CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
Personally, I think that for the Wizard class (as a whole) to have a shot at the title in the Final Round, the strongest subclass to send forward would be Abjuration or Divination. But there's a lot about Conjuration that I like.
What might that be?
I'm so glad you asked!
The Concept:
You favor spells that produce objects and creatures out of thin air.
As your mastery grows, you learn spells of transportation, and can transport yourself across vast distances, even to other planes.
(Player's Handbook)
2nd LEVEL FEATURES
Conjuration Savant: the time and money spent scribing Conjuration spells is cut in half. Pretty standard for all "school" subclasses, and how important this ends up being will depend greatly on how well your DM enforces spell costs and downtime.
Minor Conjuration: you can use your action to conjure up an inanimate object in your hand or on the ground (within 10 feet). The object disappears after 1 hour. It's a minor ability, but it can be useful: you always have the right tool for the job, you can make cheap toys for NPC children, etc. And depending on how your DM defines "magical," you can use this ability to always have a vial of acid or holy water at the ready.
It's super-weak, IMO. But it isn't terrible.
6th LEVEL FEATURE
Benign Transportation:
you can use your action to teleport up to 30 feet, or you can swap places with a willing creature within 30 feet. You can do this once per long rest, or until you cast a Conjuration spell.
That recharge mechanic is amazing, and I wish that they had made more use of this with other Wizard subclasses. As for the ability as a whole, it means that you can basically spam a beefier misty step spell several times in a battle for free by casting ice knife (one of the better 1st-level Conjuration spells). It's underpowered for 6th level, but still pretty cool.
10th LEVEL FEATURE
Focused Conjuration: when you are concentrating on a Conjuration spell, your concentration can't be broken by taking damage. It only applies to about half of your Concentration spells, but the ones it DOES apply to are really important: all of your summon spells, all of your continuing AoE damage spells like cloudkill, evard's black tentacles, and sleet storm, your ongoing buffs like far step...
It's still not a replacement for the War Caster feat, but it's one less thing to worry about when you're in the business of summoning demons and fey. I'm not sure if it's worth waiting until 11th level to get, but here we are.
14th LEVEL FEATURE
Durable Summons: creatures you summon have 30 temporary hit points.
Okay, now we're cooking with gas! Unfortunately you had to wait until 14th level to get this. I would have preferred this to be an ability that scaled with level, something like "creatures you summon have 2x temporary hit points, where x is your wizard level" and give it to you at 2nd level...but alas.
That said, this ability isn't terrible; but it is weak. Just like the 2nd level feature, and the 6th level feature, and the 11th level feature.
Conclusion: not a bad choice if you're going to be summoning monsters every battle, and then teleporting home for a nap..but not everyone likes that style of play. It's not terrible, I'm not mad about it...but I'd rather roll with Abjurer.
You favor spells that produce objects and creatures out of thin air.
As your mastery grows, you learn spells of transportation, and can transport yourself across vast distances, even to other planes.
(Player's Handbook)
2nd LEVEL FEATURES
Conjuration Savant: the time and money spent scribing Conjuration spells is cut in half. Pretty standard for all "school" subclasses, and how important this ends up being will depend greatly on how well your DM enforces spell costs and downtime.
Minor Conjuration: you can use your action to conjure up an inanimate object in your hand or on the ground (within 10 feet). The object disappears after 1 hour. It's a minor ability, but it can be useful: you always have the right tool for the job, you can make cheap toys for NPC children, etc. And depending on how your DM defines "magical," you can use this ability to always have a vial of acid or holy water at the ready.
It's super-weak, IMO. But it isn't terrible.
6th LEVEL FEATURE
Benign Transportation:
you can use your action to teleport up to 30 feet, or you can swap places with a willing creature within 30 feet. You can do this once per long rest, or until you cast a Conjuration spell.
That recharge mechanic is amazing, and I wish that they had made more use of this with other Wizard subclasses. As for the ability as a whole, it means that you can basically spam a beefier misty step spell several times in a battle for free by casting ice knife (one of the better 1st-level Conjuration spells). It's underpowered for 6th level, but still pretty cool.
10th LEVEL FEATURE
Focused Conjuration: when you are concentrating on a Conjuration spell, your concentration can't be broken by taking damage. It only applies to about half of your Concentration spells, but the ones it DOES apply to are really important: all of your summon spells, all of your continuing AoE damage spells like cloudkill, evard's black tentacles, and sleet storm, your ongoing buffs like far step...
It's still not a replacement for the War Caster feat, but it's one less thing to worry about when you're in the business of summoning demons and fey. I'm not sure if it's worth waiting until 11th level to get, but here we are.
14th LEVEL FEATURE
Durable Summons: creatures you summon have 30 temporary hit points.
Okay, now we're cooking with gas! Unfortunately you had to wait until 14th level to get this. I would have preferred this to be an ability that scaled with level, something like "creatures you summon have 2x temporary hit points, where x is your wizard level" and give it to you at 2nd level...but alas.
That said, this ability isn't terrible; but it is weak. Just like the 2nd level feature, and the 6th level feature, and the 11th level feature.
Conclusion: not a bad choice if you're going to be summoning monsters every battle, and then teleporting home for a nap..but not everyone likes that style of play. It's not terrible, I'm not mad about it...but I'd rather roll with Abjurer.
