Is there a way to make Conjure Animals take less time?

[Gavin O.]

I'm playing in a campaign with a level 11 Ranger, and their favourite trick is to use Conjure Animals, summon 8 giant badgers, and attack with them round after round. It's great, the badgers deal good damage, they restrict enemy movement, and they provide a hit point buffer for the rest of us. Only problem is, they make turns take forever. When you have a ranger shooting three times per round plus sixteen badger attacks, that ranger's turn lasts about as long as the rest of our turns combined. I really don't want to ask our ranger to stop using the spell, since it makes them feel effective and like they're contributing meaningfully to the group, but I don't want to wait for them to roll 8 badger punches and 8 badger bites per round. Is there another animal that does similar damage to a giant badger but only has one attack?

 

[Satyrn]

Is there another animal that does similar damage to a giant badger but only has one attack?

Were I DMing, I'd consider combining the punch and bite into a single attack.



Also: "Badger Bites" sounds like a gnomish snack food.

 

[guachi]

I tell my players that if they can't execute attacks from summons quickly they won't get to use the spell.

As a DM, I can execute one attack in about five seconds - declare target, roll dice, announce damage.

If a player is going to summon 8 things, he'd better be that fast.

 

[Quartz]

How about handling the giant badgers as a mob?

 

[ad_hoc]

Well, the player doesn't choose the animal, just the number and CR.

So there is that.

Our table has an agreement to do only 1 or 2 creatures with summons to save time.

With that many creatures I'd be rolling the attacks in bunches of 8. See how many hit then roll damage.

With PCs we roll damage along with the d20 attack roll to save time. We do the attacks 1 at a time but in the case of animals I think it is safe to do them all at once.

 

[Stormdale]

Well, the player doesn't choose the animal, just the number and CR.

So there is that.

Our table has an agreement to do only 1 or 2 creatures with summons to save time.

With that many creatures I'd be rolling the attacks in bunches of 8. See how many hit then roll damage.

With PCs we roll damage along with the d20 attack roll to save time. We do the attacks 1 at a time but in the case of animals I think it is safe to do them all at once.

We are the same, only 1-2 creatures or treat other more as swarms. It's all about ensuring EVERYONE gets a fair turn/amount of time.

Talk to your players and voice your concerns about the time sink 8 creatures attacks are- that's what I did and we came up with a compromise (1 or 2 creatures only)

Stormdale

 

[Jester David]

Give them a scrap piece of paper and let them pre-roll the badger attacks and possible damage. So when his turn comes, he's already rolled.

 

[Blue]

I'm playing in a campaign with a level 11 Ranger, and their favourite trick is to use Conjure Animals, summon 8 giant badgers, and attack with them round after round. It's great, the badgers deal good damage, they restrict enemy movement, and they provide a hit point buffer for the rest of us. Only problem is, they make turns take forever. When you have a ranger shooting three times per round plus sixteen badger attacks, that ranger's turn lasts about as long as the rest of our turns combined. I really don't want to ask our ranger to stop using the spell, since it makes them feel effective and like they're contributing meaningfully to the group, but I don't want to wait for them to roll 8 badger punches and 8 badger bites per round. Is there another animal that does similar damage to a giant badger but only has one attack?

I wish I could take credit for this, but a suggestion I got here recently for a similar issue was:

Spread the the summons out among the other players.

So the other players get more time rolling, and things go through in parallel so it's faster.

 

[Umbran]

As a DM, I can execute one attack in about five seconds - declare target, roll dice, announce damage.

As a DM, you know the armor class of the target.

Not all GMs give this information to players. Without that info, a player may roll the hit and damage dice together, but can't then just announce damage - the GM has to process each attack, especially if they are notably different targets (some on mooks and others on lieutenants and some on the Big Bad, for example).

The suggestion of allowing other players to roll dice for the badgers is one to consider. Yes, the round still takes a while, but the weight of that is spread around, unstead of one person taking up all the time.

 

[Mistwell]

Turn this problem into an opportunity...for more dice!

So 8 badgers, each with multiattack. One attack does 1d6+1, the other 2d4+1.

So your PC needs 8 d20s of different colors, then 8 d6s of those same colors, and then 8 sets of two d4s all matching those colors.
PC throws 8 d20s and their matching d6s first. Match the d20 to the d6 of the same color to see what attack they roll, and the d6 damage. As it's a plus 1 to each that hits, just add up the d6s for the hits and then add the number that hit.
Then throw the d20s again with the d4s, and do that again.

Should go quick and be fun.

If you don't want that many damage dice you can instead use average damage. So just 8 d20s thrown twice.