What do you have your Summoner do?

[Serum]

So, a large portion of the summoner's power is his eidolon. However, post of this advantage is the increase in the player's action economy, which means ideally the summoner should be doing something while the eidolon does whatever.

Obviously, he has spells, but, just like all of the other 3/4 casters, he doesn't exactly have enough spells to be using them in every round.

What else do you have your summoner do in combat?

[Renegadeshepherd]

Ride eidolon for mounted battle, ranged combat, possibly melee. You can do most anything that any other class would do, just not as well

[Fergie]

I'm having the same issue playing a summoning cleric. I pop a nice celestial jackoffasaur on the board, hit it with a "touch of luck" domain ability, or other buff, then...

At lower levels I was able to use a longbow (elf) well enough to be relevant, but 1d8+5 just doesn't cut it after level 7-8. I'm not built for melee, and most combats don't involve more then a round or two of healing. So I end up doing things like putting up a total defense or whatever.

Is there a cleric version of call lightning, or flaming sphere or something?

[Shadrayl of the Mountain]

Call Lightning is a cleric spell, last time I checked...

Edit:not anymore, apparently...

[SteelDraco]

My summoner is a barbarian/summoner. He casts a buff spell on himself and charges into combat, raging and flanking with his eidolon.

[Luthorne]

Fergie wrote:

Is there a cleric version of call lightning, or flaming sphere or something?

Spiritual weapon, chain of perdition, spiritual ally?

As for summoners, depends on the summoner. Some of my summoners tend to go into melee with their eidolon, others stay back and plick away with their crossbow or acid splash, content to let the eidolon and the buffs they put on it and their party help out, others invest heavily in runestones of power so they can in fact keep casting...and a nice option if you can afford the feat investment is to get into Intimidate and use dazzling display to help out by making the enemies shaken. And if all else fails, you can always use aid another to help someone's AC, attack rolls, or whatever...

[LazarX]

Depends on the situation. For my summoner it's usually spell casting, either his own spells or that of several wands he carries.

[Shadrayl of the Mountain]

To answer the OP: My Summoner would usually shoot his bow while waiting for spells to be needed, flank with the Rogue, or just turn invisible for a while.

Battlefield control spells are a great way to go. I avoided it because I didn't want to make the rest of the party start wondering why they showed up, though.

[Cap. Darling]

Around level 8 you Can expect to have spells enough to cast most of the time. At the ligeledes use Daze and acid splash. From 4 to 8 use. A wand pehaps.

[Meager Rolmug]

well since the eidolon is as powerful as the frontline fighter in the group...just keeping safe and out of the way is really enough(invisible or stealth). But 3/4 PCs don't really run out of spells that much faster than anybody but sorcerers and oracles(divine sorcerers). Yes your spell progression is slower but you get to cast one more spell/day/level, ending up making the difference rather small compared to a cleric or wizard. If the problem is a low char score(meaning no bonus spells)...well that means you already built the PC to be somewhat capable at melee or ranged fighting. If you do have a high char(or even medium) but want to save some spells for emergencies, invest heavily in the Use Magic Device skill, than you'll suck up all the wands and scrolls nobody else wants and can use them instead of spells. Now you may be at a really low level(3 can be frustrating to 3/4 casters), in that case you may only be the eidolon's master and not much more...but next level your gonna be much better and UMD check on a wand is only 15.

[Propsken]

Depending on your build, you have lots of options. Ranged weapons, defensively setting up flanks, right-out melee output, fire wands, use your summon SLA and spells for battlefield control and support, eidolon-mounted combat, alchemical item shenanigans, aid another. Certainly, some of these require an investment of some type - equipment, ability scores and feats, mostly - but it's always better to do something (and be at least half-decent at it) than doing nothing at all, so it's a worthy investment.

@Fergie: have you considered the Vital Strike feat family for MO DEMIDZJ, and/or switching to firearms (DM willing) for that sweet, sweet touch attack goodness? Or Reach Spell metamagic with the Inflict _____ Wounds spell series?

[Bob of Westgate]

Meager Rolmug wrote:

well since the eidolon is as powerful as the frontline fighter in the group...just keeping safe and out of the way is really enough(invisible or stealth). But 3/4 PCs don't really run out of spells that much faster than anybody but sorcerers and oracles(divine sorcerers). Yes your spell progression is slower but you get to cast one more spell/day/level, ending up making the difference rather small compared to a cleric or wizard. If the problem is a low char score(meaning no bonus spells)...well that means you already built the PC to be somewhat capable at melee or ranged fighting. If you do have a high char(or even medium) but want to save some spells for emergencies, invest heavily in the Use Magic Device skill, than you'll suck up all the wands and scrolls nobody else wants and can use them instead of spells. Now you may be at a really low level(3 can be frustrating to 3/4 casters), in that case you may only be the eidolon's master and not much more...but next level your gonna be much better and UMD check on a wand is only 15.

UMD on a wand is DC 20, not 15

[Kolokotroni]

The summoner in my mind supports the eidolon. He buffs, heals or uses control spells to cover its back. If resources are tight he might take a pot shot with a ranged weapon. But mostly i'd get him a wand of enlarge person/another useful buff(s). And use his spells for battlefield control and healing the eidolon.

[Bob of Westgate]

Kolokotroni wrote:

The summoner in my mind supports the eidolon. He buffs, heals or uses control spells to cover its back. If resources are tight he might take a pot shot with a ranged weapon. But mostly i'd get him a wand of enlarge person/another useful buff(s). And use his spells for battlefield control and healing the eidolon.

I agree with this. Your role is best as party buffer and some battlefield control. Let the eidolon do your damage for you. Don't think of it as you are not doing anything. You are delegating and supervising. And if you really want to do something shoot a crossbow..or take gun feats and shoot a gun. Because why the hell not.

[Reynard_the_fox]

I would suggest investing in a toolkit of alchemical items. There are a lot of fun things with low save DCs that you can use at low levels. Alternately, ranged attacks, or getting into melee and using Aid Another and flanking. Hell, you could focus on boosting your AC, going into combat, and just using full defense or fight defensively each round and distracting the mooks/flanking.

[Serum]

Kolokotroni wrote:

The summoner in my mind supports the eidolon. He buffs, heals or uses control spells to cover its back. If resources are tight he might take a pot shot with a ranged weapon. But mostly i'd get him a wand of enlarge person/another useful buff(s). And use his spells for battlefield control and healing the eidolon.

Just a note, wands of enlarge person/shield/etc won't work on the eidolon, as wands aren't affected by the share spells class feature.

[FuelDrop]

our old summoner used to use the mounted combat tree to make his Eidolon all but unhittable, then tag teamed that with a bunch of teamwork feats that basically meant he rolled twice for initiative and either they both used his (because mounted) or they both used the eidolon's -1 (again, because mounted)[lookout], +4 to all attacks of opportunity (paired opportunists), that sort of thing. He also wielded a longspear and when he had nothing better to do braced for a charge, making attacking the pair hazardous at best.