[PFS] Summoner

[arkangel111]

I am looking at making a summoner in an upcoming PFS game. I really don't want my summoner to be the eidolon's pet so how can I make him viable? I was thinking something along the lines of a charger build, but lets face it mounted combats are a rarity.

What I thought would be real cool is to grab the standard quadraped eidolon, and fluff it to be bipedal and make it look like a chocobo from FF series. then grab a greatsword and stand next to it and fight. But the summoner sucks at fighting toe-to-toe.

Alternatively I was thinking of grabbing the evolutionist archetype and making my summon look like some of the classic summons from FF (eidolons in some) just picking a new one every session. But it makes the summoner himself obsolete, and it could get pricey.

basically want the Final fantasy feeling for my summons, while not making my eidolon the star of the show. any ideas?

[Barstro]

I am not familiar with FF, but here are some ideas for something other than "guy who watches his pet kill things".

Get mounted combat and ride the Eidolon.
Use the Eidolon only for flanking purposes.
Have the Summoner be great at crowd control (walls and pits are fun).
Be a Master Summoner and have an Eidolon with very little power; rely on summons.
Have someone else play the Summoner and you can be a melee guy that works with that player's Eidolon.
Just be a Druid.

[Fouredged Sword]

First of all, be small. That lets you ride a medium mount, meaning you can be mounted indoors and such. I would suggest the Spirit Summoner ACF with the Battle spirit.

Ride around on your monster, cackling like mad, spreading debuffs all around while buffing your allies with your Battle spirit.

[skypse]

I am looking at making a summoner in an upcoming PFS game. I really don't want my summoner to be the eidolon's pet so how can I make him viable? I was thinking something along the lines of a charger build, but lets face it mounted combats are a rarity.

What I thought would be real cool is to grab the standard quadraped eidolon, and fluff it to be bipedal and make it look like a chocobo from FF series. then grab a greatsword and stand next to it and fight. But the summoner sucks at fighting toe-to-toe.

Alternatively I was thinking of grabbing the evolutionist archetype and making my summon look like some of the classic summons from FF (eidolons in some) just picking a new one every session. But it makes the summoner himself obsolete, and it could get pricey.

basically want the Final fantasy feeling for my summons, while not making my eidolon the star of the show. any ideas?


Check this thread out (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?381076-PF-Master-Summoner-Optimization-Help)

You don't need to be limited on your eidolon for variety. You can summon the whole FF world in a couple of rounds.



EDIT: if you want yourself to fight and not being the Eidolon's/summons' buffer, go for the synthesist archetype.

[Ssalarn]

Even though the Master Summoner is banned for PFS, I still tend to focus on my Summoner as a caster, not a pet class.
I won't usually use the ritual to summon my eidolon after the first couple levels (unless overland travel is involved and I'm riding him), instead using summon eidolon to call him in as needed so he can benefit from Augment Summoning and similar feats.
The rest of the time, I treat him like a conjuration focused spellcaster, whipping up encounter appropriate monsters on demand and using buff and control spell options to maximize their impact on the battlefield.

At starting level where you need the eidolon's extra oomph more often, a character who doesn't want his eidolon to steal the show too much should consider using it as a mount and wielding a longspear. Your 3/4 BAB won't be much different from the full BAB class yet, and the combination of your reach weapon and the eidolon's natural attacks will allow you to have a pretty decent impact on the battlefield. If you're not playing a small race, you may need to pick up the Undersized Mount feat for this to work. Enlarge person can be cast on the eidolon thanks to the Share Spells ability (assuming you pick it as one of your spells known) so that's an option that doesn't cost you a spell, but it works best if you can cast it before combat, which will be hard to do consistently in PFS.

[Lappy9001]

I made a thread about this, and got some very helpful suggestions! Check it out (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?379298-What-s-a-Summoner-to-do&p=18312780) (yeah, giving a summoner Augment Summoning is a bad idea)

If you're looking for a Final Fantasy-esque summoner, the Pathfinder version is decently set up to buff and heal. Pick up some wands and play cleric as a Summoner, and fighter as your Eidolon!

