How To Play a Summoner (Part 2) In Dungeons and Dragons 5e

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

The Slaad sounds like a great way to "check" for traps. As long as it doesn't die outright it can spend a minute or so to regenerate and then "check" for the next trap.

[@benry007]

I think the Slaad beats the other two if the goal is to soak up damage/distract enemies.

[@AC-eb7kt]

The reason sorcerers dont get summon spells is due to a half elf shadow sorcerer who may have caused an incident

[@pierowmania2775]

This is such an underrated comment!

[@nickmillar999]

Reference?

[@pierowmania2775]

@@nickmillar999 Sebastian Crow, Kelly's character in the Dungeons of Drakenhiem campaign is a half elf shadow sorcerer who seems to cause several "unfortunate incidents."

[@kblyler04]

@nickmiller999 you should watch the Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign by the dungeon dudes

[@thatfigman3153]

JIMMOTHY!

[@lilyz6412]

As a Bard, I used my Magical Secrets on Summon spells as a Creation Bard, and picked up metamagic adept to lengthen the summons, and I get to have a little cadre of minions that doesn't infuriate my party! I've wanted to play a summoner for a while, and these spells make it feel less Disruptive at the table, and I'm having so much fun as a bard with my lil Backup Dancers

[@snazzyfeathers]

I played a oneshot where we were all playing goofy characters, and I played a knockoff of a warner bros character. I also was a creation bard, and chose to pick up summon celestial. I summoned Taz as a Defender lol

[@ecothunderbolt257]

You should see if there's some way you can get access to Flock of Familiars. Or even conjure animals to bring in some baboons. Go for great quantity on the backup dancers. You could even get the magic item "Bag of Tricks", or the "Horn of Valhalla" Summon forth the warriors of Valhalla to avail you of song and dance.

[@lilyz6412]

@@ecothunderbolt257 The goal of using the Tasha's Summons is to Not Flood combat with more creatures having an already large party, but I use illusions during my non-combat performances to back me up ;)

[@ecothunderbolt257]

@@lilyz6412 Makes sense.

[@tar2238]

If only Summon Accompaniment were in 5e. Btw, what page in the 3e Spell Compendium is it on? I can’t find it.

[@jennyoutrageous]

Monty's quick Big Trouble in Little China reference didn't go unnoticed.

[@fuddmuggler]

The Summon Undead interacts with the 6th level Necromancer feature since it is indeed a Necromancy spell. That spell, especially upcast to level 4, is super potent on a necromancer with their bonuses to undead, and is so much more straightforward than the large army of undead -- but having both of them is good too!

[@jpjfrey5673]

It doesn't since it doesn't directly kill enemies. Same as Animate Dead - it doesn't heal you if your created Undead kill proper

[@fuddmuggler]

@@jpjfrey5673 I'm talking about the Dead Thralls feature that buffs undead not Grim Harvest. Guess I shoulda been clearer.

[@jpjfrey5673]

@@fuddmuggler fair enough, that one does indeed work. And it adds *a lot* of necrotic damage

[@ZombieMonkey7]

Here's some forbidden jutsu for summon undead- Festering Aura states that the target rolls the con save at the start of the creature's turn to become poisoned, but Rotting Claw's effect only works when the creature is poisoned. So usually you'd summon them, attack, do a little dmg, then next turn if they get poisoned you can start trying for that sweet paralyzed condition. Therefore, have your undead hold their attack until the creature rolls their Con save at the start of their turn. Theoretically, if they are unlucky enough you can completely skip your target's turn.

[@justinschmelzel8806]

I love summons on warlocks because of their long durations and limited slots makes each spell go a very long way.

