Grab and Constrict for PF Eidolon worse than monster?

[huttj509]

Am I missing an errata somewhere, or are the Grab and Constrict evolutions for Eidolons strictly worse than the Grab and Constrict abilities for monsters?

Grab: Outside of not having the option to hold instead of grapple, the key difference is that the Grab monster ability was changed in bestiary 2 from "smaller than the creature" to "the creature's size or smaller." AFAIK, the Eidolon did not receive a similar update. Is this supposed to be assumed with the Grab evolution text "An eidolon becomes adept at grappling foes, gaining the grab ability"? The text afterwards seems to be effectively reprinting the bestiary 1 grab ability for reference. While the eidolon grab ability does not mention damage on sustaining the grapple, dealing natural weapon damage is a normal thing you can do when you sustain a grapple, so that seems the same.

Constrict: The Constrict monster ability states
"A creature with this special attack can crush an opponent, dealing bludgeoning damage, when it makes a successful grapple check (in addition to any other effects caused by a successful check, including additional damage)." The eidolon evolution, however, says
Whenever the eidolon successfully grapples a foe using the grab evolution, it deals additional damage equal to the amount of damage dealt by the attack used by the grab evolution.

It seems to state that the eidolon only does constrict damage on the initial grab, while monsters with constrict do the damage while sustaining the grapple.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Your interpretation of the RAW of the Eidalon's ability does not seem to be in error here. Especially in the case of the constrict ability.

The grab ability seems like an obvious houserule/errata because it starts by saying that you gain the grab ability. A case could be made that this is an instance of specific > general, though.

The constrict ability looks pretty awful, though. It never says you get the constrict ability, so there is no other set of rules to turn to. It does indeed look like you would only gain the extra damage on the first attack. To be honest, it's poorly written enough that you could actually be harsher about it.

"... Whenever the eidolon successfully grapples a foe using the grab evolution ..."

If I was a real **** I could say that you only gain the attack when you successfully grapple a foe that is using the grab evolution.

I perused the d20pfsrd FAQ, the paizo APG FAQ, and nothing on the d20pfsrd's Summoner or Eidalon pages (ctrl+Fing "grab" or "constrict" or "eidalon") that would provide any other clarity on the issue.