Make all your party members spore druids, and you can have an army of 30 people lol

[Amplifier]

I currently have Jaheira as a spore druid and I just realized how crazy this class is. You can have 4 spore zombies, then also revive one skeleton, summon 1 woodland which then summons one dryad, summon 1 elemental, summon 1 minor elemental and animate one undead.

This gives one character already 3+1+2+1+1+1=8 summons!

Now apply this to 3 other characters. You now got 8*3=24 summons. Plus your 4 characters.

Congrats, you just made yourself an army of 30 allies just like that lol
And this isnt even including all the scrolls, equipment and powerups like summoning Us, Danse Macabre, Mummy, Cambion, Scratch and Boo.

[Kappa]

Given the length of turns, I think I might clear the game twice before you hit the absolute lol.

[Amplifier]

Originally posted by Kappa:

Given the length of turns, I think I might clear the game twice before you hit the absolute lol.

You prob dont need go through all of them as long as the battle finishes early. Anyway all these summons are simple beings. You dont really need strategy with them. Just run and attack. Or you can use them as a flash mob to surround and trap and enemy lol

I wonder how the initation bar in combat will look like with my army of 40 allies in a battle like the one at Moonlight Tower....

[Kappa]

Originally posted by OK:

I wonder how the initation bar in combat will look like with my army of 40 allies in a battle like the one at Moonlight Tower....

Imagine the big fight before the absolute!

[Nikusui 😗]

but like how OP is it against your CPU and GPU?

[Mike Garrison]

In BG2, where the fights were deadlier, I often wanted as many summons as possible (the game had a summon cap of 5 summons that could be active at any one time, with certain tricks to get a sixth one), especially skeletons (who for most of the game are the tankiest summons and last until you long rest). In BG3 I hardly ever use summons, because I don't find them to be as fun.

Part of it was the "real time with pause" engine for BG2, because once summoned you could just ignore your skeletons and they would just automatically make their attacks. In actual turn-based combat, each summon has to get its own turn.

But I think a bigger part of it is that I would rather play my characters in combat than play their summons, and in BG3 it's a lot harder to just get TPK'd than it was in BG2. (Well, assuming I have installed Sword Coast Stratagems.) I don't need the meat shields (or bone shields, so to speak).

[lordmilier]

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

In BG2, where the fights were deadlier, I often wanted as many summons as possible (the game had a summon cap of 5 summons that could be active at any one time, with certain tricks to get a sixth one), especially skeletons (who for most of the game are the tankiest summons and last until you long rest). In BG3 I hardly ever use summons, because I don't find them to be as fun.

Part of it was the "real time with pause" engine for BG2, because once summoned you could just ignore your skeletons and they would just automatically make their attacks. In actual turn-based combat, each summon has to get its own turn.

But I think a bigger part of it is that I would rather play my characters in combat than play their summons, and in BG3 it's a lot harder to just get TPK'd than it was in BG2. (Well, assuming I have installed Sword Coast Stratagems.) I don't need the meat shields (or bone shields, so to speak).

Were summons any better? because summons in general are terrible in BG3 due to them lacking scaling. As far as I am aware only beast master pet gains any scaling.

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by lordmilier:

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

In BG2, where the fights were deadlier, I often wanted as many summons as possible (the game had a summon cap of 5 summons that could be active at any one time, with certain tricks to get a sixth one), especially skeletons (who for most of the game are the tankiest summons and last until you long rest). In BG3 I hardly ever use summons, because I don't find them to be as fun.

Part of it was the "real time with pause" engine for BG2, because once summoned you could just ignore your skeletons and they would just automatically make their attacks. In actual turn-based combat, each summon has to get its own turn.

But I think a bigger part of it is that I would rather play my characters in combat than play their summons, and in BG3 it's a lot harder to just get TPK'd than it was in BG2. (Well, assuming I have installed Sword Coast Stratagems.) I don't need the meat shields (or bone shields, so to speak).

Were summons any better? because summons in general are terrible in BG3 due to them lacking scaling. As far as I am aware only beast master pet gains any scaling.

Most summons did not scale, but the skeletons scaled. As the caster level increased, they got more hit dice and also started geting magical swords instead of regular swords. They really were the best summons, until you got to god-type levels and could summon planetars.

I'm not counting simulacrums as summons. A simulacrum was a lower-level copy of a wizard who could cast the same spells as the wizard (at that lower level). They were generally the most powerful "summons", although possibly planetars were still better. Planetars were also wizards as well as being permanently hasted and wielding swords that would insta-kill 25% of the time (unless the target made a save v. death).

[Gentlest Giant]

I don't want to experience the nightmare of exploring Moonrise Towers or the Lower City with that abomination of a mushroom moshpit

[The_hand_of_fate]

Well, action economy IS a key factor in deciding who wins fights...
But you could also add conjuration wizard and/or beastmaster ranger for extra buffs/summons

[ManyEagles]

Originally posted by OK:

I currently have Jaheira as a spore druid and I just realized how crazy this class is. You can have 4 spore zombies, then also revive one skeleton, summon 1 woodland which then summons one dryad, summon 1 elemental, summon 1 minor elemental and animate one undead.

This gives one character already 3+1+2+1+1+1=8 summons!

Now apply this to 3 other characters. You now got 8*3=24 summons. Plus your 4 characters.

Congrats, you just made yourself an army of 30 allies just like that lol
And this isnt even including all the scrolls, equipment and powerups like summoning Us, Danse Macabre, Mummy, Cambion, Scratch and Boo.

This sounds fun until you actually play it and then realize how much of a pain it is to navigate the map and also micromanage every summon in combat.