[@jorrdanpodbilski1210]

These dudes may be up to something when they can summon me to their videos this easy. Good job 👍

[@darkrider3126]

13:39 An importent thing to note about the Slaad is that when it hits a creature, that creature can‘t regain any Hit Points until the Slaads next turn. This is really strong if you are fighting Clerics or Druids, or in your DM likes to heal their boss. 15:20 If you are looking to gain damage I think the Metal Construct is the was to go. Ist deals 1d10 fire damage to anyone that attacks or touches it, while that‘s less then the Clay forms Feature, this isin‘t a reaction, so it triggers every Hit and there is no risk of harming an ally.

[@DurandalsFate]

Also use the slaad against trolls, with their pesky regeneration ability.

[@lsamaknight]

Feels like some of these spells would be good to use for home brew expanded spell lists for sorcerers. Celestial for Divine Soul, Shadowspawn for Shadow etc

[@charliebohnsack3461]

I like the new spells as a DM because they are simpler and easier to keep track of and are also cool to flavor for NPCs if I need a generic summoned creature. With that being said, as a player I definitely prefer some of the shenanigans that come from being able to summon monsters straight from the monster manual. For example using invisible stalkers to track people, or one of my favorites: after killing a humanoid, use a vial of its blood to summon a dybukk in a magic circle and planar bind it (I used a mordenkainen's private sanctum and two glyphs of warding, one with summon greater demon the other with magic circle to summon it and keep it trapped while I cast planar binding.). Then commanded the dybukk to inhabit the corpse of the humanoid and cast gentle repose on the corpse. At that point I had a normal looking, tough, telepathic, fiend under my control who can cast dimension door at will among other things. My point in saying all of this was that the combination of all of those spells and research etc really made me feel like the archetype of the evil summoning wizard who draws sigils on the ground and summons demons. Especially because then the dybbuk became a really interesting NPC because it didn't like being controlled but without me it's body it was inhabiting would degrade and it would stop getting to indulge in material things. (I gave it some things it wanted like good food and drink, drugs, etc). I really felt like an evil wizard and controlling my minion. Long story short, the new spells work better for combat and are obviously more simple and better designed. However, I think the older spells are cooler feeling to cast thematically and make better stories.

[@thoruktor8005]

Maestro of the damned: bard summoner that creates a symphonic choir of stationary undead/demons/fae that can combine different instruments effects into various greater buffs or effects would be cool.

[@malakus0606]

I am currently playing a Pact of the Fiend Warlock in a campaign. I was looking over my options and came to the conclusion of taking Pact of the Chain and get an Imp. Then, later on, get Investment of the Chainmaster invocation so that I can use the Imp to deal damage as a bonus action. Then, as I get Summon Fiend as a 6th Level spell, ride the winged Devil into battle and shoot Eldritch Blast down on the enemies. Then use the Imp as a bonus action. Then have the Devil use Hurl Flame after my turn. Potentially dishing out 3d10+5+1d4+3+3d6+2d6+3+6 damage in two turns of combat.

[@lilyz6412]

I'm surprised the Dudes didn't mention the lack of Hit Dice, to benefit from part of the Shepherd Druid's 6th level feature. The only one that qualifies is the already clear winner Summon Draconic Spirit, so you do get a little ripped off using these Summon spells as the Summoning Druid

[@casualmarkit9969]

I mean, you can say they would have __ hit dice because of their size. There is a chart in the intro to the MM that specifies npcs of __ size will have ___ hit dice, and i have heard that exceptions to that rule are essentially nonexistent in the context of what the table applies for. Any exceptions are likely Divine Avatars always having like a D20 or larger hit die irrelevant of size. Obviously PCs are exceptions as Barbarian levels give the same hit dice as Huge size creatures no matter the PC's size, but the table is for Monsters. Summons are best described as Monsters spawned by a spell to do the summoner's bidding. Using the table, I would say Beast and Fey spirits of their respective spells have D6s; Fiend and Celestial spirits have D10s, and all the rest D8s. Which using the actual table as well for the Average HP numbers to algebraically reverse engineer the amount of hit dice means they didnt ever account for that as they dont Quite scale the same as if they scaled by hit dice alone (Large spirits vary/grow by multiples of 5 not 5.5, etcetera.) And those calculations weren't even trying to factor in their Con mods, which are anywhere between +2 and +4, gumming up the works even more. There is some limited room to Homerule them in, but obviously as you say there just arent hit dice to the Tasha Summons, making the Mighty Summoner feature not incredibly useful to them. Most people assume a Spell-entity such as what is summoned by these spells do have innate magical attacks but by RAW I would say they dont due to that not being specified as something they have in neither the spell itself nor the stat blocks. So the feature retains *some* use at least. But it is feasible a DM would house rule that feature into these spells themselves anyway. Sending the feature straight to Useless for these spells in the process if they dont add in the hit dice. God, accurately examining the full situation makes my head hurt a little 😅.

