Many summoning spells in fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons explicitly allow the player to choose the creatures summoned. Others only let the player choose from broad options. Typically players choose the quantity and challenge rating of creatures.
This reference lists typical creatures summoned by each conjuration spell. Download a Markdown version, or a PDF version or a low-ink PDF formatted using the The Homebrewery.
Spells Where the DM Determines Summoned Creatures
Spells that let players choose broad options work best when the dungeon master selects the specific creatures summoned. The Sage Advice Compendium issued by D&D’s designers explains, “A spellcaster can certainly express a preference for what creatures show up, but it’s up to the DM to determine if they do. The DM will often choose creatures that are appropriate for the campaign and that will be fun to introduce in a scene.”
To help DMs make these selections, this reference lists the common monsters summoned by each spell. To make random selection easy, the creatures are numbered.
Conjure Animals
You summon fey spirits that take the form of beasts.
Land Beasts
| Qty | CR | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1: Giant Boar, 2: Cave Bear, 3: Giant Constrictor Snake, 4: Giant Elk, 5: Polar Bear, 6: Rhinoceros, 7: Saber-toothed Tiger, 8: Swarm of Poisonous Snakes |
| 2 | 1 | 1: Brown Bear, 2: Dire Wolf, 3: Giant Eagle, 4: Giant Hyena, 5: Giant Spider, 6: Giant Toad, 7: Lion, 8: Tiger |
| 4 | 1/2 | 1: Ape, 2: Black Bear, 3: Crocodile, 4: Giant Goat, 5: Giant Wasp, 6: Swarm of Insects |
| 8 | 1/4 | 1: Axe Beak, 2: Boar, 3: Constrictor Snake, 4: Elk, 5: Giant Badger, 6: Giant Bat, 7: Giant Centipede, 8: Giant Frog, 9: Giant Lizard, 10: Giant Owl, 11: Giant Poisonous Snake, 12: Giant Wolf Spider, 13: Panther, 14: Swarm of Bats, 15: Swarm of Rats, 16: Swarm of Ravens, 17: Wolf |
When you cast this spell using certain higher-level spell slots, you choose one of the summoning options above, and more creatures appear: twice as many with a 5th-level slot, three times as many with a 7th-level slot, and four times as many with a 9th-level slot:
Swimming Beasts
| Qty | CR | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1: Giant Constrictor Snake, 2: Hunter Shark, 3: Plesiosaurus, 4: Swarm of Poisonous Snakes |
| 2 | 1 | 1: Giant Octopus, 2: Giant Toad, 3: Swarm of Quippers |
| 4 | 1/2 | 1: Crocodile, 2: Giant Sea Horse, 3: Reef Shark |
| 8 | 1/4 | 1: Constrictor Snake, 2: Giant Frog, 3: Giant Poisonous Snake |
Conjure Minor Elementals
You summon elementals.
Elementals
| Qty | CR | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1: Azer, 2: Gargoyle |
| 2 | 1 | Fire Snake |
| 4 | 1/2 | 1: Dust Mephit, 2: Ice Mephit, 3: Magma Mephit, 4: Magmin |
| 8 | 1/4 | 1: Mud Mephit, 2: Smoke Mephit, 3: Steam Mephit |
When you cast this spell using certain higher-level spell slots, you choose one of the summoning options above, and more creatures appear: twice as many with a 6th-level slot and three times as many with an 8th-level slot.
Conjure Woodland Beings
You summon fey creatures.
Fey Creatures
| Qty | CR | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 1: Darkling Elder*, 2: Meenlock*, 3: Seahag |
| 2 | 1 | 1. Dryad, 2: Quickling |
| 4 | 1/2 | 1: Darkling*, 2: Satyr |
| 8 | 1/4 | 1: Blink Dog, 2: Pixie, 3: Sprite |
Creatures marked with an asterisk appeared in Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
When you cast this spell using certain higher-level spell slots, you choose one of the summoning options above, and more creatures appear: twice as many with a 6th-level slot and three times as many with an 8th-level slot.
