Falling Icicle
Adventurer
Before I get into this, I just want to say that I love 5e. That said, there is an element of the new edition that I am not at all happy about - the summoning spells.
First off, there is a real lack of summoning options in the PHB. Wizards only get two summoning spells, conjure minor elementals and conjure elementals. The old summon monster type spells are gone, and I think that's a big disappointment. I enjoyed playing summoner type characters in 3e. It was alot of fun. Even though the summon monster spells of that edition were poorly balanced, I liked the fact that you could play a summoner starting at level 1. Now, you can't summon anything until you're 7th+ level, since the lowest level summoning spell is conjure lesser elementals - a 4th level spell. I'm also disappointed by the lack of ability to summon anything but elementals. Wizards do get animate dead, but that isn't technically summoning, and it has the stigma in the RAW of being "not a good act." I will really miss being able to summon fiends, celestials, and other creatures. Of course, they could always add spells that summon these things later, but the lack of such spells in the PHB is a disappointment.
Now, on to the bigger issue. The summoning options that they did provide are poorly designed, to put it nicely. These spells let you summon several creatures at a time. For example, the conjure minor elementals spell, when cast in an 8th level slot, can summon 24 elementals. TWENTY FOUR. That's an action economy nightmare. Who on earth wants to have to keep track of and roll attacks for 24 creatures? I certainly don't. It's not just the higher level versions where it gets obnoxious, either. Even the 4th level version of that spell lets you conjure as many as 8 elementals. Animate dead isn't much better. A wizard can get a dozen zombies from just a single casting, from what I've been told. Running around with dozens of pets may have been fun in Diablo 2, but I do not want to have to deal with such a mess in a pen and paper RPG. I really don't want to return to the days where everyone else at the table has to sit there bored while the wizard or druid takes turns for all of his pets.
FYI, you can see the conjure minor elementals spell here: http://www.actsofgeek.com/2014/08/game-the-game-5th-edition-players-handbook-preview-part-5/
First off, there is a real lack of summoning options in the PHB. Wizards only get two summoning spells, conjure minor elementals and conjure elementals. The old summon monster type spells are gone, and I think that's a big disappointment. I enjoyed playing summoner type characters in 3e. It was alot of fun. Even though the summon monster spells of that edition were poorly balanced, I liked the fact that you could play a summoner starting at level 1. Now, you can't summon anything until you're 7th+ level, since the lowest level summoning spell is conjure lesser elementals - a 4th level spell. I'm also disappointed by the lack of ability to summon anything but elementals. Wizards do get animate dead, but that isn't technically summoning, and it has the stigma in the RAW of being "not a good act." I will really miss being able to summon fiends, celestials, and other creatures. Of course, they could always add spells that summon these things later, but the lack of such spells in the PHB is a disappointment.
Now, on to the bigger issue. The summoning options that they did provide are poorly designed, to put it nicely. These spells let you summon several creatures at a time. For example, the conjure minor elementals spell, when cast in an 8th level slot, can summon 24 elementals. TWENTY FOUR. That's an action economy nightmare. Who on earth wants to have to keep track of and roll attacks for 24 creatures? I certainly don't. It's not just the higher level versions where it gets obnoxious, either. Even the 4th level version of that spell lets you conjure as many as 8 elementals. Animate dead isn't much better. A wizard can get a dozen zombies from just a single casting, from what I've been told. Running around with dozens of pets may have been fun in Diablo 2, but I do not want to have to deal with such a mess in a pen and paper RPG. I really don't want to return to the days where everyone else at the table has to sit there bored while the wizard or druid takes turns for all of his pets.
FYI, you can see the conjure minor elementals spell here: http://www.actsofgeek.com/2014/08/game-the-game-5th-edition-players-handbook-preview-part-5/
