why exactly do they agree to form a link with the summoner? like what does an Eidolon gain by having its aspect summoned.
why exactly do they agree to form a link with the summoner? like what does an Eidolon gain by having its aspect summoned.
I've always seen it as one of the nicer things about summoners, that their fluff is left pretty open to interpretation, so it could be any reason you want really. They could be enslaved, paid in gold, watching over a young summoner because they're interested, learning about the world the summoner lives in, or just not care either way and its all on the summoner's end.
Let your creativity flow!
ok, I just sort of am trying to figure out what an outsiders POV on things are. like, why do they care about the material plane, etc. right now, I'm having it where I'm researching the plane of fire, and the fire elemental is curious about the material plane and so we made a contract(I'm lawful evil, focusing on the lawful aspect more than the evil).
basically, I know the Eidolon is intelligent, but what exactly is his connection with the aspect you summon? does he feel pain? would he be opposed to being a meat shield since he just "regenerates" in 24 hours. I'm having trouble understanding outsiders and how to RP them.
basically, I know the Eidolon is intelligent, but what exactly is his connection with the aspect you summon? does he feel pain? would he be opposed to being a meat shield since he just "regenerates" in 24 hours. I'm having trouble understanding outsiders and how to RP them.
I'd say it varies with the creature summoned. They do have personalities after all. For example one summoner I made summoned one that was bound in chains and cursed his owner, and another one understood he was just going to come back the next day and was peeved by the idea that he was expendable but didn't fight it. A fire elemental might be some intelligent creature that wants to view humanity up close to understand another world that isn't made of fire, or see it razed, or may not think much beyond "Fwoosh!" and how they see the burdens of their bond could be anything from hatred, to love, to apathy.
Just try not summon your eidolon too soon. Might not end well.
Can be a lot of fun fleshing out personalities though.
From the backstory of the summoner iconic (which is very, very hard to find even when using google-fu and was released like...a year after the summoner; over all a poor decision), the eidolon seemed like a disembodied entity that gained a form when it bonded with the summoner and a form was imagined.
So to answer the original question: a body...I guess. That seems like something worth contracting over.
Of course, besides the fact that they are connected with some vague and mysterious rift that Nex left behind in setting (and Nex could have simply copied some naturally occurring phenomena), there is still a lot left up to interpretation.
I mean, how did those disembodied voices come about? The fact that the summoner and eidolon need similar alignments might imply that they need similar mindsets might imply something deeper. I like to imagine that they are what happens when outsiders die. That the rift lead to a place where such conceptual beings are never forgotten. This works nicely with the 'gaining a body' thing since you can carry the wants, desires, and drives behind the various demons, angels, elementals, and other outsiders that have been so well developed in other works.
It also fits well with how most of the people have treated the 'eidolon' issue while Paizo left the issue hanging.
I just realized the ecology section of each elemental sort of fleshes out their general interests.
thanks though, this in general really cleared things up mentally for me.
first off, I'm entirely sure I made the contract out of mutual interest, I'm a national from a meritocracy. So, the Fire elemental isn't inclined to set the WHOLE world on fire, though I do imagine I'm going to eventually give him intimidate now, and he will revel in the ruination of his enemies (and mine).
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Rather than seeing the Eidolon as a separate being with it's own consciousness, let alone goals and motivations, I see an Eidolon as nothing more than the Summoner's will made manifest. If anything, it's a reflection of the Summoner's subconscious, and their thoughts and desires.
actually yeah, how it is worded, there's no indication that an eidolon was an outsider prior to becoming an eidolon. at base, they're an Eidolon which happens to be of the Outsider type.
edit: and the backstory says that Eidolon's are their own type of outsider who have no form but can be manipulated by someone attuned to him. so that's not at all what I expected of Eidolons.
it looks like eidolons could POSSIBLY have like
their own little plane?
when i think about it, you never find just... bodyless incorporeal eidolons floating around on the other planes
and it says that when they die they are returned to their home plane
i would assume this means that eidolons have a secret hidden mini-plane for themselves
this would be an awesome plot hook for a summoner who loses contact with his eidolon
My first character in pathfinder was a summoner, and the bond was more brotherly than anything
much drama, ion nearly a daily basis
lets just say the rest of the group generally agreed that my Kiv was the perfect trap detector, and threatened to reduce rations (something neither me or the eidolon could live without, figuratively speaking not literally)
but he was super bad ass, and by the end of the campaign, it was agreed that summoner wasn't a real class, just an outer planar creature with leadership
but yes, it sound like they have a mini-plane where they are trapped, and the few that CAN visit the other planes cannot manifest their true form without a summoners assistance
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I've often looked at the eidolon as an aspect of the summoner's own psyche or construct of his imagination, given form via extraplanar energy (thus the outsider classification).
Of course, the fluff is, as many have pointed out, on a per-case basis. Some are actual extraplanar entities given the ability to manifest on the prime via some sort of bond with the summoner, some may be manifestations of ancestral guardians looking after the youngest scion of the clan, some may be mischievous spirits looking for some fun in a physical form.
I love to think that the entity showed in the "two souls" game is in fact an eidolon and the Ellen Page character a summoner
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I think one really interesting is to play the "completeness" of the eidolon/summoner relationship in all sorts of ways. One of my pfs summoners are literally husband and wife and I've presented it as an ideal relationship complete with offstage children.
One idea I didn't play because the idea just creeped me out was that the summoner was someone who had been re educated in a cheliaxian jail. His eidolon was bonded to him to correct his ideological errors. The eidolon obeys the Summoner but the link strengthens the part of which is obedient to his proper masters and, in its way a form of torture.
All the best,
Kerney
I'm a big fan of the fact that they haven't explicitly stated just what is going on between a summoner and his eidolon, meaning you can define it in whatever way fits your character.
I just got to play my half-orc summoner for the first time yesterday. I decided that his eidolon was a demon bound to his bloodline by an ancestor. It's just been a voice in his head for most of his life, until he was about to get killed and it was finally able to manifest. Now they're stuck with each other - the demon doesn't like my PC because he's not evil enough for it, and my PC doesn't like the eidolon because it's kind of an abusive demon monster. However, they're stuck with each other.
I played one briefly whose Eidolon was her imaginary friend made real due to extrem psychic and physical trauma. He was a disgusting looking thing, with big teeth, a weird gait, and a vaguely Stitch-like (from Lilo and Stitch) appearance, and she called him "Mr. Dainty Paws."
I played one briefly whose Eidolon was her imaginary friend made real due to extrem psychic and physical trauma. He was a disgusting looking thing, with big teeth, a weird gait, and a vaguely Stitch-like (from Lilo and Stitch) appearance, and she called him "Mr. Dainty Paws."Creative and warped at the same time. I like it. :)
Thanks. My wife helped me come up with the name. I was eventually going to get it up to large or larger and start having it look like the Cloverfield monster, so I loved the dichotomy of its ridiculous name. The summoner had manifested it when she was, like 14 for the first time.
One I've been contemplating for a synth summoner character I have on "the list" is that the eidolon is sort of in a symbiotic relationship with the character. Influencing him, using his life force and body to live and have fun. Often the influence manifests in an more animalistic predatorily emotional / personality change to the character he bonds with.
Another possibility could be that the eidolon got in some sort of trouble or just dislikes his own plane for some reason and the summoner is like an anchor in a plane he prefers over his own home plane.
For my skulls and shackles game. My character born with the blessing of besmara whose backstory was an escaped slave on a small row boat trying to get away from her pursuers, called out to Besmara to help and was blessed by a "sea monster" (whom she later named seaweed) that destroyed the boat the pursuers were on.