While Conjure Animals may be the damage, it is Conjure Woodland Beings that brings the magical utility, and is pretty much always a great choice for the classes that get, that being, you guessed it, Druid and Ranger. With potent spellcasting options, let’s get right into it.
Recap
To quickly recap from the previous Conjure guide, let’s go one-by-one with controlling this horde summoning spell first.
Who Chooses?
Based on the Sage Advice Compendium, the DM supposedly chooses every time. However, this is incredibly slow as well as leaving anything the player can do with the spell up to chance.
We have a couple of ways to determine who chooses:
- The DM chooses a random fey to summon every time, as per Sage Advice Compendium
- The player casting the spell chooses the summon every time
- The DM chooses, but has worked with the player to create a curated list that has different categories for different purposes based on what the player wants at the time.
Discuss which of these three the DM wants – it would be best to explain how the Sage Advice ruling completely bogs down combat and isn’t in their best interests, as the DM would first need to flip around until they found something, which in itself is already slow, then bring up the statblock, then place everything in, which is slow.
Initiative?
As you might expect, this is also slow, though if you plan the moves the summons make it’s not as bad. However, as with who chooses the summons, discuss with the DM and see what potential methods can be used:
- Each summon rolls their own initiative and takes their own turn
- Summons roll initiative together, and all act on that initiative rolled
- All summons take their turn directly after the summoner’s
How Should I Place Them?
If using a virtual tabletop like Roll20 or Foundry, just have tokens on hand that are ready to be placed on a moment’s notice. Placing should be relatively quick for those.
If using miniature, simply use the secret that Haen has: Use two hands
How Should I Roll?
Lastly before we get into the real meat of the spell, comes how should I roll for the attacks and damage on my summons? Simple, really. Just roll all the attack dice together first. Then add their respective attack modifiers, and see which ones hit. If advantage is in place, reroll just the attacks that missed. For multiattack, roll the extra number of times needed with your now fist-full of dice.
When rolling damage, don’t. Instead, use the flat damage presented on the statblocks of the summoned beast so you don’t need to roll extra (using the flat damage also adds consistency).
Despite this speed up, obviously it’s still not nearly as fast as virtual tools. If you have the option, create yourself some macros for use in, say, a virtual tabletop. Treantmonk has a document of a variety of macros for Conjure Woodland Beings here, though they aren’t as numerous as Conjure Animals.
The Summons
Now get to the main part of Conjure Woodland Beings: The summoning.
Obviously, not all summons are created equal: Summoning 8 beasts of CR 1/4th or lower is always better than summoning 2 creatures of CR 1 or lower, and some summons are exceptional, such as Dryads or Pixies.
Rating System (Out of 5)
1 – The worst of the worst, don’t even bother with this.
2 – Workable, but underwhelming and not worth the time generally.
3 – Middle-of-the-road, with nothing outstanding or terrible. There are better choices still though.
4 – Very good, pretty much always worth it
5 – Excellent, with no progression drop-off ever.
| Tech Conjuring Multiples |
| RAW, you can actually summon a mixture of fey, according to its description, so long as you meet the summon limit based on the CR option chosen from the spell. For example, if you summon 8 CR 1/4 creatures, you could summon 4 Pixies and 4 Blink Dogs. Please don’t actually do this at a real table though, this spell does not need to be any stronger than it already is. |
Challenge Rating 2
This CR category is sadly weaker compared to the lower ones, primarily due to the low action economy, with a notable exception.
Sea Hag – 3/5 (5/5 with upcasting)
While they possess decent combat features on their own, due to being a single summon of CR 2, they struggle to match superior action economy, though its Death Glare, even if it is a low DC, is still much appreciated. However, the real strength of the Sea Hag is when you upcast the spell for more Hags – they are still Hags after all, and as such, if you upcast the spell to 8th level, or have multiple people who can cast the spell, you can potentially form a coven of perfectly controlled Hags.
Satyr Thornbearer – 2/5
While its staying power isn’t too shabby and it possesses solid movement speed, its damage is rather lacking and its best damage option recharges on a short or long rest. Even with upcasting, it’s still not particularly worth it unless you just really like a bunch of satyrs dancing around, but it is a ranged damage dealer, and it does possess a notable multiattack, so you can potentially rack up some decent damage with it.
