I've seen a lot of FAQ regarding this archetype, and it's...robust. And even then, there seemed to be a lot of discussion surrounding it.
What would be the problem with switching out the Fused Eidolon traits with just giving them Merge Forms at level 1? Add a line stating they always count as being within reach of the eidolon for class abilities, state that any worn gear transfers to the eidolon if the eidolon is able to wear it, and clarify that the summoner can use his own skills so long as they aren't tied to the physical ability scores.
Honestly from what I've heard the class is being made unavailable in PFS so I wouldn't think they are going to"revisit" the synth in any significant fashion.
It is a shame as the archtype was very very good in a thematic sense as well as giving a mechanical way to built several (on the conservative side) concepts that are completely unavailable otherwise in the PFRPG system. Basically an amazing idea with horrible implementation. Not enough communication between the rules guys and guy with the idea and heck maybe the editors, not enough space to actually detail everything properly, etc. There were numerous places for things to go wrong and they ended up doing so.
Also given how polarized the community is with the subject, it is probably just best for Paizo to let it be, and I think they realize it. No matter what they do, they are going to tick off quite a few people. As is they've knocked around the hornets nest with the errata/FAQs and things really didn't get any better for it. People who love it are going to make the necessary alterations so it works for their games. People who hate it are going to disallow it and so as to not worry about it, with the occasional sneer when it is brought up.
In the end- The best advice, if you want to use it, ask the DM how they want to deal with it. A reasonable DM will work with you and fine tune the archtype for their campaign.
Another option if the DM is completely "anti-synth" is the Dreamscarred Press' Aegis class. Extremely similar idea, and while it does carry the "psionic" stigma, the actual implementation of the class doesn't have the holes the synth did and the psionic aspect of it never has to come into play (I think there are 3 abilities in total that actually reference psionic powers, otherwise power points are used to fuel class abilities).
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the problem that I'm guessing was the biggest issue was the complete dumping of physical stats, basically every synthesist (the way it comes out anyhow, who knows the truth is probably far less) were effectively 32pt builds and all were half elves.
So as example a lvl1 could potentially nearly always have str 16, dex 14, con 12, int 16, wis 16, cha 18 or something about like that... which is beastly.
it's just an example, but you can see why there were issues with it.
I'm not sure if you're having problems with this being accepted then you won't have any better luck with 3rd party solutions either probably....
If you're advocating it to be adjusted for PFS, I don't see that happening either as there's no way to make that class work and not have the same abuses.
That is only if you do a point buy system. I've actually never played in a game where that was used honestly, the standard for any of the game run by anyone in this area (in a non organized play) has been 4d6 boot the lowest roll, with 3d6 reroll ones being second place. For PFS I understand why but for most home games I don't think that was nearly as much of an issue. As far as failings for synth go, "good stats" is near the bottom of the issue list. The largest problem with the archtype (by numerous posts to back it up) were all of the rules condradictions or exceptions that had to be made for the thing to work. And because they weren't spelled out properly (rules wise) the changes made to "fix things" broke things further or obliterated the usefulness of the ability.
Again, more thought needed to be put into the archtype because of all the corner cases it required/opened up, that wasn't given. And so we got the mess that the synth is today.
One of the easy little fixes would be to remove the choice of natural armor or armor bonus and make it 50/50
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The archetype isn't that hard to figure out, there's very little that's that difficult about figuring out how it works. The wonkiest thing is healing it, which amounts to healing the guy inside as he channels his hp into it, and then he has to do the eidolon heal to bring it to 2+ hp...
The synthesist is awesome as is, there's a ton of character to the class and a ton of abilities.
I can't help but think Virgil is just upset due to the PFS changes, and nothing in a homebrew, otherwise, why post here like that?
Well to be fair, I'm not happy with the change to to PFS either and I don't even play in it. Rather than actually fix the issue, they are just sweeping it under the carpet. With something as innovative as the synth archtype and the range of character concepts it allows that are completely incapable of coming into being in such a setting as the PFS rule structure, it is just a horribly poor reaction from a company I expect more from.
I was just going off the pfsrd.com site. I've only heard of PFS. As I stated, I had my own questions & found zounds of discussions about it on this forum that were either undecided or notably changed once SKR started chiming in; and I was wondering if the above suggestion would be any better, balance especially. It's certainly seems more concise with less grey area for RaW/RaI debate.