Suggestion - Controlling the gear of an eidolon.

[Quijenoth]

Reposted from another thread as requested by Jason:

I find myself agreeing with others that perhaps eliminating gear from the eidolon is the best route to take. While limiting it to certain items (i.e. no armor) solves the immediate problems visible, the issue could reoccur as the development and imagination of new magic items become available will have a knock on effect towards the power of the eidolon and the summoner.
It's very much like the polymorph problem (although a little less crazy) in that with each new monster created polymorph became more powerful.

There may well be a solution to the no equipment at all route though. What if the summoner had access to a unique list of spells that armed and armored his eidolon. A spell line like summon armaments that would conjure a single weapon , armor, shield, or misc magic item from a specified list that only the eidolon could use. As the spell line increases more powerful times can be summoned but at a cost of spell slots for the summoner. You could even specify a broader range of summon spells (one for each item slot) so the choice becomes more of an issue for the summoners limited spell selection.

I think this will put the control of the summoners power back into the hands of the class itself. and doesnt stray beyond the abilities of the summoners field. You could also add the spells to the sorcerer/wizard spell list so they could arm an eidolon for the summoner, or open multiclass possibilities for the summoner/wizard(conjurer) strangeness! :)

Thoughts?

[Lumbo]

While I think the idea of giving the summoner unique spells for "arming" his eidolon is a neat concept, I think that comparing the situation to the problems with polymorph in 3.5 is a little far fetched.

As you stated, the power creep in the new monster released throughout the span of 3.5 directly contributed to the issues with the polymorph line. I don't see the anywhere near the proliferation of over powered magic items. There were 5 monster manuals released over the course of 3rd edition, then you have to add in the various "specialized" monster books like Libris Mortis, Draconomicon et al.

While there may be issues with the power of the eidolon, and they may be related to it's ability use magic items. I just don't think the comparison to the polymorph issue is a fair one.

[Reneshat]

Personally, I don't like the fluff connotations of equipping the eidolon. I am not planning on equipping my eidolon either way (when I finally get to test it), and I don't really see the appeal of giving an eidolon any items except weapons. So conceptually, I like the idea of greatly limiting what the eidolon can use to almost nothing. However, I see a potential problem in that. We already have seen people making ridiculous eidolon builds. While equipment makes these builds more powerful, even without equipment we are talking about very powerful builds. If you limit the ability of the players to equip their non-optimized eidolon, it might lead to more players optimizing their builds to compensate. I think either requiring evolution points to unlock slots or summoner spells to equip the eidolon would probably go a long way towards fixing this problem.

Personally, I would lean more towards evolution points than spells. Maybe a 1 point evolution to open up a slot so you can use a minor wondrous item. A 2 point evolution to open up a slot to use a medium wondrous item, with the 1 point evolution being a pre-req (like large for huge.) 3 points would unlock the slot for a major woundrous item. Then it would take 6 points for someone to put a belt of physical perfection +6 on their eidolon, not counting the costs of the item itself.

This is off the top of my head, so it might cost too much.