is there another way? Now that I’ve written up all my frustrations with the Ally advantage, I do not really want to use it for a spell that can summon any outsider without a curated list, unless I have no alternatives. In GURPS, you pay for the effect, not for the “flavor.” An effect in this case is an ally, right? But what if I pretend not to understand things and say that the effect is “transporting an extraplanar creature to you?” We can do that via Affliction with Jumper and Warp, but we will have to stretch RAW to its limits and beyond. However, with such difficult ability builds, I’ve come to like Chris Normand’s approach of using the advantage/modifier framework not to work out the exact ability, but enough to be able to estimate the point cost.

I’ll jump forward a little bit and say that I threw some numbers around and estimated that a spell that emulates planar binding would cost 650+ points. Even if you slap a character point cost on it (which actually corresponds to the XP cost of this spell in D&D), you still get a prohibitively expensive spell. So, after discussing this thing with a friend of mine, we both decided that it’d be a better idea to split planar binding into two spells - a spell that fetches (I chose this word deliberately) the outsider, and a spell that binds it. In essence, we went with the AD&D 2e + D&D 5e approach.

We start with an Affliction that has all the usual wizardry stuff - Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Magical, -10%; No Signature, +20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%. It will be resisted by the target’s Will, so let’s add Based on Will, +20%. The casting time will be one hour, so let’s add Immediate Preparation Required, 1 hour, -75%. That’s the easy part, but what about the questionable and difficult parts?

First, we have to get a target. To target something with a Malediction, one has to see it or perceive its exact location with another sense. When you summon a creature from another plane, you do not see it. You could build a linked Detect-based ability that exists exclusively for lock-on purposes, but that’d cost a lot and be janky as hell in this situation, as distances work strangely between planes (or rather do not work at all). We actually have a precedent for a Malediction that doesn’t require you to see the target in GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells, but… that’s a questionable ability build. I know that I made it (or did I make something else, and it was changed by the editor - I do not remember the specifics, that was a long time ago), but I wouldn’t trust that build in any case. Always double check everything yourself. So, instead of complicating things further, I just added Cosmic, Doesn’t have to see the target, +50% and called it a day.

However, remember I just mentioned that range penalties do not really work across the planes, unless the two planes are coexisting? To remove range penalties altogether, I added Malediction 4, +250%. Yes, I know that this enhancement stops at level 3, but level 4 removing range penalties seems like the natural progression. To actually make the ability work across the planar boundaries but not within the same plane, I had to add Plane-Spanning Only, +50%.

For now, this is enough for the Affliction to work, but what does it afflict the target with? Planeshifting is done via the Jumper advantage, but that advantage has one stupid issue that I still can’t believe the authors failed to catch and fix (or, more likely, neither the authors or players give a shit) is that it doesn’t say anything about where you appear when you shift between planes that are not overimposed one over another (not “coexisting” in the D&D sense). Thus, I introduced a significant distance drift in my plane shifting spells - you never arrive precisely where you wanted to, unless you were shifting between two coexisting planes. Thus, in addition to Jumper, we have to afflict Warp to bring the subject to yourself (or rather into the prepared magic circle).

Jumper and Warp will have some common modifiers - Warp Jump, +10%; Magical, -10%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; and Gyroscopic, +10%. The inclusion of Warp Jump, +10% is slightly questionable, as you are afflicting both advantages and not using them, so they are sort of linked by default, but I’ll leave them in. Gyroscopic is questionable for Jumper, as nowhere it is said that you are mentally stunned after shifting planes aside from the Gyroscopic enhancement as it appears in Pyramid #3-63. However, while usually I’d go on a butthurt tirade in this situation, I actually agree - I think this stun thing makes sense for Jumper.

For Jumper, we also add Cannot Escort, -10% and Cannot Follow, -20% to remove some non-generic parts of the advantage that we do not need. In addition, we add Limited Access, Only to the summoner, -20%. This is one of those limitations whose value is said to be “whatever you want,” but I decided to be conservative here. The 10-second casting time of Jumper is negligible compared to the 1-hour casting time of the spell itself, so I will simply ignore it.

