Azata eidolon in Society play question 1


Pathfinder Society

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2/5

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I have two questions that I almost hesitate to ask because I don’t think there are any agreed upon answers to them, and the best I’m likely to get is the dreaded “table variation” (If there are definitive, FAQ-style answers that I’ve overlooked, learning about them would be great.). Anyhows, I’ve started my first summoner (unchained) for Society play, and she has an biped Azata as an eidolon. I’m posting my first question here and am still working on my second question which I hope to post later.

Question the first, what happens to her gear when she is summoned/dismissed/etc? The closest thing to an official answer is the James Jacobs post linked to in this 2016 thread requesting a FAQ. Jacobs says “Those items go with the eidolon, and come back the next time it's summoned.”

I think that makes very good sense, particularly if you look at the various summonable azata. They all arrive with one or more weapons. A couple of them cast spells and don’t have the eschew materials feat, so they presumably arrive with spell components, and the Paizo pictures of all of them show clothing in one form or another.

The most common argument against allowing eidolons to be summon/dismissed with gear appears to be that players will abuse this by giving important items to eidolons and then dismissing them so the items can be smuggled, can’t be stolen from the party, etc. I think the box, “Eidolons and Alignment,” on p. 35 of Pathfinder Unchained takes care of this as it allows the GM to have the eidolon tell the summoner that he/she won’t do such things.

So, in the end, how common am I to encounter GMs in Society play who don’t allow eidolons to be summoned/dismissed with gear and weapons? In the case of my Azata, she is currently carrying a nodachi, a heavy flail, a compound longbow with a selection of arrows, and three potions/oils for her own use.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

You shouldn't encounter table variation.

Called creatures maintain their equipment.

Summoned creatures (such as your Eidolon) do not.

James Jacobs was answering how he would rule it in his personal campaign. He's never been a part of the Rules Team, and doesn't actually like having his responses used as sources for rulings. It'd be no more official than asking your best friend how they'd rule it.

EDIT: "Calling" vs. "Summoning"

5/5 *****

Many summoned creatures arrive with equipment, bralani azata's leap to mind. They certainly don't leave it behind when the spell ends.

Expect table variation.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

andreww wrote:
Expect table variation.

"a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this"

Where in the Summoner's or Eidolon's write-up are we directed to believe that it returns with equipment it's been given?

2/5 5/5 **

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

While I would love to not be lugging around my eidolon's gear, I don't see any indication that it can take it with it when dismissed.

The bralani example isn't appropriate. The summoned bralani arrives with its weapons and the weapons go back with it. In the case of eidolons, they arrive naked from their plane and you give them something from the Material Plane, which they would be taking from that plane when they went back to their plane of origin.

2/5

Blake's Tiger wrote:
In the case of eidolons, they arrive naked from their plane and you give them something from the Material Plane, which they would be taking from that plane when they went back to their plane of origin.

Not to be too pushy, but where exactly is this stated in the rules?


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I am pretty sure that PFS generally has eidolons leaving their equipment behind when they are dismissed or banished.

Outside of PFS, the matter seems to be up for debate because of the inconvenience factor involved. If it were not up for debate, some 3rd party publisher would by now have come up with a method for associating equipment with an eidolon so that the equipment would come and go with the eidolon.

I am actually surprised that this matter wasn't revisited after the release of Pathfinder Unchained as there are some eidolon subtypes that are sufficiently humanlike in appearance for their naked arrivals to present a problem in some games.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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While I can see the logic used to arrive at that decision, that ruling would certainly make the Twinned Summoner problematic. (Among others.)


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Summoning the eidolon via the one minute ritual in a private location lets the summoner summon and then dress his eidolon.

It is the Summon Eidolon spell that becomes problematic (not to mention far less useful in general).

Of course, the real inconvenience factor is all of the equipment that is left behind on the battlefield when the eidolon is suddenly dismissed or banished in mid-combat.


The fact that this is still an unanswered question even after the creation of the Unchained Summoner is kind of annoying.

I will say this: Any sane GM will just let the eidolon keep his gear, because any other rules interpretation just leads to problems. GMs who try to be difficult about it will generally change their tune after you summon your *humanoid* eidolon without equipment in mid battle with the 1 round summon spell.

