[DF] Summoned allies questions:

[CrimsonDawn]

In Basic Set, Summonable enhancement says that you roll at the start of an adventure? Does this mean in DF context that the summoned ally appearing is rolled when the party leaves "the town"? Can it be summoned at another time with a Concentrate maneuver (to save on supplies, food etc.), then? How long does it hang around, or will it just stay about until dismissed?

When a summoning roll is failed, you can't summon the ally again for one full day. What about if the summoning roll is successful? Can you summon an ally, make it attack, and dismiss it immediately on your next turn as a free action, just to summon it again to another point (on the same turn), effectively teleporting it? I guess that's not supposed to be happening. Should the one day delay also apply when dismissing an ally?

[Diomedes]

It's the nonsummonable allies for which the GM rolls at the start of the adventure; for the summonable ones the player rolls when he needs them.

[PK]

Originally Posted by CrimsonDawn

In Basic Set, Summonable enhancement says that you roll at the start of an adventure?

That's assuming a fairly normal Ally. For one that you can literally conjure out of thin air, you roll every time you summon it. (Powers clarifies this some.)

Does this mean in DF context that the summoned ally appearing is rolled when the party leaves "the town"?

No.

Can it be summoned at another time with a Concentrate maneuver (to save on supplies, food etc.), then?

Yes.

How long does it hang around, or will it just stay about until dismissed?

The latter.

When a summoning roll is failed, you can't summon the ally again for one full day. What about if the summoning roll is successful?

Then you can summon it again. You can summon, dismiss, summon, dismiss, etc., as much as you want until you fail that summoning roll. Then you're out for a day.

Can you summon an ally, make it attack, and dismiss it immediately on your next turn as a free action, just to summon it again to another point (on the same turn), effectively teleporting it? I guess that's not supposed to be happening.

No, it's not. The GM decides where the Ally appears, not you. You can't "aim it" at an area.

Should the one day delay also apply when dismissing an ally?

No.

[vicky_molokh]

What is the -default- casting time of Summon ally? Basic sort of seems to mean one second, but Powers say that time varies.

[Diomedes]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

What is the -default- casting time of Summon ally? Basic sort of seems to mean one second, but Powers say that time varies.

Reading the two entries, it seems like the casting time (i.e., the time the character must spend concentrating) is one second, but there's a lot of variability in how long it takes for the Ally to actually show up.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Technically, abilities of powers use the default time for all advantages that lack specified durations: 10 seconds (p. B101). In this case, a minute seems fairer.

What?!? 1 minute? that turns Summonable from a from a major Enhancement to a extreme Limitation! Frex, if my Brother is an Ally, Then If I want him to come plunder the ruins of Ko'Tar with me I give him a call - on a 12 or less, his wife says its okay, and my ally will accompany me for that adventure. That costs 10 points. On The Other Hand, If I make it part of my character concept that I have a Ring of Little Brother Summoning, I hold the ring towards the heavens, chant my magic word and concentrate - on a 12 or less the power of the ring allows my brother to assist on the adventure for 1 minute. This costs 20 points?

I've always played Summonable to work at the same duration as a regular ally, since it doesn't say it affects the duration. So, the Ally is summoned for the duration of the adventure - which admittedly may need GM interpretation, depending on the campaign, especially in DF when you can rest 8 hours 100 times before completing a mega-dungeon, but I would say 12-24hrs would be a minimum fairness. Or 5 hours + Frequency of Appearance Target in hours - so, "On a 6 or less" would be 11hours, "On a 15 or less" would be 20 hours, etc. Dismissed and re-summoned as normal.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by Danukian

What?!? 1 minute?

1 minute is the basic assumed time for one combat, near enough. Obviously most are shorter, and some can be longer, but when something says "once per combat" it often is built with "once per minute" as its time limit - thus in long combat scenes it does reset.

Of cause, for a summonable ally, nothing stops you just re-summoning them whenever you need them - like, say, at the start of the next combat. Plus, its only a "technically the rules say this" answer - it can easily be invoked to prevent a player from rolling once and never dismissing, but nothing stops you overlooking it for players who play fair.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by PseudoFenton

1 minute is the basic assumed time for one combat, near enough. Obviously most are shorter, and some can be longer, but when something says "once per combat" it often is built with "once per minute" as its time limit - thus in long combat scenes it does reset.

Of cause, for a summonable ally, nothing stops you just re-summoning them whenever you need them - like, say, at the start of the next combat. Plus, its only a "technically the rules say this" answer - it can easily be invoked to prevent a player from rolling once and never dismissing, but nothing stops you overlooking it for players who play fair.

I understand that - but for 10 points, my ally can assist me for the entire adventure, for 20, I can summon him to assist me for 1 minute. Allies have non-combat applications as well - many of which take more than a minute! Do I have to re-summon an earth elemental 120 time to get him to do 2 hours worth of work? that's an awful lot of rolls hoping to get below your target for paying double the standard cost!

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Once Per Day seems reasonable (isn't it in fact the default re-roll cooldown for Summonables?).

Once per day isn't a duration, it's a frequency, and it goes against RPKs ruling earlier on this thread.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

For one that you can literally conjure out of thin air, you roll every time you summon it. (Powers clarifies this some.)

//

Then you can summon it again. You can summon, dismiss, summon, dismiss, etc., as much as you want until you fail that summoning roll. Then you're out for a day.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Danukian

Once per day isn't a duration, it's a frequency, and it goes against RPKs ruling earlier on this thread.

The point was basing the maximum summoning duration based on the frequency of summoning re-rolls allowed (on a failure). It seems more reasonable than 10 seconds or a minute, given that Summonable is +100%.