[@lilyz6412]

@@casualmarkit9969 Yeah, definitely there are homerules available, and the lack of Magic Damage (RAW at least) makes it half usable! But the RAW of lack of Hit Dice definitely just feels Off and a disadvantage to the Summoner Specific Druid

[@NastymcMasty]

Litterally just watched part 1 yesterday. My next charecter is gonna be a drakewarden ranger with as many summoning spells as I can take, should be fun. Thanks guys!

[@micaiahhunt9854]

I had an amazing time playing a water genasi stars druid who made for an excellent summoner. She used the dragon form to ensure her concentration and would eventually summon fey and even dragons to ride. She loved the stars so summoning a (crystal) dragon to fight with and ride was amazing.

[@Hyde_Hill]

Would have added at the start or the end that for these spells you need costly material components (non consumed) so best to talk with your DM about this ahead of time how they will handle it.

[@matthewgeorge234]

My DM created a gnome villain that I gave a chance to surrender. When she refused and died, I demanded the barbarian give me her head. Guess what’s going to be gilded with 300gp of gold…? We never learned her name but she’s going to continue to be part of the campaign.

[@chrisvossler8795]

FYI, Drakewarden Ranger doesn't get Summon Draconic Spirit; they don't get an expanded spell list in Fizban's. I ended up giving the Drakewarden in my campaign a thematic expanded spell list, though, with Cause Fear, Dragon's Breath, Fly, Fire Shield (or Elemental Bane), and Summon Draconic Spirit. I'm actually a little disappointed that they didn't make an expanded spell list standard in the One DnD playtest for Ranger.

[@pwnyboy9714]

My Drakewarden managed to nab a Circlet of Knowledge, and you better believe I put Summon Draconic Spirit into it for when I get my fifth level slots lol

[@willieoelkers5568]

Rangers are not, collectively, supposed to lean into their casting as much as classes like Druids, Clerics, and Paladins. Plus they're probably looking to make the subclass additional spell list a Priest feature.

[@Indomakio]

Nice to see that, I also gave my Drakewarden extra spells but I went with Identify, Dragon's breath, Incite Greed, Elemental Bane and Legend Lore.

[@chrisvossler8795]

@@willieoelkers5568 All the subclasses in Xanathar and Tasha have expanded spell lists, though.

[@willieoelkers5568]

@@chrisvossler8795 And they didn’t give you a scaling minion with those classes. That’s arguably the trade-off of the Drakewarden subclass

[@haroldgarner7140]

The fire elemental’s immunity to fire is actually pretty useful as you can use it to ground zero a bunch of fireballs or have an ally cast a wall of fire to keep enemies stuck with your pet fire elemental

[@Zoddlander]

I like the Summon Shadowspawn spell, but keep in mind that the summon spells do require costly components (200gp/300gp/400gp/500gp/600gp), ask your DMs for that stuff! The Aberrant Mind sorcerers can skip costly components by using their sorcerer point to cast the spell! Still good and I don't think its to powerful ignore material componets to cast these spells! Love that you guys do these updates! Great job dudes!

[@alanschaub147]

An Eladrin casting Fey Spirit would be super fun and thematic!

