Dungeons & Dragons allows its players to build all sorts of unique and fun characters, many of which focus strongly on magical abilities. One such archetype that players often choose is that of the summoner, or conjurer, a mage that uses spells and abilities to create companions and creatures to join them in combat. Because of the way that the action economy works in D&D, more creatures on the player's side is a huge advantage, making these builds very powerful.
Some summoners prefer to focus on one or two powerful allies, while others prefer quanitity over quality. In 5th edition D&D, many of the spells and items around summoning were fairly complicated, and their use could bog down combat. That problem hasn't been entirely solved with the 2024 version of the game's rules, but the spells and items that conjurers use have been streamlined to make them easier to implement and understand. These ten items in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide highlight those changes, and are great pickups for any player building a summoner.
10 The Bag Of Tricks Adds A Level Of Luck To Conjuration
A Grab Bag Of Animal Companions
First up is the bag of tricks, which comes in several varieties and offers a level of randomization to a summoner's arsenal. Within the bag are fuzzy spheres, which the user can throw up to 20 feet away to spawn an animal ally. The animal is friendly to the bag's owner and its allies, and can be commanded in combat using a bonus action.
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The kind of animal is determined by rolling a d8 and referencing a table of beasts, which includes options like an owl, an ape, and a lion. There are three kinds of bags of tricks: the gray, tan, and rust-colored versions, each with its own table to select beasts from. While the beasts range in their effectiveness in battle, it's always useful to have an extra ally on deck, and the bag can create up to three in a day before needing to recharge. Still, the bag is difficult to control, and conjurers at higher levels can do better.
9 The Robe of Useful Items Plays Into Creating Whatever You Need
Tools For Any Occasion At Your Beck And Call
Aside from creatures, summoners can focus their talents on creating helpful objects and items for their party. Enter the robe of useful items: an uncommon piece of apparel covered in magical patches. The patches represent items that the wearer can tear off and transform into real objects for them to utilize. The robe is only useful as long as it has remaining patches, but it always starts with at least sixteen of them, and may have up to twenty-eight.
Twelve of the patches are always the same, and are a collection of useful but nonmagical items that the party may need, such as a lantern and a dagger. But 4d4 other patches are determined for each robe at random, ranging from sacks of gold to healing potions to even living creatures that become the party's allies. The robe of useful items offers a summoner more control than something like a bag of tricks, and while it will eventually be expended, it offers some great versatility to any character's inventory.
8 The Staff of Swarming Insects Is Perfect For Bug-Themed Mages
Summon A Plague Of Locusts On Top Of Your Enemies
The staff of swarming insects is a bit more powerful than the previous items, and offers its wielder the use of powerful spells by way of its charges. The staff has ten charges, each of which can be used to activate its various powers. Most simply, the wielder can expend one charge to create a cloud of harmless insects that emanate in a 30-foot line, heavily obscuring the area for all creatures except the one holding the staff. The cloud lasts for at most ten minutes, and is great for battlefield control.
Heavily obscuring an area can hinder melee and ranged attacks for one's enemies, as well as give the staff's wielder advantage on their attacks against blinded creatures within the emanation.
But the staff's real power lies in the spells it can cast: giant insect and insect plague. They cost 4 and 5 charges to cast respectively, but are quite powerful as 4th and 5th level spells. Both require concentration, with giant insect summoning a large insect ally to fight in combat, and insect plague filling a 20-foot radius sphere with biting bugs to wear down foes. Both conjuration spells are great fits for a conjurer, especially one that deals in the more grotesque sides of magic.
7 The Hat of Vermin Is A Good Common Magic Option
Embrace Your Inner Stage Magician
For early-level characters in D&D, giving out common magic items can be a great way to let players experiment with magic in a way that doesn't break the game's balance. The hat of vermin is a great example, as an item with a weaker ability that still affords players some creative choices. The hat can be used by its wearer to summon either a rat, bat, or frog from inside it using a magic action.
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The catch is that, unlike most summoning spells, the creature has no fond feelings for its conjurer. It will behave as an animal normally would, which might just mean getting as far away from the party as possible. The hat itself is rather limited, with three charges to summon animals per day. Still, there's a lot of potential for an item that creates a creature out of thin air, and clever players will certainly find ways to take advantage of this item's potential.
6 The Horn Of Valhalla Brings Forth Otherworldly Defenders To Your Side
An Item More Useful For Martial Summoners
The horn of Valhalla is a rare case among conjuration-themed items, where it is much more useful in the hands of a martial character than a spellcaster. That's because of a stipulation in the item's rules, which makes it more powerful depending on how proficient the user is with simple and martial weapons. Mechanically, the horn is used to summon berserker allies when the wielder blows into it.
