Talk:Conjure Weapon (5e Spell)
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Design and Intent[edit]
This is an idea that has always rattled around in my head, and it peeves me to no end that I can never do it quite right. My first attempt was with conjure object when I was still new to homebrewing, so I only later realized that it stepped heavily on the toes of the conjuration wizard and that's why it ended up getting changed by the community so much. The basic idea is this: use magic to summon daggers to your hand so you can then throw them at people. It seems pretty cool to have a character with that ability, but boy is it a pain to actually work out the details.
The reason why this cantrip as it is designed now can summon 3, then 5, then 7, then 9 weapons as you level up, even though you'll only reasonably ever be able to hold two at a time, is because it's envisioned with being used with a knife-throwing fighter who either is an eldritch knight or has magic initiate. Thus, the amount of weapons that can be created scales with the amount of attacks such a fighter could make, even while using action surge. This ensures that even if you use magically summoned knives as your primary attack, there won't be a "gotcha" moment where you're throwing more knives than you can actually create at a time.
The 550 gp cap at 17th level is so you can create one adamantine weapon, if you're using this spell for practical reasons beyond throwing a bunch of knives all the time.--ZarHakkar (talk) 17:34, 9 April 2022 (MDT)
Balance[edit]
As far as balance goes, it's a little strange, but it shouldn't be anything too out of the window. The practical usage of this spell is to always have a weapon. In so far as that goes, the most dangerous weapon you'll have access to at level 1 is a glaive/halberd, which deals a d10 and requires two hands. Admittedly, it's a bit more than the natural weapons than certain player races might get, which can be d4s and d6s, but it also isn't much more than a firebolt, and in melee range as well. Thus, someone can be "disarmed" of creating a weapon the same way a caster can be "disarmed" of their ability to cast spells, either by silencing them and/or restraining their hands, depending on the components needed by the spell. In addition, these created weapons can only be used by the caster. They don't last long enough otherwise, so they can't be used to arm an entire group with magical weapons.
As far as being able to throw 9 +2 daggers or handaxes in a single turn at level 20, I don't think that's any much better than just making 8 attacks with +2 greatsword at that level, besides the range advantage. Maybe if two-weapon or thrown weapon fighting was designed differently to be less suboptimal, but alas. --ZarHakkar (talk) 17:34, 9 April 2022 (MDT)
