So let me start with a rant. I am one of this people who got really upset when the summoner came out. It seems that the summoner class can do the job of the martial classes and more. I have actually banned the class in my games. When I play in games where someone plays a summoner, I generally build my class to support the summoner's pet/pets because other classes just don't have as much to offer as that darn summoner. And I figure if you can't beat em, join em. No point in complaining to the summoner's player about how broken the class is, it just ruins his fun too.
With that said, it is not just the summoner that has issues. Many of the magic using classes can outclass the martial classes. I hate banning classes. I don't want to ban the summoner. It looks like a really fun class, despite the power.
I am wondering what kind of solutions other DMs have come up with to bring a little balance without harming fun, banning classes, or outright changing rules. In my games I use a high point buy for stats, higher than average hit points, and the high wealth option, as all these changes seem to play into the hands of the martial classes.
Has anyone else come up with or used similar tweaks?
Chris
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Maximum attacks per round: 2. For ever. Unless you have haste in which case 3. Ever. Period.
Without jumping into the middle of discussions about caster vs. martial balance or the summoner class as a whole (where I think there are plenty of differing opinions), here are a few plays from my (amazing) GM's playbook that can help balance a character of any type that is lagging behind others in the party.
1. Don't worry about wealth by level or equal level in a party. If someone is struggling create situations in which they can come across something to help dig them out: a new sword, boots of teleportation, wings of flying. Whatever it takes. He's used gifts by friends and lovers (especially at the end of a given adventure) as his main instrument here, sometimes giving someone something worth a few thousand and another worth tens of thousands. It all depends on who needs what.
2. Higher point buy. This really serves to close gaps that can open up with people that have high system mastery and people more concerned with background or fluff. Higher stats and better point buy tends to reward martial characters in particular, who often need multiple high stats. This tends to really punish druids with companions and summoners, who have companions built with a set selection of points. They don't get stronger in the same way when everyone else does. In a very high stat game we saw a summoner getting absolutely steamrolled, because he lagged behind in attack, damage, armor class, and saves relative to frontliners.
3. Strict interpretation of rules. This one is kind of sticky and works primarily to balance casters, who can get out of hand with a lenient DM. Things like teleport, sending, and divinations have broad definitions for what defines familiar or what information someone gets precisely so the GM can control their use more readily. Stick to them more strictly and draw lines more harshly to mitigate their effects.
4. Have enemies retreat. This one killed me when I first saw it in play. Basically, I think many GMs tend to have enemies fight to the death even as circumstances work against them. This is especially true of battlefield control spells and debuffs. Basically, when enemies are losing and starting to fight an uphill battle with debuffs, enemy buffs, and battlefield control have them pull back or run away. Force the PC to chase them into a disadvantageous circumstance. It really tends to kick spellcaster heavy partys right in the nuts, since they have expended a lot of resources setting up a battlefield that they they have to charge into / undo.
5. Special training, faction benefits, or unique powers for PCs lagging behind. My Wizard PC has been in play since the Core Rulebook and has been lagging behind the more recent caster PCs built using options from the APG, Ultimate Magic, and other sources. The GM in turn basically let her pick up a pair of free spell focus feats via one of her organizations - which she has been a part of for years to help balance out the greater build flexibility seen in new characters built from scratch instead of organically leveled.
6. Have real consequences for shortcuts. PCs that stiff creatures on planar binding can quickly gain a reputation that colors interactions with future bound creatures, outsiders the party interacts with, other spellcasters, and priests of all stripes. They could even end up with outsiders sending people or other outsiders to get the party over such actions. This is especially true with beings like efreeti who are lawful and evil, who work within a hierarchy, and who likely don't take kindly to being enslaved and having their powers forced from them. A wizard binding a single efreeti to get a wish out of him is an encounter that might have long term repercussions as that powerful being and his allies work against the party. A wizard binding a number of efreeti towards that end is probably looking at a quick and brutal death. These are cool and useful spells that can add a lot of life to a game, but can be abused if a GM lets a player play only by the RAW with no outside campaign world consequences for such actions.
The same is true of charm or domination spells - these can be shortcuts to rapid resolution of a given social encounter but will in the long term bite the party in the ass. Kings, rulers, and other powerful individuals will refuse to meet privately with them. People will despise the casters for stripping away their free will. I could see many people drawing a parallel between enchantment spells and rape. Create ethical dilemmas with them that if unresolved turn into social repercussions for the party.
Nah, my game doesn't need tweaks, and the summoner isn't broken. Its a high tier 2 class and that is it. Its "campaign wrecking" ability is overstated, people bring up the super tuned version of it and compare it to bad builds of the other classes and go and cry cheese. Or try to compare what summoners are supposed to be good at to a role another class could care less about because its doing its own thing. Its like saying that somebody is a bad race car driver because they can't make a souffle.
