| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Our Powers Combined (Su): Witches with this hex may form a special coven designed to cast a powerful summoning ritual. For the purposes of this coven, a hag does not need to be present, and the normal spell-like abilities granted from a coven are not available to be cast. Any witch with this hex within 10 feet of another witch with this hex may spend 1 minute to perform this ritual. Upon completion, an eidolon is summoned as if by a summoner of a level equal to the average level of the witches performing in the ritual. This eidolon has extra points in its evolution pool equal to the number of participants in the ritual -2. The eidolon is loyal only to the group that summoned it (if it receives conflicting requests from those that summoned it, it will do nothing), and it remains for a number of hours equal to the number of witches who participated in the ritual. A witch must have the coven hex to select this hex.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Captain Golarion.. ?
Captain Golarion.. ?
:D
Tbh I don't like it. For one Eidolons are extremely strong. Who decides where the evolution points are spent? Also I'm sure this is an oversight but there is no limit to the amount of times this may be performed (which is the point of hexes) and if that's the case it's certainly overpowered.
1) Gaining the class features of one class requires two other characters each of which expend a limited resource, and the effect of this class feature is slightly weaker than the single-classed character. This isn't a really good power-gaming gambit unless you've got a party of all witches, and then you... have one nice Eidolon and/or a minor bit of (ever-decreasing in power) Eidolon. Hooray?
2) That is a good point. I'd suggest that the choice be made by the highest level witch - only her Eidolon could be summoned (and she chooses what it's ability spread is before hand, which is modified by the amount of evolution points available). On the other hand, it could have pre-selected evolutions or base types determined by the Patron of the highest level witch. That could be interesting, too.
3) Eidelons don't have a limited duration. This one does. You can do it again, sure, but not while your current one is running.
Rules for Eidolon and Rules for Eidolon
Again, I'm not seeing too much of a problem here. The limits are: you can only have one at a time, it has a limited duration anyway, and once it's used up, it's worthless.
I like the concept. The execution might be a bit rough around the edges for more Hardline RAW-oriented games, but for a House Rule it's actually quite solid and an excellent thematic creation.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Interesting, makes a lot of sense for these guys
I wanted to clarify a point I made before:
Again, I'm not seeing too much of a problem here. The limits are: you can only have one at a time, it has a limited duration anyway, and once it's used up, it's worthless.
This does not mean that once the duration expires the Eidolon can't be re-summoned - point in fact, that's not how Eidolons work at all. What I meant was that once it's hit points are used up (not a difficult feat if you've got two or more casters in the party - this guy is going to be the meat shield or secondary meat shield) it's not going to be summoned again for at least a day.
Now, the idea that you could repeatedly summon an Eidolon so long as it doesn't lose its hit points is powerful, but, again, this is (at least) two characters expending limited resources (either extremely limited hexes known, or feats) in order to get a nearly-equal effect of one character. Yet another balancing factor is that this doesn't grant any of the other benefits the summoner slowly gains over time for his Eidolon - Bonded Senses, Shield Ally (or greater), Maker's Call, Transposition, Aspect (or greater), Life Bond, Merge Forms, or Twin Eidolon. That's... a lot of really important class features. The witches also lack the "back up" ability a Summoner has to have longer-lasting summon monster effects. While witches do get higher level spells than summoners, summoners actually get lower-level versions of many higher-level spells anyway.
Add that to the fact that the witches would have to expend otherwise limited healing resources (either healing hexes which are 1d6 each, or spells... which are their spells) just to bring this guy back up to snuff, it's unlikely that this is going to be overpowered in any regard.
Also, for a little more clarity,
2) That is a good point. I'd suggest that the choice be made by the highest level witch - only her Eidolon could be summoned (and she chooses what it's ability spread is before hand, which is modified by the amount of evolution points available). On the other hand, it could have pre-selected evolutions or base types determined by the Patron of the highest level witch. That could be interesting, too.
If there is more than one witch of an equal level, it is the witch in the highest initiative order (usually the one with the highest modifier, unless they delay their action) who determines the Eidolon's traits.
In any event, the way to make this really "powerful" is to have a bunch of different witches of the same level with this hex with different Eidolon forms/evolutions that they can summon, granting them a variability that a single summoner doesn't have... but then again, they're all pooling their resources into, effectively, a less-potent (lacking many class features) Eidolon that they're not built to support.
The only real issue that I can see with this (other than possibly being frustratingly weak in certain circumstances) is the bonus evolution points. They aren't really defined at all, and there's no mechanic that really emulates them that I can think of...
... actually, wait, I'm wrong.
Evolution Surge (which also isn't on the witch's spell list, making this even less potent for them).
I'm going to recommend a change to the mechanic, as follows:
Our Powers Combined (Su): Witches with this hex may form a special coven designed to cast a powerful summoning ritual. For the purposes of this coven, a hag does not need to be present, and the normal spell-like abilities granted from a coven are not available to be cast. Any witch with this hex within 10 feet of another witch with this hex may spend 1 minute to perform this ritual. Upon completion, an eidolon is summoned as if by a summoner of a level equal to the average level of the witches performing in the ritual. You gain any combination of spell levels of Evolution Surge spells (Lesser Evolution Surge, Evolution Surge, or Greater Evolution Surge) equal to the number of participating witches. For example, if you have two witches, you gain the effect of Lesser Evolution Surge (a level 2 spell); if you have three witches, you gain the effect of Evolution Surge (a level 3 spell); if you have four witches, you gain the effect of Greater Evolution Surge (a level 4 spell) or two Lesser Evolution Surge spells (2 level 2 spells = 4 spell levels). The eidolon is loyal only to the group that summoned it (if it receives conflicting requests from those that summoned it, it will do nothing), and it remains for a number of hours equal to the number of witches who participated in the ritual. A witch must have the coven hex to select this hex. When a witch selects this hex, she creates a unique Eidolon that is tailored to her as a summoner tailors their own; unless otherwise specified before the summoning, the highest level witch's Eidolon is summoned. If there is more than one witch of an equal level that would otherwise be the "highest level", it is the witch in the highest initiative order (usually the one with the highest modifier, unless they delay their action) who's Eidolon is summoned.
Hm... reviewing the Coven hex, and Hag Coven details, it's debatable if more than three creatures can even join a coven... does anyone know if the hard limit is three, or if there's more?