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My players should probably avoid this one.
I got to thinking about optional mechanics for someone's PC concept and my mind wandered here:
Using some of the Eidolin evolution mechanics for other purposes, good idea/bad idea/refinable idea?
The PC in question is in an evil campaign, trying to wrangle a deal with some powerful demon or devil so that he could secure a nice place in the afterlife for himself and skip past the judgment of Pharasma and the almost certain torment he's earned. I was toying with the idea of giving him a little mechanic like the faction prestige stuff from the Pathfinder Faction Guide:
Once he finally established a deal and relationship with a fiendish or divine patron, he could start gaining little perks according to how much esteem he had in their eyes. One of these perks would be a small pool of evolution points that would give him some manner of control over what his demonic/devilish/whatever form would be in his new home as an honored servant/guest of his patron. Just a little bonus for the concept that wouldn't really have much game impact.
Then I got to thinking about some of the Defensive Blast abilities in Conan RPG: Dangerous but powerful techniques that magic users could use when in dire straits.
Perhaps a demonologist, diabolist, or even someone who holds pacts with celestials could build a sort of emergency back-up form that they could transform into in a pinch, for a limited amount of time. Said form would give them a great boost, but it should also carry some real dangers, such as possibly losing control of yourself or even not surviving the traumatic transformation back to your normal form. The character could even run the risk of being pulled into the plane he's attuned to if he doesn't have the willpower to keep himself on the material plane. Or maybe they might simply explode at the end of their transformation's duration, as if they had overloaded with the power of their attuned plane or patron.
That kind of got me to thinking about a lot of outsiders as well. This is true especially for demons, but it could easily apply to all outsiders: Shouldn't beings of such power and infinite number be more varied? What about giving all outsiders a set number of evolution points(the number depending on the creature's hit dice, CR, or some other factor) that can be used to add little mechanical differences in the population of similar planar beings. Like Shiva-esque four-armed angels, venomous succubi, serpentine pit fiends, etc.
Just idle thoughts. Templates are probably best for mechanically solid creatures.
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PLAYERS, STILL STAY OUT. ESPECIALLY YOU.
One other detail:
The PC might actually get a mechanic to use in-game after all, thinking about it.
Depending on who his patron is and what deal he goes with, he might be setting up a small palace in the afterlife for himself. He's going to be given the ability to somehow mark the souls of a certain number of people according to his current prestige ranking with his patron. This will most likely be handled through deals of his own. Said souls become his servants for eternity after death.
I was thinking of letting the claimed souls have a certain number of evolution points as well, depending on their rank within the PC's collection(something like follower levels from Leadership, perhaps). The PC would be the one deciding how those evolution points are used.
An NPC that has been claimed may very well die before the PC. Heck, the PC might be killing them personally. Maybe the PC could be able to summon the claimed soul in its evolved form, as a sort of mini-eidolin. The PC's a necromancer, so it pretty much fits. But what should the cost be? How often should the ability be usable? Hm...
I'm really thinking of coming up with extra mechanical stuff for all of the PCs now, stuff they can earn by pursuing their goals. It's an evilish sandbox game, so a moderated amount of crazy should be allowable. The gnoll ranger is already planning on building up a big pack of hyenas and the cleric of Zon-Kuthon might just be getting the Sever combat maneuver for his exclusive use.
Just trying to keep these perks extremely flavorful but not game-wrecking.
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You could replace a standard summon monster or astral construct set of spells with a series of specific NPC mobs based on the spirits of slain foes.
For each, say, CR 1 foe killed, you get the option to call that critter back as a petitioner or eidolon or spirit form or einherjar or whatever, and when you hit a higher level, you can use a higher level version of that effect to call a CR 2 or whatever foe.
Depending on the other abilities the caster has, the effect could be just as powerful as a Summon Monster spell line, only with the caveat that the only creatures callable via this line start as skeletons and zombies similar to the Summon Undead line from Spell Compendium, but once the character has successfully killed some foes, perhaps in some specific manner (getting the death-blow on them, or killing them with a specific attack, or a coup de grace with a ritual dagger, or just beings that he has taken a trophy of some sort from, like a skull, heart, etc.).
Basing it on the taking of trophies, the caster might have to keep the body part or 'canopic jar' or 'soul box' or whatever it is to conjure their spirits and use them as his pokemon. More powerful entities might be too powerful for him to control, so even if he can take a trophy from them, he won't have a powerful enough spell or spell-like ability to conjure them up, yet...
And if he loses a specific trophy, he'll never be able to conjure that specific critter again, making it somewhat like a wizard's spellbook, in that he can have some of his 'powers' taken away, but, like a wizard's spellbook, he can spend the time and effort rebuilding his 'library' of trophies.
If it's a less powerful class than a primary spellcaster, you could ramp up to the Summon SLA of a Summoner, perhaps, with the longer duration and faster casting time.
I was working on this for a while, although I haven't done anything recently and it's far from finished. Still, it might be enough to steal some components from. Obviously, it's based on the Eidolon but is supposed to work in a way that makes evolutions available as a player class progression.
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Some great ideas here; I agree that the PF changes to some creatures in the Bestiary, the monster creation appendix, standardising Animal Companions, along with the Eidolon rules, make for good ways to create unique creatures and check they're balanced against what the players expect.
Long-term players can get jaded, and it's good to shake them up once in a while, either by re-skinning a creature, or making one from scratch.
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Players stay out on the outside, plz.
You could replace a standard summon monster or astral construct set of spells with a series of specific NPC mobs based on the spirits of slain foes.
more stuff
It's looking like the summon monster variant is definitely on tap as an option, playing off what you threw out there.
Considering that the PC is now wearing one of his own fingerbones as a necklace, it shouldn't be much of stretch for him to start collecting more. :D
I was working on this for a while, although I haven't done anything recently and it's far from finished. Still, it might be enough to steal some components from. Obviously, it's based on the Eidolon but is supposed to work in a way that makes evolutions available as a player class progression.
Awesome!
I think I'm going to run with these as separate options, to give multiple angles to the different patrons competing for this guy's soul(and other things besides). Summon slaves as the infernal option, transform to superform as the abyssal, etc.