Summon Horrible Things

Summon Horrible Things
Level	8
School1	Summoning
Source(s)	Grand Grimoire
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0

This spell opens a gate to the Abyss and calls through one or more hideous abominations from that dreadful place. The powers who answer this invocation require of casters a portion of their intellect in exchange for this service.

Summon Horrible Things is a level 8 Summonings spell that will bring to your aid up to 8 undead large abominations and/or up to 2 tentacled monstrosity. High spell power will increase the duration of your summons, as well as the size of your horde and the likelihood of receiving tentacled monstrosities. This spell is powerful, but costs more than just MP; each casting has a chance of inflicting temporary intelligence damage as well (though a ring of sustain abilities or two will significantly reduce this effect).

Strategy

This is one of the most powerful Summonings spells in the game, since abominations hit quite hard - up to 40 damage per hit - and the spell summons several at a time. Tentacled monstrosities can see invisible, and so are one of the few summons not helpless against an invisible lich. Players colloquially refer to this spell as 'XXX'.

Presently, the only monster in the game to cast Summon Horrible Things, apart from the occasional player ghost, is Mnoleg. Unless you are an AC character, you'll want Abjuration.

General Mechanics

With each casting, there's a 20% chance of suffering 1-3 temporary intelligence damage (theoretically killing you if your INT drops below 0, though being able to cast the spell at such low intelligence would require some phenomenal character building). To summarize the formula generating the monster horde: higher spell power confers a larger horde and weighted towards tentacled monstrosities; no more than 8 large abominations; no more than 2 tentacled monstrosities.

Chance of intelligence damage:

Int lost:	0	1	2	3
Sust.Abil. .	80%	6.6%	6.6%	6.6%
Sust.Abil. +	86.6%	13.3%	-	-
Sust.Abil. ++	100%	-	-	-