Druids are the best backup to all classes in the game. As good of healer as a cleric, no. As good as a front-line damage dealer, no. As good as a magic damage dealer, no.
But can they do all of these jobs as a backup if someone goes down- YES, THEY CAN!
Speaking as someone who plays druids A LOT, their 3rd level spells are fine. I must admit though, I have never been a fan of Tital Wave. It really should do SOMETHING more - more damage, or water stays, or something...
This is a good point, in particular for actual gameplay. Folks on forum boards tend only to concentrate on how optimized in a certain realm a character can be, considering everything else rubbish. They ignore that having a breadth of abilities is also useful, except when commenting on Wizards, when they just say it is the best class and then discussion ends. A range of good abilities/spells is particularly useful when a DM is able to provide varied challenges, and/or when the character who is best at one certain aspect (such as healing) goes down.
- Tidal Wave covers 3x Shatter's area, does a much more reliable damage type (magical bludgeoning instead of thunder), and targets a much more reliable save (Dex vs Con.) Area matters, because that affects total damage output from your slot every bit as much as the die roll itself.
- The point of Sleet Storm is to lock down part of the battlefield while your party takes out the rest. Of course you wouldn't cover the entire enemy with this - just their backline/flank with their ranged and casters for example, while you all mop up the front. It blocks line of sight so they can't teleport out, and between the prone and difficult terrain they're likely not walking out either, at best they'll have to burn their actions dashing. It's a good spell. Do all your fights only have 1-2 enemies in them?
- I'm not convinced you're used to team play either. The Druid having Dispel Magic means the Wizard or Bard or Sorcerer can counterspell instead. The Druid having Revivify means the Cleric can do one more Spirit Guardians instead of keeping that slot in reserve. The druid having Protection from Energy means two of your frontliners are protected from the dragon instead of one (and as far as knowing when you'll need it, you're a caster, divinations exist.)
- "Aura of Vitality is more useful outside of combat" - yeah, I know that, you still have to prepare it at the beginning of the adventuring day, that's how spell preparation works. Some of the druid's spells at each level should be non-combat spells, unless they as a caster have no idea what they're doing. Skill issue, not game issue.
And on top of all that, you didn't even bother to try refuting the math on the new Conjure Animals being worth preparing. Because you can't, because it is.
I didn't say any of those spells are completely useless. Just that all of them are situational. Most combats don't have 20 enemies of different types, and 3 different types of terrain across a 300ft x 300ft map.
Sure Dispel Magic can be awesome if (1) there is an enemy caster (2) that caster casts a spell with a duration other than instantaneous (3) the Wizard/Bard/Warlock/Sorcerer fails to Counterspell them and (4) the caster doesn't immediately have their concentration broken. In my experience this happens maybe 1/20 combats if your lucky.
Sleet Storm can be very useful if (1) you're fighting on a huge open map (2) there is at least one enemy caster (3) the enemy caster(s) are clearly separated from the enemy front line - note that lots of enemies that can cast spells are equally adept in melee and may be on the frontlines anyway. Again IME this happens maybe 1/10 combats if your lucky.
Sure it can be useful to have a character with a back-up Revivify but this relies on (1) your party not being able to make / buy Revivify scrolls [having it as a scroll is just way better than having to keep it prepared all the time] (2) your combats are routinely so challenging the at least one character dies, which IME is basically no campaigns at all - even my most deadly DMs only kill a PC once every 15-20 sessions.
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Druid needs at least one 3rd level iconic spell that they can reasonably expect to be able to cast in combat to have a beneficial effect on every adventuring day regardless of what kind of adventure they are on. Clerics have Spirit Guardians, Bards have Hypnotic Pattern, Wizards/Sorcerers have Fireball, Warlocks have Hunger of Hadar [TBH HoH needs fixing]. Druids should have Conjure Animals [not just a reflavoured Spirit Guardians].
When I play a druid, I don't want to be sitting around waiting for one of my party members to go down so I can "fill-in" for them. I want to be an epic druid commanding the forces of nature to help my friends.
