I am currently playing a 7th lvl hexblade warlock and I use my concentration on Summon Fey. After looking at Shadow of Moil or Spirit Shroud for other spells to use my concentration on, Summon Fey upcast to 4th level outperforms both spells for dpr, utility, and longevity.
First, Shadow of Moil is popular esp for GWM/PAM hexblade builds. SoM gives you adv to hit and enemies disadv to hit you plus 2d8 if they do hit you. That's pretty good but looking at Summon Fey, you can have your summon position to give you both adv. This already accounts for SoM's advantage. The damage SF gives is two attacks that deal 2d6 + 7 EACH. That's greatsword damage with a high flat damage bonus. Thats 4d6 + 14 if both hit which is probable because of adv from flanking. To compare SoM's defensive capability to SF, SF has a hp pool of 40 which is pretty good at 7th level. My 16 CON warlock has 59 hp so having another body on the battlefield at 2/3 my max hp is pretty good. Both spells are offset equally by if you drop concentration the spell ends. The thing that stands out for SF is the 1-hour spell duration vs 1 minute from SoM. My hexblade is playing through Dungeon of the Mad Mage which is chock-full of encounters, often several within the same hour. This makes SF a much more efficient use of a spell slot for warlocks.
What are your thoughts? I haven't seen any other discussion online from people claiming SF to be a great spell.
All the Tasha's summon spells (except summon beast) are extremely powerful - up cast to 4th or 6th level they are essentially an extra martial character on the field. It's why I don't understand all the talking heads online claiming these spells "solve" the problem of conjuration because they only summon 1 powerful creature instead of half a dozen weak ones. Because RAW the Tasha's summon spells are much more powerful than PHB summoning spells.
Summon Fey has one problem, that is also shared by Summon Beast and Conjure Animals, which is creatures resistant to non-magical BPS damage.
Most of the “Summon” spell family have an option to diversify damage type and try to circumvent that. On top of my mind I remember the Ghostly Spirit from Summon Undead that causes necrotic or cold damage IIRC, and Summon Aberration, but anyway, you got the point.
There is one creative solution specific for Summon Fey that depends a lot on your DM’s good will: carry a magical sword with yourself and anytime you summon your Fey, equip her with this magic weapon, potentially increasing even the damage die.
All the Tasha's summon spells (except summon beast) are extremely powerful - up cast to 4th or 6th level they are essentially an extra martial character on the field. It's why I don't understand all the talking heads online claiming these spells "solve" the problem of conjuration because they only summon 1 powerful creature instead of half a dozen weak ones. Because RAW the Tasha's summon spells are much more powerful than PHB summoning spells.
The Tasha's "summon" spells are generally more powerful than the PHB "conjure" spells when used to conjure one creature but that was nort the proble with the conjure spells the main issues were:
Conjuring 8 creatures (or 24 when upcast) meant that the caster would be hogging gameplay in combat. In a typical combat the DM might make the turns for 3 creatures, each of the other players makes the turns for one and the caster make take the actions for more creatures than the rest of the table combined.
If the DM decides what creatures are summoned there will generally be a long pause while the player reads the creatures abilities and then decides how they can be best used inthe combat. Where normally a player knows their own abilities and can plan what they will do while they wait for their turn. It can also create lack of fun for the player oif the DM gives them something they regard as suboptimal. If the player chooses the creatures then they willoften have the option to choose something broken in power.
8 low CR creatures are much more powerful than 1 of 8 times the CR. If there is plenty of space conjuring 8 elk results in 8 attacks each doing 3d6+3 damage on a hit and then unless the enemy has an AoE attack require at least 8 attacks to be killed off.
Some creatures were clearly designed with no consideration for the "conjure spells". RAW with a 3rd level spell you can conjure 8 creatures that "can not be overcome or kiled by combat" Onyx. Pixies allow 8 castings of polymorph for the price of 1.
The Tasha's summons have none of these problems. They are powerful spells for their level but not to the extent of being broken.
Oh, it’s important to reinforce that it seems your table uses optional flanking rules, which makes summon positioning great, therefore increasing the value of the spell itself.
The Tasha's summons have none of these problems. They are powerful spells for their level but not to the extent of being broken.