Nereid – 2/5 (4/5 if near or in a body of water)
For a single summon, this thing is actually somewhat okay in terms of combative ability, having a passable ranged attack that also blinds on hit with no save. However, where this summon really shines is when you are near or within a body of water that is of at least moderate size. At-will Control Water can mean a lot of potential tricks for the normally underused spell (and you aren’t even spending an extra slot for it!), being effectively Shape Water on steroids that also combos with Shape Water, and it also becomes able to use it Water Lash action, which is a pretty decent forced movement option from a summon, even if the DC is somewhat low, and it even does half damage on a success for an at-will. If you want multiple CR 2s from upcasting and aren’t choosing Sea Hags, this is the way to go, provided you are near or in a body of water.
Naiad – 3/5
It has some pretty solid spell options – 3/day Phantasmal Force and 1/day Hypnotic Pattern is no joke. However, it’s limited by, well, being a CR 2 with an admittedly low spell save DC. Minor Illusion is a nice cantrip, but other than that it also is lacking in at wills outside of anything you give it, such as weapons or magic stones. Could give a bigger bang for your buck if you upcast the spell, but at that point just use Sea Hags.
Meenlock – 2/5 (1/5 in bright light)
The Meenlock has some potential. Not a lot of it, but some. Its Fear Aura, while low DC, is constantly active, and with a bit of positioning, could be used to frighten some mooks out of their mind every so often. Its Claw attack, while having a middling to-hit, damage, and save DC, can sometimes put in work, as it paralyzes on hit for a minute. That said, the terrible DC coupled with targeting a poor save and allowing targets to redo the save means that this likely won’t stick for long if it even lands to begin with, so don’t bank on it or otherwise rely on it to work. Lastly is its Shadow Teleport, which while not very interesting and working on a recharge, can help with getting the Meenlock in or out as needed.
Hobgoblin Iron Shadow – 2/5
Its spellcasting leaves a lot to be desired, but WotC for some reason thinks that a CR 2 can have 4 attacks in one turn but martials can’t, ranged attacks no less, meaning even if its DPR is middling, it can do so at range. Shadow Jaunt also allows it to get out of harm’s way when called for, though using an action means that you as the summoner will have to decide if it’s worth using the action to reposition the summon or to attack. Otherwise, not particularly great, but can make for a fun firing squad with multiple summoners or with upcasting, though you should really use Conjure Animals for multiple attacks over this thing.
Darkling Elder – 2/5
Once per short or long rest Darkness is nice, though limited, and that’s really about it with this thing. It does have pretty competent DEX, so you could hand it a short or longbow to use. With more of these, it can rack up decent damage with its Scimitar multiattack, but that requires positioning it into melee, and well, the Darkling Elder doesn’t have the best staying power. If your table allows the VGM version instead of the MPMM one, then you can try to create situations of advantage for the Darkling Elder to maximize its Scimitar, but like the Hobgoblin Iron Shadow, you’re better off using Conjure Animals instead for damage.
Agdon Longscarf – 1/5
I am aware there’s the whole thing about summoning named NPCs, but this spell does not make a distinction of whether or not it can summon named NPCs, so for the sake of documentation, this NPC is here to stay. Getting into it, Agdon is underwhelming. Like the other offensive CR 2 options, he suffers from low action economy and middling damage output, with the only thing to his name being his staying power. His 20 in DEX does mean he’s actually pretty decent at using ranged options you hand him, but that’s really about all there is to say. Don’t bother summoning if you were even allowed.
Challenge Rating 1
Fey here perform slightly better than CR 2 as we now has two summons instead of one.
Thinnings – 2/5
Mediocre damage output, even though it does possess a ranged option, and nothing more than that. Its Change Shape feature might have potential uses, but none that I can think of combatively outside of probably making Thinnings untargetable since it can just become as thin as parchment and slip into a crack (or someone’s bag) to gain full cover, peeking out only to attack.
Satyr Reveler – 3/5
Reasonably fast with a passable ranged multiattack. It’s a damage dealer, and as such is generally worse than using Conjure Animals, but you can get some value here since you do summon 2 of them. Enthralling Performance is worthless combatively due to requiring a minute, but if you can find some out-of-combat situation to use it, it could be useful.
Quickling – 4/5
The damage on these boys is pretty respectable, as they have a ridiculous movement speed and make 3 attacks in one go with their Dagger, which has both a pretty good to-hit and can be thrown for ranged damage, letting them rack up damage fast while being practically unhittable due to someone deciding that giving them 120 feet of movement speed was okay. Blurred Movement and Evasion also helps give them a layer of defense, making these things good damage dealers if it wasn’t for the fact that Conjure Animals is there. Can’t go wrong with this though if you’re looking for damage output with the spell.
Nilbog – 3/5
This thing has poor staying power and not great attacks. However, what it lacks in attack and staying power, it makes up for in spellcasting. While a DC of 12 may be low, the ability to spam Hideous Laughter at-will is notable in itself, and its Nilbogism combined with Reversal of Fortune can sometimes waste an enemy’s action. Do note that Nilbogism also only says attempts, not actually deals damage, meaning it will always activate if anything just tries to attack it.
