Waifudolon
The votes have been tallied, and our latest Patreon poll has a clear winner. Meet Summoner and his gal pal Eidolon Rouge, the latest residents of Handbook-World. (Better luck next time, Cavalier!)
Shall we talk about the fine art of summoning then? Let’s shall, because everything from Final Fantasy to Magic: The Gathering to Aqua Teen Hunger Force has its take on the trope. There’s something about the Pathfinder flavor of the summoner that tickles my fancy though. And judging from that smug little smirk on Summoner’s face, she tickles his fancy as well.
The concept of the eidolon is an endlessly fascinating one to me. I mean yes, you can monkey with the mechanics for a silly amount of attacks or some truly niche playstyles, but the true beauty of the eidolon is that it can be whatever you want it to be. As per the class description: “The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature.” Just think about that for a second. That’s a lot of creative power to put in the hands of a player! It means that Xenomorphs, Freddy Fazbear, and the freaking Kool-Aid Man are all on the table, not to mention creeping on your fellow party members.
“Tut-tut!” says the intrepid GM. “The rules stipulate that your control is not fine enough to make your eidolon appear like a specific creature.”
“Fine then. She’s size Large and pink. Happy?”
So how about it, gang? What is the most interesting eidolon you’ve ever encountered? And if your favorite game happens to lack eidolons, what’s your favorite homebrew critter? Let’s hear it in the comments!
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REMINDER: The Handook is in Atlanta!
Both the writer and illustrator of this here Handbook of Heroes are at Dragon Con as we speak (Friday, September 1st to Monday, September 4th)! We don’t have a booth, but we’ll be either wearing our Handbook of Heroes shirts or doing cosplay on Sat/Sun. If any of you intrepid adventurers manage to track us down, we’ll have some giveaways for you. We’ll also be doing some tabletop roleplaying in the gaming hall, so that’s a good spot to find us!
I’ve never played Pathfinder and thus my only experience with Eidolons remains Final Fantasy X. However, as resident queen of familiars, pets, companions, and summons, there’s still plenty to talk about. =)
First, Summoner’s Eidolon. She’s Large-sized? After some research, I believe the cutoff height for that begins at 9 feet. That’s quite the Amazonian lady. She makes The Mountain look like a Gnome. Then again, it seems Summoner is a Gnome, and they are known for their fetishes.
5e’s semi-recent Artificer UA has a feature with similar creative license.
Mechanical Servant includes the following lines:
“Select a Large beast with a challenge rating of 2 or less. The servant uses that beast’s game statistics, but it can look however you like, as long as its form is appropriate for its statistics.”
This is pretty neat! It could resemble a vehicle, a mech, or potentially even a (mechanical) person. If you select a flying or aquatic beast, you have even more possibilities. The plan for mine was to use Giant Octopus and treat it like Doc Oc tentacles, walking around slowly on them and using their power, reach, and restraining ability to keep me safe while lobbing thunder shells.
Summoner is equal parts Hugh Hefner, Austin Powers, and L’il Gideon. And also 100% halfling. You’ve gotta rock that Charisma score if you’re dealing with minion-mancy.
Thanks for the tip about Artificer. I hadn’t looked at the UA yet, but it sounds like a different implementation of the same cool idea: you get a custom companion. And that’s just good fun.
Unfortunately the current iteration is a bit underpowered, although that’s a refreshing change from usual UA garbage like the revised Ranger or the Mystic.
The companion could really use some scaling as you level. It’s fairly incredible when you get it, though.
I actually rather like the revised ranger, and I like the concept of the Mystic even if the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Artificer though…again, I like the artificer class from 3.5, but I really hate how they executed it in UA. It feels like a grab-bag of construction-y traits with no real theme (why is the Mechanical Construct an artificer class trait? It makes no sense for alchemists. Just make a constuct master subclass, let it scale with level, and put it there). The magic items you are allowed to craft from are hilariously disproportionately powered (see 11th level where Eyes of Minute Seeing and Decanter of Endless Waters are apparently on the same power level). I understand why they limit you to a bunch of strictly utility magic swag, but a big part of the fun of the original artificer was choosing and crafting your own magic items. I would be much happier if they created some sort of crafting system, and in a sidebar mentioned that DMs in a low magic item campaign should limit what artificers can craft to the following X items.
They did create a fairly extensive magic item crafting system in UA. Artificers have automatic Expertise in this, so I think that works pretty well if used together. I just found that I couldn’t contribute much to combat and the spell list left much to be desired. The imbued magic item thing also shouldn’t have to just target the person who activates it, especially when you have healing spells on your list.
I believe I’ve already mentioned my favorite eidolon was on a synthesist summoner, a powerful devil trapped inside a scrawny, mild mannered, stammering tiefling that would let the tieflong hulk out into a mighty, fearsome form…that was still very mild mannered and stammered, much to the devil’s annoyance.
