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Disclaimer:This is a very long and argumentative thread, and I hope you read everything carefully to really understand all of the points I'll make.
The eidolons appearance had been the source of a lot of arguments about how much freedom the summoner have at designing how it looks like. My objective with this thread is to prove that the eidolon can look like any creature the summoner wants, although he cannot impersonate a specific individual, like Ron The Mad Dwarf. The Ultimate Magic book will be a key point in my arguments.
First, lets take a look a what is said about the eidolon in the class description:
The eidolon's physical appearance is up to the summoner, but it always appears as some sort of fantastical creature. This control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature. The eidolon also bears a glowing rune that is identical to a rune that appears on the summoner's forehead as long as the eidolon is summoned. While this rune can be hidden through mundane means, it cannot be concealed through magic that changes appearance, such as alter self or polymorph (although invisibility does conceal it as long as the spell lasts).
As you can see, there's three key points in here: fantastical creature, specific creature and glowing rune. So, lets go by parts:
*Specific Creature: Specific creature means exactly that, a specific creature. Specific refers to something "unique", "individual", or "only one option". Creature nearly always means a single being, not a group of beings, like sharks or such. In other words, you could make your eidolon look like an elf, but not the specific elf called Kalenz The Archer, or any other specific individual elf for that matter. You can look like someone from that race, but not a specific person. Now you could say that there are others limitations, like fantastical creature and glowing runes, but we will get to those now.
*Glowing runes: That is built within the rules, so yes, your eidolon always have one of those in its forehead, and anyone who sees it will know that something is not right. But, it also specifies that it can be hidden by mundane means, like a hat covering the forehead or something like that.
*Fantastical Creature: Now, this is the main point of the argumentation, and is where the Ultimate Magic comes in. "Fantastical Creature" is a very vague definition, specially in a fantasy game like pathfinder. Before ultimate Magic, it was very hard to define exactly what could be done with it, but the book brought to us a new view over the eidolon's appearance. Lets see a quote from the summoners section:
The summoner is a complex and unusual class. Its most prominent class feature is the eidolon, a customizable monster that “always appears as some sort of fantastical creature.” What kind of fantastical creature this is remains up to the player. Fortunately, mythology and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have many examples of fantastical creatures that an eidolon might resemble, from fish-people to angels, and from spider-centaurs to undead monsters.
As you can see, UM gives multiple examples of what "fantastical creatures" could be, like angels and undeads. This book also brough "Eidolon Models", which are packages with advices for the player to build his eidolon with the appearance of a creature he wants it to be. Lets take a look at some of those packages:
The eidolon looks like a celestial being such as an angel, archon, or azata. Angel eidolons usually appear as beautiful humanoids with large, feathered wings.
It specifically states that the eidolon may look like an angel, archon, or azata, reinforcing my last statement that "Specific Creature" refers to a specific individual, not a type or such. Those are considered, as per the Ultimate Magic, fantastical creatures, and as such your eidolon may look like them (although you need the evolutions for the wings and such). Now, lets take a look at the Fey Model:
The eidolon looks like a fey creature such as a dryad, nymph, pixie, or satyr. Fey eidolons usually appear as attractive humanoids and may have insect or butterfly wings. An aquatic fey such as a nixie can be created by adding the gills and swim evolutions, resulting in a 24-point model.
Again, it specifies that your eidolon may look like a creature such as a nymph or dryad, but again you would need to spend some points to get wings and such, although Ultimate Magic also states:
Using a model does not change the eidolon's type or give it special abilities unavailable to other eidolons—it is basically a shortcut to allow a player or GM to quickly create an eidolon with a specific look in mind. Each model states the total number of evolution points required to build a complete eidolon with that model; in many cases this build requires most of the summoner's evolution points, so only a more powerful summoner's eidolon is a close approximation of the intended creature. For a low-level summoner, some of the eidolon's features (such as extra hydra heads) may be cosmetic until he gains evolution points to spend.
With this in mind, you can look like a nymph, but you dont get the Fey type or something like that, its merely a matter of appearance for roleplay purposes. Secondly, the second bolded phrase also states that until you can afford evolution points for things like wings, those will be merely cosmetic, so although you may have the appearance you want right from the start, you cannot gain advantages for this, such as using those cosmetic wings to fly. This should be obvious, im just reinforcing those points.
