You summon fey spirits that take the form of beasts and appear in unoccupied spaces that you can see within range. Choose one of the following options for what appears:
- One beast of challenge rating 2 or lower
- Two beasts of challenge rating 1 or lower
- Four beasts of challenge rating 1/2 or lower
- Eight beasts of challenge rating 1/4 or lower
Each beast is also considered fey, and it disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends.
The summoned creatures are friendly to you and your companions. Roll initiative for the summoned creatures as a group, which has its own turns. They obey any verbal commands that you issue to them (no action required by you). If you don't issue any commands to them, they defend themselves from hostile creatures, but otherwise take no actions.
The GM has the creatures' statistics. Sample creatures can be found below.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using certain higher-level spell slots, you choose one of the summoning options above, and more creatures appear: twice as many with a 5th-level slot, three times as many with a 7th-level slot, and four times as many with a 9th-level slot.
Sample Creatures
CR | Creature Name |
---|---|
0 | Frog, Sea Horse, Baboon, Badger, Bat, Cat, Crab, Deer, Eagle, Giant Fire Beetle, Goat, Hawk, Hyena, Jackal, Lizard, Octopus, Owl, Quipper, Rat, Raven, Scorpion, Spider, Vulture, Weasel |
1/8 | Blood Hawk, Camel, Flying Snake, Giant Crab, Giant Rat, Giant Weasel, Mastiff, Mule, Poisonous Snake, Pony, Stirge |
1/4 | Axe Beak, Boar, Constrictor Snake, Draft Horse, Elk, Giant Badger, Giant Bat, Giant Centipede, Giant Frog, Giant Lizard, Giant Owl, Giant Poisonous Snake, Giant Wolf Spider, Panther, Riding Horse, Wolf |
1/2 | Ape, Black Bear, Crocodile, Giant Goat, Giant Sea Horse, Giant Wasp, Reef Shark, Warhorse |
1 | Brown Bear, Dire Wolf, Giant Eagle, Giant Hyena, Giant Octopus, Giant Spider, Giant Toad, Giant Vulture, Lion, Tiger |
2 | Giant Boar, Giant Constrictor Snake, Giant Elk, Hunter Shark, Plesiosaurus, Polar Bear, Rhinoceros, Saber-toothed Tiger |
Had a player last night use this to summon 8 swarms of ravens, which was nearly 200 birds. They are pretty far along in Curse of Strahd and the birds were summoned out of Baba Lasyga's blood bath. It was sick as heck. 10/10 would allow again (and would talk to the player if they started to really abuse it).
Why wouldn't they and why not always wolfs as that gets pack tactics too. This spell is literally Action economy cheese the spell and the only advice I've received on dealing with it is to either action economy back [yay long ass slogging combat] or spam banishment/ counter spell which is honestly just as dumb really. The fact that Wizards thinks this is fair to any DM at this spell level is ********. But it's concentration! I as the DM still have to get the attack to hit someone all the way in the backline that is behind freaking 8 new god damn wolfs.
So fine now I just plan for 8 wolves just popping in where ever my druid wants within 60 freaking feet.
This is why I homebrew summon siphons. Your telling me in worlds with Castles and forts that they wouldn't figure out a way to handle the magical ******** that can pop a small army on them? No no. Forts and anything that is meant to be heavily guarded have inlaid gems that prevent summons into the place. Thus every fort needs a sectioned summoning circle in front of the gates.
I absolutely despise this spell
What happens when you lose Concentration on this but the fey animals are still around?
They disappear?
They attack?
Run around and do animal things?
All they say is that you have to see it, so yes, you could probably do that.
Wolf spiders are insane. They do 1d6 +1 dmg, which combined with 2d6 poison damage, is 3d6 +1 damage! Besides, you can summon eight of them. and they will literally do 24d6 +8 damage to a single enermy
I'm ruling it as they disappear. It's a very powerful spell, so it needs that chink in its armor.
Hi Lion, that is a good point. Thanks for your insight.
An assassin tries to murder your 14th level Circle of the Sheperd Druid:
Suddenly 32 Wolves Appear!
An assassin tries to murder your 14th level Circle of the Sheperd Druid:
Suddenly 32 Wolves Appear!
It specifies it has to summon 4 CR-2 or lower monsters.
4 huge-size constrictor snakes is funny too though, takes up more spaces and grapple for days.
"Wolf spiders are insane. They do 1d6 +1 dmg, which combined with 2d6 poison damage, is 3d6 +1 damage! Besides, you can summon eight of them. and they will literally do 24d6 +8 damage to a single enermy"
I take it you didn't see giant poisonous snakes yet? Notice the higher hit chance and more poison damage.
Oh, I need 8 panthers, when I am a Giant Elk. "Tilt them, kill them, eat them". And then me and my hooves.
Does it need to be of the same kind or can one summon 3 Crocodiles and 1 Black Bear? (New to Druid)
Absolutely hate this spell as a DM. At our table, we have allowed the player to choose but do you have any idea how horrid 8 constrictor snakes are? With the rules that multiple creatures/people can grapple a target, with the constrict attack if all 8 hit one enemy then that enemy has to break from 8 different grapples and be restrained at the same time.
If your monster unfortunately only has melee attacks and no AoE damage attacks/spells it gets hard to break free, you could break free of one just to be grappled again by it the next round.
I had a CR 19 go up against them it was very melee and was there really only for plot purposes, the party of level 5 players almost killed it due to it being restrained and having disadvantage on attacks...so if you tend to roll poorly then forget it lol
I literally had to start throwing in monsters that were immune to grappling just to even give a challenge to my players. This caused the druid to summon other creatures and it was much better. I also made sure the monsters had AoE as he likes to summon as many creatures each time as he can just to have the numbers advantage.
If you summon animals with this, do they have to stay within 60' of the caster or can they go wherever they want?
I like having this spell because it easily breaks the game (my favorite class to play is a druid) if you manage to get to a high enough level you can summon up to 32 creatures. They don't have to be strong because if you roll to hit thirty-two times some are going to hit. There's also a 60-foot range in any direction, including up. All you have to do is summon 32 cows above any creature and one-shot almost anything in the game.
RABBIT ESCAPE
I hope that conjure animals in the new handbook is nothing like the playtest version, because if this is going to be backwards compatible then they need to rework/overhaul all summoner classes. Shepherd druids and conjuration wizards are losing their identity for being summoners with the changes coming in September. Please Wizards either overhaul all summon spells including the ones from Tasha's and give us a reason to cast them. The best summon for combat purposes is summon celestial (because of radiant dmg) which neither druids or wizards have access to so why bother even be a summoner. The only summon with a hit die (d10) is Draconic spirit which is good for tier 2 play but falls hard in tier 3 and 4, please make summons relevant and do more then just piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning or have them do magical attacks.