A character concept I haven’t had a chance to try out yet but want to is a master summoner who’s an eight year old girl with a drawing pad and inkquill. Her “summoning” is drawing the monsters on her paper and bringing them to life, and her eidolon is something akin to Bing Bong from Inside Out. Just the idea of a plucky 8 year old questing around with a typical adventuring party, and having the tools for incredibly versatile contributions, brings a smile to my face.
I love the trope of “little kid with powerful imaginary friend.” It’s a great RP opportunity. You ever see this episode of Teen Titans?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/da/84/6dda84eb434eda96264d12f2896bcb60.jpg
The little girl there? Here’s her eidolon:
https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/teentitans/images/0/0a/Bobby_vs_Mallah.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140913104814
You actually get that with the Magical Child archetype for the Vigilante class.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/vigilante/archetypes/vigilante-archetypes-paizo-inc/magical-child
Which just so happens to be the Summoner-flavored Vigilante. Albeit it is a magical beast not necessarily imaginary. Course, you could add the Figment archetype to your familiar and voila! Imaginary friend.
Now I just need to figure out why an imaginary friend needs a secret identity.
I agree with the concept but personally I think Witch is a better class for it. The “imaginary friend” is less obvious, Beguiling Gift is a great spell to make a would-be-assassin drink an alchemist’s fire (or anything else where you can argue “that’s only the damage when applied externally”), and the Ward hex lets you know if something goes wrong with your crown prince of a brother performing espionage.
I have always tried to play a Summoner with a Couatl or Keketar eidolon, but it hurts that I have to spend 2 evo points just to get it. I mean, it’s not the end of the world, it’s just slightly annoying.
Anyway, that’s hows each of my first level summoners went. 2 points for Limbs (Arms) or Flight (Feathered Wings). 1 point for Claws or Wing Buffet (respectively).
There’s just something I like about serpentine servants with an extra set of limbs. The Protean base in Unchained gives flight down the road, which is nice, really. It’s not the most interesting eidolon I’ve seen, but it’s mine.
The longer I play Pathfinder, the more I think that power isn’t everything. By all means build a functional character, but if you want to make a few sub-optimal choices for the sake of flavor? I think that is A-OK. And your concept sounds particularly flavorful.
Wait just a minute! Why does Eidolon not have a fancy name like all the other creatures that are not player characters?
1. Because it would also be “Thief,” and that’s confusing.
2. As cool as it is, Pathfinder’s summoner class is unfamiliar to a lot of gamers. I wanted to make sure it was clear what “big pink Thief” actually was.
Edit: 3. Apparently she does. Her canon name is now “Rouge.” That idea was just too good to pass up.
New favorite issue. New favorite post-issue blurb.
I love this class more than anything else in Pathfinder. I love the customization, I love the flavor, and I love the fact that a social/skill monkey eidolon can pop claws and throw down with the best of them with just a buff or two. The Unchained nerf is a topic that I can ramble about for damn near an hour.
I’ve got a ton of them in my PFS roster. My ‘main’ is Xallis, whom I describe in detail in the reddit post. As you can see, this comic really speaks to me: http://i.imgur.com/IJbcqUe.png
Out of all my characters, though, the one who gets the best response from others is Xallis’ brother, who goes by the title of Warden Fairbanks. They both come from a family that binds criminal outsiders for servitude and rehabilitation, but the Warden takes his job seriously. His eidolon is a Devil that broke a serious contact and lost mose of his power as a result. (This is how I explain the neutered Unchained versions of water elementals that can drown) He begins every scenario by giving a disclaimer about his infernal charge, and will only use him with the party’s explicit permission. His bound devil, Prisoner #129030, is polite and cooperative, knowing that bad behavior will only worsen his sentence. He seeks to reclaim his former glory and gain political power in hell, though he’s more of a musclebound brute than he’ll ever admit.
Mechanically, it’s a human unchained summoner of the Unwavering Conduit archetype with a devil eidolon. It’s working out pretty well so far. I’ll stop myself before I ramble about the other duets I have in the stable.
So you support the broken base summoner?
I actually don’t have a dog in this fight. I’ve seen a couple of threads on the topic, but I’ve never run a summoner (chained or otherwise) myself. That might have something to do with my last companion class type character getting overshadowed by his own NPC.
Also, when I design a duet, I don’t consider the pet to be an NPC. I think of it as part of the character. If the eidolon goes full Rip and Tear while the summoner is spamming Guidance? That’s fine. Hell, I once designed a hedonistic, Jabba-like Eidolon that would do most of the roleplay and combat while the subserviant summoner would happily cast buffs on the party and tend to the whims of their ‘master.’
I… shelved the concept when the limited skill points made it too tricky to pull off. I may try it later.
100%. There’s a certain responsibility on the player to not muscle in on the party’s various roles, of course, but there are other classes that do it worse. See also: Druid, Cleric and Wizard.
Cheers, Rosc! I had never looked closely at the class before, mostly because it looked crazy complicated. Researching for this comic gave me a new appreciation for the summoner and all the potential character relationships it represents. I might have just have to take one for a whirl. 😀
Do it! It’s really, really fun. So long as you know your character (protip: pre-printed stats for augmented summons is necessary) and don’t hog the spotlight you’ll be better than fine. It’s a ton of fun!
