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Bigguyinblack: Sword and board is very decent, but I think it's possible to do better. Both sword and board and archery still has the problem of wasting your standard action (or full attack action), which as you point out is probably better used for spell casting (especially at higher levels when spells are plenty). The spear damage from AoOs is just gravy, something to make you a cleric+. That and the excellent mobility that ensures you'll cast in a safe position. In addition, you're a decent second line fighter if you run out of spells or if you want to conserve resources, just like the archery or S&B cleric would - except you spent fewer feats than the archery cleric must spend to support the melee fighter effectively (focus fire = bettar) and you're even safer and more easily positioned than the S&B cleric since you're row number 2. The other upside is, you're using that martial prowess even on turns when you ARE casting spells (if you're not, you're not being attacked in melee, so props to you anyway).

As I explained before, Wis 15 doesn't give up much to Wis 18 if you put +1 to Wis at level 4. You can afford a +2 Wis item at level 7 without problems, so you get the extra level 3 and level 4 spells. I'm not very fond of save-or-suck spells personally, but it's true that your DC will be 1-2 points lower than a full caster. In return, you'll dish out more damage if enemies try to close, or enjoy casting freely if they don't. There is a great comparison in the reach guide between different cleric builds, I recommend it if you have further doubts about the reach cleric concept.

As for stats, I'm optimizing for levels 1-11 and going with

Str 17 (+1 at 8th)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 7
Wis 15 (+1 at 4th)
Cha 10

Seems legit to me.

Missed Just A Morts post before, yeah I've always built archery clerics before (back in 3.5 etc). I just heard about the reach cleric though and the reasoning behind the action economy seemed sound to me. Also for society play I thought it would be good to not suck in melee and be able to fend for yourself.

In fact, you can have longbow proficiency for 5000 gp with bracers of lesser archery even in core, so there's no reason not to have a good ranged attack even as a primary spear wielder. And conversely, the longspear + gauntlet set-up is nice for the archer too, should he find himself in a tight spot. The rest is as just-a-mort says, you're pretty much an equally good core cleric with 15 Wis and Cha 10 as you are with 18 Wis and Cha 14, so why not go for physical attributes? It conserves spells and in the case of the reach cleric, might even use your round to a fuller potential.

Bigguy: Here's how I'm thinking concerning the reach idea. If I have Combat Reflexes and I'm holding the longspear, enemies trying to close will provoke at all times. Only exception is if they can 5' step in, but by keeping a 15' gap, I force them to use a move action to close. On my turn, I'll use a move action with acrobatics to reestablish the 15' gap, forcing them to provoke if they want to close again. I don't really care about threatening them (a caster for instance), that is for the warrior types or summoned monsters.

With primary strength, I'll deal as much damage as most warrior types and when my BAB falls behind, my buffs increase proportionately. The whole idea with the reach cleric IMO is to make the enemies chose between two bad things: don't close with the cleric and let him cast whatever, unthreatened, OR have an enemy close with the cleric and break the action economy in his favor.

Against minor foes, I'll just punch them in the face with a spiked gauntlet instead of casting a spell on my turn and then reestablish the gap with acrobatics. I force them not to take full round attacks while getting 2+ attacks/turn against them at full BAB. If the party gangs up on a boss, I'll just 5' step to a good position and force the boss to choose who to attack - I'll always threaten him and may still be able to get off spells without issue.

I absolutely agree on the rest, taking Improved initiative and using bless, spiritual weapon, pro evil etc. I intend to use the 2PP -> 750 gp -> lvl 1 wand to get lots of spell usage early. I just feel basic martial competence can be had for a cleric without really sacrificing much else, even in core, and being good with a spear is all sorts of helpful in addition to all the rest.

Btw, is there any good solution in core to use a wand and switch back to holding a 2H weapon, without dropping the wand as a free action? At a more relaxed table, I'd argue you could string a wand around the spear shaft and activate it by first changing your grip on the spear+wand as a free action, but I don't think that will work in society play :P

I think renegadeshepherd is referring to zon-kuthon's favored weapon the spiked chain being both a disarm and a trip weapon. Actually disarming and tripping would likely entail the associated feat, which means Int 13 and blowing a feat on Combat Expertise - a bad proposition even in core IMO.

That said, I certainly gave Zon some love. My analysis was that he was a worse option levels 1-7, but better from level 8+. I also think he's bad for PFS due both to roleplaying and friendly fire reasons.