For Warp, we add Anchored, Only to the summoner, -60%. There is a precedent in GURPS Horror that sets the value of this limitation to merely -20%, but I’m not buying that. Anchored, -60% is “one item whose location can change,” and that fits the bill better. In addition, I assume that concentrating on Warp and Jumper is done simultaneously, so the 10 seconds of concentration on Jumper (that I include into the casting time) also count as 10 seconds of concentration on Warp. 8 seconds on concentration give us a -2 preparation penalty, so I also add Reliable 2, +10% to negate it and Nuisance Effect, No more than 10 seconds of concentration, -10% to prevent further concentration. Things would get weird with the 1-hour casting time, where you’d have players think “Should I concentrate for 1 hour or 1 hour and 20 seconds?” So, I just removed the option entirely to make things simpler.

At this point, I realized that this build has a glaring problem (aside from being very non-RAW) - if I want to have less generic versions of this spell further down the line (for example, to call only fire elementals, or only demons), the accessibility limitation, when applied to Affliction and then divided by 5 for character point expenditure, wouldn’t change things. It’d make the spell one point cheaper at most. So, I decided to ignore RAW again and instead apply Accessibility, Only extraplanar creatures, -10% to Jumper and Warp. This accessibility will have different values for the specialized spells, of course. In this generic version it serves only one goal - to prevent the caster from calling prime creatures that are not native to the plane he’s calling them from. For example, you won’t be able to call your human friend from the Elemental Plane of Earth.

After that is done, we go back to Affliction. Since the magic circle is a thing separate from the spell and will be a function of the Symbol Drawing skill, we decided to expand its use further. For example, what prevents a caster from calling an imprisoned outsider? And outsiders, especially powerful ones, get imprisoned all the time. What’s the point of a prison then? So, we decided that it should be impossible (or much more difficult) to call an outsider from an area that is protected by a special symbol circle drawn with the Symbol Drawing skill. That applies Nuisance Effect, Can be counteracted with Symbol Drawing, -5%.

Then, we applied Character point-powered, x1/5 to the spell to make it cost a character point, and also make it affordable. When it comes to spending character points, I have an internal conflict between the evil GM and good GM sides of mine. The Evil GM tells me that all resources spent on the casting are wasted if the casting fails. The Good GM tells me that this is way too harsh when it comes to character points. In this case, we decided that the character point is spent only if you succeed planeshifting the target.

Thus, we needed some mechanic to prevent spamming the spell until you succeed. We decided to apply Increased Immunity 3, -30% and Increased Immunity 2, -20%, which makes no sense normally, especially when this limitation is capped at level 4. In this case, however, Increased Immunity 2 gives the caster a cumulative -2 penalty to cast this spell for the next day, and Increased Immunity 3 gives the subject a permanent cumulative +2 bonus to resist this spell from this caster.

This is what we’ve got:

Ensnarement

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 45 points.

Casting Roll: Skill to shift planes, Skill to transport, see text.

Components: V, S.

Cost: 1 FP or more + character points, see text.

Casting Time: 1 hour.

Range: Unlimited (special).

Duration: Instantaneous.

Casting this spell attempts a dangerous act: to lure an extraplanar creature to the caster. This spell cannot be used to lure an extraplanar creature that is currently on the caster’s plane of existence, and there are other countermeasures that can prevent you from ensnaring a creature (see the description of the Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill for details). Usually, the caster prepares a trap, where the called creature will be held until it agrees to perform on service in return for freedom. The type of creature to be ensnared must be known and stated, and if the caster would like to ensnare a specific being instead of a random creature of the chosen type, the specific, proper, or given name must be used in the casting of this spell. The initial casting roll is resisted by the called creature’s Will, but if the caster rolls an unmodified 14 or higher, the spell automatically fails, and the called creature becomes aware of the ensnarement attempt. It does not learn the identity of the caster, but may do preparations to avoid future attempts. In addition, on a failure, the caster takes a cumulative -2 penalty to cast this spell until he waits one day before the next casting. The creature that successfully resisted Ensnarement gets a permanent cumulative +2 bonus to resist Ensnarement cast by the same caster.

If the creature fails to resist, the caster must spend a number of unspent character points equal to the point total of the called being / 200, rounded up, and the creature is transported from its plane of existence to the caster’s plane along with everything it is carrying. If it was shifted from a coexisting plane (such as from the Plane of Shadow to the Material plane), it appears on the corresponding spot on the caster’s plane. If it was shifted from a non-coexisting plane, it appears in a random safe place within 1dx50 miles of the caster.

Then, the caster must make another uncontested casting roll to transport the creature to any safe spot that can support the ensnared creature within 10 yards, usually into a prepared trap. This additional roll does not require any extra time – it is done effectively simultaneously with the first roll, so the outsider does not get any chance to act between shifting planes and teleporting to the caster’s location. The distance between the creature and the caster penalizes this casting roll. Distance penalties appear on the table below. If actual distance falls between two values, use the higher. Since the distance between caster and the creature may be unknown to the caster, the exact penalty also may be unknown.