Now, we got a lot of examples as to what a "fantastical creature" may be, but there are even more specific cases on this matter, which makes us think what exactly is the range that "fantastical creature" may encompass. To explain those questions, we must take a look at two specific models:
The eidolon looks like a sleek aquatic predator such as a shark or orca.
Now, many would say that an animal that we may encounter in the real world shouldnt be considered a fantastical creature, right? Well, this model specifically shows a shark or orca as being possible examples for a fantastical creature that the eidolon may look like. This again revolves to one of my first arguments: you may look like even a shark, but cannot have the exact same appearance as the Hungry MacSharking, the specific creature that is the druid's animal companion.
With this in mind, we could safely assume, by having this prior precedence, that eidolons can look like an animal, even an aquatic one like a shark, as long as he doesnt have the same appearance as a specific one, like the monkey he just met in the tree. This also doesnt limit itself for those though, as vermin are also an option for models:
The eidolon looks like a large insect or other vermin. Taking the limbs (legs) evolution an additional time creates a giant spider.
This one also states that you may look like a vermin, such as a giant spider, which means even vermins are also an option.
Now, what about the more common races? Following the previous statements, It seems logical to consider such races like gnomes and elves as an option for the eidolons, each with its own ties to the fey or nature themselves, being essentially fantastical. We have precendence for other races being allowed as an appearance option for the eidolons:
The eidolon has the upper body of a humanoid and the lower body of a fish. This model can be used to create an aquatic humanoid such as a merfolk or sahuagin.
Essentially, your eidolon may even look like a merfolk or sahuagin by following this model. Again, you can only look like someone from their race, but cannot impersonate a specific individual from them.
Now, what aboult humans? Could they also be considered "fantastical creatures" for the purpose of looking like them? Lets take a look at another model:
The eidolon looks like a humanoid warrior. The natural armor of a bodyguard eidolon appears to be a suit of metal plate, though this armor is actually part of the eidolon's body. Bodyguard eidolons are normally trained in a variety of dangerous weapons.
This only states a "humanoid warrior". It doesnt specify races and, as such, could also be a human. He cannot take off his armor as its part of his body, but his appearance is essentially that of a human (or any other humanoid) with armor. He may not bypass as a specific individual, but he may look like someone who belongs to that race.
Now, as I hope my points got well explained, I want to reiterate the arguments of this whole thread: your eidolon may look like any creature you want, even from some race like merfolk, as the models have proven my statements about those being considered "fantastical creatures". What you cant do is look exactly like a specific person of that race or type, and as such you gain no mechanical advantages besides the roleplay aspect of it (you could still specialize in disguise if you wanted, but that comes with the price of spending evo points). Also, dont forget that whatever form you take, you always have the "glowing rune" on the forehead, and as such someone would immediately know that something is wrong with your eidolon, unless you hide it in some mundane form, like a hat or such.
With all that said, I hope that I have enlightened the community as to the near endless choices that are available to them for customising the eidolon's appearance, and thus improving the roleplay aspect of such a great class as this.
Its not really a question, but im presenting my own arguments for this particular matter. I wanted to base the discussion with rules as written instead of just assumptions, and I thought this would be more suitable to be posted in the rules forum.
In other words, my objective was to prove that you can make your eidolon look like nearly anything you want, withouth having to resort to house rules to do so.
Now, many would say that an animal that we may encounter in the real world shouldnt be considered a fantastical creature, right? Well, this model specifically shows a shark or orca as being possible examples for a fantastical creature that the eidolon may look like. This again revolves to one of my first arguments: you may look like even a shark, but cannot have the exact same appearance as the Hungry MacSharking, the specific creature that is the druid's animal companion.
With this in mind, we could safely assume, by having this prior precedence, that eidolons can look like an animal, even an aquatic one like a shark, as long as he doesnt have the same appearance as a specific one, like the monkey he just met in the tree. This also doesnt limit itself for those though, as vermin are also an option for models:
...
This one also states that you may look like a vermin, such as a giant spider, which means even vermins are also an option.Now, what about the more common races? Following the previous statements, It seems logical to consider such races like gnomes and elves as an option for the eidolons, each with its own ties to the fey or nature themselves, being essentially fantastical. We have precendence for other races being allowed as an appearance option for the eidolons:
...
Essentially, your eidolon may even look like a merfolk or sahuagin by following this model. Again, you can only look like someone from their race, but cannot impersonate a specific individual from them.
