1. eidolons need to be at least as powerful, if not more powerful than a druid's animal companion.
considering a druid is by far more useful than a summoner is, the summoners pet should equally be better than the druids. Especially when you consider that the druid has the option to not even take a companion and is still a viable class. If you take away the Eidolon he is just a really crappy bard.
|
1. eidolons need to be at least as powerful, if not more powerful than a druid's animal companion.considering a druid is by far more useful than a summoner is, the summoners pet should equally be better than the druids. Especially when you consider that the druid has the option to not even take a companion and is still a viable class. If you take away the Eidolon he is just a really crappy bard.
Not even. Every single one of his class abilities( except the SLA ) are related to the Eidolon.
Not even. Every single one of his class abilities( except the SLA ) are related to the Eidolon.1. eidolons need to be at least as powerful, if not more powerful than a druid's animal companion.considering a druid is by far more useful than a summoner is, the summoners pet should equally be better than the druids. Especially when you consider that the druid has the option to not even take a companion and is still a viable class. If you take away the Eidolon he is just a really crappy bard.
Well those SLAs do count as nearly one third of the class abilities (SLAs, Eidolon, Spells) so saying "Every single one of his class abilities( except the SLA ) are related to the Eidolon." is framing the debate in a somewhat disingenuous manner.
I'm not saying that the eidolon isn't a significant amount of the summoner's strength and power but rather that the eidolon is a major component of the summoner but that comparing the druid + animal companion to the summoner + eidolon is basically going to be an exercise in frustration.
For better or worse the powers that be, WotC 3.x design team and Paizo design team, decided that clerical/druidic casting was much worse than even limited arcane casting. That's why the cleric and druid are so chock full of bennies. In contrast the arcane casters either are completely spell focused (wizards, sorcerors) or they are relatively mediocre half casters.
In comparing the summoner (arcane half caster) vs the bard (arcane half caster) I think the summoner stacks up fairly well. The Eidolon + Summoner combo has better combat utility than the bard, arguably a comparable spell selection, and excellent cannon fodder summoning abilities. The bard has significantly more skills and some group buffing abilities on top of a moderately decent spell list that's larger than the summoner's list but also has less battlefield control. As a result I'm not seeing how the summoner is out of balance with the bard, rogue, paladin, etc.
Now if the argument is that the druid is too powerful vis-a-vis every other linear class then I would agree. It's pretty obvious that in 3.x design decisions full casters are king. I simply don't think it's realistic to expect new base classes to be as good as the wizard, cleric and druid and further I don't think that it's necessarily desirable.
I had an idea regarding the magic item conundrum, and I thought I'd throw it out, to let people chew on.
Life Link talks about how the eidolon is connected to the summoner and so forth, what if instead of the current ban on eidolon armor and shared magic item slots, we banned magic items from the eidolon together (using the excuse that magic items screw up the summoner's connection) and add an ability that allows the summoner to transfer buffs, using the same shared soul connection.
As a free action (on the summoner's turn), the summoner can draw power from his magical items to further enhance his eidolon's ability. He can forgo the benefits any equipped magic items providing weapon enhancements, armor enhancements, natural armor enhancements, stat boosts or non-numeric magical effects and instead the eidolon gains the same effect for one round.
The flavor is a bit shaky, but better than the existing bit about slots, IMO. The actual ability wording is sloppy, but I think it's sufficient to get my point across. Opinions?
I had an idea regarding the magic item conundrum, and I thought I'd throw it out, to let people chew on.
Life Link talks about how the eidolon is connected to the summoner and so forth, what if instead of the current ban on eidolon armor and shared magic item slots, we banned magic items from the eidolon together (using the excuse that magic items screw up the summoner's connection) and add an ability that allows the summoner to transfer buffs, using the same shared soul connection.
As a free action (on the summoner's turn), the summoner can draw power from his magical items to further enhance his eidolon's ability. He can forgo the benefits any equipped magic items providing weapon enhancements, armor enhancements, natural armor enhancements, stat boosts or non-numeric magical effects and instead the eidolon gains the same effect for one round.
The flavor is a bit shaky, but better than the existing bit about slots, IMO. The actual ability wording is sloppy, but I think it's sufficient to get my point across. Opinions?
Completely unnecessary, which is the current problem to begin with. There is absolutely no reason to ban the eidolon from having magic items. It's auto-balanced by the double drain on the wealth of the summoner (who doesn't get more gold just because he's got a pet). The only way this is balanced and necessary is if the same rule gets applied to ALL classes with companions.
I had an idea regarding the magic item conundrum, and I thought I'd throw it out, to let people chew on.
Life Link talks about how the eidolon is connected to the summoner and so forth, what if instead of the current ban on eidolon armor and shared magic item slots, we banned magic items from the eidolon together (using the excuse that magic items screw up the summoner's connection) and add an ability that allows the summoner to transfer buffs, using the same shared soul connection.
As a free action (on the summoner's turn), the summoner can draw power from his magical items to further enhance his eidolon's ability. He can forgo the benefits any equipped magic items providing weapon enhancements, armor enhancements, natural armor enhancements, stat boosts or non-numeric magical effects and instead the eidolon gains the same effect for one round.
The flavor is a bit shaky, but better than the existing bit about slots, IMO. The actual ability wording is sloppy, but I think it's sufficient to get my point across. Opinions?
While I think that it is dumb that Summoner and E share equipment, I think this is better than what the current rule is, though I still feel that the nerf is not needed.