Bigguy: Oh, misinterpreting PFS rules here (I'm pretty new to the whole society thing). I guess the only reason I'm not planning for seeker is that I've understood it to be fairly uncommon. Especially since I'm in a small European country so I'm looking at on-line play. I assume on-line core seeker content events are far between, so I should focus on levels 1-11 then.

Btw, concerning feats: I have 7 slots as a human and I know I want Combat Reflexes (1), Improved Initiative (1) and Power Attack (3) to start off. I also know I want Quicken Spell at level 9. This leaves me with slots at 5, 7 and 11. I have two main ideas:

Weapon Focus: Longspear (5), Improved Bull Rush (7) and Improved Critical (11). The combat focused idea. Bull rush gives me an alternative to acrobatics for creating the 15' gap between enemies that the reach cleric loves.

or

Spell Focus: Conjuration (5), Augment Summoning (7) and Weapon Focus. Longspear (11). Arguably a "stronger" choice, but summoning is weaker in core and the reach cleric doesn't like taking full round actions.

What would you suggest?

I think with Int 10 you can afford to put level ups to hp and still make do with 3 sp/level. I put them to sp so I essentially get 1 hp less per level with my stat distribution.

The upside? One more spell per level of the highest I can cast. Wis 15 >> Wis 14. At level 5, you can't afford +2 Wis item on top of everything else you need. But you get +1 to Wis at lvl 4, so one more lvl 3 spell for you.

At level 7, yes, you can afford +2 to Wis. Thanks to now having base Wis 16, extra 4th spell for you. You may, depending on how you prioritize, afford a +4 wis item at level 9. That's an extra quickened Divine Favor, if you're so inclined. All in all, a much better deal than one extra hp IMO. The extra save DC, improved perception/sense motive and Cha boost to 12 is just gravy.

My only gripe is I won't be passing any Knowledge checks any time soon. I'll probably only put 1 rank in Spellcraft too, so I'm at least trained in it if nobody else is, and can use Bit of Luck to get a reroll if I'm not on a round clock and standard actions are scarce. Luck and Travel FTW :)

Majuba: Yeah, that was yet ANOTHER mistake in my "guide", thinking clerics still had heavy armor proficiency. But yeah, I intend to use a chain shirt for starters and mithral breast plate later, as suggested in the reach cleric guide by Brewer.

Fire domain is OK I guess. That means Sarenrae, and Fire + Glory would be very good for PFS (excellent diplomacy rolls). I think Luck + Travel gives just as much success on Diplomacy (with Bit of Luck) and is more versatile. Plus Fly + Dimension Door > 2x Fireball, feats and traits aside. What do you think?

Andreww: I know it won't work against high level bosses later, but then I can teleport with Travel domain as a move action. The reach cleric relies on that 15' gap to attack on opp's turn and cast on his own turn. Against tough enemies, I could just 5' step and attack instead. Also, the worst that can happen is that I fail the check and draw an AoO, and I'll at least have more AoOs than the baddie. To boot (no pun intended), there's all the other uses for Acrobatics in PFS that Majuba mentions.

OK, I spent about an hour trying to find real, official confirmation on the swarms vs. splash weapons conundrum yesterday (looking at lots of 2015-2016 PFS specific threads). My new interpretation of RAW after reading those threads is that yes indeed, 1.5x1d6 it is, and like 80% of thread posters and all GMs I've seen post agree. Still, wouldn't want to chalk that up to "table variation"... But I'm gonna trust that alchemical items are indeed a good way to defeat swarms at low levels.

That changes a lot actually. Indeed, channeling negative in core is then such a huge downside to channeling positive that it's hard to think of why anyone would do it. Losing conversion of situational utility spells to cure spells really hurts. IMO, the ONLY reason you'd want to channel negative in core would be as a cleric of Zon-Kuthon with the death and darkness domains. You're essentially trading an easier ride levels 1-7 for an easier ride levels 8-12. It's not just that though. As a reach cleric, you'll be sacrificing either wisdom (more spells) or con (more hp) for higher Cha so you can grab selective channeling and not hurt your team mates. All in all, I think Zon-Kuthon is bad for a society build. (Assuming splash weapons work well against swarms.)

Here's what I'm planning for attributes and early feats for my core reach cleric (assuming a positive channeler) :
Race: Human (of course)
Str 14+2 (adding +1 on levels 8 and 12)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 7
Wis 15 (adding +1 on level 4 to get extra 3rd spell at level 5)
Cha 12

As a human and putting level ups to skill points, I still get 3 SP per level - enough to max out acrobatics and perception + train a few class skills and trained-only skills that can be useful. Any extras will go to Diplomacy.