[@charliescheirmann2926]

I had an eladrin that got summon fey, and the dm was nice enough let me make the fey a medium creature. So I flavored the fey as a fey/dryad like echo of my character made of fey energy and wood/roots

[@musicmancp]

I’m about to play a Shepherds Druid summoner in Icewind Dale. I’m very excited.

[@quercusmorgana]

My high level NPCs are definitely taking some of these, and my player’s bard is going to be gifted Summon Accompaniment sometime soon now. Thanks!

[@NRMRKL]

Give your bards the Horn of Valhalla. Musical instrument that summons minions, it's 👌🏼 for a bard (thematically).

[@charliescheirmann2926]

My question is if the Metal Construct (15:40) hits an enemy with its slam attack, it requires the construct and target to "touch". And therefore I feel as though the 'Heated Body' feature would trigger and add an extra 1d10 fire damage to each of the metal golem's attacks.

[@kylesousa2051]

Has anyone mentioned how good wildfire druid is as a summoner? You get a concentration free summon that acts on your bonus action in your wildfire spirit and then a concentration fey/elemental/dragon spirit going on free actions and you still have your normal action every turn. It's Druid Action Surge

[@demogorghon]

One important thing I believe you didn't mention. All of those spells require specific and costly material component. Multiple use component but still depending on DM or campaign it might be difficult to acquire. Summon Beast require bunch of stuff worth 200gp and 3rd level druid might just not have acces to this kind of money.

[@32Loveless50]

i play a Necromancer and i use Summon Undead. the ones i use is Putrid and Skelletal. Putrid i use as a semi tank that stands in the way poisoning them. Skelletal as a ranged damage dealer.

[@Nikotheos]

Incredibly excited for this! Thanks!

[@ContractAaron]

I feel so justified after listening to this! I have a draconic sorcerer, and went with summon draconic spirit. The rest of the party wanted me to take animate objects, but I found this so much cooler… It’s proven to be such an awesome, versatile spell, and it’s the keystone on my character now. I ride the dragon around, reigning hell, and using it to knock out minions.

[@SharinganVizard07]

Final session of my Curse of Strahd game, i had my Battlesmith Artificer use Summon Construct and just kept sandwitching enemies between my construct and my steel defender while i fired gunshots at them from a distance. it shredded some enemies

[@SharinganVizard07]

Our Druid also Summoned Draconic Spirit at 7th level, and GOD that thing is Crazy powerful

[@Mary_Studios]

I do find it interesting that Summon Fey isn't with Bards as that was originally the one that they got but they didn't get it after it was out of play testing.

[@earlgrey3519]

HUZZAH! Summoners are my favourite things to play (particularly summoner bards)

[@kanevivi]

Perfect timing I'm literally about to be playing one!

[@sammartin8746]

Summon Draconic Spirit is a spell I was planning to pick up for my abjuration Dragonborn wizard (with the gift of the metallic dragon), being able to travel over to my allies on the back of a tanky dragon so I can use my reaction to block damage for them and if necessary use the wing feature of my feat to potentially boost the dragon's AC to 23 against an attack if necessary might be quite nice, having someone else haste it could be quite nice too...

[@sammartin8746]

(Haste is probably overkill)

[@GeneralHavek]

Something to point out with the fury shadowspawn. It is not only creatures frightened of you. It is frightened. Period. As long as they are affected by a fear effect, the shadowspawn has advantage on attacks.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

pairs well with a conquest paladin

[@adriel8498]

Yeaahhh!! I was waiting this video since tasha came out. Thanks!

