D&D 5E Conjure Random Creatures

[Satyrn]

I haven't dealt with the issue yet, but I think I'd use the druid wildshape tables in Xanathar's. They list beasts by terrain type and CR.

So I'd look at the appropriate terrain table and pick the closest CR available. If there's more than 1 beast with the same CR, I'd randomly determing which beast is picked.

 

[pukunui]

If you are going to play with HIS/HERS spell you will see that really soon that spell will be off the memorized spell list.

Doesn't sound so bad to me!

There aren't that many dinosaurs available, and I'm not sure how many have CRs in the right range. If your player is only going to be summoning CR 1 or 2 creatures, it shouldn't be hard to come up with a small table of options to roll on to see what turns up. For example if they cast it at higher level, they might get a pack of deinonychus led by an alpha using allosaur stats etc.
Talk to your player, and see how they want to flavour the spell.

I like the flavor of only summoning dinosaurs, so I'd use a random table of only dinosaurs. If there aren't enough of each CR, I'd suggest re-skinning some beasts as dinosaurs. Just modify their appearance and give them Latin-sounding names and you're good to go.

I already did a list of what dinos he can wildshape into at what level. That should do for the conjure animals spell as well.

There are only three CR 2 dinosaurs: the allosaurus (land) and plesiosaurus (water) from the MM and the enormous quetzalcoatlus (air) from Volo's.
There is only one CR 1 dinosaur: the deinonychus (land) from Volo's.

Everything else is either higher CR (ankylosaurus, stegosaurus, brontosaurus, triceratops, T rex, etc) or CR 1/4 (dimetrodon, hadrosaurus, velociraptor, pteranodon, etc).

I don’t like the summon spells as written

Me neither.

Random tables like this, customized to your setting (Chult) and player's preference (dinosaurs). I'd encourage making them with the player's help if they have the wherewithal, otherwise I'd use a "Monsters by CR" list (https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/MM_MonstersCR.pdf) or Kobold.com to populate your lists with dinosaurs from the MM & Volo's.

Thanks!

I haven't dealt with the issue yet, but I think I'd use the druid wildshape tables in Xanathar's. They list beasts by terrain type and CR.

The problem with that is there's no table for jungle (nevermind a dinosaur-infested jungle). As far as I could tell, dinos only really appear on the grasslands table. So I'd really have to make my own table.

 

[pukunui]

Following on from [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]'s suggestion, I've gone through the Random Wilderness Encounters table in the adventure and pulled out all the beasts of CR 1/4 to CR 2. (I'm ignoring everything below CR 1/4, like the flying monkeys and horned bunnies and things.) Here's what I've got:

CR 2
Allosaurus
Giant Boar
Giant Constrictor Snake
Hunter Shark
Plesiosaurus
Quetzalcoatlus

CR 1
Deinonychus
Giant Spider
Tiger

CR 1/2
Ape
Crocodile
Giant Wasp
Jaculi
Reef Shark

CR 1/4
Axe Beak
Constrictor Snake
Dimetrodon
Giant Frog
Giant Lizard
Giant Poisonous Snake
Hadrosaurus
Pteranodon
Velociraptor


Now, if I turn these into random tables, I *could* just make it so each thing has even weight, or I could weight the dinosaurs more heavily, so they're more likely to come up. What do you think?

(I'd also have to indicate that a reroll would be required for aquatic beasts if the PCs aren't near enough to water. And maybe also for the aerial beasts if they're inside?)

 

[Quickleaf]

Following on from [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]'s suggestion, I've gone through the Random Wilderness Encounters table in the adventure and pulled out all the beasts of CR 1/4 to CR 2. (I'm ignoring everything below CR 1/4, like the flying monkeys and horned bunnies and things.) Here's what I've got:

CR 2
Allosaurus
Giant Boar
Giant Constrictor Snake
Hunter Shark
Plesiosaurus
Quetzalcoatlus

CR 1
Deinonychus
Giant Spider
Tiger

CR 1/2
Ape
Crocodile
Giant Wasp
Jaculi
Reef Shark

CR 1/4
Axe Beak
Constrictor Snake
Dimetrodon
Giant Frog
Giant Lizard
Giant Poisonous Snake
Hadrosaurus
Pteranodon
Velociraptor


Now, if I turn these into random tables, I *could* just make it so each thing has even weight, or I could weight the dinosaurs more heavily, so they're more likely to come up. What do you think?

(I'd also have to indicate that a reroll would be required for aquatic beasts if the PCs aren't near enough to water. And maybe also for the aerial beasts if they're inside?)

You can also pretty easily fill in the ranks of dinosaurs by re-skinning existing monsters. For example, a CR 1/2 Swarm of Insects might simply be a "Compsognathus Swarm" while a CR 1/2 Giant Goat might be a "Camelops", a CR 1 Giant Toad could be "Beelzebufo ampinga" (aka devil toad from late Cretaceous in Madagascar), or a CR 2 Rhinceros might be a "Paraceratherium".

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, I find the look-stuff-up-in-an-other-book spells so disruptive. They seem like such a chore.

Maybe this would be easier if the monsters were on playing cards instead of in books. That would make it easier to pick one to have its stats handy, a couple to choose from, or a bunch to shuffle randomly.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=58172]Yaarel[/MENTION]: That aspect of the spells is annoying as well.

Here's what I've come up with. I've showed it to my player, and he said it was perfect.




EDIT: Ack! That's huge. How do I make it smaller?

 

[iserith]

On Roll20, there are custom roll tables you can create and tie to a macro. Click a button and it will generate a result. So all you have to do is input the creatures into the roll table.

After having had a necromancer in the party and having played in a game where summoning was common for several characters, I now strongly discourage summoning spells in my game. We like to keep up a fast pace in the games I run and summoning spells slow everything down. I don't expect to see these spells in play in the future and I am not sad to see them go.

 

[Sunseeker]

The player runs their character, always and forever.
The player keeps track of what spells they cast.
The player gets to pick the monsters they summon.
The player runs the monsters they summon.
The player is responsible for knowing the stats of those monsters.
The player is responsible for running them correctly.

At most I'll provide some spare dice or similar minis for the player to use, but if they want something special, that's on them.

 

[jgsugden]

D&D is an RPG. A Role playing game. Characters play roles in a story. As a DM, your job is to make the parts of the story they do not control be things that contribute to a great story. Great stories can be heroic ( The perfect summons for the perfect encounter), comedic (ostriches again?), or both (when the rats first appeared I thought we were screwed.... but the displacer beast spent the next 18 to 24 seconds chasing them and ignoring us - perfect). If your players are used to video game style D&D, where they control as much as possible and everything is about optimization getting them on board with story first gaming can be an adjustment, but it is worthwhile.

 

[smbakeresq]

The player runs their character, always and forever.
The player keeps track of what spells they cast.
The player gets to pick the monsters they summon.
The player runs the monsters they summon.
The player is responsible for knowing the stats of those monsters.
The player is responsible for running them correctly.

At most I'll provide some spare dice or similar minis for the player to use, but if they want something special, that's on them.

Yes. For a better perspective on how summons should be played see the Gloomhaven game. In a nutshell, the summons gets a turn right before the summoner, and they execute a basic move and basic attack on whatever monster is closest to them, they are on auto-pilot. The player then gets their turn, wherein they can act or direct their summons to attack again or move to a different target.

Obviously D&D is a little different. But that system works also.