Traits: +2 to initiative and the faction one that gives +1 to acrobatics and acrobatics as a class skill.
Feats: Combat Reflexes (1), Improved Initiative (1), Power Attack (3) - then what? Weapon Focus: Longspear will probably be in there somewhere. Maybe Quicken at level 9. Not sure about the rest - maybe I will have room for Augment Summoning after all. I guess it beats Spell Penetration or Cleave.

So, what god to pick for this? It seems to me that the best domain for this type of cleric (perhaps every type of core cleric?) is Travel. This is assuming of course that a good complementary domain can be found among the core gods that grant Travel.

The best choices are luck and liberation (Desna), protection (Abadar) and strength (Cayden). Looking only at spells granted, Strength is the definitive winner to complement Travel for a reach cleric. The question is, is it worth it considering the granted powers are almost useless? Let's compare:

Protection gives you a resistance save bonus that scales slowly, which you can also grant to others. I think it will be rendered moot by resistance cloaks, which are relatively cheap and a basic investment. This leaves the 8th level ability, which is incredibly minor (+1 to AC and 5 elemental resistance? At lvl 12 it increases to +2 for a last hurrah... no, just no).

What about liberation? Liberation has crappy spells. Combined with Travel, the level 2 choice leaves you with Locate Object or Remove Paralysis :/ The abilities are top notch however, second only to the travel domain. I guess Liberation vs. Strength comes down to how common status effects are in PFS?

What about Luck? Bit of Luck is actually quite useful out of combat - get 2 diplomacy checks instead of 1. The spell list is only slightly worse than Strength. Aid is a decent L2 option, you lose Enlarge Person and Stoneskin (at L6 mind you), but you gain Mislead at L6 instead. You also get the best spells from the liberation domain (freedom of movement and break enchantment) to mix up your mobility spells.

All in all, I think Desna (Travel, Luck) will be the best, all-around choice. Not very suprising perhaps - others have found that Desna is indeed best almost regardless of build.

Law and good? I think that's a terrible combination...

Armor spikes - tell me more! How is this different from a spiked gauntlet?

Technically, alchemist fire/acid is almost useless against swarms of very small creatures (rats, bats, spiders etc). They are splash weapons, and you are denied any attack roll at all against the swarm. This leaves the option of targeting a grid intersection adjacent to the swarm. This is possible against a ground-bound swarm, not a flying one. This will deal 1 splash damage. Going with acid, that's 10 gp and a standard action per point of damage, and that's assuming a non-flying swarm - otherwise, it's impossible. Back in 3.5 there used to be a rule that you could use a torch or flaming weapon to deal damage, but now you can't. Hence, AoE damage is almost mandatory.

Swarms take 50% more damage from AoE so if you're level 3 and channel 2d6 (7 damage on average) that's 10 damage. If you can do that 3-5 times per day, you can singlehandedly kill 1-2 swarms of your CL. A low level positive core cleric must make do with Sound Burst - a quite terrible option but doable if backed up with Fire domain.

You know, I think I was wrong to write off Zon-Kuthon as a late bloomer. Consider:

At level 4, if you take Darkness + Death, you have two melee touch abilities - a concealment debuff to use on big bruisers/rogues and a bleed effect that will do 1d6+1d6 damage at that level (it scales like your negative channel, but over time). Each is available 5-6 times per day. So, with a reach cleric, you position yourself 15' as normal, cast a buff or battlefield control spell, and wait. If enemy closes, you AoO and then on your turn, hit them with a bad touch effect and acrobat away. Next turn, same thing. You can do lots, with small resources. You'll get by on 1-2 spells per encounter - maybe a neg channel against weak mooks. Let the mass combat begin!

Thanks for the feedback guys!

@Hmm: Yeah, Shelyn and Cayden are probably about as good as Desna and Abadar, so it may be harsh not to include them as viable options.

@Just a Mort: Oh, I thought you threatened with the spiked gauntlet/improved unarmed strike even if you were holding a 2H weapon. I just assumed you could punch someone in the face just as easily, regardless of whether you were resting your hand on the shaft of a spear or just having it empty by your side.

So just to clarify, your hand needs to be empty to use/threaten with a spiked gauntlet as well as an IUS? So it would work with a bow (if you hold the bow in the other hand and use the spiky hand to fire arrows with), but not with a 2H wpn?

