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I'm building out an elemental ally druid and am looking for suggestions. Without evolution points, I was planning to specialize each with different combat feats and decide which to use based on what tactics would work best with the party.
What are some combat tactics that might be useful depending on the party?
Ideas so far:
Fire eidolon (movement - + 20ft base speed)
Quadruped - 40ft, bite
Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Fast mover to chase foes and position for flank
Air eidolon (movement - fly speed)
Quadruped - 40ft, bite
Power Attack, Step Up, Death from Above
Flight is super handy on it's own
Water eidolon (movement - Swim speed)
Serpentine - 20ft, bite, tail
Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Stand Still
Use Dex for AoOs, boost ally's AC
Earth eidolon (movement - burrow speed)
Biped - 30ft, slam
Power Attack, Blind Fight
Basic damage dealer, eventually able to burrow and fight from below
What else could I do with them? I'll probably just rotate them unless I have a reason to pick one over another.
Are there feats the eidolon could take to make it a better mount? I'm not sure if I'll run into many small sized cavliers in need of a flying mount. But, I have the flexibility to build it. Alternatively, I could have my elven archer mount up on an Undersized Air Elemental.
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They don't even get 1 evo point. They are basically smart animal companions with movement modes.
The best value I can see is being able to switch tactics based on party composition. (This will be a PFS character).
Already have a big damage-dealing fighter or three? Water can use Bodyguard help protect them from damage.
Rogue without a flank buddy? Fire can get into position and enable damage
Nobody else dealing damage? Earth can dish it out.
Everything else okay? Air will likely be the generalist.
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Between the four of them, at least one should be a small sized Biped Skill Monkey. Air and Earth have the best movement modes for that. You can't pick up the hilariously strong Skilled evolution with any ease, but as a noncombatant it can afford to take Skill Focus Stealth, Skill Focus Perception/Disable Device, and then Hellcat Stealth for a pseudo invisibility.
Making one of them a Biped weapon wielder isn't a bad idea. It helps to mitigate their lack of Evolution Points.
Make sure to take Dangerously Curious to make Use Magic Device a class skill. Scrolls of Unfetter and Summon Eidolon will work wonders for you.
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Thanks! Summon Eidolon could be super handy, but I'm not sure I want to invest in UMD for one spell, when I have a whole druid list already. I can summon nature's ally if it comes to it. The Elemental Ally doesn't get the Life Link ability, so unfetter would not do anything for me.
I forgot about having a skill monkey! Disable Device on a biped is going on the list. Having a Small, stealthy Air elemental for scouting is pretty nice, too. The Link ability provides the constant communication that is essential for safe scouting.
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Thanks! Summon Eidolon could be super handy, but I'm not sure I want to invest in UMD for one spell
Don't think of it as UMD for the sake of one spell, think of it as UMD to ensure your signature class ability can function when you need it to. For the same reasons Fighters should Golf-Bag their weapon loadout. Plus, since skills are a rarely related to combat prowess, you can always split your skill versatility through your Eidolons. Having 16 fully maxed skills on tap within a minute's notice is a very good thing.
But yeah. Overall your Eidolon list is looking pretty good. I'm less a fan of the Four-Leggers thanks to the lack of Mount, Pounce, and Reach, especially since Biped are functionally superior thanks to better strength and the ability to carry things. Still, they are fun, and 40 feet of moment isn't a bad place to start.
Edit: As boring as it is, don't forget to pick up Iron Will sooner than later. Eidolon saves scale pretty poorly, and you won't bae able to give them cloaks to make up for it.
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They don't even get 1 evo point. They are basically smart animal companions with movement modes.
The best value I can see is being able to switch tactics based on party composition. (This will be a PFS character).
Already have a big damage-dealing fighter or three? Water can use Bodyguard help protect them from damage.
Rogue without a flank buddy? Fire can get into position and enable damage
Nobody else dealing damage? Earth can dish it out.
Everything else okay? Air will likely be the generalist.
They do get 1 evo point. Remember, the elemental eidolon subtype gains 1 evo point at level 4. They just don't get an evo pool for leveling up. But they get everything their subtype gains.
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That's not how I've been reading this:
Their abilities and statistics are determined using the rules for elemental eidolons for the Unchained Summoner class, as if the elemental ally were a summoner of her druid level, except they gain no additional evolution pool (just those evolutions from their base form and base evolutions from their subtype).
and this:
The eidolons gain the darkvision, link, share spells, evasion, ability score increase, devotion, multiattack, and improved evasion abilities at the appropriate levels, but never gain an evolution pool. Abilities and spells that grant additional evolution points to eidolons do not function for elemental eidolons, though any ability that would grant evolution points to an animal companion does work.
It seems to be saying you don't get the 4th level evo point, and the only way you can get evo points is by using Evolved Companion or similar.
How are you reading it?