TL;DR: How can I help the player speed up their summons play AND satisfy the other players WRT fairness concerns, without simply asking the warlock to forego their 6th level spell during my games?
I've got what's not so much a problem player as it is a player problem: I have a warlock who picked up Create Undead as a Mystic Arcanum, and later found a Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals. During a session he had a ghoul speak the command word and stay out of the way for a "free concentration" on the spell. I let it fly that night and promised to look in to it a little more, but we all forgot about it until the next session where he did it again. Both nights had semi-involved rules discussions.
Afterwards, other players brought two concerns to me privately:
The player is "cheating" out a second (and potentially third and fourth) concentration, against the spirit of the rules.
In AL, attunements by NPCs under a player's control count against the player's maximum of three - concentration should be handled similarly.
The player is taking up a disproportionate amount of time during sessions.
Summons each getting separate turns means the player is taking roughly as many turns as the rest of the party.
The rules discussions that took place were not fun for the other players.
Rules issues can be solved pretty handily outside of the game, and I'd love some input on this issue (I'll detail the argument below), but the time concern can't be fixed so readily. The rules discussion issue was more or less solved "on the fly" the first time, but took more time the second and the harm to the other player's enjoyment is already done.
The summons don't have turns that are as involved as the other players, but they do each have separate turns that take up time. This is compounded by the fact that the player is a warlock, and can't simply choose another spell RAW - and this should be RAW since it's an AL game.
Moreover, should ghouls be allowed to use magic items (i.e. attunement, speaking command words, and concentrating on spells)?
The player's argument is as follows:
There is no reason controlled ghouls should NOT be allowed to use magic items
Ghouls are listed as having a language without the "unable to speak" restriction placed on skeletons and zombies.
Ghouls don't have "natural" ghoul behavior and can only follow instructions and stand in place until given instructions.
Ghouls have a printed intelligence on par with orcs, who would almost certainly be allowed to use items.
A warlock familiar that could speak would likely be able to use the item in this fashion
I realize that this is something that's entirely up to the DM, but since this is an AL game I thought I'd try and seek some outside opinions on the issue. If this has been asked elsewhere, please help me find it!
This player is doing nothing illegal as far as I can tell. I would explain that to the other players. I would also have a talk with your warlock about expediting turns and being conscious about table time.
If you want to mitigate the problem, I have a few suggestions.
The summoned elemental goes hostile if the ghoul loses concentration.
Ghouls only have a Con of 10. It shouldn't be hard to make one lose concentration.
Each ghoul the player creates has a material component cost of 150 gp. Make sure those component purchases are noted on the log sheets.
You can kill those ghouls and then limit access to humanoid corpses so the player can't make new ghouls.
The player must use a bonus action to command the ghouls. All ghouls must receive the same command.
I would sprinkle these tactics somewhat sparingly so that the player doesn't feel targeted.
This seems like a tough spell for a warlock to make use of in AL.
Create undead:
"You can cast this spell only at night. Choose up to three corpses of Medium or Small humanoids within range. Each corpse becomes a ghoul under your control."
"As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can mentally command any creature you animated with this spell if the creature is within 120 Feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete."
"The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you have given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to three creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating new ones."
Mystic Arcanum:
"You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again."
Long Rest:
"A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity"
"A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period"
---
A warlock only has a single casting of Create Undead every 24 hours. They need to recast the spell BEFORE the 24 hour period ends in order to maintain control of their created creatures. RAW, this means that a warlock can't ever retain control of their undead since they only receive the next casting of the spell AFTER 24 hours has passed and the casting time of the spell is 1 minute. This makes it impossible for a warlock to maintain control for more than 2 consecutive days - after that they can't keep them controlled.
In addition, they require small or medium humanoid corpses and must cast the spell at night. I'm not sure how often this will come up.
---
It takes an hour for the creature to attune the magic item and this will have to be repeated every time new undead are created. In addition, the warlock will have to kill the one that attuned the item in order to get it back. After the 24 hour period passes and the ghoul is not controlled it could use the magic item against the caster.
---
The spell requires a 150gp component/corpse ... this component is not consumed by the spell so the character will need to have purchased 3 of them if they want to create 3 ghouls.
