Just The Thing: Spells that Conjure Objects

[GalacticAxekick]

As I continue to work on my expansion of the school of Conjuration (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642889-Portal-Inspired-Conjuration-spells-(PEACH)#post25372041), I'm exploring the concept of Conjuration spells which conjure objects. Let me know what you think of these spells, and what other spells I might add along this theme!

Minor Conjuration

Conjuration cantrip

Casting Time: Action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour
You conjure an inanimate object in your hand or on the floor in an unoccupied space that you can see within range. The object must fit in a 3 foot cube, must weigh less than 10 lbs, and must have the form of a nonmagical object that you can imagine (i.e. you cannot conjure a copy of a device you do not comprehend or a document that you could not duplicate). The object is visibly magical, radiating 5 feet of dim light.

Whatever object you conjure disappears after the duration, when you cast this spell again, or if it takes any damage.


Conjure Armoury
1st Level Conjuration

Casting Time: Bonus Action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour
For the duration, whenever you are targeted by an attack that you can see, you summon and instantly equip a piece of non-magical armor. The armor raises your base AC to 13 + your Dexterity modifier, potentially causing the attack to miss. The armor then disappears.

When you are hit by an attack that you can see, and when you have a free hand, you can use your reaction to summon and equip a nonmagical shield, potentially causing the attack to miss. The shield vanishes at the start of your next turn or when choose to dismiss it.

Finally, whenever you are able to make a weapon attack, you can summon wield a nonmagical weapon of your choice. If the weapon requires ammunition, you summon it as well. Both the weapon and the ammunition disappear immediately after your attack hits or misses.


Conjure Cover
1st Level Conjuration

Casting Time: Special
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour
You can cast this spell as an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw. When you do, you conjure a wall within your space. The wall disappears after the duration, when you move more than 5 feet away from it, or when you choose to dismiss it.

The wall must be made of common materials (e.g. wood, stone, iron, glass) and must either rest on or be fixed to a solid surface. The wall can be up to 5 ft tall and 5 ft wide, and its maximum thickness depends on the material it is made of (3 ft for wood, 1 ft for stone, 1 inch for metal or glass)

If the wall would grant a target total cover at the moment that it is created, it grants 3/4 cover instead. There is always a chance that an attack or effect will reach the target before the wall appears. Otherwise, the wall grants whatever amount of cover is appropriate.

At higher levels: When you cast this spell with a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can use your actions and reactions to conjure new walls for the duration. Each wall that you conjure disappears after the duration, when you move more than 5 feet away from it, when you choose to dismiss it, or when you conjure a new wall using this spell.

Finally, when you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can conjure a new wall as a bonus action rather than as an action.


Conjure Terrain
2nd Level Conjuration

Casting Time: Bonus Action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 10 minutes
For the duration, every step you take, you can conjure a piece of artificial terrain beneath your feet. The terrain must be made of common materials (e.g. wood, brick, stone, iron) and must either rest on or be fixed to a solid surface. The terrain disappears the moment that it is not supporting your weight.

For example, you might use this spell to create a boardwalk over difficult terrain. With each step forward, a panel of the boardwalk would appear beneath you, resting on the difficult terrain, and another panel would disappear behind you.

Similarly, you might create a staircase to reach the top of a cliff. With each step forward and upward, a single stair would appear before you, fixed to the cliff face, and another stair would disappear behind and below you.

You must use your reaction to conjure terrain when it is not your turn. For example, if you are falling from a rooftop, you must use your reaction to conjure a balcony to break your fall.


Note that Minor Conjuration is lifted almost word-for-word from the Conjurer Wizard's 2nd level feature of the same name. This is because I think the feature is better suited to be a spell than a class feature. I'm in the process of rewriting the Conjurer accordingly.

[Loek]

Conjure Armoury
This spell is WAY too powerful as written.
For 1 hour you basically get +3 to your AC when ever attacked (compare to the +5 to AC from the Shield spell, that only lasts for 1 attack). Granted, if you find some way to wear armor, this will be significantly weaker... but still.
Next you get the shield part, which means you can go +5 against attacks instead (so we are now up to the level of shield)
The final bit is more flavour/prisoner scenario then any impact on game balance.

