Summon Minion - bridging the gap between 3e and 4e (Ritual/4E)

[Moniker]

First, the juice -

Summon Minion
You create a circle of sigils and runes and stand within it, peering beyond the planes through the open sky. You bind a monsterous servant from another plane to do your bidding, using its true name
Level: 1
Category: Binding
Time: 1 hour
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 10 gp + Special
Market Price: 50 gp
Key Skill: Arcana or Religion

This ritual binds a monster from another plane to do your bidding. Spend an action point to choose a standard monster from the Monster Manual equal to your level, or two action points to bind monsters who's levels do not exceed your own. You can never choose Elite or Solo monsters with this Ritual. Apply the Minion template (reduce all HP to 1, but monsters retain any Resists they inherently have). These minions can be called forth during combat as a Standard Action and appear adjacent to the summoner. Controlling a summoned monster requires a Minor action to command during combat.

If a minion is destroyed, you can spend an action point to instantly summon any number of minions back to fight as a free action. Minions can be called back as often as the player has action points within the 24 hour period. Note that if a minion is summoned outside of combat, it can perform whatever tasks are requested of it, until returning to its plane of origin after five minutes.



The idea as to make monsters "minions" is to give players the ability to have flexible summoning options at all levels while not imbalancing the economy of actions present in the game. Pretty straightforward, level 1 Ritual that is useful even at higher levels. I had first thought about actually creating several different Summon types, but it seemed contradictory to the idea behind 4E D&D. Simplifying the process saved me a lot of development and balance time, although I have given thought to developing other rituals around Functional and Class Templates added to the monster at a higher cost of Action Points, and Summon Standard, Elite and Solo Monsters. I really like the idea of Action Points as the cost to cast the ritual, simply because a Minion will likely last one round anyhow and most players are going to spend their Action Points making an additional attack, anyhow. Seemed a perfect balance!

[Ninja D!]

I like it.  Terrible feedback, I know but hey...I like it.