Silver Crusade 4/5 5/55/55/5

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David knott 242 wrote:
Summoning the eidolon via the one minute ritual in a private location lets the summoner summon and then dress his eidolon

It's a little tangential to the broader point, but there are eidolon builds that are far more likely to be summoned in places with limited or no privacy, like dungeons. Some summoners prefer to use their SMX SLA in combat and use their eidolons for skill checks, like to use disable device to pick a lock on a door.

David knott 242 wrote:
It is the Summon Eidolon spell that becomes problematic (not to mention far less useful in general).

But I do agree that the Summon Eidolon spell removes any chance a PC might have at mitigating nakedness. It's a good point.

2/5 5/5 **

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pjrogers wrote:
Blake's Tiger wrote:
In the case of eidolons, they arrive naked from their plane and you give them something from the Material Plane, which they would be taking from that plane when they went back to their plane of origin.
Not to be too pushy, but where exactly is this stated in the rules?

Um, which part? Other than my poetic use of the word naked to mean that it comes with no equipment, it's all pretty straight forward.

I would allow an eidolon to come with eidolon appropriate clothing in the style of its home plane. That doesn't mean I would allow it to plane shift a suit of full plate that the summoner gave it back to it's home plane.

And I have an equipment wielding eidolon for whom I wish it did work this way.

Here's what happens if it did work that way: My eidolon is going to lift the 500 lb ruby and then I'll dismiss him. I'll summon him back when we're in front of the king. The example is exaggerated for effect, but if the eidolon can take things with it when dismissed, it becomes a bag of near-infinite holding.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

Matrix Dragon wrote:
The fact that this is still an unanswered question even after the creation of the Unchained Summoner is kind of annoying.

Why would rules from the Core Rulebook need to be reprinted in Pathfinder Unchained?

2/5

Blake's Tiger wrote:

Um, which part? Other than my poetic use of the word naked to mean that it comes with no equipment, it's all pretty straight forward.

I would allow an eidolon to come with eidolon appropriate clothing in the style of its home plane. That doesn't mean I would allow it to plane shift a suit of full plate that the summoner gave it back to it's home plane.

And I have an equipment wielding eidolon for whom I wish it did work this way.

Here's what happens if it did work that way: My eidolon is going to lift the 500 lb ruby and then I'll dismiss him. I'll summon him back when we're in front of the king. The example is exaggerated for effect, but if the eidolon can take things with it when dismissed, it becomes a bag of near-infinite holding.

Apologies for my lack of precision - where is the rule that says that I can not give an eidolon a sword, dismiss that eidolon and have him take the sword with him, and then when I summon him again he has said sword?

I understand the fear of player abuse. That's exactly why I referenced the box Eidolons and Alignment boxed text on p. 35 of Pathfinder Unchained which says an eidolon won't always do everything a player wants, and a GM can say "No, your eidolon refuses to do that when a player makes a unreasonable or game abusive request."

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

If you want to equip your Eidolon, and Summon it with that equipment in the future, there is a way to do it. It's just not free.

Pay a higher level spellcaster to cast Planar Ally, and have them speak your Eidolon's name.

It's an instantaneous spell effect, so it doesn't run afoul of PFS's stipulation that spell effects terminate at the end of the session.

When your Eidolon is called in this way, you can then give it whatever equipment you want. It then returns to its home plane with that equipment, and will reappear with it whenever you Summon it again.

But houseruling that you can just give a Summoned Eidolon anything to keep is not permitted in PFS.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

pjrogers wrote:
where is the rule that says that I can not give an eidolon a sword, dismiss that eidolon and have him take the sword with him, and then when I summon him again he has said sword?

Did you not read my first (or second) post?


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Without that spell, you are very limited in what your eidolon can possses. An eidolon has zero starting money and no way other than that Planar Ally Spell to get more stuff, so it is initially limited to free items.

Fortunately, one of the available free items is a clothing outfit worth 10 GP or less.

2/5

Nefreet wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
The fact that this is still an unanswered question even after the creation of the Unchained Summoner is kind of annoying.
Why would rules from the Core Rulebook need to be reprinted in Pathfinder Unchained?