The question of proficiency is mostly only relevant for the weapons, but should be cleared up regardless. (For shield it doesn't matter as you can just dismiss it when you need to make saves and resummon when you get attacked)

As written, I'd rate this level 3 or higher. For the sheer defensive options it provides to the mage. It needs limits, quite a few of them in fact to be level 2, let alone level 1 (Limits like: Max 1 summon per round, use reaction/bonus action to summon things, concentration, etc)


Conjure Terrain
Needs to be much clearer. The whole "which vanish the moment they are no longer supporting your weight" can be very vague. If I build a 10000ft road, it technically always remains under my feet and thus supporting my weight... so can that much terrain be present?
And why can't I make a bridge over a canyon? It's attached to surface of the ground on this side, isn't it?

If it works to just make sure that ground you are stepping on is secure and the climb up to/over things are easier for you, please write it that way.
If it actually creates things that obey the laws of physics, please write clearer limitations
If it's a fancier version of levitate or floating disc (of sorts), fine, but make it clear.

Long rant short: Not enough clarity to fully appreciate.

[GalacticAxekick]

Conjure Armoury
This spell is WAY too powerful as written.
For 1 hour you basically get +3 to your AC when ever attacked (compare to the +5 to AC from the Shield spell, that only lasts for 1 attack). Compare it to the +3 Mage Armor gives for 8 hours. With the +3 alone, Conjure Armoury is UNDERpowered

(Also, Shield lasts for a whole round of attacks)


Next you get the shield part, which means you can go +5 against attacks instead (so we are now up to the level of shield)With Mage Armor and 10 Dex, you walk around with 13 AC for 8 hours.

With Conjure Armoury, you walk around with 13 AC for 1 hour and shoot up to 15 AC as a reaction.

Do you see the tradeoff between shorter duration and higher AC? Conjure Armory NEEDS the shield part just to be EQUAL to Major Armor.

And even then, it comes with fine print costs like spending your reactions, requiring a free hand, and not working against unseen attackers.


As written, I'd rate this level 3 or higher. For the sheer defensive options it provides to the mage. It needs limits, quite a few of them in fact to be level 2, let alone level 1 (Limits like: Max 1 summon per round, use reaction/bonus action to summon things, concentration, etc)Any of these limits would make the spell uncastable.

One summon per round means you're spending a spell slot to gain 13 + Dex AC against one attack per round for 1 hour. That's worse than Mage Armor for a shorter duration!

Summoning as a reaction means you're spending all of your reactions to gain what Mage Armor offers for 8 hours for free! Worse than Mage Armor for a shorter duration!

Concentration means you're in danger of losing your primary source of AC every time you get hit!


Conjure Terrain
Needs to be much clearer.Agreed!


The whole "which vanish the moment they are no longer supporting your weight" can be very vague. If I build a 10000ft road, it technically always remains under my feet and thus supporting my weight... so can that much terrain be present?If I delete every step of the road behind you, do you fall? Of course not. And so none of those steps are supporting your weight.


And why can't I make a bridge over a canyon? It's attached to surface of the ground on this side, isn't it?Such a bridge would require pillars reaching down to the bottom of the canyon or ropes spanning the canyon. But it's only being built one step at a time, directly under your feet. After a few steps, your "diving board" bridge would snap.


If it works to just make sure that ground you are stepping on is secure and the climb up to/over things are easier for you, please write it that way.It does not.


If it's a fancier version of levitate or floating disc (of sorts), fine, but make it clear.It is not.


If it actually creates things that obey the laws of physics, please write clearer limitationsTHIS is what it does. Let's brainstorm a clearer phrasing:

"Every step you take, you can cause one piece of artificial terrain to appear beneath your feet. The terrain must be made of common materials (wood, brick, stone, iron) and must either rest on or be fixed to a solid surface. The terrain disappears the moment that it is not supporting your weight.

Using this spell, you might create a boardwalk over difficult terrain. Each panel of the boardwalk would appear under your foot as you walked forward and would disappear as you stepped off of it.

Similarly, you might create a staircase leading up to a roof. Each step of the staircase would appear under your foot as you stepped up to it. If the stairs were attached to the side of the building, each step would disappear as you stepped of it. If the stairs were free standing, the steps at the bottom would support the steps above them and you at the top, and so they would not disappear until you stepped off of the staircase or until the staircase became too tall and collapsed on itself.