...
This only states a "humanoid warrior". It doesnt specify races and, as such, could also be a human. He cannot take off his armor as its part of his body, but his appearance is essentially that of a human (or any other humanoid) with armor. He may not bypass as a specific individual, but he may look like someone who belongs to that race.
...
That is a rather poor argument. I mean, an animal can look like an orca while still covered in fur with antenna sticking out of its head. The quote was more about vague body shape.
And an orc 'looks like a humanoid warrior' since it has two arms and legs, a head with a pair of eyes, nose, and mouth. Looking at half the bestiary, that is a rather decent resemblance to a human....but no one that knows anything would mistake an orc for a human unless a disguise check was going on. Because the exact proportions are a bit off. For a more mundane example of how this works, you could compare a dog and a hyena. They have similar body shape and such, but surely you can tell the difference, no?
In the end, the appearance is cosmetic, and if you try to fool a knowledge check beyond an untrained DC 10 (basically a country bumpkin that only has heard of some long necked creature called a "giraffe" being confused by a large eidolon with the reach [bite] evolution), then you need a disguise check. This is the limits of how much you can control appearance. Of course, taking the skilled (disguise) evolution would pretty much cover how you mask your appearance (I mean, how else could an evolution affect disguise without using extremely minor shapeshifting as a handwave?)
I believe your interpretation of these details is entirely accurate. Your eidolon can look like whatever you want it to look like. It simply can't be used to reliably impersonate a particular person you meet... If I say my eidolon looks like Barbara Palvin, thats a valid choice as long as my character hasn't met Barbara Palvin walking around golarion and then after the fact chosen to copy that person's appearance.
If after I've chosen my eidolon's appearance my character runs into the princess of uzbekistan and she happens to also look like Barbara Palvin, well. thats just a fluke of odds. It's not a violation of the rules for the gm to have you run into an npc that looks exactly like your eidolon already looks.. Might even be a fun story element for your eidolon to be mistaken for an npc if it's your gm thats making the call.. He can't force your eidolon to change its appearance after the fact... He'll just have to deal with the ramifications of being foolish enough to bring an npc into the campaign that you can already impersonate.. Its flipping that script that creates the problem.
If the princess looks like Barbara Palvin except with pink eyes I can't go changing my eidolon's eyes to pink in order to make her convincingly pose as royalty... Intent is king in the case of design limitations. If you then say 'My ediolons eyes become pink' in the hopes of impersonating the princess, the gm is then free to come up with a physical distinction of his own because the final result MUST be something that obviously isnt a clone of someone... Suddenly your edilon might look like a pink eyed barbara palvin with slate black skin. An evolutionary fluke to keep you from subverting a specific result. Better off not to invite the gm to steal your paintbrush by forcing him to decide what the differences are. Make sure you chose the differences yourself so your gm doesnt have to.
You can choose any look you want as long as the look you choose isnt an attempt to impersonate a specific individual.
Its important also to make the distinction that the symbol, while always appearing on the forehead of the summoner, can instead appear anywhere on the eidolon's body. Not just the forehead.
So, uh, first off...what's the question? That's generally what the Rules QUESTIONS forum is for...
Secondly, was anybody really disputing that you can make your Eidolon look like whatever the hell you want? And if they were, did you tell them they should go find more important things to do? Like, I dunno, twiddling their thumbs. Yeah, that seems more productive than arguing whether or not an Eidolon can look like whatever you want.
So, uh, first off...what's the question? That's generally what the Rules QUESTIONS forum is for...
Secondly, was anybody really disputing that you can make your Eidolon look like whatever the hell you want? And if they were, did you tell them they should go find more important things to do? Like, I dunno, twiddling their thumbs. Yeah, that seems more productive than arguing whether or not an Eidolon can look like whatever you want.
There are 3 conversations that come up regarding limitations on how the eidolon looks. These questions are indeed RULES questions.
1: Can I make it so it impersonates someone else? Flatly no.
2: Can it have 8 legs and wings if 6 of those legs and the wings arent functional until I get the ev points to make them functional? Flatly yes.
3: Can it have red skin and wings and horns and a tail and look exactly like your average random succubus at level 1? Sure. Cant use the horns or the tail effectively in combat until you take the evolutions but looks wise? No problem
Some folks have disputed each of these 3 questions.