Which rules from the Core Rulebook are these? I'm afraid I didn't understand how the Called vs. Summoned rules that you referenced are relevant to the question I posed.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

In my 2nd post, I wrote:
"a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this"

Scarab Sages 5/5

Nefreet wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
The fact that this is still an unanswered question even after the creation of the Unchained Summoner is kind of annoying.
Why would rules from the Core Rulebook need to be reprinted in Pathfinder Unchained?

I think what it boils down to, is that people don't like to accept, in general, that rules are spread out over not just several sections of the same book, but over several books. In this case, it is mildly irritating that rules on how the Eidolon work in regards to equipment are found in an a section of the CRB. Realistically, this rule should have been included with the Eidolon, as, while its a summoned creature, it is a hybrid summoned creature/animal companion. As such, a couple lines in the Advanced Players Guide or Pathfinder Unchained saying, "Like all summoned creatures, the Eidolon does not take equipment with it when it goes away," would have been prudent.

If you don't like a rule, or didn't know to look in an obscure place (Magic Chapter of the CRB where lots of obscure rules that affect many class abilities or interactions of spells and abilities reside), when the rule negates your plan at the table comes as a surprise, it is highly annoying.

This doesn't mean that you are incorrect, or that you shouldn't rule per the rules Nefreet. It just means that there might be a reason why the lack of clarification within the Eidolon write-up may rub folks the wrong way.

Scarab Sages 5/5

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Nefreet wrote:
In my 2nd post, I wrote:
"a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this"

Interesting... But that only really muddies the waters here I think.

Because if you summon your Eidolon and give him a sword, the sword is not a summoned object. Right?

2/5

Tallow wrote:
Nefreet wrote:
In my 2nd post, I wrote:
"a summoned object is not sent back unless the spell description specifically indicates this"

Interesting... But that only really muddies the waters here I think.

Because if you summon your Eidolon and give him a sword, the sword is not a summoned object. Right?

Also, if I use a Summon Monster spell to summon a weapon-equipped Azata, then what's to stop me from arguing that I'm summoning a creature, the Azata, and several objects, her weapons. So, when the duration of the Summon Monster spell ends, her weapons remain behind because the spell does not specifically indicate that they return with her? Mind you, I think this is a nonsensical argument but it is legitimate RAW reading of the rule.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

Luckily, spending 780gp (280+500) shouldn't break the bank for anyone after 1st level.


Nefreet wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
The fact that this is still an unanswered question even after the creation of the Unchained Summoner is kind of annoying.
Why would rules from the Core Rulebook need to be reprinted in Pathfinder Unchained?

That an eidolon should get to hold onto its equipment is so intuitive and obvious (IMO at least) that many players just assume that the class' designer just forgot to mention this part. There has been so much confusion about this as far back as during the original summoner playtest that it is amazing we have never gotten some sort of official word on this.

The summoner breaks a number of rules about how summoning works anyway, so there isn't any reason why they couldn't be breaking the rules for how equipment works as well. ;)

2/5 5/5 **

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pjrogers wrote:
where is the rule that says that I can not give an eidolon a sword, dismiss that eidolon and have him take the sword with him, and then when I summon him again he has said sword?

Where is the rule that states or even implies that you can?

2/5

Nefreet wrote:
pjrogers wrote:
where is the rule that says that I can not give an eidolon a sword, dismiss that eidolon and have him take the sword with him, and then when I summon him again he has said sword?
Did you not read my first (or second) post?

I read both but I’m afraid I don’t understand their relevance to my question.


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I will say this: In Non-PFS games if you have a GM who requires that your eidolon be re-equipped after each summon, then the solution is to equip it with (harmless) cursed items. The items should automatically return to the eidolon as soon as it is resummoned :)

Scarab Sages 2/5

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Small note....Eidolons, by the CRB definitions Nefreet linked, are not summoned creatures, except when summoned via the 1 rd spell. Which is why at some point this concept should have been clarified. Nothing in the description disallows a summoned creature from returning with non-summoned objects. And again, they aren't summoned creatures, because the 1 minute ritual is not a spell. If you want to play that game.

