School of Summoning

The school of conjuration is quite awesome and one of its coolest abilities comes right at 2nd level: "Minor Conjuration". With it you can conjure all sorts of useful gadgets, as long as the object conjured is "inanimate", "no larger than 3 feet on a side", "weigh no more than 10 pounds" and that it's form is "that of a nonmagical object that you have seen". Stated as it is, this power is fantastic to allow players to be creative, but it also opens the door to a world of abuse.

For instance, you can get an instant and unlimited access to any document you might have glimpsed (even entire libraries you simply strolled in), expansive spell components (including that 25 000 gp diamond you need for True Resurrection) and a ton of powerful items such as the Purple Worm Poison (Injury), explosives (a bundle of Dynamite (Stick) is particularly nasty), that Laser Rifle that you thought would be a cool one time addition to a villain, etc.

Another point on which the school could be improved is the scarcity of creature summoning abilities. Currently, the conjuration spell list include many original spells, but it lacks spells for conjurers wishing to invoke creatures to fight for them. There are essentially only four (Summon Lesser Demons, Summon Greater Demon, Conjure Minor Elementals and Conjure Elemental), three of which summon creatures that can potentially turn against your own party and none of which is available before 5th level.

This alternative version of the school of conjuration lets the player choose between a restricted version of "Minor Conjuration" and a new power named "Superior Familiar" to temporary give combat capabilities to his or her familiar. Note that this version voluntarily allows conjured objects to deal damage without disappearing.

Conjuration Savant

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy a conjuration spell into your spellbook is halved.

Summoning Prodigy

When you select this school at 2nd level, you must choose to either be able to produce almost any object out of thin air and acquire a flexible arsenal at your finger tips, or to grant your familiar the power to transform into a powerful companion.

Minor Conjuration

Starting at 2nd level when you select this option, you can use your action to conjure up an object in your hand or on the ground in an unoccupied space that you can see within 10 feet of you. The object disappears after 1 hour, when you use this feature again, if it takes at least 1 point of damage, or if you take an action to dismiss it.

Restrictions and Specifications:

• The object is visibly magical, radiating dim light out to 5 feet and a weapon created this way counts as magical.
• The object has no magical property other than the ones stated above.
• The object can be no larger than 3 feet on a side (it must fit in a 3 ft. diameter sphere) but it can be a folded object (example: a long coil of rope is allowed).
• The object can weigh no more than 10 pounds.
• The object cannot be a living thing.
• The object cannot be a formless substance (such as a gas or a liquid) but it can be a solid containing the substance (such as a bottle of water).
• Any substance created is inert, meaning that this power can't be used to create poison, acid, explosives, medicine, etc.
• The object is at room temperature.
• The object can be a collection of objects (such as thieve's tools, a pair of daggers, a clockwork device with gears, a chest containing gold, etc.) as long as the full collection fits in a 3 ft. diameter sphere and doesn't weigh more than 10 pounds. If any part of the collection takes damage, or if you willingly dismiss any part of it, the full collection disappears.
• The object cannot be used as a spell component.

When you use this power to create a complex object (such as a clockwork device) or to accurately replicate an object that you examined thoroughly beforehand, you must first succeed an intelligence check against a dc appropriate to the object's complexity. If you fail to copy an object, you need to examine the original again before you can retry.  A character with the keen mind feat has +10 on this roll and can retry a failed copy without studying the original again, but he or she does need to examine the copy and find its flaws.

Complexity	DC	Example
Simple	10	Copy a regular dagger
Average	15	Copy a crude key
Complex	20	Create a pocket watch
Intricate	25	Copy an entire book

Keep in mind when looking at the examples that every particular object is unique (there can be a finely crafted dagger of dc 25 and a children's book of dc 10).

Superior Familiar

When you select this option at 2nd level, you add the find familiar spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. When you cast this spell for the first time, choose whether your familiar is a fey, a celestial or a fiend (this choice is permanent). If your familiar is a fiend, you must also choose between the devil and demon sub-types. Contrary to other familiars, yours can attack (no action required on your part), it has 6 intelligence and, although it can't speak, read or write, it can understand one language depending on its origins: sylvan (fey), celestial (celestial), abyssal (demon) or infernal (devil). You don't need to share a language to communicate telepathically.

You can use your action to allow your familiar to take a superior form and transform into a creature of its own type (fey, celestial, demon or devil) or a beast (if your familiar transforms into a beast, it still counts as a fey, a celestial, a demon or a devil). Either way, the CR of the superior form cannot be above half your level. Note that the superior form is that of an average member of the chosen race, not of a particular one.

While transformed, your familiar uses all of the chosen creature's game statistics instead of its own and can use any of its abilities except for any lair or legendary action. Adopting its superior form does not cause the intelligence of your familiar to drop below 6.

Your familiar can remain in superior form for a number of rounds equals to your level and that time can be broken up into multiple uses (the time used replenishes after a long rest). Past that time, you can concentrate to keep your familiar in superior form for an additional round (requires concentration just as for a spell) but you take increasing necrotic damage every time you do so: 1d12 the first time, 2d12 the second, 3d12 the third and so on (the damage severity resets after a long rest). This damage cannot break your concentration and it ignores resistance and immunity.

You can use an action to have your familiar revert to its original form and your familiar cannot change from one superior form to another without reverting to its original form first. If you take an action to dismiss your familiar while it's in superior form, it also reverts to its original form and, when you make it reappear, it does so in its original form.

If your familiar gets to 0 HP while in superior form, it reverts to its original form and cannot transform again until you take a long rest (not even at the cost of taking necrotic damage). If you get to 0 HP while your familiar is in superior form, it stays in superior form until the allocated time runs out (or until you wake up and use your action to have it revert to its original form) and protects you to the best of its capabilities.

Benign Transposition

Starting at 6th level, you can use your action to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you can see. Alternatively, you can choose a space within range that is occupied by a Small or Medium creature. If that creature is willing, you both teleport, swapping places.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest or you cast a conjuration spell of 1st level or higher.

Focused Conjuration

Beginning at 10th level, while you are concentrating on a conjuration spell, your concentration can’t be broken as a result of taking damage.

If you chose the "Superior Familiar" option, this feature also applies when you concentrate on keeping your familiar in superior form past the allowed time.

Durable Summons

Starting at 14th level, any creature that you summon or create with a conjuration spell has 30 temporary hit points.

These temporary hit points also apply to your familiar when you make it reappear and, if you chose the "Superior Familiar" option, it keeps them when it takes its superior form.

An object created with "Minor Conjuration" never counts as a creature, thus these temporary hit points never apply to it.