---
Using the brazier:
"While a fire burns in this brass brazier, you can use an action to speak the brazier's command word and summon a fire elemental, as if you had cast the conjure elemental spell. The brazier can't be used this way again until the next dawn."
Although minor - the ghoul needs to be able to light a fire in the brazier in order to use it. It also weighs 5 pounds so it isn't the most convenient item to use.
However, the summoned elemental "It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you)." In this case, it obeys the commands issued by the ghoul. In order for the ghoul to issue it commands, the warlock has to tell the ghoul exactly what to say using their bonus action. If they are instructing this ghoul every turn to command the elemental then they are not issuing commands to any of the other ghouls. The brazier is also only usable once/day.
The issues with commanding the ghoul get into the action economy if the warlock wants to summon the elemental in combat. If they use their bonus action to tell one ghoul to summon the elemental then they can't tell the other ghouls to attack on the first round of combat. If they use their bonus action on the second round to tell the ghoul what to tell the elemental to do then they still can't tell the other ghouls to attack. You'll have to adjudicate this carefully and track commands and actions but having the ghoul use the brazier means a lot more specific commands to the ghoul.
In addition, since the elemental only obeys verbal commands, the elemental has to remain within audible range of the ghoul so you can't have the ghoul run and hide in another room to maintain concentration if you also want to continue issuing commands to the elemental.
Finally, the elemental represents a significant risk. If the ghoul loses concentration ... perhaps they get caught in the area of a fireball or are targeted by an opponent then the elemental becomes uncontrolled and would likely attack the party. The ghoul has no bonus to con saves and only 22 hit points. That single fireball (which shouldn't be uncommon by tier 3) might well be sufficient to kill the ghoul outright and release the elemental. I wouldn't target the ghoul deliberately but a lot of creatures don't like undead and will use fireballs to clear out the yard trash the way players would (or may focus on the easier targets to get them out of the way so it will happen).
"If your concentration is broken, the elemental doesn't disappear. Instead, you lose control of the elemental, it becomes hostile toward you and your companions, and it might attack. An uncontrolled elemental can't be dismissed by you, and it disappears 1 hour after you summoned it."
----
On the topic of minions and keeping the game play smooth. This is not an issue specific to this case. Druids with their conjure spells are completely AL legal and can have a huge number of minions. An upcast conjure animals can drop 32 creates into the fight. The player specifies CR and number ... the DM can decide the creature though I usually defer to the players request with an exception for things like pixies that are broken (unless for the sake of humor or rule of cool .. the DM decides the creature summoned).
Having 32 wolves suddenly appear can potentially slow things down a lot. Most druid players know this and choose something with smaller numbers. However, you can group attacks with these using the rules for resolving attacks by mobs of creatures (DMG I think). If the number of extras is smaller but manageable (like 4 or so) then it is up to the player to be very efficient ... have more than one set of dice, roll all the attacks at once and roll both the to hit and damage dice at the same time. It then becomes very efficient to just run through the hits and total damage. If the player is rolling the dice one by one for each creature after the other and deciding individually what each will do ... then they are taking too long and you need to have a chat with the player. I've played a character with a few summons and can usually deal with all the attacks and my character actions in about the same time as a some others handle their character action. This is mostly due to rolling all the attacks at once, watching so that I know what the needed to hit is (so I can deal with obvious hits and misses without directly the DM in each case) and then just tally up the total damage (checking with the DM whether damage type matters).
In either case, having a player handle a group of minions efficiently is the topic for an out of game discussion between the player and the DM to try to make things run more efficiently in that case.
----
P.S. If the warlock decides that they don't like the way the spell works after considering the way the rules are written then I would let him change the choice of mystic arcanum. The game is supposed to be fun and making a choice because you don't understand how the rules work together shouldn't really be used to penalize the player. There are some nice 6th level spells that would be decent alternatives.
I agree with almost everything David42 wrote and I especially think the analysis of the action economy involved is fantastic. I have one correction and two comments.
It takes an hour for the creature to attune the magic item and this will have to be repeated every time new undead are created. In addition, the warlock will have to kill the one that attuned the item in order to get it back. After the 24 hour period passes and the ghoul is not controlled it could use the magic item against the caster.