2/5

Blake's Tiger wrote:
pjrogers wrote:
where is the rule that says that I can not give an eidolon a sword, dismiss that eidolon and have him take the sword with him, and then when I summon him again he has said sword?
Where is the rule that states or even implies that you can?

And that is the quandry as I see it, there are no clear and explict rules one way or another on this topic.

I think the fact that an Azata summoned with a Summon Monster spell arrives and departs with weapons and gear does imply that the same would be true for a Eidolon Azata.

2/5 5/5 **

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Matrix Dragon wrote:
. . . is so intuitive and obvious . . .

First, when people say this in a debate, it comes across as "you're stupid if you don't agree."

Intuitive and obvious: you fall prone when knocked unconscious, you can't take actions when dead

Desirable: your eidolon keeps its gear when dismissed so that I don't need to lug it around and can tank STR and don't have to re-equip it when I re-summon it.

Desirable != Intuitive and obvious


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Blake's Tiger wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
. . . is so intuitive and obvious . . .

First, when people say this in a debate, it comes across as "you're stupid if you don't agree."

Intuitive and obvious: you fall prone when knocked unconscious, you can't take actions when dead

Desirable: your eidolon keeps its gear when dismissed so that I don't need to lug it around and can tank STR and don't have to re-equip it when I re-summon it.

Desirable != Intuitive and obvious

You cut off the part where I added "In My Opinion" immediately after saying that...

So, you could say that you violated a rule of debating by misquoting me there, so we are both at fault now ;)

Scarab Sages 5/5

burkoJames wrote:
Small note....Eidolons, by the CRB definitions Nefreet linked, are not summoned creatures, except when summoned via the 1 rd spell. Which is why at some point this concept should have been clarified. Nothing in the description disallows a summoned creature from returning with non-summoned objects. And again, they aren't summoned creatures, because the 1 minute ritual is not a spell. If you want to play that game.

The quoted rule that Nefreet made, and the interpretation that Eidolons return with equipment they are dismissed with, would lead one to believe:

1) Since the equipment was not summoned, Eidolons will carry the equipment with them the first time they are dismissed.

2) When you re-summon them, they will return with that equipment, but the next time you dismiss them, the equipment will stay, because it has now been summoned with the Eidolon.

So essentially every other time the Eidolon is dismissed, you gotta carry the equipment around with you. However, because there is infinite amount of time between scenarios, unless the Eidolon is dismissed twice during the scenario, you can assume you have started the scenario with the iteration that would carry the equipment with your Eidolon when it is dismissed.

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pjrogers wrote:

And that is the quandry as I see it, there are no clear and explict rules one way or another on this topic.

I think the fact that an Azata summoned with a Summon Monster spell arrives and departs with weapons and gear does imply that the same would be true for a Eidolon Azata.

I bolded the key difference.

The summoned bralani arrives with a weapon and so departs with a weapon.

The Azata eidolon arrives without a weapon and so departs without a weapon.

The rule Nefreet has been trying to point out is that summoned things go back the way they came. Else the Azata you summoned via spell, who is carrying the Macguffin over the lava pit when he is dispelled takes the Macguffin with him and you lose the scenario.

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Matrix Dragon wrote:
Blake's Tiger wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
. . . is so intuitive and obvious . . .

First, when people say this in a debate, it comes across as "you're stupid if you don't agree."

Intuitive and obvious: you fall prone when knocked unconscious, you can't take actions when dead

Desirable: your eidolon keeps its gear when dismissed so that I don't need to lug it around and can tank STR and don't have to re-equip it when I re-summon it.

Desirable != Intuitive and obvious

You cut off the part where I added "In My Opinion" immediately after saying that...

So, you could say that you violated a rule of debating by misquoting me there, so we are both at fault now ;)

That it is opinion is a given. My cutting it off does not change the context. Nor does explicitly stating it is you opinion that we are stupid for nit seeing the obvious make it any less insulting. Doubling down on it does make it worse, though.

Scarab Sages 5/5

Blake's Tiger wrote:
pjrogers wrote:

And that is the quandry as I see it, there are no clear and explict rules one way or another on this topic.

I think the fact that an Azata summoned with a Summon Monster spell arrives and departs with weapons and gear does imply that the same would be true for a Eidolon Azata.