Every time I see comments like that on Dispel Magic, I'm reminded how apparently underutilized magical locks and traps are in many tables.
RAW magical traps are disarmed using an Arcana check not with Dispel Magic. Dispel Magic RAW only affects spells, magical items, magical effects, magical traps are not affected unless they are a current on going spell effect - e.g. a Glyph of Warding can be Dispelled, a magical statue that spits fire at anyone who comes close cannot.
Magical locks are only Dispellable if they are from an Arcane Lock spell.
Druids should have Conjure Animals [not just a reflavoured Spirit Guardians].
When I play a druid, I don't want to be sitting around waiting for one of my party members to go down so I can "fill-in" for them. I want to be an epic druid commanding the forces of nature to help my friends.
So it's not that 2024 Conjure Animals is bad. You're just emotionally attached to 2014 Conjure Animals.
Also the latter paragraph is a personal preference, and not an indictment on the class and its capabilities.
In my opinion, if you want Druids to "command the forces of nature", maybe let them have more of the elemental spells Wizards and Sorcerers keep hoarding to start with. As far as I'm concerned, fireball and lightning bolt should just be Druid-accessible spells by default.
Power-wise 2024 Conjure Animals is fine. But it's diluting the identity of the Druid into just a Cleric covered in some green paint. Why wouldn't I just play a Cleric instead?
I didn't say any of those spells are completely useless. Just that all of them are situational. Most combats don't have 20 enemies of different types, and 3 different types of terrain across a 300ft x 300ft map.
Your "situations" are things like "there are a mix of ranged and melee enemies" and "there are enemies that cast spells." These are extremely common situations in D&D 5e.That's why it's so difficult to take your concerns seriously.
And in combats where you are up against nothing but dumb melee - like you're fighting, I dunno, a pack of werewolves or dire boars or something? You don't even need your third-level spells for those, use things like entangle or spike growth or faerie fire instead.
And yes, if your DM is handing out Revivify scrolls like candy then obviously you don't need to prepare that. Outside of Baldur's Gate 3 I haven't seen that myself, and in any event, that just means you can pick one of the other great druid spells to prep in its place.
Druids should have Conjure Animals [not just a reflavoured Spirit Guardians].
They do have Conjure Animals. And this version is way more powerful on single-target than Spirit Guardians. If what you need instead is AoE, the Druid list has plenty.
Speaking as someone who plays druids A LOT, their 3rd level spells are fine. I must admit though, I have never been a fan of Tital Wave. It really should do SOMETHING more - more damage, or water stays, or something...
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
Very often they default back to Faerie Fire, Healing Word, Spike Growth or just upcasting Moonbeam. Even when they have many higher level slots available. It's why I'm excited to play the 2024 Land Druid, since they get a ton more good and thematic spells that fill the gaps in the Druid spell list.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
There really aren't a lot of especially good spells at level 3 on the druid list; most of them are either very situational (so you likely don't have them prepped when their use case comes up), general utility that can be provided by multiple classes, or just not very impressive, though some of the situational spells (such as plant growth and wind wall) are very good when the use case does come up.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
Sounds like play experience at highly optimized tables. Conjure Animals was such an outlier for DPS that casting anything else was almost always a DPS downgrade in the 2014 druid.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
There really aren't a lot of especially good spells at level 3 on the druid list; most of them are either very situational (so you likely don't have them prepped when their use case comes up), general utility that can be provided by multiple classes, or just not very impressive, though some of the situational spells (such as plant growth and wind wall) are very good when the use case does come up.
I refuted this notion earlier - but even if it had been true, the new Conjure Animals is great damage from a 3rd-level slot too. So if the concern is that a druid without 2014 Conjure Animals now has one less worthwhile spell to use those slots on, that has yet to be supported.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
Sounds like play experience at highly optimized tables. Conjure Animals was such an outlier for DPS that casting anything else was almost always a DPS downgrade in the 2014 druid.
