Warning: Back story below. If you want to skip to how you can help, jump on down to the second paragraph.
So the deal is I want to make a lawful neutral summoner who's lived his life as a cog in the machine and is tired of witnessing corruption and being unable to do anything about it legally. He has always been obsessed with Axis, which he sees as the model that mortals should strive for, and after many years of research uncovers the method of creating an Inevitable, as the Axiomites. He believes that as long as this Inevitable continues to follow him in his crusade, he is serving something greater than mortal law. His jurisdiction is everywhere he can manage to keep the peace out of sheer fear of his retribution. Modelling himself after his creation, he will not rest, unfalteringly rooting out criminals and anarchists wherever they hide and bringing them to absolute justice.
I am building a Human Unchained Summoner with the Unwavering Conduit Archtype, and choosing Inevitable as my eidolon's subtype. I imagine most of you optimizers are shaking your heads right now, as Unwavering Conduit causes all kinds of problems regarding evolutions and Inevitable is generally considered the worst subtype. However, the reason I included the back story is because I'm doing this for flavour, not crunch, so I'm not budging on any of the above.
However, I don't want to completely waste space at the table either, so what I'm asking for is what I can do well with the above components. Should I build to wade into combat alongside my eidolon or focus more on ranged support? I've already taken Spell Focus (Conjuration) and Augment Summoning, and as I understand Unwavering Conduit allows me a more fixed number of monsters when I summon below max level.
What about other feats/traits/spells/tactics? I was considering something like the Law Enforcer Trait if my GM will allow me to take it, but again that's more for flavour than anything. What I need from you guys are options so good for this build that I should be willing to sacrifice for the crunch. Thanks in advance!
Oh, I was also considering the Deific or Celestial Obedience feats, taking Abadar for the former, or Damerrich for the latter, but is it worth it to bother with these or do summoners have more pressing matters to attend to?
No takers? Is the build too difficult to make useful?
Well, your Eidolon is going to be pretty set. Inevitable is kind of restricted in what it can take, so… take that. Maybe get it weapon proficiency via a feat to start hitting stuff with a sword? I'd recommend getting Summon Neutral Monster when you get that chance, just so there are enough things that you can summon. Make sure your GM will let you summon animals… I think technically they're not allowed, even though they're the only templated things, and it references using the lawful-leaning template for them.
But hey, you're still a Summoner. You're casting spells, you've got a meat shield, and when your meat shield goes down, you've got a reliable number of mini-meatshields.
As for melee vs. ranged… well, you've sunk two feats into summoning things rather than being good at either of those, so just be a switch hitter who sucks at both until you get your next feat and have to make up your mind. At that point you can decide which was more fun and/or helpful. Sorry I'm not much help on that, but my Summoner half tends to be built around weird stuff like doubling their magical repertoire with half-elf alternate racial options.
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Ranged combat is feat heavy on a class that gets no bonus feats. That style requires an all-in attitude, so no.
Good STR, a long spear, Combat Reflexes and Power Attack can make you a decent melee fighter, but simply continuing down the summoning line is good if you just want to keep the Eidolon for flavor and a backup.
The later route involves Superior Summons and maybe Evolved Summons, keeping the eidolon for rogue-like utility works. Skilled evolution is AMAZING and doesn't clash with the highly restricted archetype much. Super high charisma, decent Con and Dex, some classic battlefield control spells and you're good to go.
Just keep stat-augmented flash cards of stats for your best/favorite summons. That is more or less mandatory as a vital time saver and DMs will love you for it.
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Pardon the double post, but I was on break and time was short.
More details on a rogue/scout Eidolon. Small size gives you better dex and stealth. For suggestions on evolutions, skills, and feats, check out my Swiss Army Eidolon build from the tail end of Mighty Glacier's Summoner guide. You'll have a slightly smaller pool to work with, but ignoring Slight of Hand and keeping a scroll or two of Transmogrification will see you through. Make sure to pick up flight, it's really aces for a scout.
But if you want your robot to help out on the battlefield, you can do that too. Either give it a proficiency feat for something nice like a greatsword or a reach weapon, or just focus on pimping out that slam attack. Reach, improved damage, and large size is a good combo when you're level 8. Power Attack and Combat Reflexes are great either way.
Melee Summoners want buff spells with a side of utility. Summon focused builds do better with battlefield control and utility with buffs on wands and scrolls. Either way, the Evolution Surge spells are your best friend.
So! You may have the worst eidolon, but that's like being the poorest millionaire. You still have a powerful, modular, highly evolved outsider that doubles your actions in combat and is conditionally immortal. No matter what style you pick, you'll have a much smoother time of it than half the classes in the game.
Hmm, I definitely appreciate the advice so far! The build paths are a little more clear to me now. I personally saw him fighting alongside his Inevitable because, again, it's the sign that his crusade has been consummated by law itself. But I'm sort of struggling as for the actual build of both myself and my Eidolon. I've discounted ranged, so it's between melee Summoner and combat Eidolon or Summon Summoner and Roguelike Eidolon. The second build doesn't match my concept quite as well but it sounds much more powerful.
I wanted to pick the skilled evolution for Knowledge (Local) and skill focus to make it the undisputed master of all laws, but how often would that come up in game? Also, what about traits for either build or other cool Eidolon/summon tricks?