As a final example, you might create a balcony to break your fall from a high place. The balcony would appear under you as soon as you choose to conjure it, and would disappear as soon as you stepped off of it. The balcony would need to be attached to the wall of a building, the trunk of a tree, or another fixed surface that can support your weight."

EDIT: I should probably include a clause that says "you must use your reaction to create terrain when it is not your turn." For example, creating a balcony to break your fall should be a reaction.

[Loek]

Whoops, I failed in both comprehension and in reading on Conjure Armoury. I missed the reaction, so it seemed like it was all auto (thus comparing it to shield).

So it's basically a weird phantom version of mage armor (You need to see, to push it into reality), but shorter. But in to compensate for the lower time/need to see, you get a weak shield spell build in.
It's making a lot more sense now.
And then, yeah, it's probably still strong, but suitable as a level 1 spell.

The new write up for Conjure Terrain looks about right. I'd remove this one though: "If the stairs were free standing, the steps at the bottom would support the steps above them and you at the top, and so they would not disappear until you stepped off of the staircase or until the staircase became too tall and collapsed on itself."

Limit it to small step ups (easier time getting over/looking over things) only, and for actual staircases keep it limited to "attached to wall/building" etc.
This because you'd end up having to set very specific limits about "too tall". And, the wizard could stop on the top step and let other climb it (which would mean going into the "can only support your weight" kind of arguments) So yeah, for easier time, remove freestanding staircases.

[GalacticAxekick]

So [Conjure Armoury] is basically a weird phantom version of mage armor (You need to see, to push it into reality), but shorter. But in to compensate for the lower time/need to see, you get a weak shield spell build in. It's making a lot more sense now. And then, yeah, it's probably still strong, but suitable as a level 1 spell.I'd say Mage Armor is the weird phantom. It's a forcefield, while Conjure Armoury makes real, tangible helmets, guantlets, breastplates and such appear on your person when needed. But yeah. Conjure Armoury is Mage Armor with a shorter duration and a mini-Shield spell built in to compensate.


The new write up for Conjure Terrain looks about right. I'd remove this one though: [...]. Limit it to small step ups (easier time getting over/looking over things) only, and for actual staircases keep it limited to "attached to wall/building" etc.

This because you'd end up having to set very specific limits about "too tall". And, the wizard could stop on the top step and let other climb it (which would mean going into the "can only support your weight" kind of arguments) So yeah, for easier time, remove freestanding staircases.Reasonable! I'll limit it as such!

Any other ideas for item-conjuring spells?

[oogaboogagoblin]

for minor conjuration I would add a cost limit , 10 lbs of platinum pieces is frankly ridiculous

[Loek]

for minor conjuration I would add a cost limit , 10 lbs of platinum pieces is frankly ridiculous
Don't forget that it's clearly magical, glows and disappears after 1 hour. That should keep the counterfeiting to a minimum.


As for Conjure Cover, I like it. I'd guess that it'd be around level 1/2. This sentence "As an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can conjure a wall within your space." is understandable, but might give the idea that you cast the spell and then gain this action.
Instead how about something like this "You can cast this spell as an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw. When you do, you conjure a wall within your space".

That said, how about a higher level spell (or a "when cast with a higher level spell slot"), that allows you to dismiss/resummon that wall for the entire duration (and with that wall I don't mean the same one, I mean conjure a new wall as per the spell).

So:

Level 1 - Summon 1 wall
Level 3? - Summon a wall for 1 action (max 1 wall at a time, maybe concentration to keep the spell going, but the wall doesn't disappear when concentration is broken?)
Level 5? - Summon a wall for 1 bonus action (same limits as above)

Note: this is purely spitballing without comparing the existing spells.


Also, I had the idea of a "Create/Conjure Doorway" spell, where Create = Teleportation circle and Conjure is transportation to that circle... but then I remember that for some reason teleportation is conjuration already... :-/

Beyond this, I guess short term conjuration can be used as damage spells (one's that are normally evocation - Meteor Swarm/Snowball Swarm). For joke reference: Summon Anvil for single target bludgeoning damage.

