Need help with Synthesist Summoner/Shazam Build

[Levism84]

My DM is going to be running a Pathfinder adventure starting at 5th level with me and some of our friends. He is pretty open about 3.5/Pathfinder content and is, by all accounts, a fair DM. He enjoys players who roleplay their characters and get invested in the game world. For the ease of the reader, I have included two version of my question, one short and one long. Please, feel free to read one or both or neither (if that is how you roll when posting on threads).

I am playing a 5th level Synthesist Summoner with variant multiclassing to pick up a third-party Oracle curse called "Child". I would like my Fused Eidolon form to be my "adult body" and function as a "knight in shining armor". Is this something that can be done and, if so, how would it be best to go about doing it? Also, advice on building a solid summoner (I know Synthesist isn't an ideal build to begin with).

I am looking to play a 5th level Synthesist Summoner using variant multiclassing to pick up some Oracle class features. I will have access to an oracle curse and, after looking at Paizo's list which includes some third-party content, I am going to go with the "Child" curse. I've already cleared this with my DM, as playing a young character can have unforeseen party conflicts. However, I wanted to go the Synthesist route in order to have my eidolon be my "adult body". Or, at least what my character imagines his adult body would be like. However, I was wondering if this was even possible? I know I can create a biped eidolon and give it abilities like that of a "knight in shining armor", but the Fused Eidolon class feature of the Synthesist says you wear your eidolon like "transparent, living armor." I was wondering if this was more of a flavor thing, so I would be able to say the eidolon looks like an (idolized) adult version of my character.

I like the RP idea of my character being primarily shy or standoffish while using his "friends" (summon monster SLA) to protect him and his fellow party members. He would be relatively innocent (maybe naive), but with grand dreams for the future. He would have been around for "a while" in general terms and understands that he is cursed to be a child forever, but he has youthful optimism that helps him to believe that someday he might free himself of this curse ("Hey, hey! I think I'm getting taller! Oh, wait... no, sorry. False alarm..."). Also, he will be an amazing cook (which his eidolon fusion will also enhance, because fun beats min/maxing). In his normal form he will be about 4'4" and 63 lbs., which is about average for a 9 year old boy. With a high Charisma but low physical ability scores, I see him as being a cute and likable kid with little to no physical ability.

When in his "adult form", he will be taller, more "muscly", and appear to be in his early 20's (transforming into a total "Prince Charming"). He will also take on an aloof, yet, heroic knight in shining armor appearance. I am not sure if I can equip the eidolon with armor and weapons or if the armor should be symbolic-looking natural armor and my character should carry around a sword he can't use (like a squire waiting for his knight to arrive). I see the fusion acting more how a young person would act while they pretended to be a grown up; still relatively innocent/naive but with a bit of misplaced bravado. This is why I mentioned the Shazam part in the title, as those familiar with that DC superhero might be able to form some insights into the character I am trying to build.

Any advice you have on building a solid summoner would be appreciated. (I know I am sacrificing action economy, blah blah blah... but there are other ways I can improve my combat and out of combat capabilities, right?)

I was also considering half-elf for race, instead of human, in order to pick up some extra evolution points. Any suggestions on that would be appreciated as well.

Thank you in advance.

[Hazrond]

yeah, go half elf, the evvolution points are real good and you can take that human feat that lets you take twwo favored class bonuses and then use that to take the (human... i think?) FCB which makes your eidolon summoning eventually only take a single round ("SHAZAM!")

[charcoalninja]

I recommend Samsaran actuslly as their racial Mystic Past Life would let you add your CHA mod spells from other spell lists onto your Summoner spells. This would let you actually take Lightning Bolt at level 7 to give you some blasting.

Rather than taking a child curse, why not just ask to be a child and apply the young template to yourself?

Anyway in terms of evolutions:
Flight x2 - you need this twice as Shazam supernaturally flies.
Improved Natural Armour - Shazam xan take a hit so convert all of your eidolon armour bonus into natural armour and improve it. This lets you stack the full Eidolon AC with Mage armour for some pretty impressive numbers.
Claws - these are free for humanoid, reflavour the claws as lightning punches cutting people.
Arms - I recommend going the standard baby Kali approach and taking tonnes of limb evolutions and claws or slams. When I built my "vegeta" summoner I flavoured the extra arms as him just punching faster. Ask your DM if he's cool with that reflavouring. It'd technically be a nerf since you'd be turning down the ability to hold more than a few things.
STR boost - you want this as soon as you can since humanoid Eidolon only gives 16 Dex.

So at level 5 you'd look something like this:
Shazam
4HD 4d10+8 = 27 Temp HP average
Can get close to mid 30s with some luck.
BAB +4
Str 16 +2(Eid bonus)+2 Evolution = 20
Dex 12+2(Eid bonus) = 14
Con 13+1 Level = 14
(normally I'd put all increases to STR to max your attacking but you won't hit 22 Str until level 10 and I don't know how long your game will go.)

