I have a player with a summoner and something struck me when I had to calculate how much she must spend to keep her familiar and bound creatures (= 35) and she does only have 10 MA (9 power). So she should pay 60 DP to get a weak +10 that will only allow to pay for more pets to be sustained each day? And seeing this character, I see there's about nothing in the creation points for Summoners ... I think I'll do a "reduced cost MA" for summoners or some advantage to sustain creatures more easily ...

Anybody found a valid solution to this?

maybe create an aritfact that helps reduce the zeonic cost. of course this type of artifact would be powerful in and of itslef, making it easily a lvl 2 artifact

I rule, that you can take "Superior Magic Recovery" as an advantage without having "The Gift". Also since these creatures can be really powerfull it's some kind of game balance to have this maintenance.

Also, if you do not "bind" the creatures, there is no zeonic drain each day. Though if you dont bind them they dont have to do what you want them to, and have no convenient place to hide when other summoners come around.

From my understanding, I think that you don't even need to The Gift in order to summon and control monsters. I think The Gift is only needed if you are casting magical spells.

Summoners are pretty powerful. Your zeon exists solely to summon and control creatures. You need to look at how much zeon you have and your MA carfully when creating one. Also lower level creatures dont cost as much zeon to maintain. Your not supposed to be able to walk around maintaining a huge creature several times your level. also you dont need the gift to summon. summoning is a pure science in anima.