LOL, I wish. One of them was at optimizer Shepherd Druid who used it for DPS. The rest definitely were not: One had a strong theme for their druid as a bee-keeper, and couldn't really make any other spells fit the theme so would conjure a Polar Bear made of honey, or a couple of Giant Eagles reflavoured as bees. Another was playing as a werewolf and would conjure either a pack of little wolves or two dire wolves before WSing into a dire wolf. Another was a younger player who loves playing spellcasters but really struggles to understand their spells, they ended up defaulting back to conjuring Giant Eagles after considering other spells but constantly finding out they weren't helpful in this particular situation. Another was going for a creepy spore-druid necromancer type, but upon realizing that 10 zombies (the limit they were allowed by the DM) weren't even as good as 2 Giant Octopi they swapped back to using Conjure Animals but flavouring them as undead versions of the animals because nothing else really fit the character.
Currently our party druid is a sick dwarf corrupted by a magical curse (they rolled really really badly for stats) who uses Conjure Animals and Combat Wildshape exclusively because their spell DC is abysmal.
so much talk of conjuring specifically animals makes me wonder if there needs to be a book out soon with greater emphasis on training animals as hireling party members. something to highlight animal companions (and hirelings in general). some major NPC in the first level of a free adventure or a ranger/druid magic item for coordinating animals. just something that could highlight what two or three sheepdogs, for example, might look like in combat: protect target, harry target, intimidate targets into movement, split the herd, etc. not so much unchaining the slavering hounds to fight to the death, but rather controlling the battlefield with flanks and harassment. ranger / druid stuff. maybe include some DC checks for a non-exhaustive list of animals (perhaps similar to the druid wildform list that should exist) and their trainability, upkeep costs, etc. but, has to be in official media or else it won't get traction.
less powerful than ranger companion, but available to a ranger as well. not as convenient as poof/un-poof'd conjured spirits, not there to provide mounts or dig to fantasy china. but maybe the target of growth spells or illusions? eh, i don't know. it's so rare that i play at a table with hirelings or non-familiar pets. everyone wants the pet that can be re-summoned and can speak common. animal handling should get some time to shine, especially if they're removing the hordes of conjured animals. shrug.
Well, players aren't supposed to be choosing the form the fey spirits take. That's the DM being kind.
While this is true... the alternative is more work for the DM, who already has more than enough to do. And of course, if the player requests X creature for X task and receives wholly unsuitable creature Y instead, at best they're going to consider their turn wasted, which is not a good feeling for either side. At worst, they're going to view the DM as adversarial.
Well, players aren't supposed to be choosing the form the fey spirits take. That's the DM being kind.
Once the DM shifted to rolling on random tables, I shifted to giant insect. It's not as much as the good results for CR 1/4 like wolves, but it's better than bad random results.
Giant Insect was that reliable for you, or is that when you cast it, the DM was just like "Yeah there are some centipedes and spiders in the area. Have fun"?
It's not that hard to simply transport around some ordinary insects.
Once the DM shifted to rolling on random tables, I shifted to giant insect. It's not as much as the good results for CR 1/4 like wolves, but it's better than bad random results.
Giant Insect was that reliable for you, or is that when you cast it, the DM was just like "Yeah there are some centipedes and spiders in the area. Have fun"?
Honestly IRL spiders are everywhere. In D&D unless you're in a neat freak's house there should totally be some spiders around.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
I’ve been playing a Land druid for years now and I have to say, at least for Sleet Storm, it is a good spell but situational because of the sheer size of it. I used it once or twice to very great effect but ended up unpreparing it since once or twice in levels 5-16 didn’t make it worth keeping. We tend not to have large maps in the campaign I’m in. And even on the one big map we did fight on about 1/4-1/3 of it’s area was off the map to divide and conquer without affecting my own party.
And, same goes for Conjure Animals. I used it a handful of times before unpreparing it just because it did slow down play.
I’m glad they changed the conjure spells. Not just Conjure Animals, but some of the others that the conjures turned hostile when you lost concentration.
