In light of the new changes to summoner I am trying to find something for the actual summoner to do during combat. I don't want this to be a discussion of whether the changes made are good, bad, or otherwise there are plenty of other forums for that. So far I have only play tested the summoner at low levels (3-5 thus far) and I have to say while the eidolon is awesome the summoner himself leaves something to be desired. The summoner lacks the sufficient spells to be a decent buffer, has no ranged damage spells, and has lack luster melee performance in low point buy games when the points are used up in the primary stats. Anyone have good multiclass or other ideas so that the summoner and not just his pet(s) (which at low levels the other summons are pretty brief) is a contributing member of the party.
So to start it off I'll throw out bard/summoner. Not the most powerful of classes, but the bard would be able to increase the summoners buffing capabilities, and give access to much needed social skills so the summoner can contribute something outside of combat.
I went with Fighter for one level to get Mounted Combat so I could act as a knight.
Works pretty well at 9th so far, +7 BAB, so I'm hitting on average with my charge and with Flyby Attack on the Eidolon he can attack at the same time.
Could also go an archer route, shooting from either range, or from the back of your Eidolon. (depending on your prefernce)
I still have the mental image going of a halfling or gnome on the back of a silverback gorilla charging into battle together, for some reason.
-S
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from a multiclassing perspective, Rogue would work well. Summoners Cha lends it's self well to the new social skill aspects available. In combat, it opens up flanking /sneak attack opportunities with your Eidolon and SLA creatures.
In a pure summoner build, you could always see about dropping some feats into ranged combat, rapid reload, point blank shot? Not necessarily the best solution but from a 'pure' class perspective there are limited choices.
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Since his monster is going to be tearing up the dance floor in melee, the Summoner shouldn't be a wall-flower, he should be a wingman. Sure the Summoner won't get the ladies, and that's cool, because he's the ultimate brother-from-another-mother.
Example:
Barney the Half-Orc Summoner
(15 point buy)
Str: 14 (5) Dex: 12 (2) Con: 12 (2) Int: 13 (3) Wis: 7 (-4) Cha (+2 Racial Mod): 17 (7)
Feats:
Lvl 1: Intimidating Prowess
Lvl 3: Weapon Proficiency (Net)
Lvl 5: Weapon Focus (Net)
Lvl 7: Dazzling Display
Lvl 9: Skill Focus (Intimidate)
Skills: Intimidate (Cc), Handle Animal, Linguistics (Collect every planar language, and languages of common enemies), Use Magic Device (if anything's left over, Spellcraft).
Even though Intimidate is a cross class skill at Level 1, you should have a bonus of +8 (on par with the fighter or barbarian) thanks to your legendary Cha and respectable Str. At level one spend a turn intimidating individual enemies (particularly ones facing off against your Eidolon). Take a Falchion as your weapon and flank away.
At level 3 you've gained Weapon Proficiency (Net), a surprising choice, but Treantmonk showed that there was more to the Net than meets the eye. A ranged touch attack entangles foes (a great debuff), and prevents them from moving out of range of the net without opposed Str checks. Good times. You won't be plinking for damage, but you'll be making damn sure that when your Eidolon (or summoned beasties) come a chomping, they'll certainly get their hits in.
Dazzling Display scares everyone in a 30 ft. radius (if you've been keeping your Intimidate maxed you'll probably have a +16 bonus to the skill, fairly snazzy (shatter defenses makes a fun feat for your Eidolon in this case as well ^_^)
This build is essentially the controller Bard from Treantmonk's guide to bards. Play to the classes' strengths and that's a high Charisma, a medium BAB and d8 hit dice. Your armour isn't great, but that's what spells and magic items are for!
Hmmm The Rogue combo is intriguing. Send the eidolon in as a distraction and then sneak attack away. Seems like a very roguish thing to do. I was considering the ranger combination, but I think that would turn this class into the equivalent of hunter in WoW. The more I play this class the more I think that multiclassing is the way to go. If they keep the eidolon where it is at power wise a 50/50 class split (in the class of your choice) will make you a really powerful combo as opposed to someone with a really powerful pet.