Can "Minor Conjuration" be used as often as a wizard wants?

Question

In a new campaign, I'll be playing a wizard that will join the School of Conjuration at second level. PHB 116 states:

Minor Conjuration

Starting at 2nd level when you select this school, you can use your action to conjure up an inanimate object in your hand or on the ground in an unoccupied space that you can see within 10 feet of you. This object can be no larger than 3 feet on a side and weigh no more then 10 pounds, and its form must be that of a non-magical object that you have seen. The object is visibly magical, radiating dim light out to 5 feet.

The object disappears after 1 hour, when you use this feature again, or if the object takes or deals any damage.

I'm trying to explore my options in game. Could I conjure up something else every round (with the previous disappearing)?

Does this feature need to be written in a spellbook? Does it count as a spell that you could "lose" when losing a spellbook?

Answer 1

Minor conjuration can be done about every 6 seconds

[...] you can use your action to conjure an inanimate object [...]

By default, PCs can perform 1 action per round and each round is approximately 6 seconds long. Thus, it would be possible for the 2nd level wizard to perform a minor conjuration about every 6 seconds by consuming their action. If the wizard obtains a way to gain additional actions per turn that they can use to perform minor conjuration, then the amount of times it can be done is multiplied accordingly.

There is no other limitation to how often they can perform it.

Minor conjuration is not a spell and does not interact at all with a spellbook

Minor conjuration is not a cantrip or any other type of spell; it is a class feature. Thus it does not get written into a spellbook nor does it cost spell slots. Losing your spellbook will not impair your ability to do this either. In fact, as written, only one thing is required to perform minor conjuration: an available action. Nothing else matters.

Answer 2

Yes

You can use Minor Conjuration as much as you like. It is an additional option that Conjuration Wizards can perform as an action, and does not take any resources to use. It doesn't require any preparation.

However, note that it is a class feature and not a cantrip or spell for anything that specifically cares about those. E.g. you could not put it in a Glyph of Warding.

Answer 3

It's a class feature you can do as your action any time you're able to take an action without restrictions on what kind of action (e.g. not a Hasted action).
It's an at-will ability, balanced accordingly. (For example, the previous thing you created disappears if you do it again, so that, rather than a per-rest limit, is what stops you from creating a room full of trinkets.)

So yes, you could fidget with it, maybe even less obtrusively than "doodling" with a cantrip like Minor Illusion which has components S, M (a bit of fleece) which might require you to wave your arms around while wiggling your fingers (as well as brandishing a bit of fleece or your arcane focus), depending on your DM. Minor Conjuration has no listed components, so you could presumably just do it fully mentally, if necessary.

The other requirement is given by targeting:
You also need a hand for it to appear in, or sight to see an unoccupied space on the ground within 10 ft.

If you've been captured and had your hands cut off, and blindfolded, you can't do it. Or you used Shapechange (9th) into a snail or something without hands, and you left the floor so cluttered that there's no unoccupied space...

Shapechange (9th) is on the wizard/druid spell lists. Like druid Wild Shape, it allows use of class features, unlike Polymorph (4th) or Animal Shapes (8th) which replace your game statistics (character sheet) without specifically allowing you to keep class features. So if you want to be a spider on the ceiling of the enemy's hideout, bamfing weird stuff on the floor, like a little statue giving them the finger, embarrassing adult toys, etc., you would need to multiclass into druid, or cast Shapechange, or otherwise be able to use a class feature.

Minor Conjuration isn't a spell

• Using it wouldn't end Invisibility (2nd).
• You can do it while in Gaseous Form (3rd), even though that prevents you from attacking or casting spells.
  (But not Wind Walk (6th): The only actions a creature can take in this form are the Dash action or to revert to its normal form.) Also not Meld into Stone (4th): you don't have hands, and can't see.
• It doesn't have verbal or somatic components so you can do it while tied up and gagged, as long as you're not blindfolded or can still conjure into a hand. (But it has to be on the ground, so you can't conjure a series of rocks to fall onto your chains or bonds.)
• A multiclass druid can do it while wildshaped (as discussed above) even without the druid 18 beast spells feature.
• Losing your spellbook has no effect on it. (That's true for cantrips as well, but those are spells.)