Distance Skill Penalty

10 yards 0

20 yards -1

100 yards -2

500 yards -3

2 miles -4

10 miles -5

Add an additional -1 for each 10x increase in distance.

Apply a bonus of +1 to this second casting roll per 2 additional FP spent. You must declare this before you cast the spell, and you lose the FP whether you succeed or fail.

If this second casting roll fails, the creature remains where it was, but catches a glimpse of the caster’s face and surroundings, and learns the direction towards the caster. If this roll is a critical failure, then the creature also learns the distance towards the caster. If the roll succeeds, the creature is instantly transported to the designated space. It may freely attack or otherwise affect the caster, unless he prepared a warding circle or other protective measures. Usually, the caster follows-up with a casting of Planar Binding or Exaction to persuade the ensnared creature to perform a service in exchange for freedom. In any case, many extraplanar creatures react at least at -3 to the caster of Ensnarement, or at least -4 if ensnared into a trap.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (Will; Advantage, Ensnarement, +1,900%; Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Based on Will, +20%; Character point-powered, x1/5; Cosmic, Doesn’t have to see the target, +50%; Immediate Preparation Required, 1 hour, -75%; Increased Immunity 5, Variant, -50%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 4, +250%; No Signature, +20%; Nuisance Effect, Can be counteracted with Symbol Drawing, -5%; Plane-Spanning Only, +50%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [45]. Note: “Ensnarement” is Jumper (World; Accessibility, Only extraplanar creatures, -10%; Cannot Escort, -10%; Cannot Follow, -20%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Gyroscopic, +10%; Limited Access, Only to the summoner, -20%; Magical, -10%; Warp Jump, +10%) [100] + Warp (Accessibility, Only extraplanar creatures, -10%; Anchored, Only to the summoner, -60%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Gyroscopic, +10%; Magical, -10%; Nuisance Effect, No more than 10 seconds of concentration, -10%; Reliable 2, +10%; Warp Jump, +10%) [90].

This is a complicated spell, but I think it’s looking good. As you can see, there are two casting rolls - one for planeshifting, and one for teleporting. Thus, you can succeed one, but fail another, resulting in an outsider stranded on the Material plane, which is yet again appropriate. I replaced the temporary penalty for a failed Warp roll with the target getting a glimpse of the caster, which opens the way to some interesting and dangerous situations. While the spell is rather affordable in terms of points, since it doesn’t use Ally, it has no arbitrary point limits. Thus, in this case, it works more like the 5e version of the spell. The spell self-balances itself by the fact that you have to gauge your own power and the power of the being you are calling, as they are not (yet) forced to serve you, and if you call someone beyond your power level, you are going to regret it. I went with the 2e name for this spell, but if you are using it without the follow-up spell that binds the outsider, this spell actually does what Halaster’s fetch does in D&D 3.5. Thus, with this spell we cover one half of planar binding and an entirely different spell. One-and-a-half-for-one is a good deal.

Now, let’s do the second half of planar binding. This is going to be much more simple and RAW, as it will be based on the Geas/Quest spell combined with Banish. I ended up with the following statblock which is mostly RAW.

Planar Binding

Keywords: None.

Full Cost (Short-Range): 44 points.

Full Cost (Ranged): 49 points.

Casting Roll: Skill.

Components: V, S.

Cost: 3 FP.

Casting Time: 1 hour.

Range: Unlimited (-1/yard) – Unlimited (standard).

Duration: Instantaneous.

A Planar Binding spell places a magical command on an extraplanar creature to carry out some service, as desired by you. The subject must be able to understand your command. Once the service is completed, the subject returns to the last place it has been to on its home plane along with everything it is carrying. The subject must be willing to accept this spell – the caster must persuade, bribe, or threaten it into accepting Planar Binding. Thus, impossible demands or unreasonable commands are never agreed to. As a rule, this spell is cast on a creature called with Ensnarement and trapped in a magic circle created with the Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill.

Once the requested service is completed, the creature needs only to inform you to be instantly sent back whence it came, but a no-mana area and effects that block dimensional travel will prevent the return trip, much to the dismay of the recipient of Planar Binding. The creature might later seek revenge. If you assign some open-ended task that the creature cannot complete through its own actions the spell remains in effect for a maximum of margin of victory days. Note that a clever recipient can subvert some instructions – the recipient needs only to follow the letter of the verbal contract. Planar Binding cannot be dispelled, as its duration is instantaneous, and it functions even in no-mana areas.

