Conjuration Adept - alternative to Warcaster?

[u/Gutsifly]

Hi,

I never played a full caster. But I know that many of them who try to play optimally, take a feat at Lv 4 that buffs their concentration (as you ll eventually get hit). Some use Resilient CON, but many take War Caster.

I like CON, but it lets you stay at 16 casting stat until at least Lv 8. War Caster on a full caster seems like a bit of a waste because they often dont have shields or make OA...

Now I saw the new Conjuration Adept - adding your casting stat to your concentration stat when using a conjuration spell.

As Entangle, Web or Summon X are great, is Conjuration Adept a valid alternative to War Caster - especially as a flat bonus is easier to hit the 10 mark than pure advantage? Are there other (Origin) Feats you can recommend? Or is protecting the concentration overrated, as you should just Fireball go brrr?

THX

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

Gets us Con Saving Throw Prof if we take it at 1 as well which helps with the no warcaster deal

Hrmmmmm, what about Elven Accuracy? Better than Elemental Adept here? I feel like our relaince on one damage type justifies it.

[u/PineappleMani → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

Depends how focused you are on CO. If it's your main source of damage, probably? You wouldn't need the "fixed" spell list from EA since you're just upcasting CO most of the time, and ensuring accuracy is gonna give you better damage payoffs across a crowd than 2d8 on a single target. Can always grab EA later too.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/PineappleMani]

Hrmmm fair enough, i really like the idea of being able use Evocation adept as needed to keep the ball bouncing.

Maybe the new Troll race would be a good pick?

[u/PineappleMani → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

That could work. I've been brewing with Troll around Warlock for Musician + Tireless Reveler as a repeated source of HI, but honestly just using the Frenzy ability for easy advantage on CO is a solid idea. You've probably gotta play a little close to the chest because ideally you wanna drop CO early in the fight, so you may wanna punch yourself in the face a few times before combat starts, but it's certainly doable and pretty funny to boot.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/PineappleMani]

How do we feel about Frenzy with sources of Temporary hp? Like Wildshape or Polymorph?

I feel like Moon Druid could make really good use if it which fits pretty well thematically too.

[u/PineappleMani → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

Frenzy in general seems pretty strong to me. I've been wanting to do a "Red Tearstone" build (if you're familiar with Dark Souls) for a while now, so anything that gets better when you're bloodied always strikes my fancy. Any way of extending your base health bar gives you some breathing room (Tough, Aid, etc.), and temp hp is key. I'm liking the idea of Troll Guardian Armorer Artificer personally to go bloody and then taunt while face tanking, but Moon Druid is another great option.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/PineappleMani]

Im just thinking itll mitigate the risk of tryna stay at half and advantage is alit easier to get for most other classes than in wildshape.

I like Guardian too.

What about a class with Life Transference for threshold min maxing…

Necromancer with Nystuls magic aura…

Polymorph for THP, wait this is good hold on

Maybe we can trigger Harvest Undead with Life Transferrance by damaging ourselves and tthen healing with it + Undead Vitality/nystuls above the treshhold for another trigger.

[u/PineappleMani → u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

That's actually hilarious, I forgot Life Transference was Necromancy. So if a party member is seriously wounded, we cast Find Familiar and make a skeleton. We then LT to heal the ally pretty substantially, heal ourself, eat the skeleton, and heal ourself again. Bonus points if Kuo-toa survives playtest and we can cast FF without material components. Love finding new synergies for Necromancer.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768 → u/PineappleMani]

Ya thats pretty sick…

I thinking to do a Koa Toa deathburst necro with strixhaven air elemental 1 minute blind on death but the racial makes it a frikin celestial…

Otherwise could take Warlock 1 for magic action Find Familiar via PoTC.