Invariably someone will extend this conversation to 2 additional questions:
4: can I make my eidolon look like a clone of nocticula? abstractly no due to question 1.
5: what if I haven't met nocticula yet so that the resemblance is 'effectively coincindental'.... fiat.
The answers to these last two questions can be a bit of a gray area.
The most prominent argument from the other side is one that basically goes:
Can I make my eidolon look like Barbara Palvin?
No because most likely somewhere on golarion is a peasant who looks like barbara palvin and you can't impersonate a person... You may also not say your eidolon looks like Barbara Palvin with elf ears because there's probably an elf out there who looks like Barbara Palvin too... You MUST choose some characteristic that is so starkly obvious that nobody on the planet would think your eidolon is a human or an elf or any other visually identifyable published race or creature like ghaeles or pit fiends. How about we say your eidolon looks like Barbara Palvin with an extraordinarily scruffy manbeard and a gigantic chin in the shape of a dwarven warhammer? I'm sure nobody's gonna think that's a human...
What about if I make it look like Barbara Palvin except shes got 6 fingers on each hand and her elbows bend backwards and outwards instead of forwards and inwards?
Nah. That would be too easy to hide... Lets stick with the horrific chin and manbeard.
So yes, there are a contingent of gms that say the eidolons ability to impersonate isn't just limited to impersonating individuals, but also they cannot impersonate any known race or currently existing creature. It must differentiate itself in an obvious way from every creature currently in print. Typically the stark distinction has to be something the player is hoping to avoid. Other gms would be ok if you said your eidolon looked exactly like Barbara Palvin but constantly exuded an unmaskable overwhelming olfactory aura of a landfill full of carrion and chronic halitosis. Because nobody would think its possible for a human to stink so bad. Some GM's are very particular about the particulars is all. We're not really allowed to make judgements about the character of such gms in the threads though. Such critique might be considered 'Jerky'
The OP is just letting folks know that the books specifically refute the idea that you cant believably copy the *look* of a pit fiend or a succubus or an angel or a gray render or a marilith or an aurumvorax or a spider queen or a drow or a full suit of adamantine platemail even at level 1... Simply that mechanically some of that appearance won't be functional without taking evolutions to put function to that form.
The motivation of these gms is that if you think your eidolon looks like a pit fiend, it would only take a knowledge check 5 from your average farmer to say 'thats not a real pit fiend'... ya aint foolin me feller. Looks like a poodle in a pit fiend suit if you ask me. These DM's are of the opinion that if you want to put fear into the hearts of your enemies, you'll have to do it with a powderpink pitfiend that smells like cotton candy and roars with the primal fury of a teletubby with a tummyache. The hard/fast rule here is *no mechanical advantage* without the skills/traits/evolutions/feats to back it up. instead these gms should probably just say yes. it looks exactly like a pit fiend but for some reason it simply lacks the primal unmitigating menace of an actual pitfiend... Like maybe it just comes off as the big lebowski in a pit fiend suit. Let the player keep the look but also keep the *no mechanical advantage*, which is totally correct and proper.
Now your player gets the pit fiend style, and the npc gets to go 'man. It sure looks like a pit fiend but I sure thought I'd be crapping my pants by now and begging for mercy more now if it is...' Is your pit fiend like sick or somethin? I'm kinda more afraid he's gonna break my furniture than eat my babies...
Ah. I can sort of see where the "gray area" comes in now, thanks. I've never given it much thought.
On my end, I don't particularly care what it looks like, and honestly don't think anyone else should either. It's not like there's a real mechanical benefit unless you break the one rule (it can't look like an individual), so why limit it?
Indeed summoner was intended to give a very artistic cacophony of fluff to the world, but instead frequently is more used in optimizy crunchy ways instead.
There seem to be way more Iron Man Kali suits and 6 armed four legged winged scorpiontailed biting pouncing rending raking cthulhudons than players who use the artistic value of the class to immitate or modify or artfully enhance and interact with cool existing creature simulations....
But for the artistic types this is a great way to clarify what the options and limits actually are.
I was baffled when I indeed ran into gms that say 'no you can't make your eidolon look like a nymph or a dryad....' I think they were of the mistaken impression that I was going to have a nymph eidolon running around naked making everyone blind. which in fact isn't an option... again *no mechanical benefit*
Then I remind them that my second choice was a 6 armed 4 legged scorpion tailed dragon... I just preferred the 2 claws only dryad for thematic reasons.... Comparatively speaking theyd almost be ok with my eidolon being able to blind people...
