Conjure Animals: More than Emotional Support

Usable By: Druid, Ranger

Spell Level: 3

School: Conjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

Components: V, S

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.

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

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

The first time I was DMing when I realized how absurd conjuration magic can be was the first time I had a player cast Conjure Animals. With it being my first time, I just assumed the player picked whatever monsters they wanted from the list; my player chose CR ¼. They then chose Giant Owls. I then had to figure out how to deal with all my players riding around on these large winged beasts with flyby, and the ability to just grapple creatures, fly them off cliffs, and drop them. It was a wild time.

Today, I’m well versed at managing summonable monsters. I’ve learned that conjuration spells like this are, rules as written, a lot more work for the DM. The player picks the CR, the DM picks the summoned creatures. It can’t summon swarms of critters within the beast tag, but otherwise doesn’t care about the creature's size, HP, abilities, or any other attribute. It's wild. Conjure Animals is near the top of the list of spells that are a bear to manage, has a wild power ceiling, and even in tame use cases, can break low tier games in half.

Nearly always CR 1/4th creatures are your best bet. Getting eight extra allies that can attack, grab, shove, and help is on its own ludicrous. You don’t even need to spend a bonus action commanding them; just yell at them for free and reap the rewards. The extra HP and modifiers on the higher CR options is usually worse, but you may want to consider them when going against monsters with area of effect damage from time to time that would drop all the summoned creatures in a single action.

Out of combat, without having the ability to pick specifically what beasts you want, its utility is somewhat hampered. If your DM doesn’t want to manage the giant list of beasts at all times, and lets you pick what beasts you summon, the power spikes radicallay. Giant Owls offer flight to everyone as mounts. Even without it, it still lasts an hour. Having a pack of animals around you while navigating a dungeon can offer a suite of basic tools you’d hire hirelings to do in older editions like checking for traps, carrying loot, and clogging up battlemap space.

What sets this apart from other conjuration effects is how cheap it is, and how early it affects the game. A 3rd level slot for eight extra allies is crazy. Even using a 5th to get SIXTEEN extra creatures can wildly debilitate higher CR encounters. If you’re going to DM a game with one or more players who want to take Conjure Animals or are one of said players excited to get a ton of extra actions, damage, and abilities for a single 3rd level spell, talk about it with the group. Having a few dozen creatures at the ready every moment of every game can be taxing on a DM; consider establishing some monsters you’d like to take, and work out what others may be a bit much to manage.

Finally, here’s the list of summonable beasts from the monster manual for reference

CR 2: Allosaurus, Cave Bear, Giant Boar, Giant Constrictor Snake, Giant Elk, Hunter Shark, Plesiosaurus, Polar Bear, Rhinoceros, Saber-toothed Tiger
CR 1: Brown Bear, Dire Wolf, Giant EAGLE< Giant Hyena, Giant Octopus, Giant Spider, Giant Toad, Giant Vulture, Lion, Tiger
CR ½: Ape, Black Bear, Crocodile, Giant Goat, Giant Sea Horse, Giant Wasp, Reef Shark, Warhorse
CR ¼: Axe Beak, Boar, Constrictor Snake, Draft Horse, Elk, Giant Badger, Giant Bat, Giant Centipede, Giant Frog, Giant Lizard, Giant Owl, Giant Wolf Spider, Panther, Pteranodon, Riding Horse, Wolf

5e Spells

Conjure Animals: More than Emotional Support