Ultimate Magic Page 79. Seems to point to player controlling the Eidolon.
Hordes of Summoned Monsters
The broodmaster and master summoner archetypes can
potentially have 5, 10, or even more summoned creatures
in play. This is a deliberate feature of these archetypes,
and means that the summoner can potentially be a strong
candidate for “solo” adventuring by one player. However, in
the hands of an inexperienced or moderately experienced
player, dealing with all of those creatures in combat can
take a long time, forcing other players to wait extended
periods between their turns in the initiative. It is strongly
recommended that GMs only allow these archetypes for
experienced players, or decide on a way to speed up the
summoner’s turn (such as by allowing other players to
control some of the summoned monsters).
Its a separate character largely under the players control. Unless I'm missing something, they can all talk, even the snake and quadruped. Normally the player (who has multiple personalities anyway) runs it. I may interject an occasional comment if the player misses something, its funny, or the summoner needs to be hauled off somewhere by the scruff of his neck for his own good like one of those nature videos...
This would actually be my preference as a Summoner player.My take on the whole subject is simple really.
You have full control of what your Eidolon does (especially in combat), however it is an NPC, the same as a familiar or a Cohort taken through Leadership. The personality should be developed by the player, but RPed by the DM.
What he sayes, and how he reacts to events should be determined by the DM.
In general I agree with this, though it might be hard for the GM to play a character (properly) he did not create or in some cases he might not want to (Alvin the Giant Gay Space Hamster). It is best to sort these things out beforehand.
It is much like summon monster, if you summon a demon you know it is evil and cruel you can tell it what to do and will do it though it will fill in details according to it's personality. By default I assume an eidolon shares the summoners personality to some extent unless the player goes through the trouble to flesh it out, with that and the telepathic bond 'conflict' should be rare if RP'ed well.
I think this sort of thing is left deliberately vague in the rules, only giving rule 0, meaning the GM gets to decide but it would be bad form to abuse this.
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I play bestial eidolons like i would a sentient animal companion. Usually, I don't allow them to speak (since that would be pretty difficult, plus I'd be talking to myself a lot), but they are self aware. They can and will make actions on their own volition (their faithfulness to their summoner depends on the character I'm playing). But considering their mute, I try to display their personalities via their actions rather than words. For example, the other day my eidolon was wailing on a possessed good NPC. I'd transposed my summoner into another room to get the eidolon there (long story), and the eidolon began to fight. However, after it dealt the NPC about 50 damage in one attack (since the guy was level 7 or so, that's about half his health), and she noticed that the other members of the party were coming up, she immediately backed up and allowed them to fight it instead, since the eidolon understood that if it continued to attack, it might accidentally kill the guy, and that the PCs (being smaller and also more careful) stood a better chance of a non-violent exorcism, so to speak. The summoner gave it no commands to do so (the summoner was still trying to get to the scene), it simply acted knowing that it was preferable to keep the man alive rather than accidentally rip him apart in an attempt to get the possessing spirit out.
I try to do this as often as possible, especially if the eidolon is fighting alone. It will obey the summoner's orders to an extent, and jump to protect him when he's down on his luck, but it can ad will make its own decisions. Considering that the eidolon is essentially a corporeal imaginary friend though, and thus an extension of either the summoner's personality, or an idealized version of what the summoner believes to be a faithful companion, I usually do have the eidolon act as the summoner would have ordered it to act anyway, but I allow it to be autonomous.
Note that it is very rare for an eidolon to be left on its own, as they typically disappear whenever the summoner loses consciousness or they get too far away, although there are some exceptions. One such exception occurred when another player character went through a portal that led to another plane with my summoner's eidolon (on whom the summoner had just cast a newly learned Unfetter spell). They spent some quality time together as she wondered what her summoner was going to do (since they were out of mental contact with each other for the first time ever) and whether she was just minutes away from a painful banishment when that spell wore off.
I had a real roleplaying challenge there, as summoner and eidolon were dealing with a situation that was for them unprecedented and therefore traumatic, even though I as a player knew exactly what was going on.
I had a blood god disciple. The half-orc (Kifah) and the eidolon (Vorac) had a battle brother's thing going on. She was the priestess and he was the avatar of Gorum. She tended to be battle favoring snarky and vorac is battle favoring practical simplicity.
Kifah died and as the "Last Sacrament" her body was given as a sacrifice to Gorum when she fell. Doing this resulted in Vorac becoming an unfetterd eidolon.
My group has always presumed the player has control of the Eidolon.
I played a tiefling summoner, who was saved from a cult as a child, and had a Leonal guardinal soul-bound to me to force me to take the path of Good. I had fun trying to play my character as always tempted by Evil, while the Eidolon was my conscience... admittedly, one who could physically beat me if I stepped out of line.
The biggest problem with it is managing the two personalities in my head. Having conversations with yourself is a valuable GM-skill, and one I'm still developing.
