Suggestion is to introduce summoning themes to the server, eg. a possibility for people to have alternate summoning lists, so instead of it going the standard Badger -> Boar -> Wolf -> Spider etc it could go something like Fire Mephit -> Lesser Fire Elemental -> Fire Elemental -> Greater Fire Elemental etc.
For Clerics, perhaps tie it to Domain. Here are some suggestions for what Domains could impact summoning themes.
Good = Celestials (Guardinals if just Good, Eladrin if also Chaos, Archons if also Law)
Evil = Fiends (Yugoloth if just Evil, Demons if also Chaos, Devils if also Law)
Chaos = Slaadi
Law = Formians
Fire = Start with Fire Mephit, go for Elementals
Water = See above
Air = See above
Earth = See above
Death = Undeads (mostly ephemeral undead like allips and wraiths and stuff)
The idea here is that since all the magic Clerics perform ultimately come from their deities (and this is true of Druids, too, although since the current standard summoning theme fits them rather well it's less important here) the creatures that they send over after you cast a summon creature spell is probably going to have something to do with the Domains you're channelling.
For Wizards, maybe have the same summoning themes, but have them be unlocked by either reading lootable books one time or keeping those lootable books on you. Maybe give Conjuration Wizards (who get kind of shafted by the mechanics currently due to not being able to use Transmutation) a bonus of some kind (starting themes, like others get starting languages. Easier time learning themes. Something else.)
I realize that the work involved in making summonable creatures for each of these themes will be pretty substantive, especially if they need to be balanced. I think we could probably introduce them slowly one at a time rather than having to introduce the whole package at once. Frankly, I think keeping them identical to the current summons with extremely minor additions (like making attacks fire-damage instead of slashing or giving high fire soak instead of medium general soak or whatever) would be fine, it's mostly about the class fantasy of being a conjuror. Them feeling distinct and different is more important than them actually being it.
I can make some lists of what would make sense from a lore perspective for a good bunch of summoning themes pretty easily, but I'm not very good at making monsters in the toolset, so I sadly would be rather shit at that.
Suggestion is to introduce summoning themes to the server, eg. a possibility for people to have alternate summoning lists, so instead of it going the standard Badger -> Boar -> Wolf -> Spider etc it could go something like Fire Mephit -> Lesser Fire Elemental -> Fire Elemental -> Greater Fire Elemental etc.
For Clerics, perhaps tie it to Domain. Here are some suggestions for what Domains could impact summoning themes.
Good = Celestials (Guardinals if just Good, Eladrin if also Chaos, Archons if also Law) Evil = Fiends (Yugoloth if just Evil, Demons if also Chaos, Devils if also Law) Chaos = Slaadi Law = Formians Fire = Start with Fire Mephit, go for Elementals Water = See above Air = See above Earth = See above Death = Undeads (mostly ephemeral undead like allips and wraiths and stuff)
The idea here is that since all the magic Clerics perform ultimately come from their deities (and this is true of Druids, too, although since the current standard summoning theme fits them rather well it's less important here) the creatures that they send over after you cast a summon creature spell is probably going to have something to do with the Domains you're channelling.
For Wizards, maybe have the same summoning themes, but have them be unlocked by either reading lootable books one time or keeping those lootable books on you. Maybe give Conjuration Wizards (who get kind of shafted by the mechanics currently due to not being able to use Transmutation) a bonus of some kind (starting themes, like others get starting languages. Easier time learning themes. Something else.)
I realize that the work involved in making summonable creatures for each of these themes will be pretty substantive, especially if they need to be balanced. I think we could probably introduce them slowly one at a time rather than having to introduce the whole package at once. Frankly, I think keeping them identical to the current summons with extremely minor additions (like making attacks fire-damage instead of slashing or giving high fire soak instead of medium general soak or whatever) would be fine, it's mostly about the class fantasy of being a conjuror. Them feeling distinct and different is more important than them actually being it.
I can make some lists of what would make sense from a lore perspective for a good bunch of summoning themes pretty easily, but I'm not very good at making monsters in the toolset, so I sadly would be rather shit at that.