D&D 5E Drawmij's Instant Summons: Am I Missing Something?

[mflayermonk]

I've seen this used on powerful story elements-such as a demon's control amulet.

Or other kinds of MacGuffin control. Drawmij's Instant MacGuffin Summons

 

[raleel]

https://twitter.com/jeremyecrawford/status/536684065618137089

Well it's offiial! It's a very limited use spell!

 

[Kobold Stew]

2) Pass through a security check "unarmed" and summon a weapon or other item beyond the checkpoint
3) Rearm after capture and (couple with an item spell to transform the gem into a badge on your clothing)

This is the context in which I've imagined its use most often -- getting your magic longsword past the town guards or into the elite banquet, or whatever. It's a narrative workaround for some reasonably-imposed DM limits.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Jim Ward (Drawmij) is still alive and I'm sure you can contact him online. Ask him what his original reason for this spell was.

EDIT: Wikipedia actually tells the origin of the spell:

This actually makes it clear that it is *really useful* for a game that actually cares about things like home bases, encumbrance, and the like -- when you can't take your whole pack of kit with you everywhere you go.

All the questions of "what good is it?!" circling around make me want to get more support for that style of play (better encumbrance rules, a reason to have a home base, etc.).

 

[AmerginLiath]

Jim Ward (Drawmij) is still alive and I'm sure you can contact him online. Ask him what his original reason for this spell was.

EDIT: Wikipedia actually tells the origin of the spell:

But can you use the spell to summon him?

 

[TarionzCousin]

When my group gets around to playing 5E, I'm going to have an NPC wizard villain with several 1000 gp sapphires on his person (easily found after the PC's defeat him). A well-read player should be able to deduce that said NPC wizard has several good magic items hidden away somewhere.

Is there a way to use the uncrushed sapphires to magically locate said items? There will be in my game.

 

[ccooke]

I did a one-off game based on this spell. Roughly, it went:

"You need to sneak into the crypt of $big_bad and defeat them. Unfortunately, they can only be killed with this dagger... and they have magical alarms attuned to it. You will need to get past the outer alarms, into the heart of the crypt where you can block off the escape routes. Here, have this scroll and rather large sapphire. Be ready for a violent reaction once the dagger arrives."

(I've been tempted to use it for magical suicide bombers before)

 

[travathian]

Portable hole filled with backup weapons, armor, spell books, scrolls, wands, kits, tools, etc. Put it in a small lead watertight box, toss into large body of water for safekeeping. Every few levels, summon it, replace with better items, drop back in a new place.

 

[travathian]

Is there a way to use the uncrushed sapphires to magically locate said items? There will be in my game.

Maybe Commune or Contact other Plane. Or the PCs would just have to dig around for maybe a journal, letters, etc where the caster might mention the name of the item. I certainly wouldn't allow a spell lower than 5th to glean any info.

 

[steeldragons]

Why would that be necessary when you have the sapphires? They say what the item is right on them. Cast the instant summons and bring the items to you. Your PCs wouldn't need to go anywhere. Quick game, that.