Lungtian – 5/5
Wait, this is just a Dryad
Dryad – 5/5
This thing is just really good. 3/day Entangle and Goodberry are both excellent, and it also has the legendary Pass Without Trace. As you get 2 of these things from a standard 4th-level casting, that’s 2 hours of Pass Without Trace without you needing to spend any of your 2nd-level spell slots. Even when exhausted of its spells, the Dryad can still in theory pick up some extra allies to use with its Fey Charm. Great summon choice overall, and you can’t really go wrong with this one.
Alseid – 4/5
We’re here for one particular spell that the Alseid can cast: Plant Growth. Even as a 1/day, you get two Alseids, meaning you effectively have 2 free casts of Plant Growth for the price of one. And Plant Growth is well, one of the strongest control spells in the game… provided the DM rules favorably of course, due to Plant Growth’s wording. It does lack spell flexibility though, and its attacks are middling, nor does it have a good backup option, which is what puts it lower than Dryad, however. No, Sleep doesn’t count, by the time you get Conjure Woodland Beings, Sleep hasn’t been useful for at least 4 levels.
| Tech Orb of Plant |
| Due to how more circular areas like radius is handled, Plant Growth can technically affect a whole orb, being a 100-foot radius in every direction, making it a devestatingly massive area of effect. In addition, as Plant Growth can be shaped and adjusted, you could do something like have it hover 5-6 feet off the ground, allowing your allies to be unimpeded while utterly ruining anything taller than that (or flying). |
Challenge Rating 1/2
This is where the fun really begins, as we can now summon 4 creatures at a time.
Wynling – 2/5
This is almost a 1/5, but it’s saved by 3 factors: You summon 4 of them, they can fly, and they have a good DEX, letting them use ranged weapons decently. However, their damage output is not really anything to write home about, and that’s all they have to their name. You do have better things to summon here, which you should use instead.
Valenar Steed – 4/5
It’s a mount, and if you’ve been in the optimization community long enough, you’ll know how good those are. This is worse than just getting mounts from Conjure Animals, but a mount is a mount and we can’t complain about getting 4 of them.
Valenar Hound – 2/5
Valenar Hound is… not particularly great. It is saved by the fact that you get 4 of them, meaning better chances to hit and get that proning off, but its damage output is otherwise far from outstanding and it doesn’t have anything else noteworthy. I guess it’s faster than average?
Satyr – 3/5 (4/5 with Satyr Pipes)
Solid ranged DPR. There’s nothing else to really note here, but you can’t really go wrong with 4 of them. Not too shabby as two-weapon fighters if you give them another shortsword either, but they don’t have great staying power so that’s not as recommended. However, if the DM grants Satyrs the Satyr Pipes optional ability, then you get a whole new world of control options. Sure, the DC isn’t great, but you have 4 Satyrs – something is going to land, especially since Wisdom saves aren’t the best in creatures. At the very worst, it’ll draw out any Legendary Resistances or similar.
Reflection – 4/5 (3/5 when in sunlight)
This thing is a rather good offensive option. Unlike other damage options, the Reflection has the ability to instantly kill by draining STR from targets, and is quite worth sending into melee because of this. Combined with Amorphous and fast movement speed, you can send these just about anywhere. Just be wary that they lack staying power, even with their numerous resistances, so keep an eye out on them (and also make sure they aren’t in sunlight).
Detached Shadow – 4/5 (3/5 when in sunlight)
This is just the Reflection, but it has vulnerability to radiant damage instead of bludgeoning, with its bludgeoning damage vulnerability instead becoming resistance. Try to summon this over Reflections if you can (unless you’re facing something that does a lot of radiant).
Darkling – 3/5
They aren’t too bad, especially due to numbers, but their damage is just kind of okay. Still better than Darkling Elder though. Unlike the Darkling Elder though, you should try to use the MPMM version of this creature over its original VGM version.
Challenge Rating 1/4
We get 8 summons here. You know that’s good.
Sprite – 1/5
While Sprites make good familiars for Pact of the Chain Warlock, they aren’t so great as summons from a spell. Poor damage and its invisibility doesn’t matter all that much, and Heart Sight only needs one Sprite, making any additional ones redundant. The only thing these are good for is poison harvesting.
