I find some of the "Conjure" and "Summon" spells a little underwhelming, because they usually limit you to lower CR creatures. I want an experience like when you summon Bahamut in Final Fantasy games. Like Fireball but for summoners, I guess. Obviously the power of what you can summon has to be limited for those spells, because they last multiple rounds, so they can't do equivalent damage per round to a Fireball-like spell of the same level. So I created a one-round monster summoning ability.
I plan to use this as a 10th-level warlock subclass ability. Is it overpowered? Are the rules clear enough to cover all scenarios? Are there loopholes that could be exploited?
Command
As an action, you can use a warlock spell slot to summon an aberration, elemental, or monstrosity you have defeated in battle. The creature appears at a point you can see within 30 feet and is friendly to you and your companions. It immediately takes a turn OR uses a legendary action, obeying any verbal commands that you issue to it (no action required by you). If you don't issue any commands to it, it defends itself from hostile creatures, but otherwise takes no actions. It disappears at the start of your next turn, or if it drops to 0 hit points. If you summon a creature whose CR is higher than your level, you cannot summon the same creature again for 7 days.
Looking through some of the monsters, it looks like the damage per round for most is comparable to what you could do with a warlock spell at that level. I expect you will have a few monsters in your repertoire of higher CR than your level, since it's possible to defeat them if they face your party alone. But the limitation on these will prevent you from spamming the same one over and over.
I have some concerns about monsters with spell lists. I don't know if potentially giving PCs access to higher level spells than they would normally be able to access will be game breaking. Mostly for that reason I considered leaving the monster's choices up to the DM, but the monster would generally act in the interest of the player who summoned it.
On the other hand, I'm not very worried about giving them access to legendary actions. I looked over a few, and none of them seem overpowered. In general they are less powerful than full turns for the monster, since it can use up to 3. These are exactly the kind of interesting actions I want to encourage. If anything, the problem might be that they're underpowered, which would bring me back to the idea of the DM choosing the action. I would generally choose a legendary action if they have them.
Not worried about non-spellcasting monsters? Okay.
*Warlock that just finished RoT summons Tiamat. Tiamat: Takes 5 legendary actions, 1 opportunity attack per turn, and uses multiattack.*
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Not worried about non-spellcasting monsters? Okay.
*Warlock that just finished RoT summons Tiamat. Tiamat: Takes 5 legendary actions, 1 opportunity attack per turn, and uses multiattack.*
The intent is you can take a turn OR use ONE legendary action. 1 opportunity attack per turn is pretty powerful, but only if people choose to provoke them. There's no real reason to run away from this monster, as it won't be around next round. Also, Tiamat is a Fiend, so I don't think this ability would apply (although there may be equally powerful aberrations, elementals, or monstrosities).
And at worst, non-spell actions are unlikely to break more than the combat the creature is summoned in. Whereas there might be those spells out there that are long duration and not concentration, which if used by a low-level character could completely change the game.
For example, a number of eligible creatures have Plane Shift, with a CR as low as 7 (Mind Flayer). Is it alright for a 10th-level warlock to be able to cast Plane Shift twice per short rest?
A CR 7 monster is not equivalent to a level 7 character. Also, not every fights elementals or abberations, and monstrosities tend to have a relatively low CR.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
In several incarnations of Final Fantasy, the Summons appear, deliver a single attack, and then leave, so really any spell can be reflavored to fill that role.
To summon an actual creature that sticks around is tremendously dangerous. Giving PCs access to spellcasting creatures already causes problems even with CR limitations. Getting 2-10 free spells for the price of one is way overpowered. Getting regular access to a single higher level spell is potentially game breaking.
Creating a similar spell, or perhaps a new augmentation spell might be able to bridge the gap. For example,
Arcane Rage: A summoned creature is charged with arcane power, greatly increasing its dangerousness (New statblock, or treat it as cast at a higher level). It immediately becomes hostile to the party and begins to attack whatever creature is nearest. The Raging creature persists for 1d4+1 rounds before exploding in a burst of [???] energy and disappearing.