A rust monster is a great low level eidolon look. The ruse won't hold up for long since it wont actually damage anyone's gear, but they don't have to know about that necessarily... The player who tries this is trying to add a little fun and whimsy to the campaign that a lot of gms stoicly say 'no. your rust monster eidolon isn't fooling anyone... a 6 year would know your rust monster isn't real without a second thought. It's possible to make such encounters fun, but I've ran into a few gms who would flat out ban a rust monster appearance on the grounds that you're trying to jack with his game. This player is, to a very minor extent, trying to get some giggles out of the rust monster ruse... Some gm's aren't interested in that kinda fun. The kind of gms that think 'i'm a druid and nobody should give me any crap about walking my pet cheetah into the tavern' is jumping the versimilitude shark. Best not to play summoners with a gm like that though. Or else at least take advantage of the fact that you can dismiss your cheetah eidolon when its tavern time...
Just depends on if a gm is willing to roll with it a bit or not. Some GM's are deathly afraid of having to play out what happens when a one eyed one horned flying purple pitfiend shows up in amieko's tavern on the first day of the first module... Even if the wings are just for show.
Well, you are generally exaggerating how much one can see through the disguise, but yes...anyone with an appropriate trained knowledge roll should be able to spot the differences unless you use disguise (then they have to also pass a perception check).
If you do try to copy some fantastical creature like a drider, it would be like your artist's rendition of something you heard in a book. The details and proportions would seem...just a bit off, but still recognizable enough for rather easy confusion.
If I had to visualize how I see it, imagine this scenario: two awakened crows are talking to eachother. One is describing some person that attacked it, and the other is a sketch artist trying to make a wanted poster to warn the rest of their murder (tangent: that is the best name for a group of animals, no?). He has never seen a human before... and he is not that great of a sketch artist. So end result would look a bit something like this: here
But overall, most of these problems could be solved if people just spent the single evo point in skilled (disguise). I mean, the bonus is the same as a hat of disguise... so it should be just as good at allowing you to impersonate something. After that, it is just a short skill check per day to forget about the argument. Although, the concern of running around with a pitfiend on a leash everywhere for rollplaying might still be perfectly valid. It does kind off break the immersion if NO ONE brings it up (or at least looks sufficiently nervous that you can tell they are actively avoiding bringing it up). If you have to make it look like a preexistin creature, Just try not to use things that look too obviously evil, like a merfolk, or a tamed owlbear. The fear people feel then would be...appropriate at least since you are running around with a huge clawed murder machine.
I think the main point is the Eidelon needs to look fantastic. If you want you Eidelon to look mundane you need to get your GMs permission. And if you need a Wall of text to circumvent a thing that is in the discription of a class feature, you are pehaps over doing the rules reading.
Yep. I avoid the 'sketch artist' principle by having my eidolon only take the form of things I've actually met, so I'm a little better off there. Plus I agree with the OP that 'must have glaring obvious defect' is not a requirement...
Since the difference between pit fiend pit fiend and one eyed one horned flying purple pit fiend walks into a bar is functionally going to create almost identical drama, the idea of not allowing an accurate reproduction of a pit fiend seems moot, but some folks are picky about it to a degree.
Others simply say please god do not make me have to sort that scene out.
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I think the main point is the Eidelon needs to look fantastic. If you want you Eidelon to look mundane you need to get your GMs permission. And if you need a Wall of text to circumvent a thing that is in the discription of a class feature, you are pehaps over doing the rules reading.
I'll agree I have yet to run into a player who asked for this... and by an extension a gm who would reply like this...
I want my eidolon to just look like a dog....
A purple dog with 9 tails?
no... Just a dog.... Black Lab... nothin special....
Uh.... No. You can't do that. It has to be fantastic.
I'd punt that gm in a heartbeat.
But that kind of foolishness is *exactly* what this thread is about. Some GM somewhere read the entry in the APG and decided that it HAS to be fantastic... It can't just be a dog. It better be a dog with feathers or 4 eyes or 9 tails or 16 ballz.... So I take it back. I wouldnt punt that gm. I'd make a dog with 16 ballz that humps every leg in town. Just for being that kinda guy.