If you fail your casting roll, you cannot cast this spell on the same subject again within 24 hours.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only on willing subjects, -20%; Accessibility, Only on extraplanar creatures, -40%; Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 3 FP, -15%; Heart Attack, Variant, +300%; Immediate Preparation Required, 1 hour, -75%; Increased Immunity 3, -30%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%) [34] + Mind Control (Accessibility, Must share a language, -10%; Accessibility, Only on willing creatures, -20%; Accessibility, Only on extraplanar beings, -40%; Accessibility, Only to impart Obsession with no self-control roll, -40%; Conditioning Only, -50%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Reliable 5, No net bonus, +40%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Short-Range 1, -10%; Slow and Sure, 1 hour, +40%) [10]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% on Affliction [+5] and removes Short-Ranged 1, -10% from Mind Control [+0]. Note: Even though Reliable is not applicable to Mind Control, here it is applied to negate penalties that depend on the value of the imparted disadvantage. The enhancement has an increased value and does not provide a net bonus.

This spell has a rather complicated statblock, but the effects are quite simple. I’ll wait with the clerical variant based on exaction from AD&D 2e, because it’d be merely a variant of this spell. Now, I have to define how Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) will be working with regards to such rituals.

Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) - IQ/Hard

Defaults: Thaumatology-4.

This specialization of the Symbol Drawing skill allows you to create magic circles to trap summoned or called beings. Such circles may be temporary (drawn by hand) or permanent (inlaid or carved). Even with such protection, the entrapped creature may break free and wreak its vengeance upon the spellcaster.

A magic circle prevents a trapped outsider from physically moving from inside the circle to the outside, and stops any supernatural abilities from working across this border in this direction, including teleportation, dimensional travel, Missile spells and similar projectiles. However, once per day, a trapped creature may try to force its way through the circle by making a Quick Contest of Will against the Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill of the circle. If it wins, it may leave the circle, but if it returns to it, it will be trapped again. If a trapped creature is being called or summoned from the circle, the summoner must first win in a Quick Contest of skill (or attribute used for the summoning ability or Will, if there are none) against Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles), and only then try to affect the subject. Failure to overcome the circle counts as a failure to affect the subject for the purpose of cumulative penalties and resistance bonuses.

Any break in the circle spoils the efficacy of it and enables the trapped creatures to break free automatically. Even a straw dropped across the line of a magic circle destroys its power. Temporary circles have to be redrawn from scratch if the pigment was damaged or smeared away, but to restore the power of a permanent circle or a temporary circle broken by an object, it is enough to remove the object breaking the circle.

When a character creates a magic circle, the GM rolls against his Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill in secret - no Artist, Masonry, or other skills are required. A successful roll indicates a functional circle that works with the effective skill of the creator adjusted for equipment. A failure still produces a dysfunctional circle, but the creator knows that he made a mistake. A critical failure produces a dysfunctional circle, but the creator does not realize that.

It takes (radius of the circle in yards) hours to draw a temporary circle by hand. A permanent inlaid or carved design requires a (6 x radius of the circle in yards) weeks to create. A permanent circle gets a base +4 bonus when resisting attempts by trapped creatures to cross it, and this bonus can be increased by using various metals and minerals in its design. A circle with an additional +1 bonus requires (6 x radius of the circle in yards x $1,000) in expensive materials, and a circle with an additional +2 bonus requires (6 x radius of the circle in yards x $5,000) in expensive materials.

Modifiers: This skill takes Equipment Modifiers (p. B345). For hand-drawn circles they are as follows: -5 when drawing a circle with no equipment, such as using a stick in the sand. -2 when using improvised pigments, such as coal, chalk, or blood. +0 when using basic pigments ($50 per hour of drawing). +1 when using Good-quality pigments ($250 per hour of drawing). +2 when using Fine-quality pigments ($1,000 per hour of drawing). Carved or inlaid circles require the stoneworker’s kit (p. LT30) or another appropriate tool kit for other materials.

Now, the only thing left is the summon monster spell or whatever I decide to call it. First of all, I have to decide how it’s going to work:

A single generic spell that can summon anything?

A single spell that summons from a random table?

A single spell that summons from a curated list?

Specialized spells for each plane with curated lists/random tables?

Specialized spells for each creature?