[@chacepassmore6474]

Good stuff! Been waiting on this one

[@LokangoFreewar15]

So one more reason to play a Fey wanderer, expending every spell slot for Summon Fey 😂

[@surmankeith]

My DM allows Tasha’s stuff but is extremely stingy about giving out gold for my wizard to afford the material component for these spells 😢

[@gamergunn7139]

I noticed this comment in my rewatching of this. The cost is 1 time only as they don't consume the component needed for the summon. And if memory serves, a Spellcasting Focus also covers the component requirement, so long as it isn't consumed by a spell. I could be wrong though

[@surmankeith]

@@gamergunn7139 if the material component has a listed cost, even if not consumed, you must have the specific component.

[@ForeverCyber]

I have a wizard summoner that went with one of the collage backgrounds to get the unique summon. She forgoes attacks to have her familiar attack instead and uses her magic to both summon and empower her summons!

[@andrewk911]

The divine sorcerer can summon the Celestial spirit, and we let the Shadow Sorcerer to summon Shadowspawn

[@alanschaub147]

• Winter Eladrin • Undead Warlock • Pact of the Chain • Quasit Familiar • Summon Shadowspawn FEAR!!! You could really lock down opponents on a battlefield.

[@benjaminwalker9369]

Noice Just hope you don't run into any monsters with fear immunity

[@alanschaub147]

@@benjaminwalker9369 I believe that almost 20% of monsters are immune to fear in D&D 5e. This tactic would not work well in a campaign with a lot of undead.

[@perlygatekeeper]

Great video guys!

[@umbrashadowmoon5685]

I love the idea of being born with magic. Honestly, I am shocked that sorcerer didn’t get many summoning spells. Shadow sorc should summon shadow spawn, elementals and fey. Divine soul should summon celestial, undead, elementals and fey. Again a bit upset about sorc.

[@Hazel-xl8in]

while druids and wizards might be the most powerful summoners on the field, i think these spells are the most *effective* for the warlock. they scale excellently with pact magic, and because warlocks can take a short rest to get their spells back they don’t have to feel bad about a summon dying quickly. warlocks might not be the best summoner out of them, but i think they get the most use out of having them.

[@benjaminwalker9369]

They also didn't have any before Tasha's which a huge boon

[@knightghaleon]

Been playing a Drakewarden Ranger/Wildfire Druid combo and I'm basically a wild spirit conjurer that jumps into the fight and can wildshape out of it. Specifically requested my DM create NPCs that represent the summoned beasts that I had to get contracts with in order to summon them. Yes I even have contracts with the fey summon. Been having a blast mixing it up with the wildfire spirit and beast spirit jumping a target I'm shooting at.

[@bobbyLNZ]

Monty over here looking like a suave Al Borland! And that is most def a compliment!

[@kumasdomain5721]

no its not

[@TheBucketOfTruth]

Let's not count out Warlocks when it comes to discussing the effectiveness of these spells. As we know up until 5th level spells, Warlock Pact Slots automatically cast at max level for your PC level and so these summons will automatically upcast. And if the summons have innate spells or abilities you're getting 2 for 1 (or better) when it comes to your very limited spell slots. And easy to recast multiple times if you get your short rest(s) in. I'm playing a Hexblade but excited to see how using Summon Shadowspawn goes as a 4th and 5th level cast since I grabbed it late.

[@TheJerbol]

20:15 love the biblically accurate angels reference

[@rodquilitz7250]

My Dwarven War Wizard uses a home brewed variant of Summon Undead to summon the spirit of his Battlerager grandfather

[@codyhoward7640]

I have a Conjuration Wizard who is using Summon Draconic Spirit and I can confirm this spell is bonkers. It keeps my wizard out of trouble between turns, pretty much allows my to fly and does a respectable amount of damage. This spell has become my bread and butter. Make sure you keep a feather fall in your pocket for when your DM decides to knock your dragon prone.