"A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period"
---
A warlock only has a single casting of Create Undead every 24 hours. They need to recast the spell BEFORE the 24 hour period ends in order to maintain control of their created creatures. RAW, this means that a warlock can't ever retain control of their undead since they only receive the next casting of the spell AFTER 24 hours has passed and the casting time of the spell is 1 minute. This makes it impossible for a warlock to maintain control for more than 2 consecutive days - after that they can't keep them controlled.
True and RAW, but I think it's clear that the RAI is to allow recasting the spell every day to maintain control (otherwise why give the spell to warlocks at all?). I would never do this to a player and I'd be at least a little miffed if a DM ruled this way with me.
P.S. If the warlock decides that they don't like the way the spell works after considering the way the rules are written then I would let him change the choice of mystic arcanum. The game is supposed to be fun and making a choice because you don't understand how the rules work together shouldn't really be used to penalize the player. There are some nice 6th level spells that would be decent alternatives.
This is something you as an AL DM are not permitted to authorize. A player with a tier 3 character (especially one who's aware enough of the rules to hand off a magic item to the character's minion) is capable of dealing with the consequences of a suboptimal choice.
"A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period"
---
A warlock only has a single casting of Create Undead every 24 hours. They need to recast the spell BEFORE the 24 hour period ends in order to maintain control of their created creatures. RAW, this means that a warlock can't ever retain control of their undead since they only receive the next casting of the spell AFTER 24 hours has passed and the casting time of the spell is 1 minute. This makes it impossible for a warlock to maintain control for more than 2 consecutive days - after that they can't keep them controlled.
True and RAW, but I think it's clear that the RAI is to allow recasting the spell every day to maintain control (otherwise why give the spell to warlocks at all?). I would never do this to a player and I'd be at least a little miffed if a DM ruled this way with me.
This is something that had crossed my mind, but the 24hr timer is based off of the long rest, and not the casting of Create Undead. Since the spell can be cast only at night, it's possible to cast it immediately before a long rest and still have time in the next night to recast it and renew the timer. It's still not possible to maintain control indefinitely, but it seems like you'd only lose (ideally) one minute each day until finally reaching a point where it's no longer night at the time you're required to cast the spell. After that you'd be forced to find new humanoids. (In any event, a set of ghouls at tier 3 rarely survive an entire day, let alone long enough for this to become an issue.)
"A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period"
---
A warlock only has a single casting of Create Undead every 24 hours. They need to recast the spell BEFORE the 24 hour period ends in order to maintain control of their created creatures. RAW, this means that a warlock can't ever retain control of their undead since they only receive the next casting of the spell AFTER 24 hours has passed and the casting time of the spell is 1 minute. This makes it impossible for a warlock to maintain control for more than 2 consecutive days - after that they can't keep them controlled.
True and RAW, but I think it's clear that the RAI is to allow recasting the spell every day to maintain control (otherwise why give the spell to warlocks at all?). I would never do this to a player and I'd be at least a little miffed if a DM ruled this way with me.
This is something that had crossed my mind, but the 24hr timer is based off of the long rest, and not the casting of Create Undead. Since the spell can be cast only at night, it's possible to cast it immediately before a long rest and still have time in the next night to recast it and renew the timer. It's still not possible to maintain control indefinitely, but it seems like you'd only lose (ideally) one minute each day until finally reaching a point where it's no longer night at the time you're required to cast the spell. After that you'd be forced to find new humanoids. (In any event, a set of ghouls at tier 3 rarely survive an entire day, let alone long enough for this to become an issue.)
Good point :) ... I was thinking about it backwards :).
The 24 hour timer starts from the first time the spell is cast while the spell refreshes after the next long rest. So if you initially cast it just before a long rest, you will have almost 16 hours in which to cast it before it runs out. The 1 minute shift/day is unlikely to be significant.
P.S. If the warlock decides that they don't like the way the spell works after considering the way the rules are written then I would let him change the choice of mystic arcanum. The game is supposed to be fun and making a choice because you don't understand how the rules work together shouldn't really be used to penalize the player. There are some nice 6th level spells that would be decent alternatives.