In my group animal companions are controlled by the player. And always do what the player wants (in the case of the companion, possibly following a handle animal check). However the player actually *look* to me as the GM to 'play' the animal's personality so she can get RP from it. It's fun for both of us, and it helps her form an emotional attachment to the creature rather than treating it as she would her halfling sling or armour or what have you.
Every player I've ever played with (who have all been friends, never done organised play etc) has behaved that way, including me when I'm a player. Its just a culture thing. If we RPd our own pets, it would feel a bit schizophrenic I think. But the pet is always going to do as it's master demands. Many of the 'masters' I've played with on the other hand actively develop a more touchy feely relationship and only *ask* their companions/pets to do things, giving them a lot of latitude.
This last thing may in fact be all my fault, now I think about it, for drilling into them over the course of a couple of decades what happens to mages and shaman in Shadowrun if they abuse their summons and they happen to break free...
Anyway.
Point being, I can't imagine a player being so closed to the idea of the GM playing their pet/eidolon/summoned monster/hireling/henchmen/what have you. Yes they do as they're told unless there's a compelling reason (like they've been charmed or something), but they are distinct beings. Which to me means NPC, which to me means the GM is free to portray the personality as they see fit, providing the creature continues to provide the player character with the benefits they have invested in. We play to roleplay with each other, not with ourselves (and to kill monsters and take their stuff, obviously), these kinds of companions are an excuse for that - why miss out?
In terms of personality for an eidolon? They're outsiders. They could be highly simple personalities, or all kinds of twisted up. Give it an origin story (see numerous posts in the thread with some great examples), and give it to your GM, and the rest will probably take care of itself. If you're a GM, I would get my player to write an origin story and then I'd run with it for them, as appopriate for drama, progressing the storyline, and comedy demands.
My Eidolon is a 2 headed werewolf named RipperJack. Since gaining the second head, I have split his personality into Ripper and Jack. Ripper is the grim, brooding, natural born killer. He doesnt speak much, growls more often, and doesnt seem to care about anyone else but my summoner. Jack on the other hand, is much more friendly and social. He's more talkative as well (much to Ripper's chagrin) and responds very warmly to affection from his mistress. ("Who's a good doggie? You are! Yes you are!", vigorous tail thumping follows) Of course anyone else who might try to pet Jack would probably pull back a bloody stump, courtesy of Ripper.
My Summoner is a Gloaming - a winged halfling-like race from FR - named Leilah with an unnamed Eidolon loosely based off Lavos from Chrono Trigger. It doesn't speak (7 int), but it does screech and howl and make other noises in combat and occasionally out. Leilah explains it as the Eidolon being an animate part of her "light" (soul), mostly representing her more aggressive, animalistic nature channeled into a form that can protect her better than her frail physical body, while she herself retains the intellect and reasoning capability.
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To touch back on the OP's post, I've got an upcoming summoner character that I'm building for PFSOP.
My good friend and I both got Fetchling boons at Paizocon this year, so we're building a pair of twins. Noir and Blanc. Noir is the face (summoner), Blanc is the business end of the duo (rogue). Since they both grew up on the plane of Shadow, they're both a bit naive about this strange Material plane, and after spending several months here, they're starting to get the hang of it.
The way I'm rolling it, Noir heard stories of these magnificent creatures called Phase Spiders and his imagination ran wild. A huge (large, actually), arachnid, with horrible venom and the ability to phase in and out of reality... The perfect assassins!
Considering he worships Norgorber, he decided these creatures were absolutely magnificent and, one morning, woke up to find a tiny one watching over him. Without ever actually seeing what one looked like, he managed to call this strange outsider to him, and now he's fawning over it and helping it to grow and develop as he, himself, learns about the material realm.
Gris, the "Shadow Spider" as he's being called (he obviously came from the plane of shadow, since he's too cool to be of the material realm), is inquisitive, generally quiet (though when he "speaks" he simply emanates this otherworldly disembodied voice), and is rather fond of his doting master. He's also taken on the more murderous aspects of his master's religious nature, and revels in the chance to enter combat, as well as the opportunity to terrorize children and animals.
As it's PFSOP, I control Gris, but I also make sure to give him his own distinct personality.
EDIT: Also, I plan on making it resemble a Phase Spider, but since Noir has so little information on them and no way to tell if it looks right, as it evolves it will gain other mutations that he simply feels are appropriate, even as it starts to resemble a Phase Spider less and less.
I am my own creature and I speak for myself. That fop over there is just so I can stay on this plane. I keep him alive and he keeps me here. Frankly, sometimes I wish he would just shut up already.
Owen -- I think that you have hit on the real reason many people play a standard summoner. They have a character concept that does not fall within the standard rules but that can be constructed as an eidolon. So they build the character that they really want and then give that character a summoner companion to make it game legal.
Works for me.
Owen -- I think that you have hit on the real reason many people play a standard summoner. They have a character concept that does not fall within the standard rules but that can be constructed as an eidolon. So they build the character that they really want and then give that character a summoner companion to make it game legal.
Works for me.
I'd gag him and stick him in a bag of holding if I could. Frankly, he's a moron.