Yeah, I realized later that Magical Lineage is probably a waste over the +2 to Initiative option, regardless of the spell you pick for it. Having a trait give a flat +2 Init bonus is probably hard to beat with any minor situational benefit. You can of course just memorize a regular Fireball in a 4th slot without it being empowered. Save a feat and save a trait.

Sorry, did not realize Community was APG for Erastil. That makes him a lot worse. In fact, an elf might be a better option in core for an archer build then, despite the feat loss.

I'm confused - you say that channeling is a waste of stats but also that channeling positive is important as a source for range healing in core? Personally I disagree with both. You can have decent channelling for a very small stats investment (Cha 10-13) and a decent Diplomacy roll to boot. This can either serve to conserve spells for healing between battles, or as a neat way to defeat swarm type enemies which is a legendary problem in PFS. Healing in battle, if absolutely necessary, should never be done with the very minor juice from channeling (ideally, you'd want the invested standard action to bring your friend from near death to 50% hp). Thanks to the great mobility and action economy of the reach cleric, the lack of reach metamagic in core doesn't hurt so much if it comes down to in combat healing.

@Renegadeshepherd: I think Zon is a decent option put perhaps not the best for core PFS. It's a late bloomer coming into power at 8th level, which is bad when characters are retired at level 12. Before that, Death domain is relatively useless and Darkness is on par with mediocre stuff like Weather. It's also a shame that spiked chain isn't a reach weapon in pathfinder. He's probably top 5 of the 20 options available, but I'm not sure he's top 1. Haven't actually decided yet what I'm building (so many interesting alternatives!) but Zon could be it.

Btw, what are people's thoughts on summoning in core? If it can't be done as a standard action, it seems to defeat the purpose of the Reach Cleric idea (which I think is really solid, regardless of deity/domains). IMO, this makes negative channeling and spells like Fireball (or even the humble Spiritual Weapon) slightly better because it marks you as a threat that enemies need to close with, meaning you'll get to actually use your AoOs. I'm considering not taking SF Conjuration and Augment Summoning for this reason.

I know the sticky already has a 4 cleric guides in them, but one is broken (Axe's) and one is very specialized (Brewer's reach cleric). Tark and Rogue Eidolon have similarities, but I think they undervalue having a good combination of domains that leaves you with spells you'd want to use every day, while overvaluing certain domain abilities.

At any rate, I went through all the material to see what builds could be interesting and strong for a core PFS game, and thought I'd share my findings with the community. Since there are already meaty guides with lengthy discussions on domains etc, this will be much more to the point.

METHOD
I started with the domains and gave them * to **** star ratings for abilities and spell selection, respectively. Any domain that didn't have at least a *** in either category was put in the useless bin. To merit a three star spell rating or higher, the domain spell selection had to be either very useful on a daily basis in a PFS environment (example: fire, healing) or have powerful non-cleric spells early-mid level with few "dead" slots (example: strength, travel).

This selected for the following core domains: Community, Darkness, Death, Destruction, Fire, Glory, Good, Healing, Liberation, Luck, Madness, Protection, Strength, Sun, Travel, Trickery, War, Weather.

Secondly, I looked at the core gods in the database. All but Gozreh had at least two of the above domains. Then I looked closely at those gods that had precisely two domains available, and discarded those that would end up with a domain slot that would be difficult to fill with something useful (example: while Norgorber gets Death and Trickery, the L3 domain slot is a choice between animate dead and non-detection - essentially a lost slot most days). Finally, with the cream of the crop remaining, I looked at which gods were redundant. For example, Abadar, Cayden and Desna both have the very strong Travel domain. However when you look at the rest of the domains available, Abadar offers Protection as a stronger combination with Travel than Cayden's choice between Good and Strength, whereas Desna also has Good (as the worst decent alternative) but also Luck and Liberation which are also stronger than Strength when combined with Travel. This means Cayden is redundant and a somewhat lackluster choice. Desna and Abadar both qualify as top choices however, since the Protection domain is arguably as good as Luck or Liberation, making it more a choice of what type of cleric you want to play.

This narrowed it all down to the following list:
Strong flexible choices: Abadar, Desna, Sarenrae, Zon-Kuthon
Strong specific builds: Asmodeus, Erastil, Irori

IMO, there is no game mechanical reason to consider any other core god for your cleric, regardless of build. Builds for these cleric types will follow below.