Pixie – 6/5
WotC can’t balance a statblock to save their life, and Pixie really shows this. It gets Entangle and Phantasmal Force. While sure, an individual Pixie only gets one casting of each per day, keep in mind you summon 8, effectively giving you 8 free castings of each. Absurd. It also has Polymorph, which while not a great spell contrary to what you might think (and for reasons that will probably be its own article), ain’t too shabby when you’re not the one concentrating it and instead letting Pixies do the work. Still not the most recommended use of their concentration, but still. Pixies also have good DEX, meaning you can just hand them a shortbow or light crossbow and call it a day once they’re out of castings for decent free damage. Just keep a careful eye out on keeping your Pixies safe though, since they die in 1 hit.
Blink Dog – 3/5
Mediocre damage and nothing else only being saved by the fact that you summon it with sheer numbers.
Other
This section is for options that are under CR 1/4. Since the spell stops at 8 though, you, like CR 1/4s, only summon 8 of these (without upcasting, of course).
Valenar Hawk – 1/5
Don’t bother.
Brigganock – ?/5
Depending on how “work” is defined, the Brigganock’s Time Lapse can either be good or ridiculous, hence the unknown ranking since Brigganock entirely hinges on Time Lapse.
Boggle – 3/5
While far from exceptional damage dealers, they possess the ability to spread a special oil, which as you have 8 of them, becomes easier to do, and they can apply various effects to said oil. Even without such effects, the oil on its own is difficult terrain, giving you free sources of control that happen to constantly be able to create the oil. Dimensional Right might have some potential uses as well.
Nene and Dohwar – 1/5
Don’t. Just don’t.
How Should I Use My Summons?
Unlike Conjure Animals, where your summons are likely going to be predominately melee, the same cannot be said for Conjure Woodland Beings necessarily.
Same as with Conjure Animals, focus fire is of course optimal, so focus the biggest threat on the battlefield. However, as many of your options bear control, you can take large advantage of that as well to essentially double, triple, or even quadruple your concentration by covering large areas of land with control from your summons and deny enemy movements.
If you have Dryads (or equivalent), you can also have one of them cast and hold concentration on Pass Without Trace so the Ranger can go do something else with their concentration (though if they are very dedicated to holding concentration, or there is a Shadow Monk in the party, have the Dryad use Entangle instead of needed), and remember to put their Goodberries to good use – each Dryad gets three castings of Goodberry.
How Should I Position Them?
Also unlike Conjure Animals, there’s not as easy of a definition for Conjure Woodland Beings. If the summon is capable of ranged damage or is a controller-type, keep them hanging back (unless they need to get a little closer to do their thing, such as Quicklings). Most of the possible summons from Conjure Woodland Beings don’t last well in melee, so try to avoid getting your summons here into that range in the first place, with the obvious exception being Reflections/Detached Shadows.
In the case of those two, they are best positioned as close to the given target as possible on summoning, as well as later when moving them around. Reflections and Detached Shadows have only the standard melee reach (5 feet), so keep that in mind when handling them. If they are unable to completely surround the target, such as with the target being sandwiched between 2 walls in a tight corridor, have the leftover summons be on standby, or attack something that’s close to the original target, generally something within 5 to 10 feet of the target.
When Should I Upcast?
Due to the already inherent potency of Conjure Woodland Beings at its base, you usually only upcast if you really want to get squeeze more resources out of the spell or you want to make a coven with Sea Hags.
That said, the best answer is the same as Conjure Animals: Observe the situation at hand and think about it. Would simple damage solve this situation? Then perhaps use Conjure Animals instead of trying to damage your way through with Conjure Woodland Beings. What if you were using Dryads and they’ve exhausted their spells but you still have time left? Then sure, hand them some longbows or whatever and let them fire away, unless the situation really needs the damage of Conjure Animals. Always observe the situation carefully and determine what spell would do the best work. Only use what slots are necessary for the encounter.
Which Fey Should I Use?
Compared to Conjure Animals, there’s not as large of a flowchart or table here, so the table is considerably smaller, splitting only between controlling and damaging.
| Situation | Fey |
| I need damage! | Satyr Thornbearer, Meenlock, Hobgoblin Iron Shadow, Darkling Elder, Thinnings, Satyr Revelry, Quickling, Wynling, Valenar Hound, Satyr, Reflection, Detached Shadow, Darkling, Blink Dog |
| I need control/utility! | Sea Hag, Nereid, Naiad, Nilbog, Dryad, Alseid, Pixie, Boggle |
Conclusion
Conjure Woodland Beings is just a really flexible and high utility spell, with a variety of incredible choices that let you basically extend your resources throughout an adventuring day, with means of both damage and also extra spellcasting via statblocks just to spit in the face of the game.
Hope you all enjoyed!
– Mistral Umaimon
Mistral's Swarmkeeping 