I bolded the key difference.

The summoned bralani arrives with a weapon and so departs with a weapon.

The Azata eidolon arrives without a weapon and so departs without a weapon.

The rule Nefreet has been trying to point out is that summoned things go back the way they came. Else the Azata you summoned via spell, who is carrying the Macguffin over the lava pit when he is dispelled takes the Macguffin with him and you lose the scenario.

Except that isn't actually in the rule that Nefreet quoted. All it says is that summoned objects don't return unless the spell states otherwise.


Blake's Tiger wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
Blake's Tiger wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
. . . is so intuitive and obvious . . .

First, when people say this in a debate, it comes across as "you're stupid if you don't agree."

Intuitive and obvious: you fall prone when knocked unconscious, you can't take actions when dead

Desirable: your eidolon keeps its gear when dismissed so that I don't need to lug it around and can tank STR and don't have to re-equip it when I re-summon it.

Desirable != Intuitive and obvious

You cut off the part where I added "In My Opinion" immediately after saying that...

So, you could say that you violated a rule of debating by misquoting me there, so we are both at fault now ;)

That it is opinion is a given. My cutting it off does not change the context. Nor does explicitly stating it is you opinion that we are stupid for nit seeing the obvious make it any less insulting. Doubling down on it does make it worse, though.

Admittedly, I could have said all of that better, but honestly the way you aren't even acknowledging my attempt at softening what I was saying isn't helping matters here either.


Just out of curiosity, has anyone here played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned? I would think that sort of ruling would make the class unplayable... especially if you were playing a summoner that gave up the standard summons monsters SLA.

Scarab Sages 5/5

Matrix Dragon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone here actually played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned? I would think that sort of ruling would make the class unplayable... especially if you were playing a summoner that gave up the standard summons monsters SLA.

I haven't played a summoner. But I was always under the impression as a GM that stuff didn't go with the Eidolon when it was dismissed. And 9 times out of 10, the Summoner starts the scenario with the Eidolon summoned, and when they don't, they usually have a beast of burden (mule, pony, goat, etc.) or handy haversack/bag of holding to carry the Eidolon's stuff.

Its never been a point of contention.


Tallow wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone here actually played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned? I would think that sort of ruling would make the class unplayable... especially if you were playing a summoner that gave up the standard summons monsters SLA.

I haven't played a summoner. But I was always under the impression as a GM that stuff didn't go with the Eidolon when it was dismissed. And 9 times out of 10, the Summoner starts the scenario with the Eidolon summoned, and when they don't, they usually have a beast of burden (mule, pony, goat, etc.) or handy haversack/bag of holding to carry the Eidolon's stuff.

Its never been a point of contention.

My experience playing a summoner has been outside of PFS, so it might be a bit different for me. These were level 1 to 20 games with 25 point buy.

The enemies that we fought in those home games were generally so strong that my eidolon had trouble hitting them even with an Amulet of Mighty Fists and a Belt of Strength, and it tended to die multiple times a day. Surprise attacks at times when I couldn't be expected to have the eidolon summoned were also common. I actually had to buy a wand of "Summon Eidolon" on hand in order to keep the thing around.

I can't help but think that my character would have been useless in those games if the eidolon came in without gear each time I used the Summon Eidolon spell. I guess that's part of the reason why I'm so against the idea of a 'no gear' ruling, lol.

3/5

Matrix Dragon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone here actually played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned?

Yes. May be another regional thing, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone argue that they should be able to do so. The planar ally dodge is nice, though - will keep that in mind for non-PFS games where unnerfed summoners can still be played.


TimD wrote:
Matrix Dragon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone here actually played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned?
Yes. May be another regional thing, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone argue that they should be able to do so. The planar ally dodge is nice, though - will keep that in mind for non-PFS games where unnerfed summoners can still be played.

Yea, I think it is a regional thing, since I believe that summoners in my PFS region were allowed to summon with equipment.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

My Eidolon is a Psychopomp flavored as an Ahmuuth, so it will eventually have a Heavy Shield made of Stone with the Dancing Animated Property.

Right now, I hand it equipment when it's summoned. When I can afford the shield, I'll be using Planar Ally to keep it permanently equipped.