An interesting idea but I think this would be too much. Plant Growth has the one additional thing it can do, improve crops in a large area. Handy if you are trying to get assistance from farmers, etc but it is very limited. Unless I’m just not being creative enough.
Let these combat spells do that and other spells fill the utility you mention.
I don't mind spells that can be used for both combat and out of combat utility, but depending upon the potential of that utility they ought to be balanced accordingly; i.e- a "pure" combat summon can be stronger since it's only doing one thing for the same cost in occupying one of your prepared spells.
A spell that can summon for combat but also be used to do a bunch of things as well shouldn't have the same peak on combat performance, since it's equivalent to getting several spells for a single prepared choice. Current some of the conjure spells are arguably both stronger in combat, and give much, much more utility out of combat, so there's definitely a need to rebalance them.
Versatility vs. power is kind of how I've tended to view prestidigitation vs. minor illusion as cantrip choices; the latter is far better at the things it does well (distractions or enhancing performances etc.) but the prestidigitation is almost constiously usable with a bit of creativity, and even has a few combat applications (though nothing major, mostly much weaker distractions or lighting/snuffing candles etc.).
I definitely get the desire to simplify the conjure spells and distinguish them from the newer summon spells, but there's scope for them to be simplified without losing all of their versatility, and instead be balanced as a "weaker but more flexible" option, ideal for casters who have fewer spells known/prepared, whereas the Tasha's summon spells will be ideal for the caster who's looking more specifically to summon things for combat.
To be honest I am OK with conjure animals being barely ever optimal in combat, As long We have the tasha's spells too. I prefer it as a creative utility spell.
Different spells have different uses but to maintain compatibility (for old adventurer references) it should have a little of the old functionality.
so much talk of conjuring specifically animals makes me wonder if there needs to be a book out soon with greater emphasis on training animals as hireling party members. something to highlight animal companions (and hirelings in general). some major NPC in the first level of a free adventure or a ranger/druid magic item for coordinating animals. just something that could highlight what two or three sheepdogs, for example, might look like in combat: protect target, harry target, intimidate targets into movement, split the herd, etc. not so much unchaining the slavering hounds to fight to the death, but rather controlling the battlefield with flanks and harassment. ranger / druid stuff. maybe include some DC checks for a non-exhaustive list of animals (perhaps similar to the druid wildform list that should exist) and their trainability, upkeep costs, etc. but, has to be in official media or else it won't get traction.
less powerful than ranger companion, but available to a ranger as well. not as convenient as poof/un-poof'd conjured spirits, not there to provide mounts or dig to fantasy china. but maybe the target of growth spells or illusions? eh, i don't know. it's so rare that i play at a table with hirelings or non-familiar pets. everyone wants the pet that can be re-summoned and can speak common. animal handling should get some time to shine, especially if they're removing the hordes of conjured animals. shrug.
If The goal is to simplify combat... adding more npcs is actually worse than the conjure spells.
Frankly I think alot of the complanits about "seaching stat blocks" or "time consumption" is an exaggeration but I don't mind a little cleanup. Even if I never had such problems, I'm not going to say there aren't other options.
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This is a good point, in particular for actual gameplay. Folks on forum boards tend only to concentrate on how optimized in a certain realm a character can be, considering everything else rubbish. They ignore that having a breadth of abilities is also useful, except when commenting on Wizards, when they just say it is the best class and then discussion ends. A range of good abilities/spells is particularly useful when a DM is able to provide varied challenges, and/or when the character who is best at one certain aspect (such as healing) goes down.
I didn't say any of those spells are completely useless. Just that all of them are situational. Most combats don't have 20 enemies of different types, and 3 different types of terrain across a 300ft x 300ft map.
Sure Dispel Magic can be awesome if (1) there is an enemy caster (2) that caster casts a spell with a duration other than instantaneous (3) the Wizard/Bard/Warlock/Sorcerer fails to Counterspell them and (4) the caster doesn't immediately have their concentration broken. In my experience this happens maybe 1/20 combats if your lucky.