Probably the best story involving an Eidolon I’ve witnessed is this: once, I was running a game that included a tiny sized summoner and his huge sized eidolon. They were climbing up a giant tree. Partway up the tree the party was attacked by a roc, so the summoner cast wall of iron to protect the party from the roc. The summoner did not realize that the wall created is not anchored to anything and can be pushed over. Only the size of his eidolon stopped the summoner from being crushed by his own wall of iron.
Damn. That is a devoted minion. You can’t buy that kind of loyalty.
Started playing at 4e, so I’m just hearing about this Eidolon thing now, but any customization creature as part of a PC seems very fun.
The craziest idea to me is that this creature can become a sort of second PC that you play simultaneously. I’d always assumed it would be an NPC that you get to control in combat. The idea of RPing a relationship is something I hadn’t considered before this comic.
I hereby name this Eidolon…. Rouge! 😉
Well shit. Showed this to Laurel. She looked at me. I looked at her. “I think that has to be her name,” we said. Too perfect not to be.
You’re a brillant man.
so i haven’t played a summoner but i did looked in to it and one of the problems i see come up and againe is that they slow down combat a lot if your not on the ball with what your summons can do as a dm how do you deal with this.
Print out summon cards ahead of time. Know your attack routines. Roll to hit and damage simo. Be an experienced player.
I have played an unchained summoner in pathfinder society. He was a gnome who dressed in a paper-mache skull mask and what looked to be drapes for robes, as well as a shovel-staff. His summon monsters always went with the undead template through feats to ensure they stayed up to snuff, and his eidolon was a wolf. He personally wanted to become the greatest necromancer the world ever knew… His eidolon didn’t agree, and whenever it was out it would scold him and shut him out from summoning “undead” of any kind.
I did get massive compliments for a few things, like the way I was able to clearly roleplay two characters at once and no one got confused, and also for bringing my own summon miniatures. If I summoned a bird, i had a bird mini. I had pre-printed stats and minis for every summon I used.
This whole concept of playing two character simultaneously is still so foreign to me. I mean, it never occurred to me to play my familiar or animal companion rather than letting the GM do it. It definitely opens up some interesting possibilities though.
Also of note, good on ya for being a responsible summoner. Nothing worse than watching somebody “umm…” their way through a combat, and that is the single biggest complaint I’ve heard about summoners.
Did you actually print tokens for your summons, or do you just have a giant minis collection?
8 years ago was my first time playing any tabletop game. It was Pathfinder and my first PC ever was Garbhin Quigley the Summoner gnome. His Eidolon, Mithras was a medium sized, magically flying “dragon cat.” In that he had horns and scales instead of fur but was otherwise like a heavily-muscled mountain lion.
Garbhin was caught up in his own head. Naive, ditzy, but stubborn and loyal to a fault.
Mithras, on the other hand, was practical, intelligent, and overly serious. Bordering on bored and pessimistic. He was easily annoyed by Garbhin. He tended to disregard much of what the gnome would say, and would counter that he was not a dragon every time Garbhin stated he was.
They made a great duo. Had some comic relief here and there, but mainly both being able to fly with Garbhin riding Mithras and then jumping off to Glide made them highly mobile and great utility with his spells to back him up. Mithras got angry enough he attacked Garbhin once. Got both sets of claws in for damage even. Then flew off and ignored the gnome while he backtracked to a room with a magically supplied feast to gnaw most of the fowl on the table. Not but ten minutes later they paired back up and saved the life of a comrade falling to her death! So I’m proud of them and how I played them.
I wish I could say more on experiences but that is the only time I’ve played a Summoner or played a game with someone’s PC as a Summoner. I definitely want to do it again sometime.
It is the great tragedy of gaming that our stories end too soon. I hope Garbhin and Mithras fly again one day.
I’ve had some small experience with summoners.
The first was a noblewoman who used a light crossbow as it was an elegant and sophisticated weapon with which to hunt “the most dangerous game”. Her Eidolon was a devil that had ashen skin and a mouth of fangs. Through clever use of a courtier’s outfit and the disguise skill she managed to pass him off as her manservant who happened to have an unhealthy obsession with soul-binding contracts during an adventure through Quadira.
The second viewed himself more as a frontline fighter whose Eidolon was based off an Erinyes and… there really wasn’t much interesting about him other than the fact he brought an Erinyes to the party.
Now the third summoner wasn’t really right in the head. He made the most use out of his Summon Monster spell-likes and had an absolute beast of an Eidolon. It was an Inevitable which looked to be made of cracked porcelain, was given the large evolution, and had an extra pair of arms reaching over its shoulders which held a pair of Gandasas in locked gauntlets.
As a 2e player: someday I will play a Jojo-themed Summoner with Legendary in Intimidation (because *menacing*) and Performance (for being incredible at posing).
Someday.