What Is There To Summon?

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Bruno

No comment on how the badger feels about this or whether it remembers from summoning to summoning.

I suddenly recall the tale of the original and very unfortunate dwarf named Glod from the Discworld. (In ancient times, a presumably somewhat dyslexic as well as stupid wish-beneficiary in the local Arabia-counterpart culture wanted the power to turn anything he touched to gold. The citizens of his home town now tend to be hereditarily short and bad-tempered.)

Hmm. I also have a sudden thought about what you could do with this spell in a Cabal/Infinite Worlds game; gain the power to summon another PC. Well, you'd know their point value precisely enough.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Hmm. I also have a sudden thought about what you could do with this spell in a Cabal/Infinite Worlds game; gain the power to summon another PC. Well, you'd know their point value precisely enough.

Summon [PC]... now that can lead to some serious shenanigans.

[AlexanderHowl]

Hm, does it summon the same PC every time or does it summon a duplicate of a PC? In the case of summoning a PC, do they have to do anything you request, no matter how squicky, or are there reasonable limits? After all, a demonologist who summons a succubus/incubus probably has one thing on his or her mind, and it is usually not assassination, and there are some players who love to abuse absolute control.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

If you can ascend to a "higher plane of existence", then perhaps you can descend to a "lower" one as well -- though that's less likely to produce for you an awesome minion, unless you take "lower" to mean "evil", where we're back to demons.

That would be things like Demiurges or "Genius Loci".

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by scc

You know there's another question I can ask to get the answers I want to this: What has been shown to be summonable in the past? Books, TV shows, other games, anyone have any choice picks?

The power in Galatea in 2-D by Aaron Allston where the main character can pull things from paintings could be done with a Summoning.

The Tuesday Next books where you can bring characters out of books.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Heh, bottles of djinn are older than Aladdin ... and in the original traditions, they tend to be in there for a good reason. Typically they are said to be bottled up by someone like Solomon for various crimes or tricked into the bottle by a sahir because they were being a nuisance. Letting them out could be extremely dangerous. The "wish granting genie" is several levels of bowdlerisation downstream of the original source.

Actually, the Story of the Fisherman and the Djinn from "A Thousand Nights and a Night" gives djinn the power to grant wishes, should they choose to do so.

Of course, by the time the djinn in the story gets released, he's sufficiently peeved by his captivity that he merely offers his rescuer the choice of the manner of his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fi..._and_the_Jinni

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

After all, a demonologist who summons a succubus/incubus probably has one thing on his or her mind, and it is usually not assassination, and there are some players who love to abuse absolute control.

More "assignation" than "assassination." It kind of proves the point that there are just some lovers who are so toxic they're just not worth it, no matter how sexy they might be. But then, common sense and demonology never were close companions. :)

Steering back onto topic, the GM must tailor Planar Summons variants so that they're consistent with the campaign style, player group, and gaming venue. If you're playing GURPS Bunnies & Burrows, Planar Summons (Cthulhu/Godzilla/Nergal Chaos God of Decay) probably shouldn't be available spell variants!

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Hm, does it summon the same PC every time or does it summon a duplicate of a PC? In the case of summoning a PC, do they have to do anything you request, no matter how squicky, or are there reasonable limits? After all, a demonologist who summons a succubus/incubus probably has one thing on his or her mind, and it is usually not assassination, and there are some players who love to abuse absolute control.

This is why you don't give your true name to anyone - especially a sorcerer. Of course, if you break anyone down enough you can still bind them, but that takes time and effort, and mundane brainwashing is almost as effective.

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Actually, the Story of the Fisherman and the Djinn from "A Thousand Nights and a Night" gives djinn the power to grant wishes, should they choose to do so.

Of course, by the time the djinn in the story gets released, he's sufficiently peeved by his captivity that he merely offers his rescuer the choice of the manner of his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fi..._and_the_Jinni

I was under the impression that the Solomon legend was older than the Thousand and One Nights... but it's tricky to tell which bits of a myth originate when.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

If you can ascend to a "higher plane of existence", then perhaps you can descend to a "lower" one as well -- though that's less likely to produce for you an awesome minion, unless you take "lower" to mean "evil", where we're back to demons.

It occurs to me, wouldn't an elemental be a lower being? Logically something composed of only one of the aspects of matter should be less advanced than something composed of many?

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

It occurs to me, wouldn't an elemental be a lower being?

Could be, certainly. That seems appropriate especially if the setting's elementals are the relatively mindless and brutish sort, keen on just setting fire to things (or whatever). "Lower" could be more primal, focused, simple... elemental, even :) Sometimes elementals are depicted as having a whole society on their plane, though, with intelligent sorts, so that might be more of a "sideways" move (if "higher" and "lower" mean something, that is).

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

It occurs to me, wouldn't an elemental be a lower being? Logically something composed of only one of the aspects of matter should be less advanced than something composed of many?

It's pure. Finer, more valuable things are more refined and pure. The principle of transmuting lesser metals (like Lead) into gold is that the lesser metals are impure, and if you refine the unnecessary elements out you will be left with nothing but pure gold.