[NightbringerGGZ]

Playing a Halfling mounted on a medium Eidolon can be very effect damage if you want to go that route. You can use spells to boost the mount up to Large size or better at later levels, or just leave it at medium size if you don't want over the top damage.

Alternatively, build your summoner with a caster focus and build the Eidolon for support & skill usage. You can even build your critter as a decent combatant but have it hang back except for emergencies. PFS generally isn't hard enough to require insane optimization and having more skills available can be quite useful.

[Extra Anchovies]

Seconding the suggestions of a skillmonkey/inflitrator eidolon. Once it's snuck in and mapped the whole objective for you, unsummon it and go in with summons akimbo to wreck your enemy's day. Play him as a master strategist overseeing his summoned troops.

[arkangel111]

Been trolling the pfsrd and found the hunter with the primal companion archetype. This lets me get a decent eidolon, only minutes/day but realistically at 4th level that's as much as you'd need. digging deeper for a build I found the teamwork feats and came across Paired opportunists feat, and thought that it would be real cool to build around AoO. If anyone can give me some suggestions.

heres what I've got so far:

Human (for the bonus feat only, not set in stone)
1. Primal companion Hunter
2. Hunter
3. Hunter
4. Beast rider cavalier (druid level stacks and grants another teamwork feat)
5. Hunter
6. Hunter
7. Hunter

1. Combat expertise
H. Combat reflexes
2B. Paired opportunists
3. Power Attack
3B. Pack Flanking
4B. Feint partner
5. Broken wing gambit
7. Outflank
7B. improved feint partner

With this setup my companion and I both wade into combat. As a swift action I can grant him evolutions as a 6th level summoner, we both have the teamwork feats and should be able to eat enemies with attacks of opportunity. Whenever one of us get an AoO both get it because of paired opportunists. It has plenty of ways to grab AoO's. plan to use one of the evo points on skilled for bluff, and the rest to fill up nat attacks.

Paired opportunist:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/paired-opportunists-combat-teamwork

also if anyone can tell me how to embed the link in text that would be awesome.

[skypse]

Been trolling the pfsrd and found the hunter with the primal companion archetype. This lets me get a decent eidolon, only minutes/day but realistically at 4th level that's as much as you'd need. digging deeper for a build I found the teamwork feats and came across Paired opportunists feat, and thought that it would be real cool to build around AoO. If anyone can give me some suggestions.

heres what I've got so far:

Human (for the bonus feat only, not set in stone)
1. Primal companion Hunter
2. Hunter
3. Hunter
4. Beast rider cavalier (druid level stacks and grants another teamwork feat)
5. Hunter
6. Hunter
7. Hunter

1. Combat expertise
H. Combat reflexes
2B. Paired opportunists
3. Power Attack
3B. Pack Flanking
4B. Feint partner
5. Broken wing gambit
7. Outflank
7B. improved feint partner

With this setup my companion and I both wade into combat. As a swift action I can grant him evolutions as a 6th level summoner, we both have the teamwork feats and should be able to eat enemies with attacks of opportunity. Whenever one of us get an AoO both get it because of paired opportunists. It has plenty of ways to grab AoO's. plan to use one of the evo points on skilled for bluff, and the rest to fill up nat attacks.

Paired opportunist:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/paired-opportunists-combat-teamwork

also if anyone can tell me how to embed the link in text that would be awesome.

That's not a summoner :D Title became confusing in 1 post :D

For the link, you have to highlight the text, and then add the link from the button on the tool table above the post area.

[Ssalarn]

That Paired Opportunists build is very similar to one I did (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rh77?Hunter-Builds#16[/url). And while the Primal Companion Hunter isn't really a Summoner per se, it can give you some fun eidolon toys on a chassis where your character can still hold center stage.