The problem with Tasha's summons is they make martial characters utterly obsolete b/c the summons can simply replace them and can even exceed the combat abilities of the average martial.
Sure conjure animals can be used to be a "problem player" ruining everyone else's fun. But RAW it really isn't that good b/c RAW the conjured animals roll their own initiative so in many cases can be killed before they even get a turn.
The Tasha's summons have none of these problems. They are powerful spells for their level but not to the extent of being broken.
The problem with Tasha's summons is they make martial characters utterly obsolete b/c the summons can simply replace them and can even exceed the combat abilities of the average martial.
They are also a lot cheaper than the average martial. Can you imagine a PC fighter working for nothing more than a look at a gilded flower? :-)
On the other hand, the summoned fey can't carry all your stuff back to town.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am currently playing a 7th lvl hexblade warlock and I use my concentration on Summon Fey. After looking at Shadow of Moil or Spirit Shroud for other spells to use my concentration on, Summon Fey upcast to 4th level outperforms both spells for dpr, utility, and longevity.
First, Shadow of Moil is popular esp for GWM/PAM hexblade builds. SoM gives you adv to hit and enemies disadv to hit you plus 2d8 if they do hit you. That's pretty good but looking at Summon Fey, you can have your summon position to give you both adv. This already accounts for SoM's advantage. The damage SF gives is two attacks that deal 2d6 + 7 EACH. That's greatsword damage with a high flat damage bonus. Thats 4d6 + 14 if both hit which is probable because of adv from flanking. To compare SoM's defensive capability to SF, SF has a hp pool of 40 which is pretty good at 7th level. My 16 CON warlock has 59 hp so having another body on the battlefield at 2/3 my max hp is pretty good. Both spells are offset equally by if you drop concentration the spell ends. The thing that stands out for SF is the 1-hour spell duration vs 1 minute from SoM. My hexblade is playing through Dungeon of the Mad Mage which is chock-full of encounters, often several within the same hour. This makes SF a much more efficient use of a spell slot for warlocks.
What are your thoughts? I haven't seen any other discussion online from people claiming SF to be a great spell.
All the Tasha's summon spells (except summon beast) are extremely powerful - up cast to 4th or 6th level they are essentially an extra martial character on the field. It's why I don't understand all the talking heads online claiming these spells "solve" the problem of conjuration because they only summon 1 powerful creature instead of half a dozen weak ones. Because RAW the Tasha's summon spells are much more powerful than PHB summoning spells.
Summon Fey has one problem, that is also shared by Summon Beast and Conjure Animals, which is creatures resistant to non-magical BPS damage.
Most of the “Summon” spell family have an option to diversify damage type and try to circumvent that. On top of my mind I remember the Ghostly Spirit from Summon Undead that causes necrotic or cold damage IIRC, and Summon Aberration, but anyway, you got the point.
There is one creative solution specific for Summon Fey that depends a lot on your DM’s good will: carry a magical sword with yourself and anytime you summon your Fey, equip her with this magic weapon, potentially increasing even the damage die.
The Tasha's "summon" spells are generally more powerful than the PHB "conjure" spells when used to conjure one creature but that was nort the proble with the conjure spells the main issues were:
The Tasha's summons have none of these problems. They are powerful spells for their level but not to the extent of being broken.
Oh, it’s important to reinforce that it seems your table uses optional flanking rules, which makes summon positioning great, therefore increasing the value of the spell itself.
The problem with Tasha's summons is they make martial characters utterly obsolete b/c the summons can simply replace them and can even exceed the combat abilities of the average martial.
Sure conjure animals can be used to be a "problem player" ruining everyone else's fun. But RAW it really isn't that good b/c RAW the conjured animals roll their own initiative so in many cases can be killed before they even get a turn.
Reiterating Ir0ns0ul - SF is good because your table opts to use Flanking Rules, which are optional in the game. My table doesn't use them.
But with them, any summoning spell will be made much better because of it.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
They are also a lot cheaper than the average martial. Can you imagine a PC fighter working for nothing more than a look at a gilded flower? :-)
On the other hand, the summoned fey can't carry all your stuff back to town.