SHOULD I CHANNEL NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE ENERGY?
This is not such a no-brainer that it might seem at first. Considering the above best deities, you only get to chose as a neutral cleric of Abadar or Irori. Clerics of Desna, Sarenrae and Erastil will always channel positive, and clerics of Asmodeus and Zon-Kuthon will always channel negative.

Channeling negative energy gives you one of the best ways in core to attack swarm type enemies - a rather common monster in PFS that will often create great difficulty for the unprepared party, since most swarms can only be attacked with AoE effects and there are only so many of those to go around, especially at low levels. The downside is that you have less capacity for healing the party between encounters, and that Selective Channeling (and thus also the prerequisite Cha 13) becomes mandatory to you, since you want to channel in combat.

Channeling positive energy gives the entire party more healing power. If you can, combine it with the Shield Other spell to distribute hp loss more advantageously. It also has some situational use against undead - arguably a more common enemy type than swarms, but a far less threatening one as well. Channeling for healing in combat is often a waste of a standard action, so you can safely skip Selective Channeling and still put you channels to good use between encounters (or even in encounters, against undead minions).

Being able to spontaneously cast inflict spells is of course a useless ability, however you can easily compensate by leaving a few spell slots open. The positive cleric can afford to memorize situational spells such as Comprehend Languages each day to have them if needed, since he can just turn them into healing. The negative cleric must have at least 1-2 emergency healing spells memorized, and leave a few slots open for situational spells that will most often result in more healing between encounters, but sometimes have a utility use. This makes the Healing domain better for negative clerics, since they must use slots for healing spells anyway and can't rely on channeling for healing either.

To sum up, I would recommend positive energy in a party where AoE spells are already covered well but there are no other healers (paladins, bards, druids etc), and negative channeling if there is no arcane caster (or one with limited evocation abilities). When you don't know what the party composition will be, positive channeling is the easier choice, but negative channeling might save the day more when it matters even though it requires a bit more micro-management.

ABADAR
As a PFS cleric of Abadar, your alignment can be LN, LG or N, giving you a fine choice of roleplaying options. Your domains are Protection and Travel, giving you good saves and great mobility. Clerics of Abadar should probably channel positive to make better use of the Shield Other protection domain spell slot. If you'd like to rely on the Light Crossbow for flavor reasons (Abadar's favored weapon), you might even consider a gnome with low strength and take the Deadly Aim feat at level 3 to compensate. Otherwise, many build options are available. Full round action summoning becomes much better when you can fly to evade enemies, so Augment Summoning can be worth exploring at mid levels when summoning durations get decent.

DESNA
Like Abadar, good alignment options (NG, CG, CN). Desna arguably gives the best option for domains. Travel is pretty mandatory and combines well with either Luck or Liberation - two other powerful options. Like Abadar, almost any build will work well with Desna when it comes to choice of feats, attributes etc. The starknife is only decoration however. The choice between Abadar and Desna mostly comes down to if you prefer the protection domain or luck/liberation, and flavor of course. Having said that, Travel + Liberation is perhaps the most powerful combination of all because the abilities complement each other so well (you have great mobility, and nobody can take it away from you!)

SARENRAE
Clerics of Sarenrae can be LG, NG, CG or N. A completely different domain selection compared to Desna/Abadar, but an equally strong one. I recommend going with Glory + Fire or Glory + Healing. The glory + healing cleric is the archetypical healing and smiting cleric with a very good utility ability for amazing Cha based checks. This can be used for strong Diplomacy rolls, or consider grabbing a trait to get UMD as a class skill and fudge the check with your Touch of Glory ability. Another good trait for the Glory + Fire cleric is Magical Lineage (Fireball) (taking Empower Spell at 7th). The Glory + Fire cleric of Sarenrae has as much AoE fire power as a negative channeling cleric, without the downsides. You're essentially an evocation wizard in full plate with healing capabilities.

ZON-KUTHON
As a cleric of Zon-Kuthon, you must be LN. Here you get the very strong Darkness domain, which has enough good spells in it to compensate for the lack thereof in Death and Destruction. If you go Darkness + Death you will get a powerful ability at level 8 with Death's Embrace, which sort of makes you into an invincible one-man army. With Darkness + Destruction you get the destructive smite instead which scales well and is nice gravy for any melee build, such as the reach cleric. All in all, Zon-Kuthon is a good and flexible option if you want an evil god with build flexibility.

