Summoner Character

[Longshanks01]

I'm still fairly new to Pathfinder, but I've been playing 3.5 for over a decade so it looks very familiar with some changes. A friend of mine told me he'd run a one-shot for myself and two of our friends, and I somehow found myself stating I'd be the tank. I really like the idea of a summoner who focuses primarily on having an Eidolon who's AC is through the roof and preferably a high reach. The one-shot is going to be at 8th level and our GM is hesitant about the summoner class (doesn't quite understand it and thinks it's just a class that summons a ton of monsters to slow down the game play and only does that). Any suggestions for how to make such an Eidolon/summoner? The one-shot will be something along the lines of our party has to protect some location (likely inside) from baddies and we have access to an undetermined amount of traps.

[Slipperychicken]

Have your statblocks on-hand, and familiarize yourself with them. If you're going to use Summon Monster, figure out what you're going to summon in advance, and have an index card with those stats on it (or an open/not-full-screen document, if laptops are allowed on the table). Same goes for the Eidolon: have its combat stats handy. You'll only need the basics (HP, AC, Saves, Movement, reach, Attack Bonus/Damage, Special attacks, CMB/CMD, ability scores) for combat, which is when you can potentially slow the game down. If color-coding helps you read the "monster card" better/faster, do it.


If you take advice from the Summoner's Handbook on these forums, your Eidolon (or Summons, when the Eidolon goes down) will be overshadowing the Fighter anyway, so you don't need to go too crazy with the Pounce, the half-dozen attacks, the Rake, the Flight, etc. Envision and commit yourself to a fun concept (Aang's Bison from the Avatar TV show, a Unicorn, a Nightmare-monster, an ancestor's ghost, a Dragon, a Demon, an Angel, a Shoggoth, a Phoenix, and a Golem are all legit Eidolon options) then make Evolution choices to match the concept.

To make your turns go faster, you can rely on the Eidolon in combat till it goes down or you de-summon it, and only pull out Summons when you have to, or only cast from the highest-level Summon Monster list, so you only have one out at a time. Another idea could be to hand control of some Summons off to other players (1 each?), so they can each decide its actions beforehand, then feel useful during your turn.

You can also play a Synthesist, which basically wears its Eidolon and is one with it. I haven't played one, and it probably isn't what you're going for, and is less powerful, but it might be less bookkeeping.