Spider B8's page

I also support the Summoner notion. I play a Halfling that rides hos arachnid themed Demon Eidolon into battle and it's pretty functional as a skirmisher. A fighter dip helps with feats, as long as you consign your mount to just that. See profile for (a slightly out of date) example.

You also avoid the lack of skills, lack of feat variety, and the lack of social interaction that animal companions suffer from.

Edit: never heard of the show. I'll have to give it a watch.

plaidwandering wrote:

ACs and mounts have taken IUS once they get 3 int for years as a pre-req for dragon style so they can charge through allies

Been playing PFS since Season Zero. Have yet to see this even once.

Well, I have it on my Eidolon mount for similar reasons. Then again, I mostly rely on its Climb speed because terrain hinderz almost as much as eager Fighters and Barbarians. My heart goes out to you Cavaliers out there; I have no idea how you maintain your sanity.

Charisma 12 is enough to start with if you don't mind leaning heavily on a headband of charisma. With the Halfling racials, 14 is pretty good while conserving your precious points.

If you want to hit stuff as a Summoner, try to push yourself for a 15 or even 16 strength. Your attack is decent thanks to size bonuses, but the strength penalty and weapon dice reduction will really hold you back in the damage department. If you're willing to take a hit to your Eidolon and spells, you can take a 1 level Fighter dip and pick up a lance; I garuntee you'll see results . (See my profile for an example build)

As a melee person, Strength is your main stat. Condider starting your other stats as even numbers and just putting points into Strength as you level.

But to answer your questions? You'll want Power Attack, Furious Focus to make up for a lack of accuracy, and the mounted chain up to Spirited Charge. I picked them up in that order (Retraining my first level feat to Power Attack once I decided to use Fighter to get Mounted Combat) and my damage really kicked in at level 5 when I was lance charging with Ride-By. Of course pre 5 ai was just attacking with a longspear and the Eidolon's bite, which was kind of lackluster in that level 3-4 range.

After those feats? Arcane Strike adds a little bit of damage. Weapon Focus helps you hit, and Toughness never hurts. Extra Evolution can help kit out your mount. Trick Riding can assist your ability to show off in the saddle and keep your mount alive.

In the Halfling section of the Advanced Race Guide, you'll find some fun alternate racials. One of them trades out the Acrobatics bonus for a Ride bonus. But the really nice one trades out their racial bonus to saves for a special Luck based ability. 3 times per day you add a +2 bonus to any d20 roll before you roll it, or +1 after the roll. Pick up the Fate's Favored trait and both those bonuses increase by an extra +1. Now you have the ability to make sure thkse clutch. charges against boss monsters will hit.

Hey hey! That is pretty much what I did for this character, but I took Fighter as my 5th level. Ch3ck profile for build. A few observations while playing:

-Without full Summoner levels and an Unchained evolution pool budget, my Eidolon does not hit often or for hih damage with reach on its Bite. Next level I'm going to drop Reach for the far more utilitarian Skilled.
-Climb speed negates so many obstacles it isn't even funny. I don't think I could ever play a Cavalier.
-Feather Fall is really really useful
-In PFS, consider a potion of Fly. One level before I was able to evolve fligbt, we had to retreat from a boss with Air Walk because we had no answer.

@Spider B8

What scenario is it? Please? In spoiler tags?

Dotting this thread.

I can think of one PFS scenario that's pretty spidery, but It's level range is a bit below the party you're running.

Bringing tigers into town? That's child's play. When you're riding a demon into town, now that's when you get the best reactions out of guards. They should thank you for the excitement!

Brett Carlos wrote:

Season 5: proof that a rampaging horde of demonic evil isn't as powerful as a rampaging horde of murderhoboing Pathfinders. :-)

Rampaging horde of demonic evil vs rampaging horde of non-demonic evil. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Well what do you call it when a ride one of the demons into battle?

I'll chip in a +1 for the Halfling Summoner concept. I have one going in PFS (check profile for my halfling's build) and it has served me very well. There was a dip in effectiveness around levels 3 and 4 when I was still using a 1d6 longspear, but that Dragoon Fighter dip solved pretty much everything with free lance proficiency.

Cavalier might serve you better, what with good BAB and a list of class abilities that actually revolve around mounted charging, but I'm a huge fan of sentient, customizable mounts that can speak and make skill checks all on their own. And this is before you remember all thoze awesome slells you'll be getting.

The only problem is that you'll be feat starved throughout your career, so a 1 level Fighter dip is pretty helpful. Well, that and needing Charisma for a character concept that can otherwise dump it, but the helfling's ability score adjustments are a big help on that front. Even with the Strength penalty, it still beats out the Wayang in my eyes.

EDIT: Eidolon stats aren't in the profile yet. Short version, it's a quadruped medium sized Demon Eidolon with Improved Unarmed Strike and Dragon Style for ignoring common charge blockers. Its Evolutions are Mount, Reach and Climb in that order of priority.

I have a similiar character in PFS, Wayang Summoner x /Paladin 1. My goal was to make a PFS legal dragon rider with a lance. I remember having to make a small character and happened to have a wayang boon. I took a level of paladin with the oath of loyalty oathbound archtype.

I got bad news for you, friend. None of the Eidolons that are within one alignment step of Lawful Good can take the Mount evolution. Not even the ones that can take the Quadruped form.