ASMODEUS - The gnome trickster
Asmodeus offers Trickery and Fire as a good combination. The Trickery domain gives a few very strong spells (and some rubbish ones) as well as a very good defensive ability with Copycat. You also get Stealth as a class skill, which is of course better on a size small character. Enter the gnome trickster, a LN cleric of asmodeus. He is very well protected using stealth, copycat and invisibility to stay out of trouble, and attacks from his safe place with AoE like Fireball and negative channeling - perhaps a few summons for good measure. He can heal you, if he must, but that is the very low end of his true capabilities. Another candidate for Magical Lineage (Fireball) and Empower Spell (at 7th). Consider getting a riding dog early for mobility and protection at low levels.

ERASTIL - The cleric archer
A human cleric of Erastil can take Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot at level 1. He should have Str 14, decent Dex and Wis, ok Cha and Con and dump Int. After his first adventure, he grabs a masterwork composite longbow with +2 Str to damage for 2 PP courtesy of his faction. Now he has a very solid fall back strategy when low on spells, and should focus on buffs mid game that help both him and the party. His domains are community and good, which work OK together with the archery strategy. Further feats should naturally go to archery. Archery is a very solid strategy and this PC has a good chance of always being useful.

IRORI - Reach cleric build
With domains Healing and Strength, Irori is a good option for negative channeling. He is also a top choice for the so called "reach cleric" (see the separate guide - in short, you use a longspear and close to 15 feet before casting, forcing opponents to draw AoOs if they want to close with you). You can get a wand of Enlarge Person for 2 PP in PFS and you get one daily use from your domain, so you can be large whenever you wish (for a greater threat range). Furthermore, you have Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, so you threaten close as well (other reach clerics should use the spiked gauntlet for this purpose). Irori clerics can benefit from a greater Dex than 12 (where regular full plate maxes out) thanks to Combat Reflexes being so crucial to the reach build. Negative channeling also gets better when you plan to be near the front ranks. I disagree with the reach guide's advice to dump Cha - you're better off with slightly worse Str or Con than to gimp Cha completely IMO, but Cha 13 to qualify for Selective Channeling is plenty (consider giving it your 8th level increase to bump it to 14 - your 4th level increase will likely push Wis from 15 to 16 with this build). I think Str 14 is perfectly OK until you get a +4 Str item.

Hope this mini-guide is of use for those considering a cleric for PFS core game! As you can see, there are many more things to build on than the traditional "heal bot", even in core.

First off, I'm looking to play this character in PFS. This rules out Synthesist and of course "homebrew" too, if the GM would construe it as such. Even if I could take the Synthecist archetype, it's not what I'm looking for. The ability to use the eidolon for transportation is actually a minor, minor aspect of the character that this thread has blown completely out of proportion, but that's beside the point.

Ravingdork: Yes, that seems to be the case, unless we assume that an eidolon is frightened by entering combat mounted.

Funky Badger: Only if the DM is convinced that combat frightens an eidolon who is mounted without the proper evolution, which *might* be RAW but probably not RAI. It also assumes that you're actually using the mounted combat rules to begin with - a giant eagle simply carrying a humanoid with its claws would not be subject to such checks, for instance.

To step things down a notch, here's another idea for how to use a biped eidolon for transportation: a harness.
1) An eidolon can carry a backpack or other items/containers as per its carrying capacity (just not armor).
2) You can make a backpack or harness that would fit a small size character, which the eidolon could then wear - much like if you were its familiar
3) You're not using the eidolon as a mount anymore than a familiar in a wizard's backpack is using the wizard as a mount. Thus, mounted combat rules, ride checks etc. are moot. Nor could you use a feat such as Mounted Combat etc.
4) Since you'd probably share the eidolon's space (again, much like a familiar) chances are you'd be able to use it for cover as per the normal vanilla cover rules (up to DM of course).

Comments? Perhaps there are rules somewhere for carrying living creatures in mundane containers such as back-packs or harnesses, but otherwise, the GM will have to decide.

Maybe, maybe not - it's up to the DM of course. Some players use rules to the fullest potential, others don't care and get weaker characters as a result. I've read about two different players who used their Eidolons to be clones of themselves - even using the same weapons. Rules don't say you can't - in fact they say you can. It's free and it can be very beneficial (have a decoy to send on risky negotiations, confuse enemies in combat). A player who would just make his eidolon look like Joe the Eidolon wouldn't get this benefit. I read about another who had it take Profession (Harlot) and rented it out for shady services and steady income...

