I am somewhat new to actually playing the system (although I have hung around the advice and rules areas long enough to get the gist). So my question for you is this: how do you roleplay a summoner and eidolon?
Unlike an animal companion, eidolons are intelligent and capable of speech. And unlike a familiar, they can do so from level 1 without being a a small 'sidekick' that could be (wisely) stuffed in a bag.
So should the summoner try to play both characters? That could be an interesting challenge, but it could end up being just one player talking to himself for a while. While a skilled story teller could make it interesting...I'm sure we all know people who could make it torture for the other players.
Should the GM take the eidolon? This could solve the above problems, and it could bring an interesting bit of conflict if the eidolon is unwillingly bound. But would you want your GM hijacking your class feature?
Or do you just dismiss/ignore it outside of battle?
Finally, as an interesting question for GM's: how would react if a player only wanted to play the eidolon and asked you to make the summoner an NPC?
I always see it as the Summoner controls his Eidolon and it always does what the player wants. It's his big class feature, taking away control of it is a dick move. I've never actually seen a player try to get his Eidolon talking, though there's nothing really stopping it I guess... I could see the GM filling in as it's personality in such instances, but the actual person in charge should still be the Summoner.
As for being an Eidolon with a Summoner NPC... I would say play Synthesist but play it as the Eidolon is the brains behind duo. That aside I'd totally allow someone to be an Eidolon with point buy stats + a cohort.
I've never seen an eidolon NOT get talking. In some games it really does seem like the eidolon is the primary PC, with the summoner just a sidekick, in regarding not only mechanical performance, but with role-playing as well.
It doesn't seem like a good idea to have the 7 Intelligence mutant outsider do all the talking, but maybe that's just me :p
Of course synthesist is an option for the last question, but it is.....synthesist. *face scrunches up*
But compare a bipedal eidolon with...lets say a tiefling natural attack ranger. How much difference is there between the two as far as actually using them? Other than the whole "no fear of death" vs. favored enemy mechanic, of course.
Actually, would it be an interesting way to ease newbs to tabletop gaming into Pathfinders without turning them off with the whole "death" thing?
In this case, I'm remembering a crotchety, forgetful-but-cultured pipe-smoking, tea-drinking dragon-creature doing its best to keep alive (and out of prison) a crazed gnome that has all the common sense of a rabid weasel.
Should the GM take the eidolon? This could solve the above problems, and it could bring an interesting bit of conflict if the eidolon is unwillingly bound. But would you want your GM hijacking your class feature?
I'd be careful with this idea. I'm playing a master summoner in my first pathfinder game and I wrote a long back story for my character and eidolon. The gm accepted it and then pretty much took over the eidolon and changed our dynamic which made me completely lose interest in it completely. I intended to have her around at all times and only summon one monster because it fit the story and idea for the character, now i don't summon it at all. NOT out of spite or frustration/resentment, but because it was always suboptimal having it around instead of summoning a lot of monsters.
One key point to remember is that the summoner and the eidolon can communicate with each other telepathically, so you as a player can skip most conversations between them. Because they are always in each other's heads and automatically have the same alignment, it is probably more accurate to say that you as a player control both the summoner and the eidolon than to say that the summoner controls the eidolon or vice versa.
In the game where I play a summoner, the eidolon does most of the talking in combat situations -- partly because she is bigger and thus presumably louder, and partly because both summoner and eidolon want the enemies' attention drawn to the eidolon and away from the summoner.
Sure, they can communicate telepathically. At the same time, a fighter could just sit in the back of the party and say "call me and my two skill points when there is a fight." It is perfectly possible to play that way, but it hardly does much role playing.
Plus, there are situations where both might feel like they should have a voice in a conversation with other party members or NPCs. Bodharist's example could easily illustrate where one character has to advice the party "don't listen to him." Summarizing a conversation between the two to the party can also be someone what...troublesome if over done.
I also realize the danger of giving your GM RP control of the eidolon. You should only do it with someone you trust. Another question: What do you guys think of two players taking the same pair? One as summoner, one as eidolon.
Another question: What do you guys think of two players taking the same pair? One as summoner, one as eidolon.
This actually seems like a good idea for introducing people to the game. Have the new player use the eidolon(assuming your groups summoner will let them) so they do not need to roll up a new char and go through all that rigamaroll. Also the rp dynamics of experienced players doing this would be awesome too.
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Sure, they can communicate telepathically. At the same time, a fighter could just sit in the back of the party and say "call me and my two skill points when there is a fight." It is perfectly possible to play that way, but it hardly does much role playing.
Plus, there are situations where both might feel like they should have a voice in a conversation with other party members or NPCs. Bodharist's example could easily illustrate where one character has to advice the party "don't listen to him." Summarizing a conversation between the two to the party can also be someone what...troublesome if over done.
The telepathy doesn't mean that only one of them will ever talk, it just means that they don't need to do a whole lot of talking to each other, which is where you get the problem of one player talking to him/herself. In most situations, either one party does the talking for both summoner and eidolon, or both the eidolon and the summoner comment in the same conversation while always addressing the other parties involved. A wizard in my game is currently handling his Silvanshee familiar in this way - they occasionally talk to each other, but mostly the two will talk to the same third party (in different accents to distinguish them).
It's just like a GM can have several NPCs involved in a conversation with the PCs without turning it into the GM talking to himself, simply by making sure the NPCs mostly address the PCs rather than each other.
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I've played an Eidolon talking and it can be fun.
My PFS Eidolon for example, complained to an Andoran State Offical about not being able to join the Eagle Knights like his summoner.
I've also seen a husband/wife summoner/eidolon pair, with the eidolon complaining if he didn't pay enough attention to her (this creeped out one player) and a mother/child pair, as in the summoner thought of the eidolon as her 'daughter'.
And in a home game I saw a synthesist who changed sex/demeanor when possessed by 'his' eidolon.
I have not yet seen a Summoner in play. I can't seem to get the image of Pokémon out of my head. :) So I imagine the Eidolon being like Pikachu or whatever the name is.
The GM in the game my summoner is in lets me RP the Eidolon unless he needs to 'take control' for story purposes (my eidolon makes a perception check my summoner does not so has to tell me something for example).
In this game my eidolon acts a lot like the Jarvis AI in the Iron Man movies. COmpletely obedient to my summoner but occasionally snarky with the english butler accent.
