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Been stalled on SM 8-9 because Planar Binding has gotten my attention and I've done a similar eval of all the Bindable options in the main Mastering the Malconvoker thread. Check it:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.ph … 92&page=14

mxyzplk wrote:

Yeah, I've been busy but SM8-9 and more real play updates are on their way!

A quick commentary - we're 9th level and fighting stone giants now in the Rise of the Runelords AP. None of my summons can hit the things - their AC is in the 30 range. I was even trying to just have my gadacro demon get their eyes doing flanking flybys with all the plusses/penalties I could get layered on the situation, but it was all miss/miss/miss/miss.

I would have thought these circumstances would call for Grappling.Sure the summons might fail the checks vs. but it should help with against the AC.

Best Summon Monster VIIIs

There are a lot fewer options at this level. Only (about) 19, once you’ve made all your choices from the field of about 30. And there’s a lot of choices you have to make; we’ll cover those first. This is a weird level, the Hit Dice of the summons range from 6 to 24!

The celestial cachalot whale or the elsewhale. The elsewhere is a better cachalot whale in all respects except for lacking the celestial template’s DR/SR. I’d go with the elsewhale because it can carry your party underwater; there’s many other choices if you need a celestial/fiendish whatnot.

The celestial triceratops or the celestial archelon or the gaspar. Also, the gaspar or the colossal fiendish monstrous centipede. OK, the archelon sucks so you can pull that from the decision tree less’n you’re Aquaman. Next you need to ask your DM about the gaspar. It’s just a big deer, except it has an ability to plane shift enemies to the great beyond. But summoned creatures don’t have their planar travel or teleport abilities. Does this count under that restriction? If it can plane shift enemies, it’s good, although the resist is only DC16 Will, and the foe’s gear goes with them (your party might lynch you for this). Even without that it gets seven attacks, though most at low attack bonuses. It packs more punch than the triceratops but much worse defenses (no SR, DR). Make your choice there after your DM rules, but in any event you’re keeping the centipede. Its Colossal size and 24 HD means that it’s one bad ass brick, 29 SR, DC 23 on the poison. And a +42 grapple check if you can sneak it in past the AoO. With Augment Summoning and the malconvoker Fury ability and a ring of mighty summons and a Varisian idol, that means… 360 hp. Who’s your daddy!?!

The greater elemental or caller from the deeps. Now, the elemental is really four creatures in one, and they are very good meat-lumps at this level. Loads of hit points, great to-hit, and DR 10/-, and your choice of movement specials. The caller from the deeps has a great CON drain when it’s grappling, but it’s aquatic only and has a pretty low to-hit, so really you’d go with the elementals unless you’re in an aquatic campaign. And they’re big enough now that their vortex/whirlwind powers aren’t just a joke.

The blue slaad, limbo stalker, or echinoloth. Uh, none of the above? I guess keep the blue slaad for unlimited passwalls, to annoy your DM in a dungeon environment. The echinoloth has tremorsense but so does the spider, and it has a nauseating aura but with too low of a save DC. As combatants they are all way sub par.

The hellcat or orthon. Interesting. Neither is going to kill anything at this level, but the hellcat is naturally invisible and the orthon disrupts dimensional movement. Both have their uses; the hellcat is tactically interesting because it’s invisible even as it’s summoned. The orthon is great as a dimensional anchor substitute – no save! There’s many a time you don’t want that bad guy to teleport/plane shift away. I’d go orthon.

The hammer archon is OK, but generally you’d go with the earth elemental instead for combat – it can get you three Walls of Stone, though, if you need them.

Of the fiendish/celestial critters, the centipede is awesome as described above. The Gargantuan spider is solid as usual, as tremorsense + web never go out of style against the ubiquitous invisible flying enemies. Even the dinosaurs are decent, with both the tyrannosaurus and the triceratops having their uses. And the tiger is always attractive with its grabs/rakes. I’d summon whichever you’re more in the mood for. Aquatically, the squid or the elsewhale is a tradeoff of alignment and number of attacks vs to hit/damage of one attack.

Have you ever said to yourself, “Boy, I wish we had a 6th level bard along!?!” No, neither have I. So don’t summon the lillend. Ever. You’re level 15+ at this point; to you a level 6 bard is a barely passable 1 gp hooker.

The vrocks are a little complicated with all their specials. They’re the only evil flier though. The elemental’s got more raw melee power but the vrocks have abilities, and if you’re a malconvoker you get 2 for the price of 1.

The malelephant has great DR, a forget-cloud breath weapon that neutralizes casters, and can do 3 baleful polymorphs and blade barriers per day! I like it! Summon, defensive stance, blade barrier, polymorph, polymorph, polymorph, breathe as necessary.

The storm elemental finally comes into its own at this level. Its specials weren’t enough to mess with before, but now its free action shock does 8d4 electricity and its one shot thunder/lighting is a total of 24d6 damage! The Large one, one level down at SM VII, is only half of this. I’d go with this over the air elemental most of the time, and especially in boss fights where you need to put maximum damage on target in round 1. BAM!

If you are good (sucker!) you have three options from the Book of Exalted Deeds. The warden archon is OK, it’s certainly hard to hurt – AC 30, DR 10, SR 25 and its “shield of the archons” spell will block spells too. So if a true tank will help you, it’s good, though it doesn’t do much damage. The hollyphant is weak; you’d only use if for its couple good spell-likes – raise dead, heal, banishment, flame strike. Though the movanic deva a level down can raise, so really this is for if you need a 30 HD, DC19 Banishment. And if you’re a summoner of this level you probably have one of those memorized. It has some psionics, which always annoys me, and a host of other specials that you probably wouldn’t want to waste a round on. A cute little flying elephant that poos glitter. The mind boggles. If you match up the malelephant with the hollyphant, both SM VIII summons, you get a hollyphant squealing with its violation every time. Anyway, the lupinal guardinal – it’s actually in MMII but it’s the BoED that says it’s summonable – has the distinction of being the only Medium summon at this level. I’ve certainly run into a situation in confined spaces where I can’t summon Large creatures, let alone Huge/Gargantuan/Colossal ones. It’s not all that good but does have both grab and trip. And with the change self, is your best summon to pass as a human/demihuman if you need to be discreet.

As a malconvoker, I really need a great reason (specific needed ability) to summon one of the non-evils because Fiendish Legion gives me 2 creatures for 1 summon, so I think I’ll probably be using the malelephant, orthon, and Colossal centipede (when I have room for it!) most of the time. But sometimes the tiger if I need maxed to-hit and the vrock if I need flying. And I think I’ll be tempted to specific non-evil creatures a lot more than in most levels – the storm elementals and greater elementals specifically. And even if you stick to Good creatures there’s some decent picks here.