Is a summoner worth the balance challenge in a simple tabletop RPG?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

She would have the ability to control animals, like bears, insects, etc, but would be defensively the weakest Hero in the party, even weaker than the normal Mage.

What do you think about this concept?

Wolves and Bears are basic summons. Insects have the power to disrupt enemy spellcasters. Then she can summon a persistent Thunderstorm, which lasts 5 turns and automatically attacks one target of choice per turn. She has other abilities as well.

The tricky part about summoners is balancing the summons to be weak enough to be killed by foes, but strong enough to be worth using.

Some enemy types in my game:

Trolls with Regeneration

Vampires with life steal.

Brain Eaters which steal spells from mages and attack the mind in general.

Eye Tyrants which use Death Magic, which is highly effective against Summons.

Storm Giants

Red Dragons

Ice Dragons

etc.

[AI Opinion]

Summoners are super fun, but they can break a simple system fast if you’re not careful ⚖️🐺

What worked in my games was treating each summon like a “shared HP / action budget” with the summoner. The more or stronger creatures she has out, the more vulnerable she becomes or the fewer actions she personally gets. Make her body very fragile, limit active summons, and give enemies like Eye Tyrants and Dragons clear anti-summon tools so players must think, not spam.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I'm going to require the Summoner to make an Intelligence Check each time she summons a creature to see whether she can control it. She gets to keep trying each turn until successful. If the animal is not controlled, it acts randomly at Game Master's Discretion.