Who Summons Medium and Large Elementals?

[Mark Mohrfield]

Given that medium Elementals have an average POW of 16-17 and large ones have an average POW of 20, and humans have a maximum POW of 21 ( and probably keep it lower so they can get POW gain rolls) the chance of failing a Command Cult Spirit spell is substantial. So would anyone actually try to summon them in the first place?

[jajagappa]

Yes, Rune priests and Rune lords - the leaders of a cult - or shamans.

They will have high ratings in Devotion (deity), the relevant Rune, or Communication skills that can be used as augments which should tip the balance to the caster.

[Mark Mohrfield]

Hm. It seems I missed the rule on page 146 about usng augments to increase the chances on the resistance table. That does change things.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mark Mohrfield

[Akhôrahil]

Our Kolat shaman handles a Medium one with particularly high POW, even (the Rune Point economy becomes quite good with a bag of winds, and he likes that it's a steady source of POW checks even at high POW).

[Richard S.]

There's also instances where you probably don't need to cast command to get the elemental to help you, so long as what you want it to do is reasonably within its nature (getting one of Orlanth's Umbroli to attack Lunars, for instance). Personally, even if they aren't sentient, I'd allow players to engage in some limited communication with elementals if they know the correct language.

[Akhôrahil]

10 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

There's also instances where you probably don't need to cast command to get the elemental to help you, so long as what you want it to do is reasonably within its nature (getting one of Orlanth's Umbroli to attack Lunars, for instance). Personally, even if they aren't sentient, I'd allow players to engage in some limited communication with elementals if they know the correct language.

Even instinctive behavior is something you can sometimes count on. "Large Fire Elemental and run" should often work if you're fine with collateral damage.

[PhilHibbs]

On 8/23/2023 at 9:15 PM, Akhôrahil said:

Even instinctive behavior is something you can sometimes count on. "Large Fire Elemental and run" should often work if you're fine with collateral damage.

Yeah we did this in a convention run of the Runegate scenario. Vostor summoned his elemental using the enemy camp fire as base material.