Sleet Storm can be very useful if (1) you're fighting on a huge open map (2) there is at least one enemy caster (3) the enemy caster(s) are clearly separated from the enemy front line - note that lots of enemies that can cast spells are equally adept in melee and may be on the frontlines anyway. Again IME this happens maybe 1/10 combats if your lucky.
Sure it can be useful to have a character with a back-up Revivify but this relies on (1) your party not being able to make / buy Revivify scrolls [having it as a scroll is just way better than having to keep it prepared all the time] (2) your combats are routinely so challenging the at least one character dies, which IME is basically no campaigns at all - even my most deadly DMs only kill a PC once every 15-20 sessions.
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Druid needs at least one 3rd level iconic spell that they can reasonably expect to be able to cast in combat to have a beneficial effect on every adventuring day regardless of what kind of adventure they are on. Clerics have Spirit Guardians, Bards have Hypnotic Pattern, Wizards/Sorcerers have Fireball, Warlocks have Hunger of Hadar [TBH HoH needs fixing]. Druids should have Conjure Animals [not just a reflavoured Spirit Guardians].
When I play a druid, I don't want to be sitting around waiting for one of my party members to go down so I can "fill-in" for them. I want to be an epic druid commanding the forces of nature to help my friends.
RAW magical traps are disarmed using an Arcana check not with Dispel Magic. Dispel Magic RAW only affects spells, magical items, magical effects, magical traps are not affected unless they are a current on going spell effect - e.g. a Glyph of Warding can be Dispelled, a magical statue that spits fire at anyone who comes close cannot.
Magical locks are only Dispellable if they are from an Arcane Lock spell.
Power-wise 2024 Conjure Animals is fine. But it's diluting the identity of the Druid into just a Cleric covered in some green paint. Why wouldn't I just play a Cleric instead?
Your "situations" are things like "there are a mix of ranged and melee enemies" and "there are enemies that cast spells." These are extremely common situations in D&D 5e. That's why it's so difficult to take your concerns seriously.
And in combats where you are up against nothing but dumb melee - like you're fighting, I dunno, a pack of werewolves or dire boars or something? You don't even need your third-level spells for those, use things like entangle or spike growth or faerie fire instead.
And yes, if your DM is handing out Revivify scrolls like candy then obviously you don't need to prepare that. Outside of Baldur's Gate 3 I haven't seen that myself, and in any event, that just means you can pick one of the other great druid spells to prep in its place.
They do have Conjure Animals. And this version is way more powerful on single-target than Spirit Guardians. If what you need instead is AoE, the Druid list has plenty.
I'm glad you fine them to be so, but having played a druid in a big campaign and played with druids in several campaigns, the only 3rd level spells I've seen them cast are Conjure Animals and Dispel Magic.
Very often they default back to Faerie Fire, Healing Word, Spike Growth or just upcasting Moonbeam. Even when they have many higher level slots available. It's why I'm excited to play the 2024 Land Druid, since they get a ton more good and thematic spells that fill the gaps in the Druid spell list.
That's beyond sad, but it does explain where you're coming from at least. Hopefully you're beginning to realize this is a fringe experience for druids in play though.
There really aren't a lot of especially good spells at level 3 on the druid list; most of them are either very situational (so you likely don't have them prepped when their use case comes up), general utility that can be provided by multiple classes, or just not very impressive, though some of the situational spells (such as plant growth and wind wall) are very good when the use case does come up.
Sounds like play experience at highly optimized tables. Conjure Animals was such an outlier for DPS that casting anything else was almost always a DPS downgrade in the 2014 druid.
I refuted this notion earlier - but even if it had been true, the new Conjure Animals is great damage from a 3rd-level slot too. So if the concern is that a druid without 2014 Conjure Animals now has one less worthwhile spell to use those slots on, that has yet to be supported.
