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An eidolon is an outsider. A summoner summons an aspect of their eidolon, which has most of the standard outsider traits. It has 60-ft. darkvision and it needs to breathe, but doesn't need to eat or sleep. It doesn't get the proficiency with simple and martial weapons that most outsiders get since that's specifically excluded in the description. The fact that Raise Dead, Resurrection, and Reincarnate don't work on it are largely irrelevant. It can be diseased, poisoned, critically hit, and it bleeds just like any outsider.
It doesn't heal naturally, so ability damage needs to be magically healed.
It's possible to semi-permanently kill an eidolon with constitution damage. The easiest way to fix that is 4th level Purified Calling spell.
There's been nothing official on Life Link and Life Bond that I've seen. I'd recommend getting the Diehard feat for both the summoner and eidolon.
So I have been reading around in the forums and I cant seem to find any real explanation of what an eidolon actually is.
Not really a game response here, but here are some references to eidolons in literature:
The Greek's came up with the word Eidolon (eye-DOLE-ann) which is where we get the word Idol. Basically an image/manifestation of some otherworldly figment or departed spirit. A lot of them were portrayed in pottery art as having animal bits and peices.
Anyway, sorry to threadjack...back to the discussion at hand...
So I have been reading around in the forums and I cant seem to find any real explanation of what an eidolon actually is.
Not really a game response here, but here are some references to eidolons in literature:
The Greek's came up with the word Eidolon (eye-DOLE-ann) which is where we get the word Idol. Basically an image/manifestation of some otherworldly figment or departed spirit. A lot of them were portrayed in pottery art as having animal bits and peices.
Anyway, sorry to threadjack...back to the discussion at hand...
well done. i liked the whitman piece
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I'm also wondering where it says they are Outsiders.
Emphasis mine in all cases.
page 54: "This practitioner of the arcane arts forms a close bond with one particular outsider, known as an eidolon, who gains power as the summoner becomes more proficient at his summoning."
page 55: "A summoner begins play with the ability to summon to his side a powerful outsider called an eidolon."
page 58: "A summoner may cast spells on his eidolon even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the eidolon’s type (outsider)."
I'm sure you see my point. (Not trying to be smart-alecky or anything, just want to be thorough.) I read the bit you quoted, and I think it's just awkward phrasing on the part of the writers. There's never anything to suggest that an eidolon is anything but an outsider.
Also, my quote from page 58 should clear up your other question. The two things are separate: you can cast personal-range spells on your eidolon and also the eidolon's creature type is irrelevant for any spells you want to cast on it.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Puckett
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The Greek's came up with the word Eidolon (eye-DOLE-ann) which is where we get the word Idol. Basically an image/manifestation of some otherworldly figment or departed spirit. A lot of them were portrayed in pottery art as having animal bits and peices.
Also: Socrates always claimed that he had a personal eidolon he called a "daemon" that acted as his conscience, reminding him that he was just a man and not even a particularly smart one. His occasional discussions on his daemon are part of what got him killed, since one of the charges leveled at him during his trial was impiety (or worshiping weird gods).
This is one of the reasons that one of concepts for a future Pathfinder game is a faux-Greek summoner battle-philosopher with an eidolon that occasionally lectures his master about ethics. XD
Jeremy Puckett
Where does it say eidolons don't heal naturally? I know if it is killed and sent back, it is generally resummoned with only half hit points, but if it is wounded on the material plane, and remains on the material plane long enough to rest and heal, I see no reason why it wouldn't.
At the very bottom of page 55 of the APG: "The eidolon does not heal naturally."
Ah, I see it.
Are we so sure that it isn't just referring to not being able to heal naturally on its own plane after being killed?
Plus, it specifically states that the eidolon, if slain, returns with half its normal hit points. It would seem to me that if it was capable of healing on it's own plane, why would it come back at only half strength?
The lack of natural healing is offset by the rejuvenate spells the summoner can (and should!) take.
Not sure if the eidolon is affected by other forms of healing, such as a cure light wounds or clerical channeling. I wouldn't think so as an outsider, but....
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Not sure if the eidolon is affected by other forms of healing, such as a cure light wounds or clerical channeling. I wouldn't think so as an outsider, but....
Sure, it's a living creature and not specifically excluded from clerical healing. Rejuvenate eidolon gives slightly more than a cure spell and doesn't tie up many resources, since the summoner is a spontaneous caster. If I was playing a cleric, I'd be very leery if the party summoner started asking for cures for his eidolon.
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According to the APG, "The eidolon’s physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature."
So could it appear as an ethereal creature? Or a bipedal blob of goo? Does an eidolon breathe? or eat? Can it be diseased or poisoned? Does it bleed? Would criticals work against it? Since it can't heal naturally what about ability damage?
I think the intent is, 'make it look cool, but don't take the piss.'.
EG, don't declare it looks like a double of the campaign BBEG, so you can wreck the campaign.
Don't make it transparent, or ooze-like, or any other advantage unless you have a mechanical reason to back it up.
On the contrary, I'd say you could make it both transparent and ooze-like without any mechanical reasons to back it up, provided that you don't attempt to claim any benefit from doing so. "Yes, it may have the shape of a transparent cube of jelly, but it still is just as visible because it distorts things you see through it, and it can't squeeze into a tiny space because it has to stay as a cube."
I let a PC make a 2-headed eidolon without taking the evolution for a second head... but the second head didn't provide any of the advantages of having a second head, nor did it allow more bite attacks, or the purchase of more bite attacks, or anything else. Once he had enough levels, he was going to take that evolution, and the second head would start doing things (he swapped characters before then, though).