Okay, so, the Conjuration list. This was the first school that we really knuckled down and chomped on. Truthfully, I think if was Conjuration magic that made Dad and I first decide to undertake Project Arcana. It seemed so straightforward (move stuff from point A to point B), yet there were spells in there that obviously didn’t belong. How? How could it get screwed up so badly? Ugh.
Anyways, Conjuration is a typical school for Project Arcana, and thus has three forms.
Conjuration – the Magic of Displacement These spells involve the transportation of objects and creatures from one location to another. Some spells summon creatures or objects to the caster’s side, whereas others allow the caster to teleport to another location.
Interplanar Travel – Spells in this form transport objects and creatures between planes.
Intraplanar Travel – Spells in this form transport objects and creatures between locations on the same plane.
Unspecified Summon – Spells in this form call forth magical beings from anywhere they can be found.
The Conjuration Spell List
| Conjuration | ||
|---|---|---|
| Interplanar Travel | Intraplanar Tranvel | Unspecified Summons |
| Arms of Hadar | Arcane Gate | Conjure Animals |
| Banishment (*Abjuration) | Blink (*Transmutation) | Conjure Celestial |
| Creation (*Illusion) | Dimension Door | Conjure Elemental |
| Demiplane | Gate | Conjure Fey |
| Drawmij's Instant Summons | Imprisonment** (*Abjuration) | Conjure Minor Elemental |
| Etherealness (*Transmutation) | Misty Step | Conjure Woodland Beings |
| Hunger of Hadar | Passwall (*Transmutation) | Find Familiar |
| Leomund's Secret Chest | Teleport | Find Steed |
| Maze | Teleportation Circle | Guardian of Faith |
| Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion | Transport via Plants | Insect Plague |
| Plane Shift | Tree Stride | Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound |
| Rope Trick (*Transmutation) | Planar Ally | |
| Sequester (*Transmutation) | Spirit Guardians | |
| Word of Recall | ||
| Notes: Imprisonment has two effects which might be better placed in other Schools: Chaining - Transmutation, Slumber - Enchantment. | ||
Spells Moved to Conjuration
Banishment I’ve talked about this many, many, many times. Banishment is CLEARLY Conjuration.
Imprisonment This spell does a lot of stuff, but each of its options falls into a specific school. We’ve decided to place this spell in all of the applicable schools. So, if you cast Imprisonment and choose the Hedge version, that’ll be a Conjuration spell. If, instead, you choose Slumber, it’ll be an Enchantment spell.
Creation THE spell literally says that it pulls wisps of shadow material from the Shadowfell to make stuff. How the heck was this ever Illusion?
Blink A cheap, random Teleport. Again, how was this not already Conjuration?
Etherealness Though the effect is pretty much Gaseous Form, the spell does specify that the caster is entering the Ethereal Plane.
Rope Trick Fun with pocket dimensions is always Conjuration.
Sequester This spell could have taken two different paths. Either A, it’s a complex combination of Illusion, Neutrum, and Transmutation in order to grant invisibility, immunity from scrying, and slowed time respectively. Or B, it can all be explained by a simple Conjuration where the target is in a sort of demiplane. B seemed easier and more logical.
Spells Removed from Conjuration
Acid Splash This makes very little sense, especially considering that WotC generally treats “acid” as an energy. Hell, Acid Arrow was in Evocation, so why is this here? Regardless, we’ve moved all acid summoning effects to Transmutation.
Call Lightning Another nonsensical elemental spell here in Conjuration. WTH WotC? Moved to Evocation.
Cloud of Daggers A tricky one, where an explanation could be that the daggers are summoned from somewhere. However, they seem to be mundane daggers, and an Unspecified Summon needs a magical target (the target is willfully fulfilling the summons), so this is sketchy. We’ve thrown this into Transmutation, figuring the daggers are just condensed from the air much like any other spontaneous creation.
Cloudkill For some reason, 5e has all the cloud creating spells in Conjuration. An odd rule of thumb, to be sure. We’ve put this one in Transmutation, IE condensing poison from thin air.
Conjure Barrage Though it has the word Conjure in it, this spell lacks any connection with the other Conjure X spells (except Volley of course). Really, we’re replicating an arrow over and over, which is a type of Transmutation.
Conjure Volley Same as above.
Create Food and Water As there is no elemental plane of sustenance, this food must be condensed from air. Transmutation.
Ensnaring Strike We have no idea why this was ever Conjuration. We’ve put it in Transmutation, figuring the vines are created and animated that way.
Entangle Same as above.
Evard’s Black Tentacles Unlike the Arms of Hadar, these tentacles don’t really come from another dimension, but are simply created on the spot. Basically, it’s just a different Entangle. Transmutation.
Flaming Sphere A ball of pure fire? Sounds awfully Evocation to me.
Fog Cloud So, this spell creates a fog, unlike Cloudkill which creates a poison. Fog occurs when the temperature of the air matches the dewpoint. IE, it’s temperature that creates fog, not a summoning of water. Evocation controls temperature.
