How would you feel about a Summoner that could summon multiple Eidolons (only one at a time), but had fewer evolution points to work with? He'd get access to maybe 3 eidolons and could only summon one per day as usual, but he could build them differently to use in different situations. One for massive combat, one for utility, one for aquatic stuff, one for flight etc. At level 20 when the regular summoner has 26 evolution points, this one would have maybe 19-20. He would be a weaker than the usual summoner but a lot more flexible.
What do you think?
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A variation that worked more like a pokemon summoner, and called forth one of select group of critters, for a limited time, could work, I suppose.
He would only be able to keep a critter active for X number of rounds or minutes / day, or perhaps he'd have to maintain concentration (and therefore take no action other than 5 ft. steps himself), but be able to have a number of Eidolons equal to his Charisma modifier (and whenever he leveled, he'd be able to upgrade each of them, but only totally reconfigure one of them, which might be 'flavored' as him having released that one and bound a different creature with different abilities / configuration).
The 'requires concentration' drawback would strongly compensate for the added utility of being able to pick and choose Eidolons on the fly (and help with the 'action economy' from a gameplay standpoint, since the Summoner won't have any meaningful actions to worry about). I'd actually prefer that to the limited number of rounds or minutes / day, since I like the idea of the long-term Eidolon, as a mount or companion, and not just something that shows up for a few rounds during combat and then winks out.
Another option would be to require him to spread his evolution points out between his critters. If a 10th level Summoner spends 7 evolution points to make his 'flying mount' both size large and capable of flight, he's got those 7 evolution points locked away and unavailable to his combat Eidolon, and only has 7 evolution points left for the other(s). (Although it would make sense that a Feat would exist for these sorts of multi-Summoners, giving them bonus Evolution points that can only be spent when one has multiple Eidolons, and can never allow one to go over the number of EPs a single Eidolon would have, sort of like a multi-Summoner version of Practiced Spellcaster or Natural Bond or whatever.)
Random thoughts;
As an Alternate Class Feature;
1) Total number of Eidolon 'options' no more than Cha modifier.
2) Divide Evolution points between them.
3) Upon level-up, can spread new Evolution point(s) as desired among current Eidolons.
4) Can only reconfigure *one* of those Eidolons on level up.
5) Can only add or subtract an Eidolon from the 'stable' upon level up.
6) While Evolution points are divided, each Eidolon benefits fully from other level-dependent features, like HD, Str/Dex bonuses, skill points and special features like Share Spells, Evasion and Link.
With a feat expenditure;
1) Can call out a second Eidolon while the first is still 'in play,' allowing one to play a Summoner who has his Evolution points divided between a pair of 'hell hounds' or whatever.