PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Conjure aberration spell PEACH



Requilac
2018-01-02, 11:45 PM
So far there are several official spells based around summoning fey, elementals, celestials and (now with the arrival of XGtE) demons even. But there are still not any spells that call upon the archetypal eldritch abominations. The conjuring of such lovecraftian/far realm beasts has long since been an old fantasy trope, but for some reason there are no accommodations for it in official rules. Here I will be trying to patch that up by creating my own home-brew spell, conjure aberration, which can be found in this link (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SkCUfkfYM). Tell me if you believe there is anything i can do to improve how this spell functions. Any feedback is very appreciated.

demonslayerelf
2018-01-03, 03:38 AM
So, two things.

This spell is really weak. It's a 7th level spell, but the best thing it can summon is CR 4.
Compare to nearly every other Conjure X spell, Conjure Fey, for instance. It's Spell level is equal to the CR created.
Conjure Celestial is the weird one, being much weaker(A 9th level slot makes a CR 5 celestial), but even that gives the benefit of the caster choosing the celestial from the whole list, which your spell doesn't allow.

The other thing was #ShamelessPlug (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Sk2M03n_Z), I made a spell for this with 7 other conjuration spells.(One of which is hilariously close to the Infernal Calling spell) It's a bit more free to what you can summon, being that a 9th level spell can summon a CR 8 Alien. It makes it quite a bit more powerful.


On the balancing aspect, I feel like a 9th level spell is worth more than an Otyugh. (I think DnD agrees, too, since you can summon a Bheur Hag with just a 7th level spell. And I think a Bheur Hag is more useful to have than an Otyugh, with all that Cone 'o' Cold.)

Requilac
2018-01-03, 11:16 AM
So, two things.

This spell is really weak. It's a 7th level spell, but the best thing it can summon is CR 4.
Compare to nearly every other Conjure X spell, Conjure Fey, for instance. It's Spell level is equal to the CR created.
Conjure Celestial is the weird one, being much weaker(A 9th level slot makes a CR 5 celestial), but even that gives the benefit of the caster choosing the celestial from the whole list, which your spell doesn't allow.

This is just my theory, but I am fairly certain conjure celestial is actually weaker because, unlike conjure fey, the summoned creature is not going to try to kill you if you break concentration. I definitely know that conjure celestial is certainly not nerfed because you are allowed to choose from the whole list though, as only three celestials in the MM are CR 5 or below. The current wording of the spell actually gives you more monsters to choose from than conjure celestial. Part of me is very nervous about making a spell which is better in almost every way to another official spell, but it is a lower level spell than the official weaker spell. If I lessened the spell slot value, than it is infinitely superior to conjure celestial in every manner, which makes it feel very overpowered to me. That does not quite seem right to me.

I suppose I could always add in the rebellion clause that states when concentrations ends the creature attacks you, but I am hesitant to do so. While it is very thematically appropriate for that to be in place, form a gamist perespective it is terrible. Part of me really likes the concept of potential retaliation from the summoned creature, especially when it comes to aberrations. But the issue is that aberration always have some rather powerful features outside of pure statistical advantages or exploration advantages. A freed elemental or fey is not going to be hard to handle as they may have a few special features but nothing groundbreaking, whilst a rogue chuul or grell is going to wreak havoc with its paralyzing attacks. I actually want people to use the spell, and if you are dancing on potentially causing a situation which could very well result in a TPK, than it is a very bad idea to use. From a player’s perespective, I can say that I am not precisely sure how awesome it is going to be looking if we all are fighting on two fronts and eating a TPK because the idiot wizard decided it would be cool to summon cthulhu.

That being said though, that is exactly how summoning aberration should feel after all. I am kind of torn here. I really like that type of risk involved in conjuring abominations, but it feels just wrong to piss on the other players and make them pay with their character’s lives for one person’s blunder.



The other thing was #ShamelessPlug (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Sk2M03n_Z), I made a spell for this with 7 other conjuration spells.(One of which is hilariously close to the Infernal Calling spell) It's a bit more free to what you can summon, being that a 9th level spell can summon a CR 8 Alien. It makes it quite a bit more powerful.

I would say a little too powerful even. The thing about aberrations is that they are well renowned for having some strange features which could very well prove to be extremely overpowered. Unless I carefully vet which monsters can be summoned, then I am afraid it is open to abuse. With your spell someone can summon an intellect devourer, which if its lucky can permenantly kill something in two rounds (IIRC that is). A player using the nothic’s weird insight ability during an investigation could literally learn any secret that the target knows if they fail a single saving throw. And don’t even get me started on slaads. A fifth level spell should not give someone the power to start a borderline zombie apocalypse.



On the balancing aspect, I feel like a 9th level spell is worth more than an Otyugh. (I think DnD agrees, too, since you can summon a Bheur Hag with just a 7th level spell. And I think a Bheur Hag is more useful to have than an Otyugh, with all that Cone 'o' Cold.)

See my previous points on this matter.

Requilac
2018-01-04, 10:01 AM
After some careful consideration I can see that this spell is indeed very weak. I am going to try to patch that up by adding in a rebellion clause, reducing the spell’s level and wrapping the Otyugh into the lowest level casting of the spell. I am nervous about letting them summon monsters with higher CRs, so I am not going to allow them to summon cloakers, mind flayers and slaad, but otherwise I will make those changes.

Requilac
2018-01-07, 01:17 PM
No one has said anything about the spell in the last three days, so if you have any suggestions left state them in the next 24 hours. If no changes are made by that point, I am going to consider the spell balanced and put it in its final draft form. You will realize that the original link does not work, and that is because I will move that spell over to my lovecraftian homebrew compendium.