My character kinda got killed yesterday and now I need a new one. So I thought, I'd give the Summoner a try.
We have access ONLY to core + APG! Not negotiable (Yes, I tried.)
My Eidolon will be a pure melee monster with lots of attacks, strength and high AC. But I'm not sure what to do with my summoner herself.
My character is a half-elf, so I can use ancestral arms to get access to any one weapon I want. We have Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Arms and Armor available, so getting good equipment shouldn't be a problem. She will start at level 6. 20-point-buy.
Going pure caster seems boring. Not enough spells to really contribute once a fight lasts more than a couple of rounds or if we have 3+ enccounters per day. And ranged combat is always nice, but the Summoner lacks the feats to make good use of it anytime soon.
So I thought of the following:
STR 18 (15 + 2 racial + 1 level 4)
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 9
Cha 15 (will be raised at 8)
Main weapon: Something with reach. Probably a Lucern Hammer. Or a longspear, using ancestral arms to get proficiency with nets so I can entangle opponents.
My AC should be at least decent (chainshirt +1, ring +1, shield ally, barkskin) and I could improve it by 4 points with Aspect at level 10.
My attack with a +1 weapon, power attack and arcane strike would look like +7 (1dx + 15), which isn't too bad for level 6.
I really like the idea of being able to fight alongside my Eidolon without being on the very frontline. I do, however, see some problems with this build:
- My attacks won't be that good in a couple of levels. Offensive equipment upgrades will mostly go to the eidolon. Buffs like heroism and haste could help a little, but it's probably still a better idea to keep the eidolon buffed, not myself. I'm not convinced that my melee attacks will do any good at levels 10+, meaning any melee feats taken will go to waste.
- High strength means low charisma. My save-or-else spells will be unreliable. Might have to skip them completly.
- Even with a reach weapon, I'm still dangerously close to the front line.
Any idea how I could make this work? Can it work at all?
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I tried to do something similar and I believe it would have worked out much better if I'd just focused on the spellcasting instead. I do know that in later levels Weapon Focus would have been much more useful than Power Attack.
After 7th level, I used Charm Monster a lot. Improved Initiative would have been very helpful to avoid the -5 "your allies are already attacking the target" penalty to the save DC. Even if you aren't charming, there were plenty of times when the rest of the party was delaying until I could cast Haste.
I'd also max out your linguistics. You want to be able to give directions to anything you're summoning or charming. A reasonable amount of handle animal is also good.
If you want to contribute to melee you may want to go with mounted feats. There's a feat that gives you a full attack if your mount uses standard movement and one that grants double damage on charges... which is pretty awesome if your summoner has four arms and proficiency with a lance 0,0
It's not so much that I want to contribute to melee. It's just that I want to contribute in an at least slightly reasonable way (i.e. more than a crossbow bolt), even when I can't or won't cast any spells.
I have no illusions about coming even close to the offensive potential of a real melee character - or my eidolon, for that matter. But being able to deal a few points additional damage would be nice.
A decent archer might work. I'd get point-blank and precise shot and use arcane strike for additional damage without attack penalty. I could get Rapid Shot and Manyshot next. That would alow for some ranged damage with a not-too-low attack bonus. The problem is, spending 5 feats on what's basically just a fallback-option seems wasteful.
Then again, I don't really see many good feats for the summoner so I might as well use them for archery.
Still not sure...
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since your starting at level 4, take medium armor proficiency and a mithral breastplate. Use ancestral arms for a decent reach weapon.
Your looking at a baseline 20 AC as long as you stay within reach of your eidolon (you did give him the reach evolution right).
As for spells. Buffs work bettr for summoners. I would lower charisma down to 14 and raise intelligence to 12 for the skill points. Alternately, you could dump Dex and take a level of Lore Oracle with sidestep secret. Use your Charisma for AC and Reflex.
Summoner 3 Lore Oracle 1
Str 18
Dex 9
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 16
+1 Mithral Breastplate
Fauchard
AC 22 (+7 AC, +3 Cha, +2 shield)
Init +5
Traits: reactionary, noble scion(war)
Feats: Arcane Strike(1), Power Attack(3)
Funny, my last character was going to use a Mithral Armor but I never thought about MIthral it when looking at the Summoner. Thanks for the advice. I'll keep the idea in mind. Getting a Mithral Breastplate right now will be tough, though, as it's pretty expensive. I'll look into it.
I will not multiclass however. To me, the summoner is pretty much the last class that should give up its progression. Sidestep Secret is nice, but 1-level-dips are a bit too munchkinny for my taste. Also, I'm not too concerned about my AC. That should be ok-ish. I only worry about the viability of my attacks, especially on later levels (10+).
i always wanted to try a summoner, with an eidolon with a dragon type form.
Take mounted combat, ride by attack, spirited charge etc.
Take eidolon with wings, claws, bite, tail, and pounce. Makes one hell of a charge round.
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Either way is viable, the goal is simply to remove the summoner as the weak point. With the right armor and stats a summoner can stand on the front lines right next to their eidolon.
At higher level, don't forget warding weapon allows you to cast without provoking, very useful if you need to cast mid-fight.
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i always wanted to try a summoner, with an eidolon with a dragon type form.
Take mounted combat, ride by attack, spirited charge etc.
Take eidolon with wings, claws, bite, tail, and pounce. Makes one hell of a charge round.
If the rumors I'm hearing about 4.2 are true, I was already planning on this exact idea.
Is why I already had build ideas for this thread.
As I said, Core + APG only. No Warding Weapon spell or Fauchard for me. Oh, and no traits, either (unless bought by feat).
I'm still not sure my attacks will do any good later on. At level 10 I'd probably have a weapon +2, Str 18 (+Str belt goes to eidolon), arcane strike, power attack and maybe weapon focus. That's like +14/+9 attack, 1dx + 11 damage without power attack. Guess it could work when I go for flanking and maybe use heroism on myself if needed. And Furious Focus might actually come in handy for once.
Doesn't leave much room for caster feats, though.
With the Fauchard unavailable, what would be a good weapon to use? Lucern hammer? Bardiche?