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I decided to share something that has been experimenting with in my mind the past few days, and since I have not seen much on the threads seriously discussing this, I thought I would share.
I know that, at first glance, the First Worlder summoner archetype appears to be a let down. The switch from outsider to fey is as serious as the downgrade seen with the Master summoner. And despite that, the returns do not appear anywhere near as good, since it switches summoner monster with with summon nature's ally with a fairly piddling set of additions to the list.
Looking through the list, however, I ended up finding a single deceptively sparkling gem that redefined the First Worlder's role: Pugwampis. These ugly little gremlins, often seen only as low level annoyances on par with single hit dice kobolds, have a unique talent in their unluck aura- a 20' radius effect that causes most opponents to roll twice and take the worse results on d20's (so this affects attacks, maneuvers, saves, and skills). With a total diameters of 45' (20' in each direction, and their own 5' square), this effect not only matches but completely outstrips the scope of the witchs' misfotune hex (a definitely blue in pretty much every witch guide), all with no save involved. And it here that we begin to see the First Worlder's role within the party- a one (very good) trick debuffer and buffer.
Between using a 4th+ summon spell and augmented summoning, you can call 1d4+2 pugwampis with each casting (so 3-6, but usually 4). With that 45' radius on each of them, it is entirely possible for them to serve as nodes that cover the entire battlefield in unluck aura. And their completely pathetic hp (6 before superior summons), which limits their combat potential and CR, actually serves as a boon as a summon. With the severe nature of unluck aura's debuff, each pugwampi become a major target for enemies. But for every turn they spend chasing the little gremlins around, your party is buffing and picking off the opposition.
Of course, if the unluck aura affected your party as well, it would put quite a damper on this whole strategy. But there is a clause that grants immunity to its effects: any for of luck bonus cancels out unluck aura's effects. So here is where I need advice- I want to see what kind of party you could make that was built around luck bonuses and immunity to rerolls. How many different ways can you do this without simply saying 'everyone needs to buy luck stones', but instead to make a diverse cast....that you wouldn't want to play cards against. Here are a few of the ones I could find-
-Luck stones.
-Luck Blade
-Sacred tattoo racial trait for half-orcs.
-Adaptable luck racial trait for halflings
-Divine favor spell
-Archaeologist Bards
Special mentions:
-Irorian Paladins- their aura of excellence makes them immune to rerolls against their will, and actually allows allies within 10 feet to roll 3 times instead of 2 and take the middle result.
-Anything immune to mind affected effects, plus animals are immune to unluck aura; this is both good and bad since it limits what you can use this strategy on...but hey, you DO have summon nature's ally as a standard action SLA. Nothing is stopping you from throwing in some T-rexes in after the pugwampis (note to self-small dog men riding dinosaurs).
Ways to work around the unluck are also welcome (a save of suck wizard would do well in such an environment). I would also love advice on things to watch out for with such an approach. While I do not exactly plan to play this build, I would love to see the first worlder get more love, and hope that my theorycrafting has not missed some major weakness.
One of the best items with a luck bonus is the Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier, an item that many characters want as their head slot item anyway, so it works well for this strategy.
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I think you missed a major weakness:
The Summon SLA is fundamentally altered and nerfed. You do not get standard action summons, and the duration is not extended to 1 minute/level. It's a normal, 1 round casting time, 1 round/level duration.
That's a huge penalty IMO.
The Prayer spell is actually the best solution for the party immunity issue. Your friends get a Luck bonus and are immune to the Unluck Aura; enemies are simultaneously debuffed, no save.
Witch might actually work well if multiclassed with this Archetype.
I once had an idea for a Chaos Domain Cleric that summoned Pugwampis and used Touch of Chaos to boost the reroll debuff, but I just couldn't get past the abysmal action economy issue.
The rerolls shouldn't directly stack, but would probably add together like charge damage multipliers; two effects that lead to: 'roll twice and take the worst result' would probably end up as: 'roll three times and take the worst result.'
You can also do this with the Pugwampi's Grace spell.
If you only summon one Pugwampi, you could have it hang out in your square and act like a familiar. Enemies would have to roll Knowledge: Nature to identify the effect and the threat. Otherwise, it's just a freaky little dog-thing to them; you are a much bigger threat.
