Are all summons time limited?

[Ty the Smonk]

I got ToME after I was playing some frogcomposband and saw this was another variant of angband that developed a lot. I have been enjoying the game a lot, but my favorite class in frogcomposband was the necromancer. The Necromancer had permanent minions only limited by his mana pool. I dont really know where I can find more info on the game since the wiki kinda seems barren but when I tried out the summoner I was severely disappointed that the summons were on a timer. Does the summoner get perma summons later on? What about the other summoning classes?

[Eldritch Warden]

Summoner, the "summoning" class, has, unfortunately, not the most exciting or powerful summons. If you want more permanent summons, Necromancer has those, but necro can also support zombies that are indeed on a timer and can provide some utility to that build (or some very good damage by exploding those).

Aside from that, another summon that comes to mind is the summon of the Cultist of Entropy, the Herald of Oblivion. Now, the Cultist is not a zoo class, not by a long shot, but the Herald of Oblivion is apparently one of the strongest pets in the game, although summoning it will require some turns into the encounter (and that summon is not permanent ofc). Solipsist has a summon as well, an entire category dedicated to that, but it does not really fare that well into the late game, it just dies too quickly.

Alchemist has a customizable golem but it's... below average. And the alchemist build can be quite boring for most.

About the necromancer though, the skeleton army you can make will consist of some summons (the lowly skeletons) that while not on a timer, will need to be resummoned frequently later on. Other summons like the Bone golem or the Skeleton Mage will tend to survive quite longer.

[Eldritch Warden]

I forgot to mention the other top dog, Oozemancer, that can deal with oozes but I haven't really played that one so I can not comment much on it, aside from the fact that oozemancers are nigh unkillable, due to how they split the damage between them and their slimes.

[Ty the Smonk]

Originally posted by Eldritch Warden:

Summoner, the "summoning" class, has, unfortunately, not the most exciting or powerful summons. If you want more permanent summons, Necromancer has those, but necro can also support zombies that are indeed on a timer and can provide some utility to that build (or some very good damage by exploding those).

Aside from that, another summon that comes to mind is the summon of the Cultist of Entropy, the Herald of Oblivion. Now, the Cultist is not a zoo class, not by a long shot, but the Herald of Oblivion is apparently one of the strongest pets in the game, although summoning it will require some turns into the encounter (and that summon is not permanent ofc). Solipsist has a summon as well, an entire category dedicated to that, but it does not really fare that well into the late game, it just dies too quickly.

Alchemist has a customizable golem but it's... below average. And the alchemist build can be quite boring for most.

About the necromancer though, the skeleton army you can make will consist of some summons (the lowly skeletons) that while not on a timer, will need to be resummoned frequently later on. Other summons like the Bone golem or the Skeleton Mage will tend to survive quite longer.

I personally do not mind having to resummon my minions, in frogcomposband the necromancer had summon spells that punched far above their weight. the level 2 summon rats spell was still useful at level 10 for instance, since the way summoning spells work is that it pulls from a pool of monsters and that pool gets better as you get better at the spell. Summons were also permanent, no matter what they were always with you unless you left the Z level without them near you or you dismissed/they died. it was probably the coolest implementation of a summoner ive seen, since the necromancer could also raise ANY corpse and have it have all of its original abilities and just be an ally. I really like summoners in games but they usually ♥♥♥♥ them over with limited time summons. I get that summons are extremely powerful in a lot of instances, but having an army is fun. If theres a mod that removes the summon timers id be grateful if you pointed me in the direction of it.

[Eldritch Warden]

Hm, I am not aware of a mod such as that, however I will point out that certain mechanisms in this game are valued a lot. For instance, with Necromancer, 1 point in the first zombie talent will allow you to instantly and automatically summon a very weak zombie in front of you (most of the time). Most enemies open up with all their debuffs and big cooldowns so having something like that act as fodder to prevent run ending conditions is quite powerful in its own. (especially considering the investment)

If you are interested in controlling other enemies there is a class for that but it's... quite weird. It's the possessor, but it's not as much of a summoner as it is... well... a possessor. The issue here is that most normal enemies would be too weak to fight other enemies, and some uniques can spawn with some class combos that would be capable of destroying any and all bosses in the game, so a class having the capacity to take direct control of uniques would be... much more broken than anything else in the game really.

If you are looking for a zoo build, I think the Necromancer would be your best bet. Skeletons, zombies, wraiths, graveyards to resummon/spawn more, as well as a prodigy that takes all of that and transcends it.

[Ty the Smonk]

I dont know what Prodigys are but yea I guess. How do I even unlock necromancer?

[Eldritch Warden]

"Necromancer is a class introduced in the base game. It must be unlocked by killing the necromancer Celia in the Last Hope Graveyard, after reading all 4 parts of the lore "how to be a necromancer".

(The player can read them in the Sher'Tul Fortress's library after finding them on a previous character.)" From the wiki.

The Last Hope Graveyard is accessed by getting a quest from the alchemist in the Last Hope town I believe. Enter that graveyard early (below level 20) and then come back after level 25, that graveyard is a notorious run killer. Also, before fighting that boss, be sure to kill every unique in every coffin.

[Rainynight]

Originally posted by Eldritch Warden:

I forgot to mention the other

..-which is annihilator. especially with drem race, i hope?..

[Eldritch Warden]

Originally posted by Rainynight:

Originally posted by Eldritch Warden:

I forgot to mention the other

..-which is annihilator. especially with drem race, i hope?..

I've never touched annihilator, but most things are especially good with drem, no ? :P

[Radiowavehero]

There are no mods to make the "Summoners" summons permanent but like Eldritch warden said you would probably like the necromancer class.

If you want to just play as them now you could use a mod to unlock all classes https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=203057541

Or If you want to play a summoner type while going for the necro unlock yourself , the ones you could unlock easiest would be the "Summoner" (just witness something get summoned, this is easy in trollmire if you encounter a honey tree)

The duration limit summons are annoying but you get ways to reduce cool-downs and summon faster so it's less a problem later on.

if you have the forbidden cults DLC the Writhing one would be available from the start , it only has a single summon but it is like having a second AI controlled character , it can equip items and is permanent , also it levels up (control it and assign points)

Writhing one is strong but less a summoner and more like a tag team wrestler, it's just you and your worm buddy ganging up on enemies.

Other honorable mentions for permanent summons go to Temporal Wardens hounds , you only get 3 of them but they tear everything to peices.

Doomed Shadows , 4 shadows killing everything.

Not as impressive looking as an army of skeletons but you get quality over quantity.