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

[Satyrn]

I would say the additional time imposed by the rule is something that a conscientious player needs to take into account when choosing game elements and, if he or she does choose it, how often to use it knowing that it takes up more table time. It's not enough to say "well, it's rules legal, so I'm going to take as much time as I want." That's selfish in my opinion. As a personal example, I almost never take summon spells for this reason. Bo-Peep was the rare exception (possibly the one exception if memory serves) and I might not even use that spell every session and certainly never more than once. To give another one, a player wanted to play a necromancer in the last campaign and wanted to know how many undead was reasonable to create with animate dead. My response was "As many as you want until you start slowing down the game at which point that's too much." So he used his best judgment and settled on four undead minions because he understood that any more than that risks him eating into other people's table time. I'd say that's just good play.

Oh yeah. I've only ever used conjure animals out of combat because it would take so long to play out in a fight. I like the badger swarm posted earlier, though.

And a zombie swarm would be so cool.

 

[gyor]

There is one way to cast Conjure X spells faster: cast it via Wish. So you just wish for Conjure Animals or whatever. You can even quicken wish if your a Sorcerer, to conjure animals as a bonus action.

 

[Prakriti]

I hate these Conjure spells simply because they bring combat to a grinding halt. Fireball is just as powerful, but it's fire-and-forget. One or two rolls and you're done.

The party encounters 20 orcs?
Cast Fireball - Bam, they're all dead.
Cast Conjure Animals - there are now eight extra actions to deal with every round. That's 8 attack rolls, plus 8 damage rolls, every -- single -- round -- until the caster loses concentration. On top of that, the battlefield is now choked with bodies.

If you put those actions in the hands of the caster, then you have one player with nine actions each round, which adds about 5 minutes to their turn. "Okay, the first elk attacks this orc. *rolls to hit* 17. Does it hit? Yes? *rolls damage* 7. Is it dead? No? Okay, the second elk attacks the same target... *rolls to hit* 15. Does it hit? Yes? *rolls damage* 5. Is it dead?" etc. etc.

So it's not necessarily that the Conjure spells are too powerful. It's just that they're really %*#@ing annoying to run at the table, because they slow combat down to a crawl. With that in mind, here's my Conjure Animals fix:

Conjure Animals
3rd-level conjuration
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 150 feet
Components: V, S, M (animal fur)
Duration: Instantaneous

A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with (animal noises) into (animals). Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A target takes 8d6 (animal) damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

The (animals) spread around corners. They (eat edible) objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried.​

Boom. You can thank me later.

 

[gyor]

So basically a single round spirit guardians.

 

[guachi]

It's a single round fireball, is what it is.

Just with rabid cows going "MOOOOO!!!!!!"

 

[Stalker0]

The "have your attacks rolled ahead of time" is a simple way to do it. If you use laptops you can also have a simple excel that just does that rolling for you, so you can just declare the attack roll and damage, and then rinse and repeat.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I might be more inclined to replace it with something based on a wall spell: fence of animals, elementals, demons, skeletons (or zombies), etc. Fence because it will only be half cover.

 

[Satyrn]

I'd go with a line of effect, like lightning bolt but it doesn't originate from the caster. Call it a stampede.

 

[Satyrn]

It's a single round fireball, is what it is.

Just with rabid cows going "MOOOOO!!!!!!"

"How is the fight going?"

"Needs more cowball."