So I will have a summoner in my group for the first time very shortly, and I am currently thinking through how I will run/handle the summoner's eidolon.
From my perspective I think the Eidolon brings with it a great opportunity for some interestings scenes involving the Eidolon/Summoner, Eidolon/Group, and the Eidolon/Environment dynamic. With it being such a major potion of the Summoner's abilities, I certainly don't want it to become another case of the amazing appearing disappearing familiar/animal companion, ever present when needed but never present when not.
I am leaning towards me being the life behind the eidolon, allowing the player to issue commands to it as wanted (an all dice rolls for the creature), but I would be the one interpretting the commands and being the personality behind the creature (understanding the concept that the eidolon is an extension of the summoner). Please note, I am a fair GM and I am not looking to 'hurt' my player in anyway buy this, aka the 'wish' spell debate, but I have only known a few players who can run two different personalities, and beleive that running it this way may add to the game more.
How do you run eidolons in your games?
I do what i do for all summoned monsters and animal companions. The eidolon is run by another player at the table. Thus I dont add to my workload with npc enemies and allies, and the players have to interact to get stuff done (the second player has to interpret and respond to requests and orders). It also helps mitigate a major issue of these kinds of classes where the player takes up more time then everyone else because that is shared around the table, particularly if there are a bunch of summons, animal companions, or cohorts.
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@Kolokotroni: I actually really like this solution... Consider it stolen!
I don't have a problem with eidolons specifically because neither Alchemists nor Summoners exist in the campaign setting I play (they're incompatible with a couple basic assumptions about how the world works).
Normally I just let the player run the NPC that they hire/control/summon/etc because 99% of the time anything they do would be reasonable (and the rest I can still override), but I like Kolo's solution so I'm probably going to do that now.
@Kolokotroni: I actually really like this solution... Consider it stolen!
I don't have a problem with eidolons specifically because neither Alchemists nor Summoners exist in the campaign setting I play (they're incompatible with a couple basic assumptions about how the world works).
Normally I just let the player run the NPC that they hire/control/summon/etc because 99% of the time anything they do would be reasonable (and the rest I can still override), but I like Kolo's solution so I'm probably going to do that now.
Go for it, glad to be of service.
