synthesist - effect on diplomacy

[meatpants]

I have a few questions about when fused with eidolon.

First - once the shape the eidolon is selected is exactly the same each time. I have a player using it as a disguise.

Second - being fused with eidolon doesnt this affect skills like diplomacy? the player is interacting with everyone in the fused form. (would think that this would be distracting and annoying)

Also, how will normal people deal with them....I mean it does look very "monster like"

Third - Can items including armour be sundered and or slight of handed away when in eidolon form?

Forth - does enforcer, blade of mercy and the intimidate ability all stack? I have monsters more afraid of betting hit for non-lethal and running into attacks of oppourtunity - also they took a level of rogue and are sayign they get sneak attack damage for all attacks because of the blade of mercy supersedes the requirement the a weapon can only be used for non-lethal sneak attack damage if it doesnt deal with lethal damage.

Lastly - Armour - I know in the errata that the Synthesist armour doesnt count when fused, but what about the armour check penalty? Also I keep getting asked why the AC doesn't count since armour counts for flatfooted. I'm having difficulty explaining the rule. Is there something that explains the mechanics behind why it doesnt count?

I'm rather new to the Synthesist and I'm worried this is going to tear apart our gaming group. the players are all arguing about it...it's not resolving itself on its own....

HELP!

[Magicdealer]

Ok.

1. According to the synthesist entry, the eidolon is translucent. It won't work very well as a disguise because the fellow using it is still clearly visible.

2. Being fused doesn't have an automatic effect on diplomacy. The idea is once you allow that class into your campaign world, most people have a general enough understanding of what it is not to automatically throw rocks or something. Unless that's a specific part of your campaign. Also, it's just an image around the summoner. Now, you can certainly have people who are biased against summoners. I just wouldn't apply a penalty to everyone based on a class feature.

3. This is from the synthesist entry. "The synthesist and eidolon cannot take separate actions. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear..." Given that the synthesist can still access his backpack, weapons, pouches, and so on, I see no reason that those items couldn't be sundered.

4. Blade of mercy affects slashing weapons, changing it to nonlethal and negating the penalty for doing so. Enforcer grants free intimidates and can provide the shaken condition. It does stack, and there is a ninja build designed to do the same thing, but with sap adept, mastery, and more goodies stacked on top.

5. "While fused, the synthesist loses the benefits of his armor. He counts as both his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the synthesist." The armor check penalty is not a benefit, thus it still applies. As long as the summoner is fused with the eidolon, he enjoys all the drawback and limiting factors of his armor while gaining none of the benefits.

As for the second half of your question, I'm not really sure what you're asking. If you mean why doesn't the armor the summoner is wearing affect his ac when flatfooted, well, he gets no benefits from his armor while fused.

If it gets really bad, ask your player to roll up a new character.