LOL, I wish. One of them was at optimizer Shepherd Druid who used it for DPS. The rest definitely were not:
One had a strong theme for their druid as a bee-keeper, and couldn't really make any other spells fit the theme so would conjure a Polar Bear made of honey, or a couple of Giant Eagles reflavoured as bees.
Another was playing as a werewolf and would conjure either a pack of little wolves or two dire wolves before WSing into a dire wolf.
Another was a younger player who loves playing spellcasters but really struggles to understand their spells, they ended up defaulting back to conjuring Giant Eagles after considering other spells but constantly finding out they weren't helpful in this particular situation.
Another was going for a creepy spore-druid necromancer type, but upon realizing that 10 zombies (the limit they were allowed by the DM) weren't even as good as 2 Giant Octopi they swapped back to using Conjure Animals but flavouring them as undead versions of the animals because nothing else really fit the character.
Currently our party druid is a sick dwarf corrupted by a magical curse (they rolled really really badly for stats) who uses Conjure Animals and Combat Wildshape exclusively because their spell DC is abysmal.
so much talk of conjuring specifically animals makes me wonder if there needs to be a book out soon with greater emphasis on training animals as hireling party members. something to highlight animal companions (and hirelings in general). some major NPC in the first level of a free adventure or a ranger/druid magic item for coordinating animals. just something that could highlight what two or three sheepdogs, for example, might look like in combat: protect target, harry target, intimidate targets into movement, split the herd, etc. not so much unchaining the slavering hounds to fight to the death, but rather controlling the battlefield with flanks and harassment. ranger / druid stuff. maybe include some DC checks for a non-exhaustive list of animals (perhaps similar to the druid wildform list that should exist) and their trainability, upkeep costs, etc. but, has to be in official media or else it won't get traction.
less powerful than ranger companion, but available to a ranger as well. not as convenient as poof/un-poof'd conjured spirits, not there to provide mounts or dig to fantasy china. but maybe the target of growth spells or illusions? eh, i don't know. it's so rare that i play at a table with hirelings or non-familiar pets. everyone wants the pet that can be re-summoned and can speak common. animal handling should get some time to shine, especially if they're removing the hordes of conjured animals. shrug.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Well, players aren't supposed to be choosing the form the fey spirits take. That's the DM being kind.
And I find it weird the beekeeper opted for reskinned bears and birds when the giant wasp is literally right there.
While this is true... the alternative is more work for the DM, who already has more than enough to do. And of course, if the player requests X creature for X task and receives wholly unsuitable creature Y instead, at best they're going to consider their turn wasted, which is not a good feeling for either side. At worst, they're going to view the DM as adversarial.
Once the DM shifted to rolling on random tables, I shifted to giant insect. It's not as much as the good results for CR 1/4 like wolves, but it's better than bad random results.
It's not that hard to simply transport around some ordinary insects.
Honestly IRL spiders are everywhere. In D&D unless you're in a neat freak's house there should totally be some spiders around.
I’ve been playing a Land druid for years now and I have to say, at least for Sleet Storm, it is a good spell but situational because of the sheer size of it. I used it once or twice to very great effect but ended up unpreparing it since once or twice in levels 5-16 didn’t make it worth keeping. We tend not to have large maps in the campaign I’m in. And even on the one big map we did fight on about 1/4-1/3 of it’s area was off the map to divide and conquer without affecting my own party.
And, same goes for Conjure Animals. I used it a handful of times before unpreparing it just because it did slow down play.
I’m glad they changed the conjure spells. Not just Conjure Animals, but some of the others that the conjures turned hostile when you lost concentration.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
To be honest I am OK with conjure animals being barely ever optimal in combat, As long We have the tasha's spells too. I prefer it as a creative utility spell.
Different spells have different uses but to maintain compatibility (for old adventurer references) it should have a little of the old functionality.
If The goal is to simplify combat... adding more npcs is actually worse than the conjure spells.
Frankly I think alot of the complanits about "seaching stat blocks" or "time consumption" is an exaggeration but I don't mind a little cleanup. Even if I never had such problems, I'm not going to say there aren't other options.