This is something you as an AL DM are not permitted to authorize. A player with a tier 3 character (especially one who's aware enough of the rules to hand off a magic item to the character's minion) is capable of dealing with the consequences of a suboptimal choice.
Absolutely true. The player makes choices along the way and after reaching level 5 those choices are permanent once used in play. So you are correct, the warlock can't change their choice of mystic arcanum.
Oh, I envy you! I would have SO much fun with this player! *evil grin* This player has not found the perfect way to trick the system. He got away with a bit too much a few times, but it is very easy to fix.
Sure, there are two concentration EFFECTS going, but it is not the PLAYER who has them both. The warlock will give a command to the ghoul, who to the best of his ability will give a vebal command to the elemental, who will act on this to the best of his understanding. If the ghoul is "hidden away" from harms way it is likely that he will not have a perfact view on the battlefield. The result from that will be bad quality on the commands to the elemental. Combine that with a delay from chain of command (all in their turns): warlock->undead, undead->elemental and then wait for the elementals turn for it to act on it. "Tell the ememental to attack the ogre" could very well result in the elemental starting to pummel the body of the recently deceaced ogre when the elemental finally act. As the ghoul has given a VERBAL command all enemys around will hear it and can react to it. The intended target might for instance have moved out of range before the elemental gets his turn, in effect kiting the elemental.
This could be a total comedy! ;)
If the warlock try to counter some of these problems he might bring the ghoul closer to the fight. The ghoul has to make VERBAL commands to the elemental. It will not take a rocket engineer to understand that the smelly dude who is shouting commands to the big elemental is the one controlling it. I would say that the ghoul would become a priotity target for ranged attacks quite fast. With a con of 10 it is likely that the party will soon have to deal with a vengeful elemental that has broken free.
Have fun and please post here about what happened! :)
I feel like ghouls with int 7 can probably given vague commands with only slight issues. Like fight the opposing group. Then the commanding ghoul would pass a similar (little worse because int 7) command to the elemental. Some hijinks could ensue but I don't thin it should be crippling. The ghouls concentration is definitely a weak link though.
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TL;DR: How can I help the player speed up their summons play AND satisfy the other players WRT fairness concerns, without simply asking the warlock to forego their 6th level spell during my games?
I've got what's not so much a problem player as it is a player problem: I have a warlock who picked up Create Undead as a Mystic Arcanum, and later found a Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals. During a session he had a ghoul speak the command word and stay out of the way for a "free concentration" on the spell. I let it fly that night and promised to look in to it a little more, but we all forgot about it until the next session where he did it again. Both nights had semi-involved rules discussions.
Afterwards, other players brought two concerns to me privately:
Rules issues can be solved pretty handily outside of the game, and I'd love some input on this issue (I'll detail the argument below), but the time concern can't be fixed so readily. The rules discussion issue was more or less solved "on the fly" the first time, but took more time the second and the harm to the other player's enjoyment is already done.
The summons don't have turns that are as involved as the other players, but they do each have separate turns that take up time. This is compounded by the fact that the player is a warlock, and can't simply choose another spell RAW - and this should be RAW since it's an AL game.
Moreover, should ghouls be allowed to use magic items (i.e. attunement, speaking command words, and concentrating on spells)?
The player's argument is as follows:
I realize that this is something that's entirely up to the DM, but since this is an AL game I thought I'd try and seek some outside opinions on the issue. If this has been asked elsewhere, please help me find it!
This player is doing nothing illegal as far as I can tell. I would explain that to the other players. I would also have a talk with your warlock about expediting turns and being conscious about table time.
If you want to mitigate the problem, I have a few suggestions.
I would sprinkle these tactics somewhat sparingly so that the player doesn't feel targeted.
Good luck.
This seems like a tough spell for a warlock to make use of in AL.
Create undead:
"You can cast this spell only at night. Choose up to three corpses of Medium or Small humanoids within range. Each corpse becomes a ghoul under your control."
"As a bonus action on each of your turns, you can mentally command any creature you animated with this spell if the creature is within 120 Feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete."
"The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any command you have given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must cast this spell on the creature before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to three creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating new ones."
Mystic Arcanum:
"You can cast your arcanum spell once without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again."