[@radu7472]

Summon Shadowspawn Despair should not be underestimated either, depending on the makeup of the battlefield you can potentially lock down plenty of monsters by reducing their movement speeds by 20ft no save! This often forces the monsters to then attack the shadowspawn to regain their movement which means less attacks on your friends

[@popspoppelhoffer987]

I'm super-late to this video, but Kelly and Monte's point about Beastmaster Rangers getting a whole pack when they use Summon Beast is right on, especially if the Ranger can access Find Familiar through something like Arcane Initiate. A Tasha's Beastmaster, for example, who has Beast of the Sky companion, a summoned Beastial Spirit of the Air, and an Owl familiar has whole flock of terror birds, each with the Flyby ability.

[@DolphinRichTuna]

*knock knock* "who is it?" "plumber" "it's the land shark isn't it!?"

[@ethanschaeffer6303]

I used draconic spirit a lot as a bard and it was epic, however, one big downside of it in higher level play is that the dragon does non-magical piercing damage. So its damage really falls off against most monsters. This might be where the archer celestial really starts to look great as a long range archer with 3-4 radiant damage attacks (which also means it sticks around longer since its harder to take them out)

[@jameshill2450]

This got me brewing up a new character idea last night. It's not much of a summoner mechanically, but it's a big part of the character. He's a rat lord. Ideally this would be a character to start at level 8 or 9, since it takes a while to come together, but it's not necessary. I still only have the basic PHB to work from though, so there might be some better subclasses or spell choices than this. If starting at level 1, I probably want to start with Warlock first to get the familiar right away. Pact of the Chain is the obvious way to get it, and I like that to get Voice of the Chain Master, but you could also go Pact of the Tome and use Book of Ancient Secrets to learn it. The level 1 and 6 bonuses from the Great Old One patron will help later, but I just want the familiar right now. I don't plan to use him much as a caster, so this could be the warlock that doesn't take Eldritch Blast. I want Mage Hand for later, and Chill Touch would be fine. Next go into Druid. Telepathy from the GOO patron means I can talk to people while wild shaped. There's probably a better subclass for this somewhere, but from the PHB options I'd take Circle of the Land - Swamp. Go to level 5 to get Conjure Animals, then I'm done with druid. All I want from this is Wild Shape and Conjure Animals, so high wisdom isn't necessary. From there, split levels between Warlock and Rogue (Assassin) as desired. The level 6 GOO bonus can help set up free sneak attacks, and wild shape can get you anywhere unnoticed. You can summon your rat familiar, conjure more rats, and turn into a giant rat to lead them. And if the DM allows it, I'd say you ought to be able to shift back and backstab with a Shillelagh-club. I would love to play this as the drow version of a halfling, if that were a thing. Maybe just roleplay it as a halfling from the swamp, but it could also just be a drow or 1/2 drow.

[@AllegoryGar]

I would’ve liked a video on the weird higher level summon spells like planar binding, planar ally, gate, magic circle etc. Basically how-to-summon-demons for dummies. It’s harder than it looks! Often times you need to set up some glyph of warding stuff to help with concentration, and that’s not even getting into if a demon or devil has magic resistance or dispel magic even!

[@johngillan4475]

Nice ideas, thanks

[@Nordrig]

Video idea. Ranking the best multiclasses for each class. As in, Bard lvl 17 with Paladin lvl 3 would be a Rank S multiclass, but Bard with Barbarian is rank D (maybe, maybe not). Fighter eldritch knight with hexblade is rank A (or not, who knows). So on so forth. You could have a whole series of videos with this due to all the combinations possible. "Ranking All multiclasses for Druid" etc.

[@ImAlexhearmemehYT]

Just an FYI, Kirin, unicorns and Couatl are all celestials you could reasonably ride

[@oliverl6779]

Human Lore bard summoner. Feat. Ritual caster wizard for find familiar. 6 level MS: conjuring Animals. Counter spell. 10 level ms : find greater steed, + 1 summoning spell.

[@TheRedneckGamer1979]

With the exception of Divine soul, who get access to both the cleric AND sorc spell list, basically no sorc has access to summoning spells, hell they don't even get find familiar.

[@zachmartin5876]

Makes me want to make a homebrew Sorcerer whose entire Bonus Spell list is summon spells

[@edfreeman4202]

I think maybe the reason why the sorcerer didn't get much love with these new summon spells is due to their meta-magics, namely twinned spell?

[@edfreeman4202]

Oops, never mind

[@captainobesity7012]

I played a trifling variant wizard, these spells are much easier and usually back more punch, I went for the more dark spirts and devil magic and its been really fun

[@ryanedgerton1982]

This is why you don't mess with Druids. They're the Swiss Army Knife of D&D classes -- they may not be the best in a given category, but you'll be hard pressed to find a category they have no viability for. Being able to summon the spirits of literal dragons is just the icing on top.

[@brandonschmitz6696]

Pretty sure my favorite "summon" remains illusory dragon from xanathar's

[@CosmicHorrors]

nice i was waiting for this

[@kernergades]

Ran into this video randomly. But would it be cool to have a artifical do a special sum construct making it a battlemech of sorts. Firing lighting bolts or other things into battle.

[@Griffex394]

What I don't like about the "new" summoning spells is that they require expensive and rare spell components. Half my character arc is trying to find those. And we're in the sword coast, it's not like we're in the middle of nowhere

[@adamelliott4257]

I always feel that summoners really slow down combat and rarely add fun. Taking your turn and having to effectively take multiple turns in a row just means the other players at the table are waiting longer to do something.

[@benjaminwalker9369]

You just need to prepare for your turn beforehand so it's not that bad if you're good at managing turns

[@bonzwah1]

Yeah, a bad player playing summons is rough to deal with. Advanced players only. But it's definitely achievable to have smooth summer gameplay. If you've ever had a DM who's able to keep the enemies' turns short enough that combat feels smooth, then you know it's true. DM's are essentially always playing the ultimate minion class lol.

[@Gilmore-Devoss]

Honestly I feel like the the summon shadow spawn spell should be a spell that shadow sorcerers can get

[@Willow-Eversong]

checked out the summon draconic spirits breath weapon and it does say it matches the resistance you chose. so if you chose fire, it uses fire. no fire resistance and cold breath, darn

[@daracaex]

I wish D&D had a way to support specific summoned creatures and improve them over time rather than general ones. Like the summons from JRPGs like FFX.

[@richardchisenhall387]

I know it's somewhat off topic but I feel like I've had some excellent ideas for the steel defender artificer which is in a way summoning minions, still working on the details

[@TheJourneyman03]

I am about to start dungeon of the mad mage with a genie warlock with summon shadow spawn. Genies are all about their slaves and servants and my warlock will follow suit with summoning his own minions in battle.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

A bladesinger casting summon beholderkin with one off-center eye. You got Vader with summon Model Death Star

[@grayrook8637]

Now the breath thing aside, I would say a reasonable interpretation of the chromatic/metallic thing is that you gotta choose one element and stick with it. Ink is expensive and making a whole extra line of text would have cost a fortune to fit. Hence they short handed it to one word in production as a cost cutting measure.

[@Crowsbane4]

I'm about to play a Goblin wizard that rides a beholderkin, pretty much Green Goblin

[@seymourfields3613]

My Druid has never wild shaped. Those all go to Tasha's added ability to use them for find familiar.

[@AgentForest]

I think every Sorcerer subclass should have gotten a relevant summon spell added to their list. Aberrant Mind + Summon Aberration, Divine Soul + Summon Celestial, etc. Honestly, as a DM, I would 100% allow this.

[@bobbito9791]

Bard concentration is a heavy resource to commit.

[@RavinerPayne]

That's cool. So there's a benefit to allow someone to summon you from the summons perspective.

[@devin5201]

Beholder kin is like an angry disco ball of death.

[@jeffreyblackwell1444]

btw about summon accompanyment, someone actually did it as a homebrew in my game lol

[@jpjfrey5673]

I strongly disagree that Fury Shadowspawn is the clear winner, as it was put. The advantage is neat, but you have to: use an action, the enemy needs to fail a save, and then only on the next turn you can attack.... once with advantage, then another save, then attack once again. This takes 2 turns to actually work, same as Putrid Undead, though it works a bit better due to enemies being far more resistant or straight immune to poisoned condition compared to fear effects. It requires a second caster to use Fear in order to have a lasting effect, and, while fun, that's expensive On the other hand, Despair Shadowspawn is a complete menace: It has 40 feet of movement speed, and anything starting its' turn next to it loses 20 feet of movement for the turn. No save, no resistance, nothing can stop this effect (even Freedom of Movement, going by its wording). The average speed of most creatures is 30 feet, or 40 if they're bigger than Medium size. A Shadowspawn can simply walk up to the target and either scream or attack. The victim will simply not be able to run away from a Shadowspawn with -20 feet to their speed, and if they want to, they have to Dash, usually within simple walking distance of a Shadowspawn..... which walks up, resets the slow and attacks again. If the enemy chooses not to run and fight - damage taken by a summon, nothing lost. If the enemy chooses to flee - actions wasted Dashing/Disengaging, nothing lost. Despair Shadowspawn can easily function as a martial class with Sentinel without requiring feat sacrifices from an actual PC - a true battlefield control machine

[@arcanos9706]

Now, do these combo with the wizard’s conjuration ability that grants conjured beings extra hp?

[@iskandarthegreat0487]

Love your content

[@lockskelington314]

Does a Necromancers 'Undead Thralls' Work with Summon Undead?!

[@BlueTextingStories]

If I'm not wrong, "Undead Thralls" only work for "Animado Undead", as a DM, whatsoever, I allow it because it makes sense

[@BranHawk775]

@Lock Skelington Yes it does, as the feature says any undead created via a necromancy spell, which Summon Undead is. Happy raising!

[@lockskelington314]

@@BranHawk775 Thank you. I think its a nice alternative than having 8 undead requiring multiple spell slots and just having 1 buff undead instead!

[@snazzyfeathers]

On the Shadowspawn, fury is great I won't lie. But don't discount sorrow either! A no save reduction of 20 feet can be paired with other slowing abilities like lance of lethargy for Warlock or just using ray of frost. 30 feet reduction of movement speed could be crippling for baddies to keep them in damaging area of effect spells like spike growth or spirit guardians. Granted something like that would require some team work, but hey its what's the game's about right?

[@techninja3001]

I can’t believe you have to concentrate as a summoner now! I liked in BG when I could throw out many many monsters at once for a battle.

[@kielweiss3606]

Since 1DnD is reorganizing spells by Magic sphere (Fey, Divine, Arcane) I'm guessing Bard and Sorceror will end up getting some more of the summons.

[@BlaziNxTheO]

I'm getting some good ideas for magical secrets and to mix with unsettling words with my bard

[@MrWolf-xc9pr]

A sorcerer using subtle spell to pop a shadowspawn could be a good way to convince people they need a band of heroes... Well-paid heroes, of course.

[@runicdragon3183]

Summon Draconic Spirit+Quickened Spell I think could work rather well

[@TheRightTastes]

My current Scribe wizard is a pretty potent summoner. At any given time I can have out on the field my familiar, my manifested spellbook, a lvl 4 summon, and because I'm play on a kobald press server I can use a spell deep focus to get an additional concentration spell. Even without that I have a lot stuff running around on the field.

[@LaFargoThorik]

As a bard sure give me MORE options, however I truly feel it isn't necessary. If I want summon spells it's just to use mu magical secrets. Or even other built in game ways to get it done.

[@TheSoulDivided]

Aw, those poor bards, always so underserved🤣

[@leodouskyron5671]

Honestly the one thing they really messed up in Tasha and Fisban was access to the summon spells. Rangers don’t get Draconic Spirit, Bards don’t get beast or Fey and Sorcerers should also get Aberration.