Now there is a general disparity between most of the casting classes and the pure and narrowly focused martials. Even then a well built martial in terms of raw output and sustainability can hold his own for a very long time. Note that to play at high levels a martial needs to keep his system mastery at the same level the casters do (meaning no trap builds that peak too early) and make sure their wealth level is used properly and the GM is staying close to the guidelines (I've seen a lot of instances where GMs are stingy with wealth and wonder why the martials are struggling). Martial characters actually require more upkeep and planning since unlike casters, they can't go back on their decisions (casters can just prepare different spells, or swap spells out as they level, not really an option for martial characters who are invested in feats and expensive items that are a pain to purchase due to city wealth limits and stingy GMs).
Now one thing I can't deny is some of the very focused classes just suck, they require insane levels of system mastery to even get up to filling their own role let alone being actually good at it. I'm looking at you rogue. At least the ninja has good ki and tricks to use them on. You on the other hand are crappy at dealing damage, have poor BAB and proficiencies, your best builds are feat intense and often take too long to be viable (its nice when you get a build to peak, but surviving that long swinging a sock with an orange in it is troublesome). Skill monkey is no longer a role since other classes do it better and the other things you are supposed to do better as well. Anybody can be a party face as well. The classes that have similar problems give up to much flexibility to be good at their one thing. Or they shine in situations that don't come up in every campaign.
Cavalier is actually pretty powerful when built right, but its power is crippled by the environment that most combats seem to be fought in. Which is places that horses can't go. They also peak a bit early as a martial class because after they get their ride by attack lance built they don't really get much better without use of prestige classes or multi classing (horse master is an key feat for multiclassing cavs) A buff focused cavalier with battle herald and pathfinder chronicler is really amazing party support in terms of actions and +'s to hit and damage. Oh and when the stars align can still deliver devastating lance blows.
On terms of obeying the rules, that is a big factor in how powerful casters can be. I remember one game where somebody used Neutralize poison potions without reading the pathfinder version of the spell. Needless to say the spell didn't work at all. In PF it requires a caster level check. Same with other poorly used rules, like concentration (try casting while grappled, nearly impossible). Want to ruin a casters day? Have an archer hold action for the caster to start casting. Have fun trying to make your concentration check.
Higher point buy (20+ instead of 15) does tend to favor martial classes a little bit, but it actually helps the 3/4 + caster classes (clerics, druids,summoners, magus, and bards) even more. A martial character can always take a high physical dump mental stats build even at 10 build points. Sure they miss out on more exotic builds, but they can still do their primary function. At high point buy a 3/4 BAB character can be nearly as good as the martial in physical stats and still be a competent caster. My suggestion is to stick to 15 or 20 point buy, 15 point buy is better for full casters and full martials, 20 makes the 3/4 BAB casters better without diminishing the 1/2 BAB casters while only buffing the martial a little bit. 25 point buys make the 3/4BAB+casters too good. They can cap out their important physical stats, cap out (or close enough) their casting stat, and still not have any real dump attributes. The martial at 25 BP has long capped out their critical stuff and now are putting point into things that don't affect their primary role or even their tertiary role. Charisma on most fighters types is the "plan C&D" (cursing and diplomacy) where "plan A&B" (Plan Assault and Battery) didn't work.
I'll be honest, the mere threat of a teleport trap has been enough to mitigate party scry and die efforts against most prepared enemies.
Wonderful ideas here; looking at you especially, notabot. Great to see some ideas for resolving class imbalance that don't involve sulking.
Dotting for later.
Nothing I've yet tried or seen tried with the Summoner holds a candle to a mad bomber Alchemist (level 8+), who barely holds a candle to a high level Gunslinger (say 15+). Just the other night I saw a non-optimized 12th level Druid use Whirlwind and a treant goon to easily wipe the floor with what seemed like a pretty big encounter in an AP. Maybe your problems are at lower levels where the eidolon's high AC and 4 attacks per round can look pretty hot. Later on I think the Summoner isn't anything particularly special compared to other casters.
The whole "caster vs martial" thing is bigger than the Summoner though. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing in a different world than other people since Rogues have always been well respected damage dealers in our groups. Barbarians are popular too. I'm not sure if we've seen a Fighter since the 3.5 days, but I think people just find the concept a little boring. I believe that most of the martial classes can play a meaningful role in an average party. One thing which might help would be focusing on something other than pure damage (unless maybe you're an archer). Stuff like combat maneuvers, intimidation, and defense can be useful too.
Something which I think has helped balance a lot in our games is making coup de grace just an automatic critical hit (with no Power Attack since you're not making an attack roll). This wouldn't really do much against the Summoner, but it tones down Slumber and various spell and SLA combos which set up CdG.
I really don't see how more wbl is going to close the gap. Giving my witch, for example, more cash is going to equate to more rod's and pearls of power.
High point buy with a 16 cap can help, and ban spell specialization and greater, and combat casting.