Summon Lesser Demons
Roll to determine the number and challenge rating of the demons from among the possibilities.
Because official D&D lacks challenge rating 1/2 demons, DMs can either rule that summoning 4 demons brings lower CR demons or they can ignore that possible outcome.
Demons
| Qty | CR | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1. Maw Demon (Volo’s Guide to Monsters), 2: Quasit |
| 4 | 1/2 | None |
| 8 | 1/4 | 1: Abyssal Wretch (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), 2: Dretch |
When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th or 7th level, you summon twice as many demons. If you cast it using a spell slot of 8th or 9th level, you summon three times as many demons.
Spells Where the Caster Chooses Summoned Creatures
This reference lists the likely options available when players choose summoned creatures.
Conjure Celestial
You summon a celestial of challenge rating 4 or lower.
| CR | Creature |
|---|---|
| 2 | Pegasus |
| 4 | Qouatl |
| 5 | Unicorn |
When you cast this spell using a 9th-level spell slot, you summon a celestial of challenge rating 5 or lower.
Conjure Elemental
Choose an area of air, earth, fire, or water that fills a 10-foot cube within range. An elemental of challenge rating 5 or lower appropriate to the area you chose appears in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of it. For example, a fire elemental emerges from a bonfire, and an earth elemental rises up from the ground.
| CR | Creature |
|---|---|
| 5 | Air Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Salamander, Water Elemental, Xorn |
| 6 | Galeb Duhr, Invisible Stalker |
| 7 | Air Elemental Myrmidon, Earth Elemental Myrmidon, Fire Elemental Myrmidon, Water Elemental Myrmidon |
| 9 | Frost Salamander (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) |
All elemental myrmidons appear in Princes of the Apocalypse.
Infernal Calling
Uttering a dark incantation, you summon a devil from the Nine Hells. You choose the devil’s type, which must be one of challenge rating 6 or lower, such as a barbed devil or a bearded devil. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the challenge rating increases by 1 for each slot level above 5th.
| CR | Creature |
|---|---|
| 5 | Barbed Devil |
| 6 | White Abisai (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) |
| 7 | Black Abisai (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) |
| 8 | Chain Devil |
| 8 | Bone Devil |
| 10 | Orthon (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) |
Summon Greater Demon
You utter foul words, summoning one demon from the chaos of the Abyss. You choose the demon’s type, which must be one of challenge rating 5 or lower. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the challenge rating increases by 1 for each slot level above 4th.
| CR | Creature |
|---|---|
| 5 | Babau (Volo’s Guide to Monsters), Dybbuk (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), Shadow Demon |
| 5 | Balgura, Tanarukk (Volo’s Guide to Monsters) |
| 6 | Chasme, Vrock |
| 7 | Armanite (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), Draegloth (Volo’s Guide to Monsters), Maurezhi (Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes) |
| 8 | Hezrou, Shoosuva (Volo’s Guide to Monsters) |
| 9 | Glabrezu |
| 10 | Yochlol |
Very useful, thanks!
I’m not generally a fan of the summoning spells. Too strong (they can be like a fireball of damage every round, round after round, for the casting of one spell), ties up the terrain impeding movement (especially by locking down melee fighters, preventing a dynamic combat), and is a slog (in almost any combat, the monsters lack the damage to kill more than a couple of the summoned monsters).
That last bit is what kills it for me. At the meta level, the monsters should ignore the summoned creatures, because killing them is basically impossible unless they’re a horde of low CR creatures and the monsters have AoE. So, the easy pick is to target the summoner and break their concentration, but that takes away from what the player who did the summoning wants. I haven’t found a happy medium.
In our last campaign, the druid wanted to summon all the time. What they did for balance was to go through the list alphabetically. If the terrain was wrong (aquatic) they skipped that monster until the next appropriate time. That worked well to keep the combats more interesting and prevent cheesy choices, but the slog aspect was still a problem.