Oblivion:Summon

thumb|left|Summon Headless Zombie 

This spell allows you to summon various creatures to fight on your side. The more powerful the creature, the more costly the spell. You may only summon one creature at a time. Summoned creatures will not summon underlings. For example, Spider Daedra would normally summon Spiderlings, but summoned Spider Daedra are not able to do so. You can also attack summoned creatures and capture their souls; after three hits they turn hostile and attack you. You may not collect ingredients from summoned creatures after they're dead; they simply vanish into thin air.
 
Notes
These effects can be gained for spell making via spells with the exception of the Summon Ancestor Guardian greater power, which is disabled for custom spell making.
There is a Summon Dremora Lord test potion available in the editor, but not anywhere in the game.
The Wizard's Tower plugin adds a Daedric Lava Whiskey potion that includes the Summon Dremora Lord effect.
The Staff of the Everscamp in the quest Whom Gods Annoy provides limitless (and constant) summoned scamps, which can be taken advantage of just like regular summons: target practice, soul trapping (Lesser souls), etc.
This effect has been categorized as defensive, because you actually cast the effect upon yourself (and casting the spell is not considered to be a hostile act).
Some summoned creatures are equipped with weapons (i.e., skeletons, dremora).  Normally, these weapons disappear with the creature when the spell expires.  However, if the summon drops his weapon, it remains present after the end of the spell.  This is one way to obtain Dremora weapons; there is even a chance your summon will have an enchanted Dremora weapon.  The fastest way to get a summon to drop his weapon is by using Disintegrate Weapon (however, the weapon must already be drawn; if you disintegrate the weapon before he starts to attack, he will never pull it out).  Be careful not to do this where other weapons are available: your summon will pick up any other weapon, and that weapon will disappear when the summon spell expires.
The spells Summon Dremora and Summon Dremora Lord actually summon NPCs, so you need Black Soul Gems in order to trap their souls.
With careful timing and luck it is possible to remove weapons and items from dying summons by quickly hitting the activate button at the instant when the summoned creature is killed.  The time window in which this will work is very short, and it never works if the summon effect's duration has expired.
Killing a creature you've summoned increases your "Creatures Killed" amount.
As well as the Summon effects listed here, there are two extras: Wabba Summon (editor ID Z011) and an empty effect called "Extra Summon 20" (editor ID Z020), listed in the CS but not available in game. The Wabba Summon effect is designed to summon a deer, sheep, rat, Baliwog, Elytra, Gnarl or Scalon, depending on your level. The Extra Summon 20 is a blank effect intended for use by modders. All the SI-specific summonable creatures were based on what were originally known (pre-SI) as "Extra Summon 06 through 19".
In the CS, there is an unused Wraith meant for a Summon Wraith spell. However, the game lacks both the needed Summon Wraith spell effect and an appropriate spell: only Gloom and Faded Wraiths can be summoned.

Summonable Creatures
Those figures provided in the Effect Base Cost column are taken from the Spell Effects page, and are equal to the magicka cost of a 10 second duration spell. Note that the magicka cost of any summon spell depends on its duration.



 

See also
Related effects:
Command Creature, Command Humanoid, Frenzy, Rally
Calm, Demoralize, Turn Undead