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Okay, I'm trying to make a guy who fights with a shield (the recent spate of Captain America threads inspired me), but I don't fully understand a few things about magicking up a shield.

Shields can be given both DEFENSIVE enhancements (+1 to +5 to shield bonus, and up to +5 more from the armor chart) and OFFENSIVE enhancements (+1 to +5 to attack/damage, and up to +5 more from weapon chart). That's fairly straightforward.

But how does this interact with the Bashing property, which is a +1 DEFENSIVE enhancement...but which gives a +1 enhancement bonus to attacks!

If I have a +1 Bashing shield (equivalent +2 defensive enhancement), how much would it cost to give it a +2 bonus for offense? Would I need to pay 8000 (and it just overlaps the +1 for bashing) or would it only be 6000 (the difference between bashing's +1 and a +2)?

Because of the 2 sizes of damage, bashing seems like kind of a must (unless I want to go spiked, which I don't really)...but I'm probably going to want the Returning enhancement as well, which requires a +1 enhancement bonus (offensive)...does bashing qualify as that?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Okay, I'm not sure why you would ever choose a size small eidolon. Especially at low levels, when your pet beasty is mostly a melee combat machine (maybe scout sometimes)...well, just compare.

Adding up bonuses and penalties, here is what you get net for a small eidolon:

+2 AC (1 from dex increase, 1 size)
+1 init (from dex)
+4 stealth (size)

-1 attack (+1 size, but -2 str loss; if you spend the feat for finesse, this becomes +2 though)
-3 damage (-2 str loss, -1 avg from smaller die size)
-1 HP per level (con loss)
-3 CMB (-2 str loss, -1 size)
-2 CMD (+1 dex gain, -2 str loss, -1 size)

Now: do those advantages really equal those losses? Because I'm not thinking so, personally.

What do people think of simply saying size small gives +2 Dex, and -2 Str? That would serve to equalize things considerably, in my view. If that's too much, I'd even take the -2 Con.

For the record, all of this is simply so that my Summoner can have a pikachu. :) Although I wish giving it Iron Tail was not so sub-optimal.

Okay...Unarmed Fighter Archetype gives you Improved Unarmed Strike, but if you multiclass as a Monk you get it from that as well. Can you take a different feat for one of these, or do you simply lose the benefit of one of them?