A combination of some of the above?

So far, the only summoning summoning spells that I’ve got are Summon Elemental and Summon Monster. They are not very similar to the D&D summon monster/monster summoning spells, but this doesn’t bother me. (I sometimes get called out for caring too much about adapting D&D mechanics one-to-one to GURPS, but this is rarely a major concern to me. What matters to me is the concept, not the mechanics.) In my opinion, leaving them in their current state is unacceptable, because the Summon Monster spell is too “broad.” Sure, there are second-order expenses, such as skills and languages, but despite that a caster can summon practically anything and has control of the summoned creature. The spells are mostly intended for combat use, but you can imagine a multitude of other uses, such as usage of spell-like abilities unavailable to the caster, triggering traps, etc.

While I’m a big fan of random tables, I don’t think that’d be appropriate here. As you probably already know, GURPS is not a complete game that can be played out of the box. While I have written over a thousand D&D monster statblocks, most of them are in a need of revision. Only those that made it into one of my GURPS Monstrous Compendiums are what I consider more-or-less final versions that I can safely use in my games. While two volumes (well, more like two and a half at this point) may sound like a lot, it really isn’t. There are just not enough proper monster writeups to fill up the random tables, and as I write up more monsters in the future, I would have to edit these tables as well. That sounds like a chore. Also, such tables do not play well with the fact that the “power” of a summoned being depends on the percentage of the point total of the summoner.

Creating a specialized spell for every single summonable creature would allow me to curate what creatures can and cannot be summoned. This requires a lot of work, but would remove the problem of “too powerful” summons. However, the spell list would bloat to a degree that even I would scoff at.

A compromise here is to have specialized summoning spells that summon from a curated list. Editing lists is easier than editing tables. In addition, such spells would allow some casters to be more thematic as instead of Summon Monster you will have Summon Demon, Summon Devil, Summon Angel, etc. This is especially important for divine casters. The spells themselves would be cheaper than the generic Summon Monster spell. Furthermore, I could leave even more specific spells that summon a single creature, such as Summon Fire Elemental. I think this is the best way to go here.

With that decided, I have to think about both metaphysics and mechanics. Metaphysical questions were more or less the same in all D&D editions for calling spells, but some summoning things are inconsistent. In terms of mechanics, since I’m going to be using curated lists, the Ally advantage should work well. However, now that we know that Ally (Summonable/Conjured) is a transient ability, we have another question - how long does the Ally last? I will need to limit the duration but what is the duration? After some googling, I found out that this has been a topic people have been arguing about for at least 14 years, and with no clear answer to this day. GURPS Basic Set seems to imply that it should last for an “adventure”, but others interpret it as one day, one minute, or even one week if we apply Game Time, +0% and assume that one adventure and one session are equivalent.

There is a Kromm post that says the following:

Classic Ally Interpretation

Frequency of Summoning: Once per adventure.

Duration of Summoning: One adventure.

This is no change from a standard Ally, and is worth no points.

Spell-Like Interpretation

Frequency of Summoning: However often you like until you fail and hit the cooldown.

Duration of Summoning: One minute.

This is a big change from a standard Ally, but it's a tradeoff and worth no points.

This isn’t supported by anything written in the books, but it still gives me something of an idea. Summoning spells are built as Allies with Constantly Available, x4. Thus, you do not roll against Frequency of Appearance and hence cannot fail and hit the cooldown. We could apply Requires IQ Roll, -10% and transplant the rules for “cooldown” to this roll, but this isn’t right. We cannot use Maximum Duration, as Ally is not a switchable ability (and Maximum Duration is somewhat bonkers). We cannot use Reduced/Extended Duration yet, because we do not know what duration we are modifying. However, let’s check the description of transient abilities on p. P153 more carefully:

“3. It produces its effects (such as healing, injury, or teleportation) in an instant and immediately shuts off, or has a duration that the user can’t control because it relies on a random roll or because the underlying advantage or one of its modifiers (e.g., Limited Use) specifies “uses” of finite duration.”

Now let’s read Limited Use (p. B112).

“You can use your ability only a limited number of times in a 24-hour period. For most advantages, each “use” is 1 minute of activation. For an attack, each “use” gives shots equal…”

Ally isn’t an attack, so if we assume that Ally is part of “most advantages,” then we can apply Limited Use, 1/day, -40% and get an Ally that can be summoned for 1 minute per day, and we can modify this duration further with Reduced/Extended Duration. This seems to be RAW-compliant as well. The only other limitation that may accomplish the same thing is Trigger.