These berserkers attack with martial weapons, and are immune to being charmed and frightened, which can come in handy against certain enemies. The downside of the horn is that it can only be used once every seven days, limiting the amount that a party can actually make use of it. Still, its summons are pretty powerful, and can change the tide of combat considerably.
5 Daern's Instant Fortress Is A Good Defensive Option For Emergencies
Conjure Up A Whole Castle For Your Party
Back to summoning inanimate objects, Daern's instant fortress does exactly what its name would imply. This tiny castle figurine can be instantly grown to immense proportions, creating a defensible position for the party anywhere they need it. The fort created is twenty feet to a side and thirty feet high, with battlements and heavy doors to keep attackers at bay.
Daern's instant fortress was once useful as an item to be thrown at enemies and then blown up to full size, effectively crushing anything beneath it. The new rules in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide changed the rules so any creatures in the space where the fort will be are harmlessly pushed to the sides.
While the tower can no longer be used to crush enemies beneath it, as was a common strategy in 5th edition D&D, it is still a remarkably powerful defensive item. It is immune to physical damage and resistant to all other types, and is immune to spells like knock that would normally make infiltration a breeze. The only downside is that the tower is nigh on impossible to repair, since only a wish spell can cause it to regain lost hit points.
4 Control Elementals With These Four Magic Items
Bowls, Braziers, Censers, And Stones
The bowl of commanding water elementals, brazier of commanding fire elementals, censer of commanding air elementals, and stone of commanding earth elementals all function in the same way for different types of elemental creatures. They can be used to call forth an elemental of the associated type and make it into an ally on the party's side, fighting in combat against their foes. It's a rather simple effect, but an effective one, lasting up to an hour and bringing forth a strong ally.
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Each of the four items creates an elemental that acts on its own, not requiring a bonus action to command like some summons, and can be used once per day. One neat thing about this item is that it does not require attunement, and only requires that a magic action be used within 5 feet of it to make an elemental, meaning any member of the party could activate it even if only one member is holding it. In addition, maintaining the elemental does not require concentration, meaning there's no chance of losing the elemental early.
3 A Manual of Golems Can Create A Permanent Summon
A Powerful Protector That Doesn't Require Concentration
Manuals of golems work a little differently than other magic items. Rather than taking an action to use it mid-fight or anything like that, the manual requires its user to spend multiple days and many thousands of gold pieces to access its magic. It also has a restriction around the magical capabilities of its user, since one needs at least two fifth-level spell slots to even try to use it.
Still, all of this effort is worth it to create a strong and permanent summoned ally. The manual can create either a clay, flesh, iron, or stone golem depending on its type, and the golem remains active and loyal to its creator indefinitely, until it is destroyed. Most summons won't last more than a couple of minutes or an hour at most; but this one, requiring days of study and work, is here to stay. And they're no slouches either, with the most powerful golem available being CR 15.
2 Figurines of Wondrous Power Are Easily-Transportable Animal Friends
A Plethora Of Fun Options To Make Use Of
The figurines of wondrous power come in many shapes and sizes, each corresponding to a different kind of animal one can turn them into. They range in rarity and power, but every one of them is useful and possesses unique abilities to help the party out. Each figurine can be activated with a touch, and the animal it becomes acts on the user's command with its own initiative. The options range from a mastiff, to a pair of lions, to a trio of goats, to even a nightmare horse from the plane of Hades.
Some are useful as messengers and scouts, while others are capable fighters in combat. The goat figures have probably the most interesting features, with removable horns that become magic weapons, and the ability to act as mounts for up to 24 hours. Every one of the figurines of wondrous power truly lives up to its name, and is a great item to give out to any party.
1 The Cube of Summoning Can Bring Forth Some Of The Most Powerful Allies
No Concentration Required For These Strong Creatures
Finally, the cube of summoning can be used to mimic some of the most powerful conjuration spells in the game. Those are summon aberration, beast, construct, elemental, dragon, and fey. All are fifth-level spells that create an ally of the associated creature type, complete with relevant features and attacks. Plus, while the spells would normally require concentration, they do not when cast using this cube.
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There is still an element of randomness to this item, just like the bag of tricks, since the user rolls a d6 to determine which kind of creature it summons. Each creature acts on its own initiative and will try its best to defend itself and its summoner, using abilities like a dragon's breath weapon attack to do so. This Dungeons & Dragons item is a great option for bringing forth some truly strong allies, and all without the traditional cost and concentration they would require if cast using a spell slot.
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Dungeons and Dragons
Original Release Date 1974-00-00
Publisher TSR Inc. , Wizards of the Coast
Designer E. Gary Gygax , Dave Arneson
Player Count 2-7 Players
English (US) ·