AC: 10+4(nat)+2(shield bonus)+2(Dex)+4(Mage Armour) = 22+4(Improved Natural Armour) = 26

Evolutions: 8+2 (feat)+1 favoured
Limbs (arms) free
Limbs (legs) free
Claws - free - 1d4
Flight (su) - 4 points
Improved Natural Armour - 2
Limbs - 2
Claws- 1
Energy Attacks (Lightning) - 2

Feats:
1 - Weapon Focus claw
3 - Extra Evolution
5 - Extra Evolution

This gives you a full attack of:
BAB 4+5(Str)+1(WF)= +10 / +10 / +10 / +10 for 1d4+5+1d6 each hit.
So each hits for 10 damage on average.

This is unbuffed w/ no gear.

Enlarge Person and you're at:
2d6+6 a hit (1d6 of it is Lightning)
Barkskin pushes your AC to 28 at least, lots you can do.

4 attacks at level 5 is pretty sick IMO. If your DM lets you flavour a bite attack as more punching you can drop one attack to trade limbs and claws (the second one) for Bite and immunity to Lightning for more Shazam feeling.

Edit: heh, should have ready the long spoiler! That's what posting at midnight does!

[grarrrg]

I would like my Fused Eidolon form to ...function as a "knight in shining armor". Is this something that can be done and, if so, how would it be best to go about doing it?

...However, I was wondering if this was even possible? I know I can create a biped eidolon and give it abilities like that of a "knight in shining armor", but the Fused Eidolon class feature of the Synthesist says you wear your eidolon like "transparent, living armor." I was wondering if this was more of a flavor thing, so I would be able to say the eidolon looks like an (idolized) adult version of my character.

First question:
Are you using "normal" Summoner? Or the updated Unchained Summoner (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/unchained-classes/summoner-unchained)?

I'd assume normal but...

As for what your Eidolon looks like, the (non-Synthesist) rules only say "The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature. ".
So going strictly 'by the book', you first have to determine what constitutes "fantastical creature".
Going less by the book, it can probably look like a 'beefy knight' just fine. And among the "suggested builds" from Ultimate Magic is a "Bodyguard" that "looks like a humanoid warrior. The natural armor of a Bodyguard eidolon appears to be a suit of metal plate, though this armor is actually part of the eidolon’s body."
So you're probably fine however, the only hang up is the Synthesist bit about it being "translucent".

Most 3rd party curses are horribly balanced/thought-out, and Child does not fail to disappoint.
The main penalty is -4 STR for the purpose of STR checks and Maneuver bonus.
So your (general) combat ability is not affected, and your carry capacity is not affected. And then at (oracle) level 5 these penalties are halved.
The non-magical armor thing might be more worrying, but your a Synthesist, and can't fully benefit from armor anyway.
There is really no solid "downside" to this curse. It may as well just say "FREE REVELATION!"

Do note though, that as written the STR penalty thing still applies to your Eidolon form.

[Levism84]

First question:
Are you using "normal" Summoner? Or the updated Unchained Summoner (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/unchained-classes/summoner-unchained)?

You blew my damn mind.

After reading over the various differences between the two, mostly concerning the eidolon, I have actually decided to go with the unchained summoner. In addition, this has given me an idea about how to further play off the connection between the character and his enhanced eidolon fusion form.

Race: Aasimar
Eidolon: A Subtype that corresponds to the Aasimar's celestial heritage (Angelkin w/ Angel, Musetouched w/ Azata, Idyllkin w/ Agathion)
This way the character's synthesist fusion becomes more than just gaining an adult body; it becomes regaining his celestial heritage. His fusion with his eidolon becomes a way for him to transcend the normal limitations of his existence has an Aasimar and become an Angel or Azata or Agathon (you know, something with a Cha bonus). Out of the three, I like Azata the most because they gain weapon training as a part of their build, and it would be nice for the character to carry around his eidolon's sword like a squire until it is needed.

While the Synthesist loses feats and skill ranks, the Skilled bonus (1 EP each) would be a nice (and cheap) way to increase the character's skills while fused in order to reflect the enhanced prowess it has over the character's child form. Ultimately, I would probably go with Fast Healing 1 (4 points), Damage Reduction (3 points, to increase the damage reduction the form already has by 5), and a combination of Skilled (1 point each) and Improved Natural Armor (1 point each) to finish out the remaining 8 evolution points. Everything else is pretty much taken care of with the build.

I know it isn't a "reach" build or a "multiattacker", but thematically it fits. Other than the eidolon itself, what feats or spells could I look at for making the Summoner/Synthesist more survivable and more fun to play?

Tall order, right!?