As long as your target is on the other side of your enemies, you're fine, but if you wait around too long, it might be more dangerous than what you're fighting.
This wouldn't give it any new abilities (Other than a parting explosion), but still gets a "Super Summon" feel.
In several incarnations of Final Fantasy, the Summons appear, deliver a single attack, and then leave, so really any spell can be reflavored to fill that role.
To summon an actual creature that sticks around is tremendously dangerous. Giving PCs access to spellcasting creatures already causes problems even with CR limitations. Getting 2-10 free spells for the price of one is way overpowered. Getting regular access to a single higher level spell is potentially game breaking.
This one won't stick around too long. Only one round. I considered having it appear, do one action, and disappear, but then I saw that a number of creatures have interesting abilities like grapple, or effects that happen to any creature that enters / starts / ends their turn in a certain range, and those wouldn't be usable at all if the creature disappeared immediately. I thought if a grapple / restrained could affect enemies for at least one round, it would be at least partially useful.
I don't think there's any way the creature could cast more than one spell with my rules, since I haven't seen any creatures that have multiattack spellcasting. Even if they have some bonus action spells, it seems reasonable to apply the rule against casting more than one spell per turn. I suppose they could potentially do a spell and a cantrip, but that seems acceptable to me.
If they can cast a spell that isn't normally on the Caster's spell list, or a spell of a higher level, there are going to be problems. If not, then what's the point?
If the ability you propose isn't comparable in power to existing spells of its level, then it's going to be unbalanced, and if it is, then there is probably already a spell to cover it.
Rather than summoning an existing creature, I would recommend emulating the model provided by Summon fey and design it to scale with spell level with a pre-built list of interesting abilities chosen at the time of casting.
The other option would be to make the spell unreliable.
If I recall correctly, 3.5e had a spell where you could summon powerful beings, but then you had to convince them you help you. Typically this would be a fee based on the type of service. Also, 10th level Clerics get the ability "Divine Intervention", which has a very low probability of working.
So, If you want a powerful ability like a "Super Summon", you could have it have a very low chance of working, but increase the probability by upcasting it.
False Pendragon (4th)
You unleash the terrible roar of the King of Dragons.
Roll percentile dice. If you roll a number equal to or lower than 10 + Spell Level, a dragon (Usually an Adult) appropriate for your environment arrives in 1d4 rounds and is Friendly toward you and your party. The DM chooses how the Dragon assists the party.
If a dragon appears, you can’t use this spell again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a long rest.
Typical use might be to have the dragon do a flyover and scorch the field with its breath weapon; vastly more powerful than a 4th level Vitriolic Sphere. The DM could then treat the dragon as an NPC and has the option of letting it stick around, or continuing on its way to wherever it was originally going.
I find some of the "Conjure" and "Summon" spells a little underwhelming, because they usually limit you to lower CR creatures. I want an experience like when you summon Bahamut in Final Fantasy games. Like Fireball but for summoners, I guess. Obviously the power of what you can summon has to be limited for those spells, because they last multiple rounds, so they can't do equivalent damage per round to a Fireball-like spell of the same level. So I created a one-round monster summoning ability.
I plan to use this as a 10th-level warlock subclass ability. Is it overpowered? Are the rules clear enough to cover all scenarios? Are there loopholes that could be exploited?
Looking through some of the monsters, it looks like the damage per round for most is comparable to what you could do with a warlock spell at that level. I expect you will have a few monsters in your repertoire of higher CR than your level, since it's possible to defeat them if they face your party alone. But the limitation on these will prevent you from spamming the same one over and over.
I have some concerns about monsters with spell lists. I don't know if potentially giving PCs access to higher level spells than they would normally be able to access will be game breaking. Mostly for that reason I considered leaving the monster's choices up to the DM, but the monster would generally act in the interest of the player who summoned it.
On the other hand, I'm not very worried about giving them access to legendary actions. I looked over a few, and none of them seem overpowered. In general they are less powerful than full turns for the monster, since it can use up to 3. These are exactly the kind of interesting actions I want to encourage. If anything, the problem might be that they're underpowered, which would bring me back to the idea of the DM choosing the action. I would generally choose a legendary action if they have them.