Takeda does not play well with others
Again, I reiterate: why not just give it the skilled:disguise evolution? Then your eidolon can be some fantastical, purple, 9 tailed creature that could turn into a black lab. It allows you to avoid the whole argument. Am I in the wrong here for looking for a way to compromise?
I dont like the idea of disguising my eidolon thematically. The idea that theres some universal law that says an eidolon cannot show up as a normal looking puppy seems silly like a late night british comedy special. Of course with my nymph eidolon I circumvented it by having her leg to torso ratio being closer to 2 to 1 instead of 1 to 1 and making her eyes chemiluminescent and her hair able to change color at will, smells of wintergreen, and weighs half as much as she ought to for her size, but thats my artistic contribution, not for the purposes of accomodating the 'must be wacky' mechanic. She used to refer to other people as 'it' even when talking to them face to face but she's grown out of that over the course of 14 levels... She used to stare at people while they ate because since she doesn't have to eat, she finds the process unfamiliar, fascinating and puzzling. She'd kinda growing out of that too. And she never has to blink. Ever.... She *can*.... Just usually doesnt bother. As an evolutionist I can now make her look like a t-rex and she has a singing skill that can, when properly prepared for, max out at 65. Even as a T rex... Now granted if you catch her on a day where she's nymphlike and 31 feet tall... Yeah... You're gonna know somethin's up. And yeah. When you realize the whole town has been oggling her and half the town isn't blind you're gonna think 'something aint right about that nymph...'
If you don't see her change her hair color, and during the day her eyes don't luminesce brightly enough to be noticable, all you really see is a nymph with legs like Stacy Kiebler who smells like wintergreen. If a gm told me 'thats not good enough she's gotta have like a third boob or somethin... I'd tell him to take a hike.
It's all about where you draw an arbitrary line and some gms arbitrarily draw the line at 'nothing short of absurd' The language they use to justify this opinion is the line in APG that says 'The control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a specific creature'... Meaning like Fred. Generally an elf but specifically a Fred. You can make an eidolon that looks like an elf. But it can not be made to look like fred and go sleep with fred's wife. Freds wife knows the difference no matter how accurate you think you are.
It does not say 'The control is not fine enough to make the eidolon appear like a general known creature, creature type, or type of creature' and this is where some gms get confused. It uses the qualifying word "specific", and some folks seem to not be able to see that word. You can make it look like a dog... Not a specific dog named Earl... But a dog. You can make it a succubus... Not specifically Nocticula, but a succubus.
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One of my favorite tactics to use on gms that say my eidolon has to be fantastic in some way is that eidolons don't have to eat... So my eidolon dog.... Has no poop hole... There. You happy now?
Man. Somethins not right about your dog there, mister. Is that a black lab?
Yes it is... I know. He has no poop hole. His name is Earl.
Well uh... then how does he poop?
You don't wanna know. Suffice to say he's housebroken. Your carpets are safe with Earl.
Man where do I get a dog like that?
Just showed up on my porch one day... Not sure where he's from.
I'll buy him off ya...
Oh I don't think he'd let me leave without him.
See what I mean?
Like I say. I'm happy to go absurd on absurd people....
Thats not a real nymph!
I know.. She uh... Has no poop hole... Its easier to see when she's 31 feet tall... Here let me show you... Hey honey! Can you come here for a minute?
Its a tougher trick when you're talking about a pit fiend since, as an outsider they don't have to eat either so in all honesty my knowledge planar/religion isn't high enough to know if a pitfiend has a poop hole or not.
And I ain't about to go find out. Last time I chatted with one, well, frankly I didn't think to mention it.
I agree with Vincent. The point of this thread is exactly that, to prove that the player can make his eidolon looks like anything he wants (short of a specific creature, like Jin The Halfling). Its just for roleplay purposes, hes not getting any mechanical advantage for the cosmetic appearance of his eidolon.
You can make your eidolon look like an angel, my quotes on Ultimate Magic already showed that angels are an example of a choice for "fantastical creature", as well as the many other examples. Your eidolon wont have its type changed, nor it will be able to fly withouth the evo points. Its purely a cosmetic choice, a roleplay choice. And im all in to give my players the option to choose their eidolons appearance for roleplay, instead of just choosing some weird pounce beast monster that only has a purpose on the story when its combat time.