I've never thought much about Faithful Summons before, but it strikes me now that there are more ways to incapacitate someone than knocking them down to 0 HP. There's a bunch of relatively-cheap stuff in 5E that can incapacitate you, and many of those things won't leave a lasting mark.

For example, you could just dare the party bard to tell you bad jokes while you try to keep a straight face (Tasha's Hideous Daughter) until you finally bust and fall down laughing. At that point, poof! four Giant Constrictor Snakes appear (240 HP of mayhem!) and make disappoving faces at the bard until you pull yourself together, then they stick around for an hour, no concentration required, ready to soak up hits and grant everybody advantage on melee and ranged attacks. All it cost the bard was two or three 1st level spell slots--well worth doing before a tough fight.
That's a really good point, just requires a bit of creativity to use well. Thanks for the comment!


Nay, you ignore them entirely. It's better than Subtle Spell.
Thanks! I replied to that as well before even seeing you said it as well xD