Not worried about non-spellcasting monsters? Okay.
*Warlock that just finished RoT summons Tiamat. Tiamat: Takes 5 legendary actions, 1 opportunity attack per turn, and uses multiattack.*
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
The intent is you can take a turn OR use ONE legendary action. 1 opportunity attack per turn is pretty powerful, but only if people choose to provoke them. There's no real reason to run away from this monster, as it won't be around next round. Also, Tiamat is a Fiend, so I don't think this ability would apply (although there may be equally powerful aberrations, elementals, or monstrosities).
And at worst, non-spell actions are unlikely to break more than the combat the creature is summoned in. Whereas there might be those spells out there that are long duration and not concentration, which if used by a low-level character could completely change the game.
For example, a number of eligible creatures have Plane Shift, with a CR as low as 7 (Mind Flayer). Is it alright for a 10th-level warlock to be able to cast Plane Shift twice per short rest?
A CR 7 monster is not equivalent to a level 7 character. Also, not every fights elementals or abberations, and monstrosities tend to have a relatively low CR.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
In several incarnations of Final Fantasy, the Summons appear, deliver a single attack, and then leave, so really any spell can be reflavored to fill that role.
To summon an actual creature that sticks around is tremendously dangerous. Giving PCs access to spellcasting creatures already causes problems even with CR limitations. Getting 2-10 free spells for the price of one is way overpowered. Getting regular access to a single higher level spell is potentially game breaking.
Spells like Summon Greater Demon and Conjure Elemental are powerful, but are also risky, as they become hostile once concentration is lost.
Creating a similar spell, or perhaps a new augmentation spell might be able to bridge the gap. For example,
Arcane Rage: A summoned creature is charged with arcane power, greatly increasing its dangerousness (New statblock, or treat it as cast at a higher level). It immediately becomes hostile to the party and begins to attack whatever creature is nearest. The Raging creature persists for 1d4+1 rounds before exploding in a burst of [???] energy and disappearing.
As long as your target is on the other side of your enemies, you're fine, but if you wait around too long, it might be more dangerous than what you're fighting.
This wouldn't give it any new abilities (Other than a parting explosion), but still gets a "Super Summon" feel.
This one won't stick around too long. Only one round. I considered having it appear, do one action, and disappear, but then I saw that a number of creatures have interesting abilities like grapple, or effects that happen to any creature that enters / starts / ends their turn in a certain range, and those wouldn't be usable at all if the creature disappeared immediately. I thought if a grapple / restrained could affect enemies for at least one round, it would be at least partially useful.
I don't think there's any way the creature could cast more than one spell with my rules, since I haven't seen any creatures that have multiattack spellcasting. Even if they have some bonus action spells, it seems reasonable to apply the rule against casting more than one spell per turn. I suppose they could potentially do a spell and a cantrip, but that seems acceptable to me.
If they can cast a spell that isn't normally on the Caster's spell list, or a spell of a higher level, there are going to be problems. If not, then what's the point?
If the ability you propose isn't comparable in power to existing spells of its level, then it's going to be unbalanced, and if it is, then there is probably already a spell to cover it.
Rather than summoning an existing creature, I would recommend emulating the model provided by Summon fey and design it to scale with spell level with a pre-built list of interesting abilities chosen at the time of casting.
The other option would be to make the spell unreliable.
If I recall correctly, 3.5e had a spell where you could summon powerful beings, but then you had to convince them you help you. Typically this would be a fee based on the type of service.
Also, 10th level Clerics get the ability "Divine Intervention", which has a very low probability of working.
So, If you want a powerful ability like a "Super Summon", you could have it have a very low chance of working, but increase the probability by upcasting it.
Typical use might be to have the dragon do a flyover and scorch the field with its breath weapon; vastly more powerful than a 4th level Vitriolic Sphere.
The DM could then treat the dragon as an NPC and has the option of letting it stick around, or continuing on its way to wherever it was originally going.