Greetings,
Our group has been playing pathfinder for quite some time (Rise of the Runelords, Second Darkness, Currently going on Legacy of fire) and although i do not know what the next campaign will be, i am already planning to become a summoner.
I did not see the background and roleplaying angle i am taking on the forum yet so i thought i'd post it in the hope you will find it interesting.
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The story would go a little like this
The character has seen many bad things happening to people throughout his life. Even his loved ones have had terrible, albeit not always fatal, accidents. Eventhough he himself came close to dying or getting hurt, he never did. In fact, he survived various ordeals that no man should have been able to survive. This set him to think....
People often speak of guardian angels, spirits who are attached to a person that protect them from harm. With all the experiences he had, he believed this was not a myth, but truth and started researching a way to make this spirit visible, for the most part to thank it for it's protection and ofcourse sheer curiousity played a big part.
Many years passed with trial and error and many of his closest friends began to think he was turning mad, but eventually the man had an epiphany in his research and managed to make his Guardian angel visible. The creature did not appear as an angel though, but a protector nonetheless and he thanked it for all that it had done for him.
Henceforth, the man could at his bidding summon his guardian angel for his protection.
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Another thing i thought would be fun is to use the link that the summoner and the Eidolon have combined with the ability for the eidolon to speak all the languages of the summoner to gradually let them form one entity in mind and body)
Example:
When the Eidolon is summoned (speaking in unison)
"We feel this is a suitable course of action, proceed"
When the Eidolon is not summoned
"This one thinks this is a suitable course of action, proceed"
I hope you like it
Thank you! I am certain i shall like it very much.
For some more flavor, i would like to have my eidolon take Intimidate as a class skill and add the following feats:
Intimidating prowess
Weapon focus (bite)
Dazzling diplay
And the evolution skilled (intimidate)
This way the (perhaps) wimpy summoner would speak through the eidolon and still be very "persuasive".
From a purely practical point of view: The Eidolon has quite a good chance to give bad guys the shaken condition, weakening them against the summoner's spells.