I have this blue diamond...

[Sean Maxhell]

...and I'd like to use it to bind a planar being, but I think I need a name. How does it work? How do I find out the name?

[doctorsimon4]

Named beings can be found rarely in dusty tomes or by trading for them with other players who know them. For more information on the system read this: https://wiki.bgtscc.net/index.php?title=Summoning

[Sean Maxhell]

Named beings can be found rarely in dusty tomes or by trading for them with other players who know them. For more information on the system read this: https://wiki.bgtscc.net/index.php?title=Summoning

Yes, I’ve already read that page — that’s how I learned the value of a blue diamond.
The point is, I don’t think my character has enough skill points to read the dusty tome.

So what should I do? Look around for a wizard who can reveal the name of a planar entity? And then how do you choose which entity to summon — especially if it needs to align with your own alignment?

[doctorsimon4]

A dusty tome isn’t likely to contain a name, it’s rather rare. The contents of the book can hint as to where the entity is from. You can ask a wizard to read the book for you, but only do so with someone you trust.

The entity could be a low level cr2 being or something much stronger. I’d recommend trying with a diamond or canary diamond first before using the blue one!

[Mork]

Whole summon by name system seems quite underwhelming. Some claim that there are 2-3 players hogging all worthwhile (blue diamond) names. Not sure how true it is.

Normal diamond and canary diamond beings are a scam. They're useless for level 30 character and ask for tons of gold.

[Steve]

Whole summon by name system seems quite underwhelming. Some claim that there are 2-3 players hogging all worthwhile (blue diamond) names. Not sure how true it is.

Normal diamond and canary diamond beings are a scam. They're useless for level 30 character and ask for tons of gold.

Both statements not true.

[Sean Maxhell]

Whole summon by name system seems quite underwhelming. Some claim that there are 2-3 players hogging all worthwhile (blue diamond) names. Not sure how true it is.

Normal diamond and canary diamond beings are a scam. They're useless for level 30 character and ask for tons of gold.

Both statements not true.

So what?

[Mork]

Not sure about first statement. It seemed like urban legend to me but I heard it repeatedly from different sources and it seems reasonable to expect after system being around for so long to there being summoners that hog large percentage of names on themself.

What I don't agree with and tested myself is about usefullness of normal diamond and canary diamond named beings. Ones I have seen were absolutely a scam not worth the coin they asked dying instantly from simply breathing the air in epic maps (poetic exaggeration but generally very much close to truth of it). Mind you it's possible I was unlucky but after testing couple of them and loosing tons of gold I decided they're not worth it.

On top of it summons often cause crashes on transition. Not just for one summoning them but for whole party.

Summarizing you're spending tons of gold for tomes, tons of gold for contracting beings to then learn their stats suck and when you finally find one worthwhile and loose half the spellslots to buff it suddenly your whole party crashes during transition. When you log back summon is gone and you have 600 minutes to rest with half your magic gone.

[Steve]

My epic named being buffed often can outlast my lvl 30 transmuter fully buffed. It’s likely, just as with forms available from Shapechange spell, the majority of options are insufficient to match CR area content, and only a very few quality.

Maybe I just got lucky, but I don’t have the same experiences Mork.

[Mork]

My epic named being buffed often can outlast my lvl 30 transmuter fully buffed. It’s likely, just as with forms available from Shapechange spell, the majority of options are insufficient to match CR area content, and only a very few quality.

Maybe I just got lucky, but I don’t have the same experiences Mork.

I speak specifically about normal diamond and cannary diamond summons. You mention epic so I assume blue one. Never found blue diamond name but cannary for example wanted 100k and turned to be absolute garbage.

[Steve]

My epic named being buffed often can outlast my lvl 30 transmuter fully buffed. It’s likely, just as with forms available from Shapechange spell, the majority of options are insufficient to match CR area content, and only a very few quality.

Maybe I just got lucky, but I don’t have the same experiences Mork.

I speak specifically about normal diamond and cannary diamond summons. You mention epic so I assume blue one. Never found blue diamond name but cannary for example wanted 100k and turned to be absolute garbage.

Ah. Well, this topic is about Blue Diamonds, so....

But yes, the regular Diamond (sub-15 HD) and Canary Diamond (sub-22-23 HD) levels have their limits, and some ARE just better than others. Call it...flavor!!!

[Mork]

Well yes the topic is about Blue Diamond but as far as I understand you don't know if your name from tome is normal, cannary or blue diamond summon. You need to break during summoning first normal then canary diamond and only then you know. If summoning is successful with normal or canary diamond then don't give the scammer your gold (unless you just want it for being cute)

[Sean Maxhell]

So, in the end, what am I supposed to do with this Blue Diamond?
Since I was lucky enough to find it, I’d like to make the most of it—but I’m starting to think it’ll just sit in my inventory forever, unused.

[Mork]

Blue Diamonds are nothing extraordinary. I have like 8 and anyone who plays a while will have 2-3 in their storage. I know a merchant that sells them for like 5000 which is reasonable cause of their abundance. Cause of how old and underwhelming whole summoning by name system is realistically 4-5 diamonds are used every year server-wide while players loot probably 40-100 of then yearly (not actual data from database but assumption based on how much they drop vs how often someone might need one).