I am trying to figure out why I would want to choose a Summoner over a druid with the new nerfs stickied above.
-The druid can summon more times then a Summoner.
-The druid can have more summons active for the same duration as the summoner
-The "Armor wearing" animal companion is easily a match for any eidolon.
-The druid has a better spell progression.
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The fixes above were very reactionary and overkill in my opinion. Instead you could just raise the point cost of armor. I dont see the reason to limit the summoning time and just limit the number of summons the Summoner gets and keep the duration at min/level.
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The one thing I would be thinking about always as I created this class would be:
Why do I want to play this class over a druid? What makes it more of a summoner then the druid? Does its pet compare to the druids pet?
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One last comment. I am not a fan of the Bard spell progression. Change it to the wizards. Haste at 4th level is overpowered while Haste at 7th(if made into a 3rd level spell) is weak.
Reasons to Play a Summoner:
1. An Eidolon Completely devoted to offense will likely outfight a comparable animal companion (though I'd like to see playtests because i am curious just how off the two are).
2. The summoner is an incredibly flexible class that can fill a large number of roles in a party. Depending on how you put together the summoner and the eidolon you can make just about anything but a primary healer.
3. Lots of summons. (i dont know where you got the 'druid can have more summons' bit) Sure you cant stack the sla's but if its really important to you, you can still take the spell, and outsummon a druid anyday while still being a competant caster.
4. Grease, glitterdust, haste, fly, black tentacles, fireshield, enlarge person, stoneskin, Invisibility, Greater Invisibility, Teleport etc. (Arcane spells)
5. Imagination. Sure a giant tiger as a sidekick is awesome. But what if i want a 8 armed 6 tentacled half dragon half earth elemental carrying a firey sword? I can do that with a summoner.
Don't forget the best reason:
Don't want to play a hippy tree hugger :)
I think summonsers are a good bit stronger offensively than druids and that more than makes up for the reduced spell progression. And if you look at their summon spells, the summoner gets higher level summons sooner. The limitation on the spell like ability class feature to one per round doesn't do anything but limit their extra bonus summons. The item restriction is a little bad, I understand the not letting them wear armor, but the limit on other slots seems a bit harsh, but that makes it easier for the GM.
I am trying to figure out why I would want to choose a Summoner over a druid with the new nerfs stickied above.
Why do I want to play this class over a druid? What makes it more of a summoner then the druid? Does its pet compare to the druids pet?
Make your own monster for a pet is about the only reason I can come up with.
Ya the Eiodolon is stronger but the Druid can animal growth and heal his pet. Who wins? I say the edge goes to Druid.
Druid can do damage with spells like flame strike and has much stronger spell list.
Druid gets better armor.
Druid gets more skill points.
Druid get spontneous summons which right now are better then the sumnmoners SP ability.
Now toss in wildshape and we have a landslide advantage to the Druid.
The Eiodolon has to be gangbusters better then the animal companion to equal the Druid. Which may be enough as long as we get no more knee jerk reactions to theory crafting and one sided comparisons.
I don't think the summoner has limited spell progression as their list has a full span of spell going from 1st to 9th level spells. The spell list is limited but the progression is actually better than the Wizards. They get 9th spells at 16th level but only a choice of two them being Teleport Circle or Summon Monster IX.
I do find it odd that they cast Summon Monster IX at 16th level but get the class ability of the same spell as spell like ability at 17th level. Still casting it the summoner only 1 spell per day of it unless they have Chr stat of 22 which isn't unreasonable.
Honestly I think Summoners have to be the toughest class out there. If I were to play solo a summoner would be my first pick. A summoner can pretty stand on their own except for the lack of healing but potions, a bit of UMD for wands/scrolls fill that gap seeing as that's a class skill.
-The druid can summon more times then a Summoner.
Maybe, but without digging into his spells a Summoner can use the highest level of summons two to four (or more) times as much as the Druid can.
-The druid can have more summons active for the same duration as the summoner
Only true if the Summoner refuses to learn any of the summon monster spells on his spell list. If the Summoner actually uses his spells, then he should easily be a match for the Druid in this field.
-The "Armor wearing" animal companion is easily a match for any eidolon.
Possibly, but it is going to have a tough time catching up to an eidolon that spends a few evolution points to boost natural armor, then the money could be spent on other magical items that boost AC.
Overall, the Summoner seems to be doing pretty well to me. Is it perfect the way it is now?
I'm not sure, but right now the Summoner doesn't actually seem to be losing on the battle for "best summoning class."
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In general I think it's close enough that there is no right answer; from what I have read post-errata the summoner power level is right where it needs to be. I think that Druid has a tiny edge (Spirit of Beast + animal companion greater offense then edillion +... stick weilding summoner; and if both concentrate on spells, the Druid has a much better list to make up for the worse companion); BUT, it is close enough to say both are worthy and have reasons to play them.