Eidolon questions...

[coastalsoul5]

I just started playing a summoner in the PFS and I have some questions. Eidolons share spells correct... like a companion or familiar? My understanding is they can even share spells that normally will not share with other share spell classes such as targeting the eilodon with enlarge person? I played 3.5 forever and if you played a druid u could cure light wounds on both the caster and the companion (healing both with a single spell). Or you could target your companion with spells that were normally personal like mage armor (if you also levels in sorcerer or wizard).
The build I made is a halfling ride on summoner... and there is some issues with the logistics of how mounted character works. When initiative occurs do we act separately or together. Generally, I think familiars and companions go on the chatacters initiative, but I can see the reason that can be a problem (loading the character with a high dex and the eilodon/ companion/ familiar going quickly even if it somehow has a low init. At the last PFS game i attended the judge made me roll for each then I had to delay to the other... meaning both usually went really late in the round. That seems to be a reasonable balancing feature but i am curious if there is a cannon response. Also, I am assuming I do not need to use handle animal (as a couple people have suggested) since my eilodon has an int of 7 and can understand all my languages.
Any answers would be appreciated!

[Grick]

coastalsoul5 wrote:

Eidolons share spells correct...

Share Spells (Ex): "The summoner may cast a spell with a target of “you” on his eidolon (as a spell with a range of touch) instead of on himself. A summoner may cast spells on his eidolon even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the eidolon's type (outsider). Spells cast in this way must come from the summoner spell list. This ability does not allow the eidolon to share abilities that are not spells, even if they function like spells."

This does two things.

1) If a spell has a target of "You", then you may cast it on your eidolon instead of on yourself. Example: Shield has "Target you" which means you can't cast it on the party fighter, because he is not you. But you can cast it on your Eidolon, because of Share Spells.

2) If a spell does not affect outsiders, it can still affect the eidolon. Example: Enlarge Person has "Target one humanoid creature" so normally it will not affect your Eidolon, because it's an outsider, but because of Share Spells, you can cast it on him.

coastalsoul5 wrote:

I played 3.5 forever and if you played a druid u could cure light wounds on both the caster and the companion (healing both with a single spell).

The ability does not work that way.

coastalsoul5 wrote:

When initiative occurs do we act separately or together.

Technically each creature would get it's own initiative. It's almost always run at the Summoner's init for ease of use. Expect table variation.

coastalsoul5 wrote:

At the last PFS game i attended the judge made me roll for each then I had to delay to the other... meaning both usually went really late in the round.

He was breaking the rules by forcing this to happen. It probably makes the table run a lot better if you volunteered to do this, though. Summoners seem to dominate tables in PFS.

coastalsoul5 wrote:

I am assuming I do not need to use handle animal (as a couple people have suggested) since my eilodon has an int of 7 and can understand all my languages.

The eidolon is not an animal. You can tell him what to do, or he can do whatever he thinks is best. You don't even need to speak (using Link (Ex)) to give it mental commands, though technically it's a free action so some DMs may force you to do it on your turn, unlike speaking which can be done out of turn.

[Maezer]

1a, the summoner cast spells on the eidolon that he is normal not at a valid target for ala Enlarge person.

1b, you do not get a free second casting of the spell. There is a feat: Improved Shared Spell that lets you duplicate a spell at the cost of halving the duration.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-share-spells

2a, By RAW, all creatures have their own initiative. A creature serving as a mount acts on its controllers initiative. In practice its rarely worthwhile to separate animal companions as they are largely dependent on instructions. You should not have been forced to delay, each character should act indipendently unless mounted. But if your familiar or eidolon is going to act independently it certainly needs its own initiative.

2b, Handle animal isn't needed. Mounts actions you get a mount to do are fairly limited to move/charge/attack though. You do need to make the appropriate ride checks if mounted for the various mounted actions.

[Theconiel]

Grick wrote:

coastalsoul5 wrote:

At the last PFS game i attended the judge made me roll for each then I had to delay to the other... meaning both usually went really late in the round.

He was breaking the rules by forcing this to happen. It probably...

I am playing a summoner, normally using my eidolon as my mount. We usually do it this way, if I am riding. While it does simplify combat, that is secondary. I prefer to act together because I like to charge with the eidolon. Cheney then gets three attacks (pounce evolution) and Fenzle gets one also (if the target survives Cheney's attacks).

On a side note, I wonder whether a Creationist GM would disallow eidolons because of their evolutions.

[coastalsoul5]

Thanks for the opinions... i am just trying to be ready for the next table judge who tries to tell me something different. I wish there was more cannon answers. Some of the questions are obvious (like the fact that the Eidolon needs a handle animal when its int is 7 and it understands speech when that makes no sense). As we know judges are merely the sum of their experiences and if they have only delt with animal companions then I understand their perspective. It seems like i will just be more proactive and try to talk to the judge a little before the game and just roll with it.

[Michael Foster 989]

Arguably the GM can have you roll for both you and the eidolon and you both act seperately (I usually just have the player roll his init unless he has bought feats like improved initiative etc as obviously if he is optimising his initiative he wants to go before the eidolon and thus they can roll seperately).

Also in the case that you are using the eidolon as a mount and you roll seperate initiatives you both move on the mounts init (if its first) and attack on your own inits (if your 2nd) if your first then technically you have to delay till your mount can move or you can attack on your initiative if someone is in range.