Grasping Vine Yet another Entangle. These things are everywhere. Transmutation.
Grease Unless there is an elemental plane of Quaker State, this substance is either created on the spot, or the surface is turned slippery. Either way, it’s Transmutation.
Hail of Thorns This is just another Conjure Barrage, so into Transmutation. Man, Rangers and Druids want to be in this school so badly…
Heroe’s Feast Making food, even really good food, is a Transmutation.
Incendiary Cloud We landed on Transmutation for this because it is creating smoke and embers, not just pure fire (which would be an Evocation).
Mage Hand A hand of magical force. Why the frick was this Conjuration? Going to Evocation.
Poison Spray Sigh, going to Transmutation, of course.
Produce Flame Oh for crying out loud. Evocation.
Sleet Storm Simple weather effect, so Evocation.
Stinking Cloud Another poisonous cloud, so Transmutation.
Storm of Vengence The creative reasoning behind the storm notwithstanding, it’s still just weather. Evocation.
Tenser’s Floating Disk No idea why anyone thought to put it here. Evocation.
Tsunami We’re calling this Transmutation as it is creating a whole lot of water.
Unseen Servant Call it whatever you like, but mindless and invisible forces are just force. Evocation.
Wall of Thorns A massive wall created from nothing is Transmutation.
Web Creating webs from nothing. Transmutation.
Possible Additional Spells for Conjuration
Window – Level 1 Intraplanar Conjuration
Range 60 ft, 1 bonus action
When cast, choose two locations in range. For the duration of the spell, a small portal links the two squares. This portal allows attacks to pass through as if the two squares were within 5 foot melee range of one another. Ranged attacks made into the portal will exit the portal in the same cardinal direction.
Borrow – Level 0 Unspecified Summon Conjuration
Range Self, 1 bonus action
This spells draws to your side a small, common item which you describe. The description must be sufficiently vague (“I need a quill” or “I need a flint”) and the item needs to weigh less than half a pound and fit inside a 6 inch cube. This item will be summoned randomly from anywhere in the cosmos and, after the spell’s duration, will return to its originating setting. Though the item must be common, it is certainly possible that a very fine example of it may greet the summons.
Convey – Level 2 Interplanar Conjuration
Range Touch, 1 action
Choose an object that you are holding in your hands. Upon the completion of the spell, this object is instantly transported to another plane of your choosing. You can be as specific or vague with the location as you wish. The object will appear in the closest empty space that meets the criteria of your location description. If cast as a level 3 slot, you may bring the object back as a bonus action prior to completing a long rest.
So, that’s Conjuration. Pretty standard, as it turned out, and once we got rid of all the slag.
Let us know what you think!
So, with Fogcloud (and other weather effects) since it’s simply dropping the temp to condense the fog out, there should be notations that it can fail. If it was conjuring or creating enough moisture to condense into fog, it would work everytime, but that make it conjuration or transmutation with a touch of evocation.
As for Unseen Servant, I believe it specifies an entity, granted a mindlessly obedient one; but that could easily be explained as some silly superstition.
HI Scott.
You’re right: at some point there may be so little moisture in the air that lowering the air temperature might not produce fog. I’m reminded of the building fire scene in ‘The Incredibles’ where Bob (Mr. Incredible) says that he thought Lucius (Frozone) could condense water out of the air, to which Lucius replies, “There IS no water in this air!”
So, what we have here is an effect we’re trying to achieve, which is fog. We’ve decided to put it into Evocation because in the vast majority of circumstances, lowering the air temperature (an Evocation effect) will condense fog. However, there are clearly some cases where that might not work and that a GM might say, “You cast ‘Fog’ and while the air gets noticeably colder, there’s not enough moisture to condense a good cover for you.” And we’re okay with that! Magic isn’t foolproof or guaranteed.
And, yes, if you can create food and water from thin air, then it makes sense that condensing water vapor out of thin air would be a valid Transmutation effect. And if the GM, or a player said, “Hey, I’m going to create a spell for Transmutation that will do a fog effect,” Or, if you as a Conjurationist knew of an ‘elemental plane of fog’ or a loch in Scotland from which you could reliably create a portal to fill the area with fog… Well, either of those would be more than okay, they’d be amazing.
Because that’s one thing that LP is trying to achieve: To change how people think about magic, and to make it so that creating new spells or using existing spells to create new effects is easy and natural. Magic should be like baking, or making things with Legos. You have a set of basic ingredients or pieces that you understand well and work in a predictable way, you combine them according to a recipe or set of instructions, and when you’re done you’ve got a cake, or maybe an 8-foot model of the Vader’s Star Destroyer.
As for your thoughts on Unseen Servant, we put it where we did because the spell specifies that it is ‘mindless’ and that it dissipates if it gets too far away. This smelled to us like a simple spell effect directed by the mind of the caster, like Tenser’s Disk, rather than an actual entity under his control. However, again, we think a good case could be made for a Conjuration version of that spell that actually summons some sort of spirit.
Thanks for the input, and we hope our thinking makes sense.