Truth to be told, if I was GM:ing a player who wanted to do this "organic mech suit" idea I'm tinkering with, I'd OK the freebee "seat" function and either decide that the eidolon was too fragile to provide effective cover with only a thin "compartment fence", or that it could grant cover but if an attacked missed only due to the cover AC bonus, it would hit the eidolon instead. I think player creativity should be encouraged, and I try to say "if you do that, this happens" rather than just say no when I'm on the opposite side of the d20.

Being clever pays off in games as well as in real life. That is all.

cartmanbeck: I'm not giving him "extremely powerful armor", the compartment provides COVER as per a low wall (see the combat rules section for details). You can use a tower-shield, corner or even a living body as cover normally - this just provides it more readily when I have my eidolon out. You're exactly right that I will need line of effect to my enemies, hence total cover or a sealed compartment is impractical. Consider it more of a seat with a "fence" in front. Much like if you're in a howda on an elephant.

An animal companion is... an animal. Of course it doesn't come with compartments (except a digestive tract etc). An eidolon, much like an Astral Construct, can be designed freely using its base form as a starting point. It says so explicitly in the rules (see quote above) - you control the shape. If a summoner can make his eidolon have 8 friggin' arms, it can have a compartment. I know people who have designed their eidolons as boats!

A synthesist is COMPLETELY different. You meld with the eidolon completely and gain its physical attributes etc. My idea is basically a slightly more comfortable/practical variation on riding on the shoulders of a biped eidolon. It's really no big deal.

I'm not "trying" to get something for free - I'm trying to understand the rules. If it's free it's free, not because I'm trying to cheese anything but because the rules make it so. I'm fine with taking the Mount evolution, but I'd like to know what I'm paying for and what the alternatives are.

I come to pretty much the same conclusion as gnomersy: If you want to use it with the ride skill or mounted combat rules, you need the evolution. If you just want to make a compartment where, for instance, the summoner could fit (if small enough) that doesn't need the Mount evolution.

Starglim: Fair enough. That's from the Ride skill, right? So the Mount evolution negates simply the -5 penalty - sounds good to me.

Funky: Being a combat trained mount is a specific set of tricks as per the Ride skill. The fact that a creature has natural attacks and can fight (even horses do) does not make it combat trained for riding purposes. Or am I missing something specific?

Iantzkev: If it's worth it or not is beside the point. If I can have it for free, I'd rather use the evo point on something else. It seems the Mount evolution is only relevant if you want to use the Ride skill.

I think James' answer is entirely solid and the Predator example makes for a good rationale. However, here's a blog post where Paizo tries to simplify the Stealth skill a bit:

http://paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/browse?path=paizo%2Fblog%2 Fv5748dyo5lckz

Basically, it makes it so that being unobserved by a target = having cover or concealment from that target = being able to use the Stealth skill against that target.

The only difference as compared to the Predator example by James above, is that the act of "finding Waldo" is precisely the opposed Perception vs. Stealth check - nothing more, nothing less. Having concealment (from Blur, being the Predator or whatever) is enough to get to actually roll Stealth, but your opponent gets to roll Perception to blank your Hidden condition if he knows you're there. He'll keep trying to perceive and you'll keep trying to stealth and some rounds he'll find waldo and some rounds he won't. That's assuming you don't take an action that would break an Invisibility spell, because that would also break your Hidden condition. More details in the blog post!

(Btw, if somebody knows if this playtest actually resulted in an official FAQ update etc, I'd be much obliged for a link. I've only read sporadic albeit positive reviews of it so far).

From the summoner class description:

The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature.

So for example, I should be able to design a biped eidolon to something like this, as long as it's fantastical enough:

My point is that the physical appearance of a biped eidolon could be such that it accomodated a size small summoner inside an organic cockpit of sorts. It could even be made solid enough to provide cover, yet line of effect, for the summoner without even stretching the rules.

Then this, from the Mount (Ex) 1-point evolution description:

An eidolon is properly skilled and formed to serve as a combat-trained mount. The eidolon must be at least one size category larger than its rider. This evolution is only available to eidolons of the quadruped and serpentine base forms.

Fair enough. So the "mech suit" eidolon above will never be "properly skilled and formed to serve as a combat-trained mount", but that doesn't mean it can't provide mobility for a summoner. Since he's not really riding it, the ride skill benefits and mounted feat tree probably don't apply, but apart from that, I can't find anything wrong with this.

But what about another scenario: Assume we're making a standard mounted summoner/eidolon build with, say, a quadruped. On the next level up, we remove the Mount evolution but keep the physical appearance (which is up to the summoner anyway) the same. Now, the eidolon is no longer "properly skilled" to serve as a combat-trained mount. What are the consequences?

