So I've read a lot of posts, I've read the class and am playing/testing summoner. Love the concept, I love the idea of more or less designing your own personal pet.
People are going on about power/balance one class over the other and I'm not trying to slam those that are, I understand the urge to have that. But there is one thing I have learned in my time playing D&D 2nd-ed - 3.5 and now finally with a DM besides myself interested in running it Pathfinder and, and in several other RPGs. There is no such thing as Balance in D&D some classes are better in certain or multiple situations than others, especially when you factor in equipment and monster abilities/resistances.
That said when I read the change about not wearing armor it really took nothing away from the class for me, my average AC for a melee PC level 5ish ranges from 19-22 without magic items, the (Duh)Melee Eidolon that I designed has a 19 AC, when I buff him with Mage Armor he gets a 23, not to far off there. Level 20 minimum AC is 34 on quadruped, no size changes, no caster buffs, and no evolutions in Natural AC or Ability scores.
Many of my PC's I never bother boosting any higher than that range anyways, depends on the concept I'm going for and honestly figuring in wealth you can only do so much under normal standards for any given level. Don't get me wrong, I have my share of PC's that are beyond the normal wealth Cap for their level for any number of reasons and I have Maxed them out in just about every fashion, making them near impossible to hit for anything in their normal CR range, but that's far and in-between.
Damage, I love being able to do damage, but sometimes I think it can really take away from the game. I have several PC's that have so many attacks and do so much damage...heaven forbid if they crit, that I end up asking the GM for the AC at the beginning of the encounter so that I can have all my attacks and damage rolls added up by the time it gets to my init, and then rise recycle repeat, and I end up missing all the interesting stuff that the rest of the party is describing their PC's doing. I ended up bringing my graphing calculator to one game because I could keep all the damage tracked on the screen more easily that way.
Honestly I think that the magic items can be removed as well though I haven't had a chance to test it beyond level 5 yet, I prefer to decide the power level of a class by playing it over time. As for magical weapons *Shrug* if it can wield them and you have the money to provide them I say sure. I'd rather spend the money on buffing my PC, and use evolution to make my pet nastier I see lots of 1st - 20th+ level potential for this class/pet.
I play D&D as much for the Role-play as I do the Roll-play doesn't matter to me weather I do the most damage, just that I can participate. I designed my pet to fit my character concept, I'm a gnome that has been living in the desert for a long time, he chose a form that fitted that environment, a Scorpion like creature, I designed an exotic saddle for it and can ride it, as well as using craft engineering to design a turret-style mounting for a heavy crossbow. I plan on taking mounted archery so I can have a decent attack of my own, thinking rapid reload would be a good one to take as well.
Summon monster SLA, love the extra little boost there class isn't supposed to be about that ability but the SLA makes it so you don't have to waist known spell slots on that spell chain, and can focus more on the support your pet and the party aspect of the class.
As for the changing the casting time, I think it could go back to the way it was, or allow a feat that allows you to quicken it.
Limiting it to one casting at a time, no problems there, should be fine, if you need the extra summons that badly put them on your spell lists.
Duration, I think that leaving it at 1 minute/cl isn't ridiculous, or reducing it to 1 minute/2cl even, I've never had a combat that lasted more than 10-15 rounds, and after that in most cases the summoned creature should be gone before the next encounter.
I've never played a caster that took summon spells at low level because before 5th level the duration of the spell is to short to be worth-while for something that only works for 1 round and looses it's effectiveness when you get to higher levels. At low level I take spells like burning hands or Magic Missile that are more effective even at 10th level and higher Magic Missile is great for those hard to reach/hit mobs even with the lower damage 5d4+5 or 10-25 damage no save vs. even a fireball at level 10, 10d6 or 10-60 damage, save for half 5-30 damage, or none with evasion.
Anyway that's my 2c sorry to ramble, sorry for the massive post, and for the run-on sentences and bad grammar. I still will play this class even with the changes made, and more than likely even if they stay when the final release drops.
Spider - Halfling Rog4,GldThi4,Sor6,AcT10