[GalacticAxekick]

for minor conjuration I would add a cost limit , 10 lbs of platinum pieces is frankly ridiculousYou conjure exactly one object. And its obviously magical (in other words, obviously fake)

So you could only conjure one platinum piece. And nobody but a blind man would take it as payment.


As for Conjure Cover, I like it. I'd guess that it'd be around level 1/2. This sentence "As an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can conjure a wall within your space." is understandable, but might give the idea that you cast the spell and then gain this action.
Instead how about something like this "You can cast this spell as an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw. When you do, you conjure a wall within your space".I'll edit it accordingly!


That said, how about a higher level spell (or a "when cast with a higher level spell slot"), that allows you to dismiss/resummon that wall for the entire duration (and with that wall I don't mean the same one, I mean conjure a new wall as per the spell).That sounds good! How about this phrasing:


Conjure Cover
1st Level Conjuration

Casting Time: Special
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 hour
You can cast this spell as an action, or as a reaction when you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a Dexterity saving throw. When you do, you conjure a wall within your space. The wall disappears after the duration, when you move more than 5 feet away from it, or when you choose to dismiss it.

The wall must be made of common materials (e.g. wood, stone, iron, glass) and must either rest on or be fixed to a solid surface. The wall can be up to 5 ft tall and 5 ft wide, and its maximum thickness depends on the material it is made of (3 ft for wood, 1 ft for stone, 1 inch for metal or glass)

If the wall would grant a target total cover at the moment that it is created, it grants 3/4 cover instead. There is always a chance that an attack or effect will reach the target before the wall appears. Otherwise, the wall grants whatever amount of cover is appropriate.

At higher levels: When you cast this spell with a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can use your actions and reactions to conjure new walls for the duration. Each wall that you conjure disappears after the duration, when you move more than 5 feet away from it, when you choose to dismiss it, or when you conjure a new wall using this spell.

Finally, when you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can conjure a new wall as a bonus action rather than as an action.




Also, I had the idea of a "Create/Conjure Doorway" spell, where Create = Teleportation circle and Conjure is transportation to that circle... but then I remember that for some reason teleportation is conjuration already... :-/Conjuration encompasses any magic that instantly moves a creature or object from one place to another. Teleportation does that in an obvious way (moving the caster from here to there, or from one plane to another). Summoning creatures/objects seems to do this in a less obvious way (moving creatures and objects that already exist on one plane to the caster's plane).

It seems that when you learn "Conjure X", you're really learning where to teleport X from. It seems that it already exists somewhere on some plane.


Beyond this, I guess short term conjuration can be used as damage spells (one's that are normally evocation - Meteor Swarm/Snowball Swarm). For joke reference: Summon Anvil for single target bludgeoning damage.Oh, I've already moved Melf's Acid Arrow, Snilloc's Snowball Swarm, Melf's Minute Meteors, Wall of Sand, Wall of Water, Wall of Stone, and Meteor Swarm from the school of Evocation to the school of Conjuration as part of my homebrew project.

A simple "Conjure Anvil" spell would be fitting and hilarious, though!

I can imagine a progression from the cantrip Minor Conjuration (which creates a 10 lb object) to a 1st or 2nd level Major Conjuration (which creates a heavier object, always resting on or fixed to a surface) which can be upcast to 3rd or 4th level (so the heavy object can be created mid-air or in motion)

[oogaboogagoblin]

i must have missed that idk how

[Eurus]

For Conjure Cover, how difficult is it to break down the created wall? Might be important, if you cast it in a narrow corridor. I don't think you can determine the HP from thickness and material in 5e the way you could in 3e, but I might not be looking in the right place.

[GalacticAxekick]

For Conjure Cover, how difficult is it to break down the created wall? Might be important, if you cast it in a narrow corridor. I don't think you can determine the HP from thickness and material in 5e the way you could in 3e, but I might not be looking in the right place.5e has rules for object AC and HP (https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Objects#content). They dont rely on thickness, but instead rely on the objects size and whether it is "fragile" or "resilient".

Going by these rules:
A glass wall (13 AC) is medium and fragile (3 HP)
A wooden wall (15 AC) is medium and resilient (18 HP)
A stone wall (17 AC) is medium and resilient (18 HP)
An iron wall (19 AC) is medium and resilient (18 HP)