Long Rest:
"A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity"
"A character can't benefit from more than one long rest in a 24-hour period"
---
A warlock only has a single casting of Create Undead every 24 hours. They need to recast the spell BEFORE the 24 hour period ends in order to maintain control of their created creatures. RAW, this means that a warlock can't ever retain control of their undead since they only receive the next casting of the spell AFTER 24 hours has passed and the casting time of the spell is 1 minute. This makes it impossible for a warlock to maintain control for more than 2 consecutive days - after that they can't keep them controlled.
In addition, they require small or medium humanoid corpses and must cast the spell at night. I'm not sure how often this will come up.
---
It takes an hour for the creature to attune the magic item and this will have to be repeated every time new undead are created. In addition, the warlock will have to kill the one that attuned the item in order to get it back. After the 24 hour period passes and the ghoul is not controlled it could use the magic item against the caster.
---
The spell requires a 150gp component/corpse ... this component is not consumed by the spell so the character will need to have purchased 3 of them if they want to create 3 ghouls.
---
Using the brazier:
"While a fire burns in this brass brazier, you can use an action to speak the brazier's command word and summon a fire elemental, as if you had cast the conjure elemental spell. The brazier can't be used this way again until the next dawn."
Although minor - the ghoul needs to be able to light a fire in the brazier in order to use it. It also weighs 5 pounds so it isn't the most convenient item to use.
However, the summoned elemental "It obeys any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you)." In this case, it obeys the commands issued by the ghoul. In order for the ghoul to issue it commands, the warlock has to tell the ghoul exactly what to say using their bonus action. If they are instructing this ghoul every turn to command the elemental then they are not issuing commands to any of the other ghouls. The brazier is also only usable once/day.
The issues with commanding the ghoul get into the action economy if the warlock wants to summon the elemental in combat. If they use their bonus action to tell one ghoul to summon the elemental then they can't tell the other ghouls to attack on the first round of combat. If they use their bonus action on the second round to tell the ghoul what to tell the elemental to do then they still can't tell the other ghouls to attack. You'll have to adjudicate this carefully and track commands and actions but having the ghoul use the brazier means a lot more specific commands to the ghoul.
In addition, since the elemental only obeys verbal commands, the elemental has to remain within audible range of the ghoul so you can't have the ghoul run and hide in another room to maintain concentration if you also want to continue issuing commands to the elemental.
Finally, the elemental represents a significant risk. If the ghoul loses concentration ... perhaps they get caught in the area of a fireball or are targeted by an opponent then the elemental becomes uncontrolled and would likely attack the party. The ghoul has no bonus to con saves and only 22 hit points. That single fireball (which shouldn't be uncommon by tier 3) might well be sufficient to kill the ghoul outright and release the elemental. I wouldn't target the ghoul deliberately but a lot of creatures don't like undead and will use fireballs to clear out the yard trash the way players would (or may focus on the easier targets to get them out of the way so it will happen).
"If your concentration is broken, the elemental doesn't disappear. Instead, you lose control of the elemental, it becomes hostile toward you and your companions, and it might attack. An uncontrolled elemental can't be dismissed by you, and it disappears 1 hour after you summoned it."
----
On the topic of minions and keeping the game play smooth. This is not an issue specific to this case. Druids with their conjure spells are completely AL legal and can have a huge number of minions. An upcast conjure animals can drop 32 creates into the fight. The player specifies CR and number ... the DM can decide the creature though I usually defer to the players request with an exception for things like pixies that are broken (unless for the sake of humor or rule of cool .. the DM decides the creature summoned).
Having 32 wolves suddenly appear can potentially slow things down a lot. Most druid players know this and choose something with smaller numbers. However, you can group attacks with these using the rules for resolving attacks by mobs of creatures (DMG I think). If the number of extras is smaller but manageable (like 4 or so) then it is up to the player to be very efficient ... have more than one set of dice, roll all the attacks at once and roll both the to hit and damage dice at the same time. It then becomes very efficient to just run through the hits and total damage. If the player is rolling the dice one by one for each creature after the other and deciding individually what each will do ... then they are taking too long and you need to have a chat with the player. I've played a character with a few summons and can usually deal with all the attacks and my character actions in about the same time as a some others handle their character action. This is mostly due to rolling all the attacks at once, watching so that I know what the needed to hit is (so I can deal with obvious hits and misses without directly the DM in each case) and then just tally up the total damage (checking with the DM whether damage type matters).