However, what if we applied Limited Use, 1/day, -40% and then upgraded it to Limited Use, 10+/day, which isn’t a meaningful limitation? That still would produce an ability that pretends to have a limited number of 1-minute uses while effectively having no such limit. Essentially, this all is stupid mental gymnastics that allow us to arrive at the same solution that the aforementioned Krommpost suggests.

So, with this annoying and unusual aspect out of the way, I can finally rework my Summon Monster into something more specific. Let’s do Summon Demon. The core part will be the same - Ally that is Constantly Available, with Conjured, +100%; Adjustable, +100%; Minion, +50% and all the regular wizardry stuff.

While previously this spell had 9 levels, I decided to cut it down to 5 - 25%/50%/75%/100%/150% of your point total. However… I’m not actually going to use the points. Instead, I’ll just manually assign appropriate creatures to these levels. This will make the spell much more simple to use, as you won’t have to calculate the percentage of your point value and point values of demons themselves. For example, demons written up by me in Monstrous Compendium have precalculated point values of their racial templates, but the statistics of their typical representatives may differ - they might have higher attributes, additional advantages, and, most importantly, skills. And what about the houserules? If you are using independent Will and Per, reduced swing damage, or other common houserules, you would have to recalculate this again. Let’s just skip all that and arbitrarily assign creatures to spell levels.

In addition to spelling out the metaphysics clearly, I decided to introduce a cumulative penalty for all Summoning (new keyword) spells to avoid abuse. The daily limit of ACKS might be too harsh (even though I considered it at first), but this penalty should do the trick. In the end, we get something that looks like this:

Summon Demon

Keywords: Summoning.

Full Cost: 14/28/41/68/136 points for levels 1-5.

Casting Roll: Skill.

Components: V, S.

Cost: 2 FP.

Casting Time: 2 seconds.

Range: 10 yards.

Duration: 30 seconds.

Summon a demon to serve you. Choose a creature to summon from the table below, using its standard statistics with the addition of Enhanced Unnatural [-100] that makes the summoned creature “die” once it reaches 0 HP. You may always choose to summon a creature from a list of a lower spell level. You cannot summon a specific individual.

Level 1: Dretch (MCII, p. 29), quasit (MCII, p. 44).

Level 2: Babau (MCII, p. 18).

Level 3: Evistro (MCI, p. 44), succubus (MCII, p. 50).

Level 4: Hezrou (MCII, p. 35), vrock (MCI, p. 49).

Level 5: Bebilith (MCII, p. 25).

The demon obeys your verbal commands, if it can understand your language, but will refuse suicidal orders, taking the Do Nothing maneuver. If not given a task, it acts normally but will never harm you. It may harm your allies unless ordered otherwise.

The target creature senses the destination and may refuse the call if the environment cannot support it (e.g., aquatic creatures require water). If one refuses, an identical creature is summoned instead. 

The summoned creature is vulnerable to Dispel Magic, Banishment, and similar effects. In a no‑mana zone, it vanishes but returns if mana is restored before the spell ends. You may still command it from a no‑mana zone but cannot dismiss it early.

You may dismiss the creature as a free action. When the spell ends—or if it is dismissed, banished, or killed—the creature returns to its home plane intact, retaining its memory and original gear. Items given to it during the summoning are left behind. If killed, it reforms after 24 hours.

Dimensional Anchor does not prevent its return upon death but blocks active banishment or dismissal.

Casting multiple summoning spells per day is difficult - each Summoning spell you cast imposes a cumulative -3 penalty on all subsequent Summoning spells cast that day. In addition, if a summoned creature is killed, you cannot cast this spell again for 24 hours; if dismissed, you must wait five minutes.

Statistics: Ally (Demon; Built on 25%; Constantly; Adjustable, +100%; Conjured, +100%; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Magical, -10%; Minion, +50%; Nuisance Effect, Summoning Penalties, -5%; Ranged, +40%; Reduced Duration, 1/2, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires Gestures, -10%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Requires Magic Words, -10%; Special Abilities, +50%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [14]. Other versions increase the point percentage.

As you can see, the list of available creatures is rather short, but this is something that will grow with time, as I write more and more of them up. I’m content with the result.

Anyway, aren’t we done here? I think we (me and my friend who’s been helping me along the way) finally managed to untangle this mess and adapt the spell concepts properly. Now, I just have to rework all the other Ally-based spells to use the same mechanics.