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Hey everyone!

So, I have two distinct questions today, which are somewhat related. I'm making a Druid for an upcoming Pathfinder game, in which we are going to be starting at level 1. Core and APG are allowed, and there is a possibility of other material being accepted with DM approval.

My questions are these:

1. Has anyone played the "animal shaman" version of the Druid and found it to be worth the sacrifices? I've found very little material on this subject, and I'd be happy to hear an informed opinion on it.

2. In terms of combat, what have people found to be the most effective Animal Companions? Big Cat and Roc seem like fairly obvious choices, but it would be nice to get some first-hand accounts of how effective they actually are. Additionally, does the increased mobility and possibility of flyby attack + grab on the Roc balance it out with the power of Big Cat?

All in all, I'd appreciate any advice or first-hand experience anyone can share on making an effective Druid. This character will be my first Druid, so I need all the help I can get! :-D

Thanks, everyone, for all the great advice. I'm definitely going to keep a spare spellbook in a secure location, and I may re-think my decision to use a bonded object. I think we should be able to safeguard ourselves pretty effectively using a blend of the tips given here (I'm a particular fan of the bonded ring under a glove. I hadn't even thought of that).

Thanks again!

As the title says, I'm getting paranoid about protecting my spellbook and bound item. My group will be starting a new pathfinder campaign soon (the first ever for this group), wherein myself and another party member will both be playing Wizards. Our DM has a history of doing very tricky things to catch the party off guard, and he sometimes goes a little overboard and puts the party in more danger than he intends to. Given the vulnerability of the Wizard's spellbook and bound item, we're worried that he's going to see them as irresistible targets for stealing or destroying. With that in mind, we want to put enough protective spells on them to burn any sticky-fingered nighttime visitors or cheeky NPC's into a fine, Wizard-hating dust before they get a chance to abscond with our property!

So I turn to you, dear forum, for advice on how to protect these precious commodities.

We're going to be starting at level 4 in this campaign, with 25 points for attributes and 4500 gp for equipment. My friend is going to specialize in Conjuration, while I'm likely going to take Transmutation. We'll be working together as a team to safeguard the spellbooks, so any spells that one of us has can be counted as a benefit to both. We haven't chosen spells yet, so anything legal for level 4 is fair game.

There is also one other part to my question: Once we safeguard the books and items, do we tell the DM? How do the rules for that work? I'd rather he not know ahead of time (so he doesn't subconsciously metagame his way around the spells), but I can only think of a few ways to keep it from him that won't make us look like we're making the protections up on the spot when they get used.

Please help!

I want to thank everyone for their great advice on this, I personally think the whole idea of the Eidolon is a really cool and innovative class feature that I would love to play around with.

Unfortunately, my DM (after hearing my questions about the Eidolon and realizing that it's broken) has decided to ban the APG completely. So, so much for that. :P Maybe I'll give conjuration Wizard a try, to simulate the Summoner class.

Honestly, I hadn't even thought of it that way. I certainly don't want to break the game for everyone else, so I'll tone it back down. The easily-broken nature of this game was something I was warned about when we decided to switch, so I'll have to pay more attention in the future.

Ok, thank you both for your input. I'll modify the build to include the multiweapon fighting feat and light weapons.

I'll also keep an eye out for any errata, in case they decide to nerf this! :P

Hey all, I just have some quick rules questions about the Summoner's eidolon. The group that I'm in is currently in the process of transferring from 4e to Pathfinder, and I'm completely new to the system (I started playing in 4e). Please bear with me if I'm making any noob rules mistakes. :P

So I'm making a Summoner, and I have an idea of how I want my eidolon to be built. We're starting at 4th level in my group, and I'd like to know if this build is legal:

Eidolon type: Biped

Evolutions taken:
4 points: Limbs (arms) x2
2 points: Simple weapon proficiency
1 point: Bite attack

Equipment:
Simple one-handed weapon x6

Total attacks per round:
Primary attacks --
Simple weapon attack x6

Secondary attacks --
Claw attack (claws applied to feet) x2
Bite attack x1

The idea is that the eidolon will have 6 hands in which to hold a simple melee weapon (or a shield), plus 3 natural attacks. My understanding of the rules is that all 6 weapon attacks will be primary attacks and will act under the rules for "two weapon fighting" (so one is "main hand" and the others are "off hand"), and that the three natural attacks will be considered secondary attacks. Additionally, my understanding is that this setup does not violate the "max attacks" restriction, because that restriction explicitly says that weapon attacks do not count toward its total. Also, the description for the "claws" evolution says it can be applied to legs once, but has no restriction for using it on bipedal eidolons.

So, is this legal? Am I missing something? Because this seems a wee bit powerful for a level 4 creature.