Sorcery, and the Art of Summoning

I'm hoping that I've come up with a symmetrical and intuitive way to classify the different types of entities that can be summoned in this magic system. Creating a summoning only system has been a real challenge, but I'm becoming increasingly happy with the way this is turning out!

All magic is performed by summoning entities and either commanding or persuading them to do your bidding. Most summoning takes too long to be practical in a spontaneous situation, although Elementals can be summoned in a few Exchanges or less. While the time it takes to summon Elementals can be measured in seconds (usually 5-30), the time it takes to summon Spirits and Demons is measured in minutes (also usually 5-30).

The process is pretty straightforward. First, there's a preparation phase that can impact the summoning ritual. Then, the summoning ritual commences If successful, the entity appears to be commanded to perform a task. With Spirits and Demons you can enter a pact and bargain with the entity to perform your task in exchange for something beneficial to the entity.
Succeed, and the entity carries out your command. Fail, and the conse.quences can range from the entity failing to appear, to the entity attacking the sorcerer or anyone else it can.

In addition to performing tasks, entities can also be bound into objects. While this is usually for a single use, there are ways to create artifacts with reusable bound entities.

There are 3 sources of magical energy, and each source has 4 main types of entities.

The World (aka the material plane). The World is home to Elementals.

• Air
• Earth
• Fire
• Water

The Mist (aka the netherworld). The Mist is home to Spirits and spirit energy.

• Emanations (semi-sentient masses of spirit energy with a limited ability to interact with the living world)
• Ghouls (unnatural creatures, once human or animal, twisted and tormented by malevolent spirits)
• Ghosts (the sentient souls and spirit energies of beings whose bodies have died.)
• Undead (the result of spirit energies inhabiting dead bodies, such as zombies, mummies, vampires, animated skeletons and liches)

The Void. An unlimited number of parallel dimensions that are home to all manner of Demons.

• Aberrations (twisted, alien creatures from other worlds)

• Imps (small, mischievous beings often used as minions by more powerful beings)

• Devils (beings that appear as human or very human-like)

• Demons (intelligent and sentient beings, with the bodies of aberrations and the minds of devils)

Summoning isn't the only tool in the sorcerer's box. Sorcerers have also mastered the arts of divination and mesmerization. I believe that summoning, divination and mesmerism are the cornerstones of a sword & sorcery RPG.

I tried to write a system that didn't classify the many different types of entities, but it just felt too vague and "meh".I'm hoping that this will provide players and GM's with a solid foundation for creating the entities they wish to summon. I'm looking forward to testing this new system out as soon as I have time to do some testing.