well... I think the main issue with this topic is that the server is centered around other things and has been giving little attention to the familiars, summons and companions. the whole system of them is close to useless (sometimes even for RP, as your avatar of death from death domains has ridiculous stats and lasts only a few moments, making it horrible for RP).
- their AI is all messed up
- they don't follow as they should
- they don't always answer your commands as they should
- they put YOU in risk
- you don't have extra tools to control where they go and when (they're not meatshields, so they should know when to abandon the battle field or when to enter it)
- you cannot tame animals as a druid
- you cannot proceed with rituals for summoning a new familiar (maybe even a different familiar) as a sorc/wiz (maybe with some xp price and need of reagents)
in sum, or you are going to lose your summoned creature due to mechanics or due to stats... or even worse: you'll expect your creature to stand and drag the attention of your enemy and instead it will stay and watch you being murdered (please, add some emotes of it laughing when they do that, at least our death would be meaningful).
I recently had a look into Ravenloft's books searching for summons reactions and I am aware that they are way harder to control in this setting. Although, so far it seems that we have more a mechanical salad than a setting customization.
I remember of two things from other servers that could help us into making it more worthwhile to deal with the summoned creatures:
- a tool for controlling where your summon goes (EFU). You click on it and you click on where it should go. It would not stop it from auto following you, but if needed, you can ask it to attack a specific target or to stay on a specific spot.
- for druids and rangers, they could tame creatures accordingly to their animal empathy and other stats (COA). They'd be able to keep an new and more powerful animal under their control if they were successful in a roll. If I remember it right, this used to be one of the most interesting things there, as most of the times you needed a party to keep you protected from the rage of the animal or group of animals that were around and it could turn really, really bad if you failed the roll check. I think these difficulties add enough compensation for when you decide to change your animal companion or if your former dies. And if it is not enough... give it a xp penalty everytime you fail it, as it'd be quite stressful for the druid/ranger to be rejected.
And last but not least, I came out with an idea for the wizards and sorcs around: rituals of summoning. Based on concentration, spellcraft, cha/int modifier, and GSF Conjuration existence (if not, it'd be harder), the mage would roll to try and summon a creature from other planes (or even from inside the Mists), depending of the alignment of the creature (opposite alignment would be harder, more powerful creatures, even harder). Of course, some components would be needed to proceed with it. The thing is: to summon the creature is one thing, to keep it under your control, you'd need to make another roll. If unsuccessful, the creature would turn against you (much like as suggested in the books that explain summons in Raveloft). So, depending on your level and skills, it'd be possible to summon, but not to keep it under control.
... of course, you could use the regular procedure of asking a priest to bring your fallen familiar back to life as well.