Acquisitions Inc. solved Conjure spells for me

[Beelzebubba]

I was watching the last Acquisitions Inc. from PAX, and they had a brilliant idea.

She conjured Panthers, and had everyone else roll the attacks and damage (https://youtu.be/TVuhIPHyGpU?t=2h10m35s)!

(Give it time, they make a production of choosing the animals because...it's a show.)

This may be old news to me but I thought it was perfect.

It takes away the problem of one player dominating the table.
It gets everyone involved and throwing dice.
Instead of the whole thing becoming a drag, it becomes a fun little mini-game.
So, now it's 'OK, everyone roll a d20 and add 4'...'ok, roll d6+2 for damage...'


It would still require a bit more ironing out, but that's how I'm running them from now on.

[DarkKnightJin]

It's indeed a nice way of handling such a thing, if you have a minionmancy character at the table.
Necromancer with a load of skellies, or a Druid that loves to conjure up woodland critters.. Why not involve the rest of the party in the fun?

I wouldn't mind getting to roll for a Panther to see how mauled the baddies get that round.

[MrStabby]

I think fun is making choices not throwing dice. Delegating command of minions would work for me, just rolling dice wouldnt

[DarkKnightJin]

I think fun is making choices not throwing dice. Delegating command of minions would work for me, just rolling dice wouldnt

That's what they did. It just so happens that the fight the Panthers were summoned in was a pretty clear case of "Okay, that's the big dude, we wanna focus the Panthers on him.", while the rest of the party took care of the rest. Rather neatly, for Acq Inc's terms, IIRC.

[MrStabby]

That's what they did. It just so happens that the fight the Panthers were summoned in was a pretty clear case of "Okay, that's the big dude, we wanna focus the Panthers on him.", while the rest of the party took care of the rest. Rather neatly, for Acq Inc's terms, IIRC.

Sounds cool. I don't see why the command given to your skeletons or whatever cannot be "do whatever this other dude tells you"

[DarkKnightJin]

Sounds cool. I don't see why the command given to your skeletons or whatever cannot be "do whatever this other dude tells you"

And even then, having someone that's not the DM handle the party's side of summoned minions (whether that's one person, or the while rest of the table) would work. The summoner player could give a (verbal) command, and the other player(s) could have a little RP fun with it.

Just because you summoned something, doesn't mean it knows -exactly- what you mean. There can be little things that it mishears or something, usually to fun effect. As long as the other player(s) don't troll you and misbehave on purpose.

[LudicSavant]

I think the real solution would be to rebalance Conjure spells / Animate Objects such that single creatures are generally preferable to (or at the very least competitive with) swarms. Probably better both in terms of gameplay and fulfilling themes from popular fantasy fiction.

[Tanarii]

And even then, having someone that's not the DM handle the party's side of summoned minions (whether that's one person, or the while rest of the table) would work. The summoner player could give a (verbal) command, and the other player(s) could have a little RP fun with it.

Just because you summoned something, doesn't mean it knows -exactly- what you mean. There can be little things that it mishears or something, usually to fun effect. As long as the other player(s) don't troll you and misbehave on purpose.
Beats having the summoner give a command and having the DM control the summoned creatures. Which are still technically NPCs. So really that's the way the spell should be run. Not directly under the PCs control.

I wouldn't ever make that my general policy for summoning type spells, of course. I've already got too much overhead as the DM. That's the entire reason I just delegate it to the player, provided they play the creatures as if they're obeying a short verbal command.

But having other players control them based on the summoner a command is a nice little solution. So long as the PCs understand that they're not dealing with tactical grid master creatures (in the case of using a battle grid), and that a short six second order is all they have to work. I'll still put on the brakes if they have an order like "kill the orcs" and they do something like have the creatures spread out one per enemy so they'll each recieve an OA if they move.

[Beelzebubba]

I think the real solution would be to rebalance Conjure spells / Animate Objects such that single creatures are generally preferable to (or at the very least competitive with) swarms. Probably better both in terms of gameplay and fulfilling themes from popular fantasy fiction.

IMO the most interesting uses of the spell is outside of combat. So far I've used it to:

Conjure Apes to reload ammo into trebuchets when not enough troops were there to keep them working
Conjure Horses to get a group of hostages get far away from a dangerous area quickly
Conjure Hawks to do a sweep of the plains and come back if they saw any Hobgoblin war bands (the DM ruled they could point their heads in the direction that they saw the band coming from)
Conjure rats in a fancy dining hall, to climb all over the people/table/food to cause a distracting ruckus

If those uses would go away based on your rules, even if it's simpler, I don't want them! :smalltongue:


But having other players control them based on the summoner a command is a nice little solution. So long as the PCs understand that they're not dealing with tactical grid master creatures (in the case of using a battle grid), and that a short six second order is all they have to work. I'll still put on the brakes if they have an order like "kill the orcs" and they do something like have the creatures spread out one per enemy so they'll each recieve an OA if they move.

Yeah, same. I say 'Be simple and quick, I am counting to four one-thousand - and if you try to get cute or meta I will not hesitate to make the spell backfire in a spectacular way.' They know I'm lenient with 'Rule of Cool' and harsh with 'Advantage Fishers'.