The Wandolon

[SamsDisciple]

Premise - Master Summoner has a mischievous eidolon that is both a servant as well as the source of the summoners power. The eidolon has given most/all of its magical abilities to the summoner but yet prefers to use magic over brute strength (which is good since it is the weaker version of an eidolon.) Since it has no magic left while on the material plane it is forced to use magic items such as wands/scrolls.

Build thoughts- Summoner himself takes the standard feats to buff summons (spell focus, augment, superior) he also takes item creation feats (not very familiar with these but at least scroll and wand.) I did not see the summoner spell list on the costs to create magic items but most all of them are on the wizards spell list so I thought that is where I would be looking at prices (or compare to bards since their casting is similar) Eidolon takes feats and evolutions to max out the UMD score (pretty much has it at lvl 1) and is now a wand wielding buffing machine (if I really wanted to get nasty I could spam summons even faster with wands of summon monster but that would then bog down combat to much I think)

any thoughts or critiques? Any links to people who have already tried this out?

[Abd al-Azrad]

I think this is an awesome idea with a few possible difficulties.

First off is just the time management aspect of running three or more creatures in combat. There are certainly tricks to manage this - prepwork on your part as a player (make sure all your creatures are properly statted out before the session starts), delegation (handing off control of your creatures to other players), etc. It's manageable, just something to be aware of.

Second, what does your Summoner bring to the table? The way this looks to me, you have your Summon Monster ability to create a combat presence, and your Eidolon is casting your Summoner spells as (low-CL) wands... so what are you doing with your time? Shooting arrows?

Honestly, I am a huge fan of the Summoner class, and I think these questions are solvable. You don't have loads of spell slots, but the wand casting Eidolon helps increase your durability at a cost of your money. But you don't really need much money necessarily, because you don't need to invest in weapons. Unless you want to invest in, say, ranged weapons, so you can continue participating in the fight when you're not casting spells or summoning.

If you can manage to get yourself targeted by your Eidolon's (and possibly your) buffs, and take a few ranged combat feats (Point Blank, Rapid, Deadly, Precise Shot, Arcane Strike), you could be a pretty dangerous backup damage dealer on top of your beasts - as a Summoner you don't really need many feats beyond Augment Summoning (which you get for free) and Superior Summoning, unless you want to go the Spell Perfection route.

Or you could, of course, continue summoning with your own spell slots as well as using your Summon Monster ability, while your Eidolon buffs and your summons fight. At which point you're basically the whole party in one character.

[SamsDisciple]

I don't see myself going the spell perfection route (does it even work on the summoners ability? Of course on his spells but no use doing master summoner at that point) but the ranged attacks idea doesn't sound to shabby. True I won't be doing massive damage with the bow but I have summons for that just like you said. I was originally thinking that with the party and the summons both out that I would have alot of buffs to dish out so both eidolon and I would be buffing the party but that could get expensive and redundant. Besides maxing UMD what other evolution should my eidolon take?

[Abd al-Azrad]

I might advise you to refrain from throwing too many buffs per fight, mainly on the grounds that (1) you don't have that many (even with the Vandolon) and (2) by the time you've entered your third or fourth round of buffing, the fight will mostly be decided. At that point, further effort on your side is a waste.

The thing I really feel the Vandolon has going for you in action economy. Round one, you Summon (with the ability) a couple brutes, your Eidolon throws off a Haste or Rage from a wand, your Summons engage because you're awesome. Round two, your Eidolon casts its second global (it can do this as many time as it has hands to hold wands, so invest in many humanoid limbs if possible), your Summons continue to press the fight, and you... sit back and watch. Or start shooting. Or Summon with a spell. Really, at this point you have contributed several heavily buffed melee presences to the battle, custom-chosen for the fight at hand.

Other evolutions / options: As I said, your Eidolon should get many limbs so it can hold a variety of wands (and save on action economy of drawing, sheathing, etc.). You could take that Evolved Summons feat to further buff your Summons. But overall, I think this is probably good enough for combat - you're already running out of things to do other than sit and watch. Start thinking of other noncombat roles for your Eidolon, perhaps. It could be a fast scout, for instance, taking more Skilled evolutions and stealth options. Or turn it into a BC / Battlefield Control presence, perhaps by making it a serpentine form with arms for the Grab and Constrict options. Normally I wouldn't recommend this, but if you're already outnumbering your foes with Summons, having your Eidolon grab and neutralize one of the enemies can be a pretty helpful, no-cost contribution to the fight.

Large, of course, is always good for any fight.

Why use Spell Perfection? It does only work with your spells, yes. But (1) it doubles all numeric bonuses to those spells (so +8 from Augment Summoning, +2 creatures with Superior Summons); (2) you can only use your Summon Monster ability once at a time while you have an Eidolon summoned so spells further increase your ability to fill the fight; and (3) Spell Perfection means you can cast a Quickened (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats/quicken-spell-metamagic---final) SM V as a 4th-level, swift-action spell with all those nice doubled bonuses. An emergency 1d3+2 uber-buffed rhinoceroses aren't an awful thing to get on top of your existing army.