An enemy directly targeting a non-attacking Pugwampi would be metagaming, unless they had some specialized knowledge about the creature and its aura.
iirc the zen archer's modified perfect strike feat serves as an example of stacking 'roll X times; take highest' effects. as it upgrades it simply adds an extra roll for another chance to get a good one.
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With the severe nature of unluck aura's debuff, each pugwampi become a major target for enemies.
Only if the enemies identify where the threat is coming from.
iirc the zen archer's modified perfect strike feat serves as an example of stacking 'roll X times; take highest' effects. as it upgrades it simply adds an extra roll for another chance to get a good one.
Yep. I agree.
I think a First World Summoner has potential. The slow/short SNA ability is a real problem, but it's possible to make it work.
The Pugwampi has obvious benefits.
First Worlders can also summon Vexgits at first level. They are not strong enough to participate in combat much, but they can cast Rusting Grasp for you. Any metal object or structure in your way will dissolve into rust at your command. All you need is one rank in Linguistics to speak Undercommon so you can boss them around. They have Int 12, so they could easily understand relatively complex commands.
Make your own hole right through that huge metal door, destroy the portcullis, wreck a trap, dissolve that important-looking machine, etc.
Unicorns are good to summon for lots of reasons.
The Eidolon can also be quite strong if built for skill, and can get massive UMD bonuses. Run out of SNA uses and suddenly, you double your actions in combat.
You also get some decent spells of your own. Although the Summoner is a 2/3 caster class, they get early entry to several really great spells. Haste, Black Tentacles, and Hold Monster come to mind.
With the severe nature of unluck aura's debuff, each pugwampi become a major target for enemies.Only if the enemies identify where the threat is coming from.
.....my problem is that, on a meta level, awareness will be too high. Every enemy cleric will cast divine favor and such as their first priority. There will be dozens upon dozens of luck stones. Gnolls, gremlins, animals, and mindless creatures will become omnipresent. Because the GM is tired of rolling twice as many dice and still sucking (heh).
But overall, I think that a summon spell, particularly if it is short/full action like you said (and not something that can be cast and forgotten about before going into the enemy lair), will cause intelligent enemies to think something is up when the first thing you do is summon a bunch of small, pathetic looking dog people. And I listed the idea of them being targeted as more of a tangential benefit for when enemies do notice. The main benefit is still unluck aura, and that is the one that will harass them either way until they either kill all the pugwampis or the spell ends (or the party's wizard has pulled out a area of effect save or suck; whichever comes first[we all know what comes first])
Of course no one is going to deny that a summoner is a fantastic casting class in its own right. It provides you with a lot to do, even if you aren't doing anything that requires a roll. I am just trying to combat the idea that first worlders are practically crippled compared to normal summoners, when they have some amazing things up their sleeves (note to self: sleeves full of small dog people, maybe as part of a group disguising itself with a large trenchcoat; the pug that walks)
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Seeing the thread's title, I was honestly expecting a post about over privileged PCs whining.
Wizard: "I swear, I had to get by with only a level 3 bag of holding!"
or
Fighter: "It's so hard trying to make do with a just a +4 Adamantium Vorpal Keen Ghost Touch Corrosive Burst Holy Greatsword. But ya know, you just have to hold your chin up high and soldier on. It's hard though..."
I doubt the archetype is underpowered at all. I think he just wanted to use that title.
I don't think its been mentioned in the string above, but the one big plus of the First Worlder is that although the Summon Monster ability of a plain vanilla summoner is swapped for Summon Nature's Ally and although it takes longer to cast and only lasts for 1 round/level rather than 1 minute/level (all noted above) - the First Worlder can have as many SNA spells going at the same time as he/she wishes AND whilst his/her eidolon is summmoned. This differs from the plain vanilla summoner (if the eidolon is summoned, the Summon Monster spell-like ability cannot be used) and the Master Summoner (who can only have one Summon Monster spell active whilst the eidolon is summoned).
So a First Worlder can have vast numbers of allies summoned all at the same time as well as his eidolon, though only for short periods.