So a Summoner in my game is pretty frustrated by how "clunky" it feels to have to dismiss his Eidolon as a standard action before he can use his Summon Monster class ability. He is primarily building his Eidolon (a Shadow with the Shadow Caller archetype) as a scout and skill monkey to act as a replacement for the lack of a rogue in the party. He's picking up the non-combat/movement/shadow evolutions over combat evolutions and the Shadow Form evolution reduces all damage his Eidolon does to corporeal creatures by half, so I understand why he'd like to just dismiss his Eidolon asap when combat breaks out.
We haven't found anything from any core or 3rd party books that do this, so I'm open to creating something. My question is what would be appropriate for the ability to dismiss an Eidolon as a swift action? It doesn't feel quite right as a feat so I was initially thinking of a trait like the following.
Born of the Planes
You were born on a plane other than the material plane and have always felt a special connection to it. Your Eidolon is considered a native to this plane and as such you are able to dismiss him back with great ease. You may dismiss your Eidolon as a Swift action instead of a Standard action.
I was also thinking about making it so he can summon his Eidolon in 30 seconds as opposed to a minute since it fits thematically.
Would this be a bit to unbalancing as just a trait to a Summoners action economy since the Summon Monster class ability is already a standard action or is it about right for the strength of a trait?
Is this a feat, or what?
Is this a feat, or what?
Last sentence says it would be a trait.
My GM just decided that my eidolon is dismissed by using the Summon Monster SLA, the same way currently summoned monsters are.
Is this a feat, or what?
I'm honestly undecided, but was leaning towards it being a trait.
My GM just decided that my eidolon is dismissed by using the Summon Monster SLA, the same way currently summoned monsters are.
How does playing it this way feel? I was conserned that being able to get the summoned creature on the field as a standard action and acting in the same initiative as the caster would give the already powerful and versatile Summoner class a bit to much power in action economy compared to other casting classes. Seems like the Summoner could potentially snowball every combat instead of just the combats he was prepared for.
From what I can tell, no other class that can summon creatures can get said summoned creature on the battlefield and attacking on the first turn except the Summoner, and that's only if they thought ahead to dismiss their Eidolon.
Summoning the eidolon only takes a minute - unless you need it constantly (like for perception or transport), you can just summon it when you need it and keep your SLAs loaded and ready the rest of the time.
That being said, part of the reason was that I was underusing my SLAs anyway, which hasn't really changed.
You make a fair point. Thank you for your input.
There is also a Summon Eidolon spell that can be used to bring your eidolon back on short notice. Its major drawback is that it loses its immunity to being banished or dismissed by spells like Dispel Magic.
Is this a feat, or what?I'm honestly undecided, but was leaning towards it being a trait.
My GM just decided that my eidolon is dismissed by using the Summon Monster SLA, the same way currently summoned monsters are.How does playing it this way feel? I was conserned that being able to get the summoned creature on the field as a standard action and acting in the same initiative as the caster would give the already powerful and versatile Summoner class a bit to much power in action economy compared to other casting classes. Seems like the Summoner could potentially snowball every combat instead of just the combats he was prepared for.
From what I can tell, no other class that can summon creatures can get said summoned creature on the battlefield and attacking on the first turn except the Summoner, and that's only if they thought ahead to dismiss their Eidolon.
A readied action to cast summon monster right as an enemy waltzes up to pound on your eidolon makes this a pretty slick ability.