2/5 5/5 **

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Matrix Dragon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone here played a game where they had to re-equip their eidolon every time it was summoned? I would think that sort of ruling would make the class unplayable... especially if you were playing a summoner that gave up the standard summons monsters SLA.

Yes.

It definitely did not make my character unplayable.

My eidolon wears leather armor and wields an earthbreaker. He also has disable device as a class skill. The thieves tools are easy to carry, but I have to be careful to not carry too much stuff myself if I need to dismiss him (or he gets killed). If I needed to put him away for social reasons, I wouldn't have time to summon him back for a surprise fight anyhow so the time to rearmor him is moot.

Sczarni 5/5 5/55/5 ***

How did you get your Eidolon to wear armor?


This might be something that's less of an issue in PFS than I thought, lol. Though like I said, my experience with playing a summoner has been mostly in high level home games.

I guess one of the reasons why I'm so against the idea of a 'no gear' ruling is that this feels like one of those cases where we are inventing a problem that the designers never thought of. Kind of like the drama with the Ooze Shifter, lol. I would think that Paizo would have put out some sort of item or spell to work around equipping gear by now if they were even aware of this.

2/5 5/5 **

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Nefreet wrote:
How did you get your Eidolon to wear armor?

Your question sent me searching for a reference on eidolon and armor. Man, that was squeezed in there. Frees up a feat slot, though, so not a horrible loss.

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I think the cleanest solution is probably to attach the same limits to eidolon stored gear that you would to the common outsider at-will teleportation SLAs: self + 50 pounds.. It might need to be expanded for large and/or huge eidolons but since they can't wear armor, it seems to work in most use-cases?

I freely acknowledge that there's no real support in the rules for it. But I think it's better than winning the rules battle and losing the rules war by creating a broad swath of nude humanoid eidolons.

---------------

Nefreet, I see why the Call Planar Ally thing works, but if that's the way every player with a gear-using eidolon is expected to manage this, then something about the summoner seems fundamentally broken to me.

There's no way we should be expecting a player who's got just a few games under their belt to pick up an Unchained summoner, choose an eidolon that's expected to use a weapon, and then go digging through the morass of rules that are the Summoned vs. Called monster rules.

2/5

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To sum up what I have learned.

1) Yes, I should expect table variation, though it may be regional in nature. So, I'll contact folks around here who regularly GM to find out their thoughts.

2) I still have not seen anything that explicitly allows or disallows a eidolon to be summoned/dismissed with gear. I may be dense, but I can't for the life of me understand how the distinction between "summoned" and "called" as laid out in the CRB has any relevance to this discussion at all.

3) The most significant legitimate concern that I've seen is that players will abuse the eidolon to smuggle goods, protect important items off-plane, etc. However, as I've noted twice, the Unchained Eidolon rules explicitly allow the GM to forbid such abuse,

"Generally, the summoner controls the actions of his eidolon, even during combat, either through verbal commands or through the link ability, but this does not mean that the eidolon is a puppet that follows every command without question. Eidolons have been known to refuse actions that are against their ethoses or alignments (subject to the GM's discretion) and are quick to chide the summoner about such requests."

4) So when I GM for a summoner, I'll have no problem allowing his/her eidolon to be summoned/dismissed with a reasonable array of gear.

Thanks to all those who responded to my query.

5/5 *****

Nefreet wrote:
Right now, I hand it equipment when it's summoned. When I can afford the shield, I'll be using Planar Ally to keep it permanently equipped.

Planar Ally does not allow you to dictate what arrives, even if you use a specific creatures name.

Also, this is very expensive as you still have to pay your ally and the time limits are likely to be awkward in many scenarios.

5/5 *****

pjrogers wrote:

To sum up what I have learned.

1) Yes, I should expect table variation, though it may be regional in nature. So, I'll contact folks around here who regularly GM to find out their thoughts.

2) I still have not seen anything that explicitly allows or disallows a eidolon to be summoned/dismissed with gear. I may be dense, but I can't for the life of me understand how the distinction between "summoned" and "called" as laid out in the CRB has any relevance to this discussion at all.

This is pretty much where we are at, check with your local GMs.

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