The only thing I could find is this, which is hilarious:

Mounted Combat

These rules cover being mounted on a horse in combat but can also be applied to more unusual steeds, such as a griffon or dragon.

Mounts in Combat

Horses, ponies, and riding dogs can serve readily as combat steeds. Mounts that do not possess combat training (see the Handle Animal skill) are frightened by combat. If you don't dismount, you must make a DC 20 Ride check each round as a move action to control such a mount. If you succeed, you can perform a standard action after the move action. If you fail, the move action becomes a full-round action, and you can't do anything else until your next turn.

So even an unusual steed such as a friggin' DRAGON (or, I must assume, an eidolon) is frightened by entering combat when straddled by a humanoid - even though it readily enters combat without one.

This makes me a bit torn... Either, I must accept this silly rule and conclude that the Mount evolution fills the counter-intuitive purpose of not making your eidolon frightened by combat while serving as a mount. Or, I must accept that Mount (Ex) has no practical function and is a waste of an evolution point, even if you do intend to use your eidolon as a mount (with appropriate skills/feats and all).

Thoughts?

A shameless bump, hoping that the other questions will get answered. I found a semi-official reply from Sean K Reynolds re: Hellcat Stealth (it works as I thought). Darkwolf already answered 1 and 7. This leaves questions 2, 3, 5 and 6 above.

Oh yes, and the general question re: FAQ/compilation for PFS-canonical rulings.

For 1, yes, that'll only happen when your eidolon is about to be sent back to its home plane, at negative Con. Your saying 'on the stack' makes me figure you're wondering that, if it is at 5 health, and gets hit for 30, while it only has a Con of 15, can you sacrifice 30 hit points to keep it at 5 (and conscious)? To that end, I don't know.

Wow, so it may be even worse than I thought? You (maybe) can't use it to keep it on its feet at all then, only to keep it bleeding on the floor on the virge of death at -CON hp?

Thanks for the replies - hoping someone else will chime in for the other questions :)

I'm looking to get into PFS organized play and would like clarifications on a few rules for the Summoner I'm planning, where it is possible. Also, is there a compendium of organized play "house rules"/clarifications that are canonical for PFS?

1) Summoner's Life Link. I take it you can only prevent damage if the Eidolon, had you not prevented the damage, would have taken enough damage to banish it for the day? So at least [current hp]+[eidolon's con] has to be "on the stack" so to speak, to enable you to "use" this ability (which in itself isn't an action at all). Correct?

2) Range for the 1 minute ritual to conjure the Eidolon isn't specified. Life link sort of imposes a pseudo limitation, but you can remove that with Unfetter. So basically, you could summon the eidolon, unfetter it, dismiss it and then summon it again in the BBEGs bathroom 100 miles away, and finally dismiss it again before it dies. Summon it to you, heal and rebuff and then at it again. Adventure from the convenience of your tavern! I assume this isn't RAI? Perhaps not even RAW? Perhaps any summon effect requires line of effect to summon's point of origin, but I haven't been able to find info like that. Is there a consensus way of handling it in PFS?

3) By the RAW, you can summon your Eidolon via ritual after using a SM SLA (while it's still in effect). Is this considered OK/RAI? I assume summoning your Eidolon via the 2nd level spell is OK whenever.

4) It seems to me that the feat Hellcat Stealth and the 9th level Shadow Bloodline (Shadow Well) ability overlap greatly.To my understanding, the bloodline requires you to have a shadow nearby but has no penalty, whereas the feat comes with a penalty but waivers all normal requirements for using the Stealth skill? Am I correct to assume that a person with Hellcat Stealth could be standing on an empty parking lot in broad daylight, surrounded by people observing him, and still get to roll Stealth as a move action?

5) Does the 15th level Abyssal bloodline ability stack with Superior Summoning, so that you could get 3 SM-9 demons on one use of your SLA at level 17 (after a heavy feat investment)?

6) Does the 9th level Arcane bloodline ability permit a Summoner to select sorceror/wizard spells to add to his list?

7) How many evolution points do you get to transfer with Greater Aspect? I'm asking both if Greater Aspect consumes the level 10 Aspect ability (or if they stack), and if you get to transfer 6 points that are then doubled to 12 with the Summoner, or if you transfer 6 to the Summoner which only costs the Eidolon 3. So depending on Aspect stacking and maxing this ability, you could end up with draining 3-8 points from your Eidolon and gaining 6-14 evo points for your Summoner. Which one is it?