Lesser Planar Ally/Summons: what's left?

[allenw]

I see that "Lesser Planar Ally" and "Lesser Planar Binding" now Call creatures of up to only 6 HD, rather than 8. And many outsiders have had their HD increased.
So, anyone have opinions about what's left that's worth Calling?

 

[drnuncheon]

Hound Archon.
Azer Ftr4.
Barghest.
Succubus.
Barbazu.
Advanced (6HD) medium elemental.
Formian taskmaster.
Janni.
Advanced (6HD) hellhound.
Howler.
Nightmare.

I know I left out several, but there's plenty of good stuff out there.

 

[allenw]

Not as many combat-worthy choices as there used to be, though, especially among the Demons and Devils, which as a DM I regret (my CE and LE NPC Clerics were just starting to make good use of Lesser Planar Ally). All that's left from the Demon list are Dretches, Quasits, and Succubi, all of whom are explicitly cowards. For Devils, there's Lemures, Imps, and Barbazu; Imps are almost as cowardly as Quasits, Lemures will attack but not very effectively, and Barbazu, while they like to fight, can't fly, which is annoying.
On the other hand, one of my players just got Lesser Planar Binding, so I suppose the changes aren't *too* bad.


P.S. But why is it all based on HD anyway, instead of CR?

 

[DreamChaser]

CR isn't an accurate measure of how powerful a creature is for these purposes--it was set specifically for PCs fighting them. Neither is HD for that matter but HD is a better indicator of how easily a creature will be able to resist/bargan (since Will save is based largely upon HD).

DC

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I think ECL is a better judge ...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure you can call fiendish or celestial creatures, vastly increasing the utility of the spell.

 

[drnuncheon]

Not as many combat-worthy choices as there used to be, though, especially among the Demons and Devils, which as a DM I regret

Well, with a 10 minute casting time, LPA isn't the best choice for combat...and it still gets you a lot of the critters a couple of levels before they would show up on Summon Monster.

J

 

[Wippit Guud]

Anyway, I'm pretty sure you can call fiendish or celestial creatures, vastly increasing the utility of the spell.

Please note - fiendish/celestial animals are not outsiders, they're magical beasts, so I don't know if that's approproate... akthough U suppose you could summon a fiendish ogre, but then we get template-messy


I suppose, using that logic, you could summon half-fiend/half celestial stuff too.

 

[Olive]

Please note - fiendish/celestial animals are not outsiders, they're magical beasts, so I don't know if that's approproate... akthough U suppose you could summon a fiendish ogre, but then we get template-messy

It doesn't say outsiders in the spell description, it sayd "creature from another plane". That means no native outsiders but anything extraplanar. I'd allow fiendish ogres etc. personally. Esp. with lesser planar bainding, as you can only summon one.