In either case, having a player handle a group of minions efficiently is the topic for an out of game discussion between the player and the DM to try to make things run more efficiently in that case.
----
P.S. If the warlock decides that they don't like the way the spell works after considering the way the rules are written then I would let him change the choice of mystic arcanum. The game is supposed to be fun and making a choice because you don't understand how the rules work together shouldn't really be used to penalize the player. There are some nice 6th level spells that would be decent alternatives.
I agree with almost everything David42 wrote and I especially think the analysis of the action economy involved is fantastic. I have one correction and two comments.
Brazier of commanding fire elementals isn't an attunement item.
True and RAW, but I think it's clear that the RAI is to allow recasting the spell every day to maintain control (otherwise why give the spell to warlocks at all?). I would never do this to a player and I'd be at least a little miffed if a DM ruled this way with me.
This is something you as an AL DM are not permitted to authorize. A player with a tier 3 character (especially one who's aware enough of the rules to hand off a magic item to the character's minion) is capable of dealing with the consequences of a suboptimal choice.
Excellent suggestions all round, I especially appreciate the review of the action economy and the minutia involved there.
This is something that had crossed my mind, but the 24hr timer is based off of the long rest, and not the casting of Create Undead. Since the spell can be cast only at night, it's possible to cast it immediately before a long rest and still have time in the next night to recast it and renew the timer. It's still not possible to maintain control indefinitely, but it seems like you'd only lose (ideally) one minute each day until finally reaching a point where it's no longer night at the time you're required to cast the spell. After that you'd be forced to find new humanoids. (In any event, a set of ghouls at tier 3 rarely survive an entire day, let alone long enough for this to become an issue.)
Good point :) ... I was thinking about it backwards :).
The 24 hour timer starts from the first time the spell is cast while the spell refreshes after the next long rest. So if you initially cast it just before a long rest, you will have almost 16 hours in which to cast it before it runs out. The 1 minute shift/day is unlikely to be significant.
Absolutely true. The player makes choices along the way and after reaching level 5 those choices are permanent once used in play. So you are correct, the warlock can't change their choice of mystic arcanum.
Oh, I envy you! I would have SO much fun with this player! *evil grin*
This player has not found the perfect way to trick the system. He got away with a bit too much a few times, but it is very easy to fix.
Sure, there are two concentration EFFECTS going, but it is not the PLAYER who has them both. The warlock will give a command to the ghoul, who to the best of his ability will give a vebal command to the elemental, who will act on this to the best of his understanding. If the ghoul is "hidden away" from harms way it is likely that he will not have a perfact view on the battlefield. The result from that will be bad quality on the commands to the elemental. Combine that with a delay from chain of command (all in their turns): warlock->undead, undead->elemental and then wait for the elementals turn for it to act on it. "Tell the ememental to attack the ogre" could very well result in the elemental starting to pummel the body of the recently deceaced ogre when the elemental finally act. As the ghoul has given a VERBAL command all enemys around will hear it and can react to it. The intended target might for instance have moved out of range before the elemental gets his turn, in effect kiting the elemental.
This could be a total comedy! ;)
If the warlock try to counter some of these problems he might bring the ghoul closer to the fight. The ghoul has to make VERBAL commands to the elemental. It will not take a rocket engineer to understand that the smelly dude who is shouting commands to the big elemental is the one controlling it. I would say that the ghoul would become a priotity target for ranged attacks quite fast. With a con of 10 it is likely that the party will soon have to deal with a vengeful elemental that has broken free.
Have fun and please post here about what happened! :)
hmmm, now i must get an elemental summoning item for my wizard who has an imp familiar.
I feel like ghouls with int 7 can probably given vague commands with only slight issues. Like fight the opposing group. Then the commanding ghoul would pass a similar (little worse because int 7) command to the elemental. Some hijinks could ensue but I don't thin it should be crippling. The ghouls concentration is definitely a weak link though.