Yes, it's silly that Eidolons are the only creature in the entire game that cannot be mounted thanks to existence of that damned evolution. I have two theories revolving around that: Either the Mount evolution involves the subtle Orwellian brainwashing of a proud sentient creature, or Eidolons naturally secrete butter through their pores and you would just fall off a lot. (Unchained was a wonderful opportunity to get rid of the evolution and clean up that rules singularity. Instead, it was made legal for.... Devils????)

@ Spider B8 // savokk

I'll go ahead and take the time to look at your characters, you seem to know what you're saying. I might not be going Paladin though, I was thinking of a Neutral or G.Neutral summoner who summons an elemental to ride into battle.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if the Reflavor rules would prevent me from having a Physical elemental?

Example, if I took a Fire Elemental Eidolon, did it have to be completely made of fire? Or can it be shelled living fire? Or maybe a living creature who is fire-like (like a Dragon thingy)? What are the restrictions for Elemental Eidolon and "Reskin rules"?

Remember, if this is PFS, your character will stop growth at level 12. There's a bit of Endgame content to take you to 13. Beyond very niche situations, that's where it stops. So every level counts. Speaking of, try not to dip more than 1 or 2 levels if you can help it. That Eidolon will already have some weaknesses (like Will save) on a pure Summoner, and dipping will tear it to shreds. Plus, your rad spell list is a huge boon to the character.

As far as I know, every Elemental is physical. You can ride it. It can hit things. It can be hit. It does not use any special rules for being translucent, nor is it difficult to interact with, and the Bestiary does not set precedent to the contrary. Take whichever you'd like. Build it however you want.

Air is a natural fit for what you want, what with the flight speed, but Fire's 20+ movespeed will translate into point-bought Flight evolution as well as its ground movement, so there's that.

Yo! I've got a level 5 mounted Summoner running in PFS a this moment. Feel free to check this profile for a breakdown of my stats. (Note that I have Power Attack as a first level feat due to Retraining Shenanigans) I'd add the Eidolon, but the page is being uncooperative. The shirt version: Quadruped Demon Eidolon, Improved Unarmed Strike and Dragon Style for its feats. Evolutions are Mount, Reach, and Climb. Having a mount with a climb speed is tremendously helpful for navigating awkward terrain.

Wayangs lack the strength penalty, yes, but Halflings have a pretty decent stat spread that gives you some leeway in a 20 point buy. Plus, Outrider is great for making those Mounted Combat checks. And don't forget that Adaptable Luck is amazing for those few big charges you want to get.

Having a medium character require a large Eidolon is almost a blessing in disguise: For mounted combat to hit really really hard, you'll need Power Attack, Furious Focus, the Mounted Combat tree up to Spirited Charge, AND lance proficiency. That many feats take time to build up. But in the mean time, you can play a 'traditional' melee summoner, using a longspear and threatening tons of squares with a long-necked Eidolon.

If you want to kick start the feats, I find that one level of Dragoon Fighter is the best dip you can take. Lance proficiency, a bonus feat that you would have taken anyway, and the best Skill Focus you could have this side of Perception.

Hey-hey Lyric! Looking for some advice, eh? I spent a little time in the Archive looking up some of the fancy tricks you're able to pull off. Looks like you're on the verge of some really crazy stuff! So yeah, you don't need to go for anything fancy.

Anyway, V'sarki and I talked it over. You got a lot of magic coming your way. Very powerful. Very lucky, almost lucky as I am! Since you take a good punch and you eat up other people's bad luck, my gut tells me Toughening up is a sure shot. But I'll be honest, I say all that for greedy reasons.

You protect your friends, but sometimes you gotta fight! Words don't always work, but a knife on a long stick always does the trick. You and I know that! So you gotta hit haaaaaaaard. Just make sure you can Attack with Power and you're set for the rest of your days. After all, you won't always have the two of us to wreck stuff for ya, and sometimes the Society sets you up with five nerds that'll look to you for killin' the stuff you can't talk to.

Once you got the basics for swingin' that polearm covered, good luck and that flashy magic can cover the rest.

I'm working on building a mounted Halfling Summoner for PFS (just hit level 2) so I'm suffering the same issues. While my own Demonic Arachnid concept is working out decently from a roleplaying perspective, most concepts are knocked flat on their arse by the one-two punch of alignment restrictions and harsh subtype requirements for the evolutions.

If you want to do the LG thing and still run it mounted style, you could always use the Mount spell early on, then Summons when they start proving to be worth your while. Heck, even your Eidiolon can pick up a lance and build for making its own mounted charges if you want to run a pair of knights instead of a knight and his mystical mount.

But the real kicker is going to be the Evo points. Your own character will be severely feat restricted if you want to focus lance charges, so no Extra Evo feats either. Mount is core and Reach is about the same, since you really want to get it to charge with you. If you want to go Large at level 8, then your entire evolution pool has been mapped out, flavorful options be damned. And even without that, something like Claws/Wings/Tail to make it actually look like a dragon will eat it up.

My advice is to focus on a Lawful OR a Good character, and get an Elemental that's flavored off of the Metallic Dragons. It really really sucks, but it's your best shot until Paizo comes out with some expansion content for the Unchained classes that adds extra Eidolon subtypes.