Not to cast "Animate Thread" or anything, but I have serious issues with the options of summoning builds available in 5e, to the effect that my DM and I worked out a modification to the Conjurer Wizard that swapped out Benign Transposition with a feature that essentially allows Find Familiar to create a familiar of act creature of CR 1/2 or lower, with the only other stipulation being the inability to cast spells (because pixie shenanigans). Overall it's worked wonderfully: the 10gp cost to cast the spell and change it's form prevented me from picking a lot of niche options early on (like a Shadow), but having the utility and adaptability of a Gazer at those levels, and later the capacity to take 10 minutes and have a permeant summon that could do unique things was amazing.
As a note: I never used the Shadow as a summon, but I imagine if I did, my DM would have revised or removed the Str drain feature, which is totally OK and for the best. As with all homebrew, use with caution and a willingness to adapt!
Not to cast "Animate Thread" or anything, but I have serious issues with the options of summoning builds available in 5e, to the effect that my DM and I worked out a modification to the Conjurer Wizard that swapped out Benign Transposition with a feature that essentially allows Find Familiar to create a familiar of act creature of CR 1/2 or lower, with the only other stipulation being the inability to cast spells (because pixie shenanigans). Overall it's worked wonderfully: the 10gp cost to cast the spell and change it's form prevented me from picking a lot of niche options early on (like a Shadow), but having the utility and adaptability of a Gazer at those levels, and later the capacity to take 10 minutes and have a permeant summon that could do unique things was amazing.
As a note: I never used the Shadow as a summon, but I imagine if I did, my DM would have revised or removed the Str drain feature, which is totally OK and for the best. As with all homebrew, use with caution and a willingness to adapt!
Conjure Elemental 5th level, Conjure Woodland beings 4th level