Summon Deva is a high-level class ability available to Cleric, druid, and paladin classes of good or neutral alignment.
Cleric and druid classes may only select this ability once, and it is accessible as a level 7 spell in the priest spellbook.
If neutral characters opt to select Summon Deva when leveling up, they will be unable to select Summon Fallen Deva, and vice versa.
Note that a Paladin class has the "Summon Deva" as a special ability, accessible from the "Special Abilities" menu (F12 with keyboard interface), which means they do not have to memorize it as a spell and can use it at any time. They can also select it more than once.
Description[]
| “ | This spell opens a celestial gate and calls forth an angelic deva to fight at the caster's side until the spell expires or the deva's earthly avatar is slain. | ” |
Gameplay[]
The caster selects the spell icon and then designates a point on the area map where the caster desires the celestial gate to materialize and the angelic Deva creature to appear - use the targeting cursor to denote the spot and "click"/select it to initiate the spell casting.
Once the spell cast is finished, a celestial gate animation renders on the map at the designated point, and seconds later a Deva appears, ready to receive orders - the Deva will remain on the map for a variable duration as determined by the caster's level, peaking at 24 rounds.
The Deva is a neutral allegiance creature that is temporarily sided with the caster; however, it cannot dismiss the "fog of war" when it explores - if the Deva's avatar is slain, its physical form will disappear from the map in a surge of energy and leave no remains behind.
This creature cannot transition with the party to another map - the Deva cannot be banished or dismissed and must stay on the map it was summoned to for the spell's duration.
A Deva innately can See the invisible, and that means it can pursue and target creatures that perhaps the party cannot, as long as they are in the celestial's visual range.
A Deva is best used by the party by giving it orders and managing its actions - the celestial has a basic default AI script to guide its behavior if no orders are given - but that may not be what the party desires it to do.
The Deva uses the same sprite as a Planetar in the game, and although the Deva appears to be wielding a magical bluish glowing sword, it actually wields a "Mace of Disruption +2" in its main hand.
The Deva is fitted with a "Turn Undead" button (F4 key with keyboard interface) when selected by the player - however the Turn Undead power seems not to affect undead at all, even the lowest level undead creature is unaffected. It is unclear if this is a bug or planned behavior by the developers. Not only that, but the Deva's AI often will initiate a melee attack on a undead enemy on its own without being ordered to, which deselects the Turn Undead button, so the power is not continuously enabled anyway.
See the Deva article page for the creature's stats, abilities, immunities and spells.
Notes[]
This spell interacts with the summoning cap in a few ways that are different than most summoning spells:
a) If you already have a Planetar or Deva summoned, you won't be able to summon another one.
b) If you already have five creatures (of any kind, except demons/devils) summoned, you won't be able to summon with this spell.
c) If you only have up to four creatures summoned and use this spell, not only will it cast successfully, but you will also still be able to summon a sixth creature with another spell. Meaning that, demons/devils aside (they follow other rules), it's possible to have 5 regular summons and 1 celestial summon at the same time, for a total of 6 summons.
Trivia[]
The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition ruleset has no spell titled Summon Deva, and the BG video game's ability version is added as a creation by the developers.
In the PnP game, a priest could attempt to call forth a Deva if using the Gate priest spell - however, the caster would need to specifically name the entity he desires to make use of the gate and to come to his aid.
There is a 100% chance that something steps through the gate. The actions of the being that comes through depend on many factors, including the alignment of the priest, the nature of those accompanying him, and who or what opposes or threatens the priest. The DM will decide the exact result of the spell, based on the creature called, the desires of the caster and the needs of the moment. The being gates in either returns immediately or remains to take action.
The being in question might come personally or send a representative (for example, a deity might appear as an avatar) or might send a lesser minion, instead.
Casting a Gate spell isn't something to be taken lightly, as casting this spell ages the priest five years.
Mod Content[]
Installation of the Spell Revisions Mod will replace this spell with a similar but moderately different version, which will also summon a revised Deva - both in terms of creature abilities and appearance. See the Deva page for details.
Mod gallery[]
External links[]
- Summon deva on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms.