The Conjurer: A Treantmonk guide levels 5-10

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Welcome to the second part of my Conjurer build, a master of creation! With this build I take on an unusual challenge, as I make a Wizard that does not focus on Int. This affects spell selections and preparations in a unique way, and definitely makes this build different than the other Wizard builds I've presented on this channel. If you missed part 1, I discuss the beginning levels : kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqCcZXuVp6iUqsk Then the final part, I discuss levels 11-20: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH3XpmR-qNWbgLs For the final build, you take take a look how it all turns out here: ddb.ac/characters/16450677/w9...

[@migueldelmazo5244]

Thanks again, Chris. Summon demons warrants a tactical note. It's awesome for clearing out castles and dungeons that have doors. Open door. Summon demons. Close door. Wait for screams to stop.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Now I have visions of the party leaning against a door that someone on the inside is trying desperately to get out of, "Let me out!", ah, good times.

[@marcdavis4509]

Cast Arcane Lock, walk away

[@migueldelmazo5244]

The party did get an immovable rod for a reason, right?

[@SpidermanandhisAmazingFriends]

Necromancy isn't evil, enchantment is evil.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I agree - something I didn't shy away from in my Enchanter build

[@SharanjitPaddam]

Summary 1: Goblin. PB 8/14/15/14/12/8. Wizard 1: Arcana, History, Minor Illusion, Message, Mage Hand, Find Familiar, Detect Magic, Unseen Servant, Shield*, Fog Cloud*, Sleep*. Sage: Perception, Stealth, Primordial, Abyssal/Infernal. Dagger, Component Pouch, Explorer’s Pack, Sling+Bullet upgrade: Light Crossbow. 2: Wizard 2: Conjuration, Absorb Elements, Mage Armor* 3: Wizard 3: Cloud of Daggers*, Misty Step*, Sleep(*) 4: Wizard 4: Skulker, Mending, Magic Mouth, Levitate* 5: Wizard 5: Animate Dead*, Summon Lesser Demons*, Cloud of Daggers(*) 6: Wizard 6: Leomund’s Tiny Hut, Water Breathing, Absorb Elements* 7: Wizard 7: Polymorph*, Summon Greater Demon*, Summon Lesser Demon(*) 8: Wizard 8: Alert, Conjure Minor Elementals*, Arcane Eye*, Fog Cloud(*) 9: Wizard 9: Wall of Force*, Rary’s Telepathic Bond 10: Wizard 10: Prestidigitation, Conjure Elemental*, Animate Objects*, Levitate(*)

[@44tuck3r]

Booming blade with a dagger is not a bad idea for a melee option, given that you have a high dex and can misty step away

[@jeffreyblackwell1444]

Another thing to remember about Alert, it protects you more from a blindness effect... like blindness / deafness spell , darkness and the like. not giving advantage because you cannot see them is huge and niche but when you need it like when you have an invisible attacker for instance, YOU REALLY NEED IT. A total must have for any wizard

[@pranakhan]

That Benign Transposition / Misty Step jig is priceless! Tyvm

[@Lastofthesigilites]

My favorite 3ed level spell is Summon Ketimine Ape aka Summon Shadowspawn.

[@JMCLoader]

This is a fun character concept! I like the tactical approach more than the blasters.

[@undrhil]

Also, your first command to any Greater demon summoned should be "tell me your real name" which it has to obey.

[@smbakeresq]

While I get that as RAW, to me demons and devils have always guarded their true name to such an extent I give them an immediate save to resist. It %100 against their nature, although that has not been spelled out in 5e as it has been before. HOWEVER, a smart player might ask that same demon the true name of another demon, it would almost certainly sell out its enemies. It’s a perfect use of down time also, demons do have information. Also, this allows true names to be valuable as a treasure

[@undrhil]

@@smbakeresq the point of getting the current demon's true name is so it has disadvantage on the saving throw to break your control. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things that demon wouldn't want to do for you, but it *has to do them* until it breaks free of the spell.

[@smbakeresq]

Ken Livingston of course that’s what it’s for. A demon doesn’t care about fighting, it would fight anyway and can’t die (it’s not on its plane.) True Names however always have been closely guarded secrets.

[@maltheopia]

@@smbakeresq The monster manual explicitly allows charmed and summoned fiends to tell you their true names when forced.

[@smbakeresq]

maltheopia where? I don’t recall that and it has never been the case absent extreme compulsion.

[@brynwtsn]

I've recently been looking into a Conjurer. I thought at level 1 it would be nice to take Artificer for the Con save and some armor proficiency, as well as a couple cantrips wizards can't get and a couple additional 1st level spells. Then go Conjurer until level 5, when you get your 1st Conjuration spells. Then a 2nd, and final, level in Artificer for the 2 infusions. I recommend Mind Sharpener for the ability to turn failed concentration saves to passed concentration saves 4 times a day. I think that not needing Resilient Con or Warcaster is probably worth a 2 level dip.

[@kevinclark1395]

What about animating a couple zombies and using them to immobilize someone inside your cloud of daggers? (One grapples, one helps)

[@josullivan5604]

i am loving this goblin! Playing a High Elf Diviner right now. Totally different than this conjurer. great build, Chris!

[@stuartdover2775]

I think a big thing to keep in mind when choosing between Summon Greater Demon and Conjure Minor Elemental is that the latter has a casting time of a minute and a duration of only an hour. So it's only suitable for situations when you know you're going to be in combat

[@44tuck3r]

Hey - the misty step/benign transposition thing is even better for another reason- as a small size creature you can only bring an ally if they are small. This combo also allows a small creature to bypass that restriction

[@nevyns9285]

to planar bind your own summons you need: glyph of warding and magic circle, and 2 slot of the appropriate summon summon spell level. you set one glyph with magic circle set to contain when a creature of a type it can contain enters it. the second glyph with the summon, set to a word command. you ready an action to start casting planar binding, say the command word, the creature is summoned (full duration due to using glyph), the magic circle pops immediately, and you begin your spell. It is the only time I think that the gold cost for glyph of warding might be worth it, other than that glyph is a trash spell due to the cost, cast time and movement limitation.

[@PAPP0NE]

Cast Glyph of warding in a demiplane, the glyph is in a static location that you can access everywhere, and get multiple concentration-free buffs for the entire party

[@nevyns9285]

@@PAPP0NE at the material cost and needing 2 high level spells (demiplane and planshift) the usefulness is maybe once a campaign.

[@jand.4737]

Small notes on summon lesser demons: The spell summons CR 1, CR 1/2 or CR 1/4 creatures. You talked about CR 1/8, CR 1/4 and CR 1. Note 2: the only CR 1/2 demon in your list was the cackler from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica. What happens if one uses that spell, rolls the CR 1/2 demons and doesn't have said book?

[@undrhil]

"Up to CR 1/2" means the DM can give you a lesser CR creature. Dick move to give 2 Manes instead of CR 1 creatures? Yep, but within the rules of the spell.

[@ajt234]

If I got quasits on my summon lesser demons, I would definitely try and make one of them my familiar before the spell ends!

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Good call!

[@Porphyrogenitus1]

Summon Lesser Demons allows you to summon an Abyssal Raccoon (pic related, posted in discord).

[@Ciberbuster]

I prefer Tiny servants over Summon lesser demons, tiny servants+animate deads bring on lots of extra actions, you should invest in extra weapons/armors and as many consumables (alchemist fires and poisons work great) and magic items as you can afford.

[@LifeInGeneral-z6f]

26:58 min, Treant, I dont fully agree with you for the 1/2 rating Mephits, and the reason is. the Magma mephits grant heat metal, Granted their save isnt that high, but the more of them that spawn, the greater the likely hood. This will disarm or unarmour an opponent or 2 during battle. However the best would be if you get a dust Mephit! Free sleep spell for each one that spawns. Potentially knocking out 1 or 2 opponents in a fight. Also, their breath attacks can blind you opponent's. Agreed though, the Magmin & ice Mephit which can only cast fog cloud, this is probably the worst variants that can spawn. So my point is, these guys are actually great at causing chaos and disruption on the battlefield and even taking a few opponents out of the fight. Their ability to fly means you can apply guerrilla tactics with them to harass your enemies. And sacrificing them for the sake of splitting up the enemy group is still worth while because they still explode when they die.

[@oscariaanvergara6301]

How can I play this build with Varian Human ?

[@CaitSith87]

How good is animate dead at 5th level? I have seen it in a campaign and there it just didnt work. The minions died in two strikes, so the caster lost two third level spells almost for nothing. Skellis with bows were sometimes usefull, but it was really anticlimactic?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I think it's OK. If the character had a higher Int, I would have selected something else.

[@keeganmbg6999]

At 5th level is isn’t so great, but at 7th level it’s very powerful if you start to use spells like Dragon’s breath with it. You have two zombies hold down a creature and the other breath poison over all of the zombies and the creature being held down. Zombies are immune to poison. Also Skeletons are immune to exhaustion, so if you aren’t an Evoker, use Skeletons to hold a creature inside of your Sickening Radiance so they start gaining exhaustion levels.

[@Vernoan3]

They’re immune to exhaustion, yeah. 4d10 radiant damage, no.

[@keeganmbg6999]

True which is why it’s better for an Evoker. Also that’s only if they fail their save.

[@LordMorin]

One thing I took with my Conjuration Wizard at 5th level was Glyph of Warding. I especially like this as a trap when using my Summon spells. It takes a while to set up, but if you get the time it is wondrous. We have a Battle Master fighter, a hexblade warlock, and a bard. All of which want short rests whenever they can get them. The DM only allows us 2 short rests between long rests. Durignthis time is when I will cast Glyph of Warding with the Summoning spell, depending on the circumstances. At the end of the long rest I then use Arcane Recovery to get back 1 or more spell slots.

[@bigdream_dreambig]

I'm confused. How does using the Glyph help you here? The Glyph is essentially immobile, so you can't get the demon elsewhere at a fight when you need it. (Also, I assume that's an error and that you meant to say you recover your spell slots after the SHORT rest, right?)

[@jonathanshuttera1734]

Do you think the Conjurer makes a better summoner than the Necromancer?

[@7isAnOddNumber]

Easily. Summoning creatures is so much more versatile (and in most cases, powerful) than anything a bunch of zombies/skeletons can do.

[@keeganmbg6999]

@Treantmonk, Chris I’m at the 7th level part and I still don’t understand why you didn’t take Conjure Minor Elementals. Can you elaborate on that? *edit* Why would you do a singular Demon before the Minor Elementals?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

A lot higher chance to hit, more damage, more HP. However, I take minor elementals next level

[@keeganmbg6999]

I see, it was for the overall higher survivability and output over shear numbers. Thank you.

[@mattgopack7395]

A bit late - but also, the time to cast is notably different. The Demon summoning only takes 1 action, whereas conjure minor elementals takes a full minute to cast - making their uses fairly different I find.

[@keeganmbg6999]

@@mattgopack7395 very fair.

[@siddharthbianchi9322]

Are the Merphits the only 1/4

[@TreantmonksTemple]

The only ones in the Monster Manual for sure. There's one other 1/4 elemental in the Tortle package.

[@thomazeblen]

you will be 8 undead actily by using 2 lvl 3 spell slots

[@KINFIN123]

Booyahg Goblin don’t care “morals”. Booyahg goblin care about booyahg. Booyahg make bones fight goblin enemy, that good booyahg. (Note: Booyahg is the goblin word for magic)

[@nurglesgrin8257]

Enough with the wizards already give the other classes some love.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I have a series going, but I'm going to give other classes some love, promise.