I've been looking at the rules for the synthesist summoner, researching on the forums, looking at other rules, FAQs, etc, but not come up with a definite answer. I'm not an expert on summoners or synthesists but I've tried to look through this to find answers.
The simple question is, does a synthesist's eidolons gain benefits from continuous effects from magical items?
With regards to the specific rules that I'm looking at, these are the three important lines:
Quote:
1. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist uses the eidolon’s physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), but retains his own mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma).
2. The synthesist uses the eidolon’s base attack bonus, and gains the eidolon’s armor and natural armor bonuses and modifiers to ability scores.
3. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear, except for his armor.
To try and provide a common starting point I should clarify some points of how I'm reading these.
Starting with point 1, I've seen people state that the physical attributes being replace are base attributes and thus the enhancement bonuses from belts, such as a belt of might constitution, are added on afterwards. However that is a RAI interpretation as it makes no mention of the word "base" in the text. This means it is open to interpretation by the players/GM.
With point 2, it's unclear from the line whether the armour and natural armour bonuses add on to the existing bonuses or replace the armour bonus. However in this case we can infer from the FAQ that it replaces it.
The key point for this rules query/discussion is point 3. The wording is clear in some people's mind that any gear can be used except armour. However if this is the case then there's interaction issues with the other two points that are not clearly addressed. For example with regards to gear with continuous effects, such as stat increases. Does an enhancement bonus to constitution from a Belt of Mighty Constitution apply to the summoner's stats following the eidolon's summoning? Does it apply to the eidolon's stats? You might wonder why I seemed to have asked the same question twice but they are two different questions. Because if the increase only affects the summoner's stat line and not the eidolon then the eidolon doesn't get a boost to the temporary HP it provides to the summoner. Thus I question whether this line actually means you can use items like blinkback belts, amulets of the planes, wands rather than gaining the benefits of continuous effects.
Some points I came up with while I was researching this:
1.They are overpowered. Everyone seems to be in agreement that they are extremely powerful. And they got banned from PFS. Not necessarily because of the reasons I'm giving in my post but it certainly contributes to them being powerful.
2. Twin Eidolon. This is slightly different mechanic as its a polymorph effect (similar to wildshaping) and clearly states that items with continuous effects are absorbed. From the perspective of a synthesist there is very little reason to use this ability. If the items only provided their bonuses if the synthesist is in their twin eidolon form then it makes the ability more attractive.
3. Double ability increases. Everyone is probably aware of how synthesists can min/max their scores, and effectively use their eidolon's scores to achieve what is essentially a 52~ point buy. But it's also important to bear in mind that they can effectively gain double the attribute increases that would normally be afforded to them via the use of eidolon evolutions. They get their +5 attribute increases that everyone gets, which they spend increasing their mental attributes. And then for the physical side they can get five instances of the Extra Evolution feat which grants an additional evolution point for a total of 20 points which can all be spent on the Ability Increase evolution and grants +8 to two stats, and +2 to another stat. On top of this we then add on the +5 str/dex bonus enhancement. This means if you assume a bipedal eidolon and wearing +6 belt and headband we are looking at a potential stat line of something like Str: 35, Dex: 25, Con: 27, Int: 29, Wis: 23, Cha: 21. This doesn't include any other bonuses such as inherent bonuses from wish/book, but even these are a little over the top in my mind.
4. Double stacking bonuses. If you apply enhancement bonuses to the eidolon and to the summoner you effectively get some limited amount of double stacking. Specifically with HP although there may be others. If you apply belts to eidolons stats it gains double the number of HP that any other class gains. For every 2 points of constituion that a synthesist gains, they get +1 HP and +1 temporary HP from the Eidolon per level. So a +6 Belt of Might Constitution grants +6 HP per level compared to +3 for every other class. If you don't think that's a lot let's look at some theorycrafting. A 10th level cleric (which shares the same HD as a summoner) with a con score of 20 gets a maximum of 130HP. A 10th level barbarian with a con score of 20 gets 170HP. When they rage they get an additional 20HP for a total of 190HP. A 10th level summoner with 20 con gets 130HP + 150 temporary HP (or 105 temporary HP if you take it as racial HD) for a total of 280HP (or 235 HP). And it simply gets worse as the con modifiers increase.
From the reading I've done I've seen mixed thoughts on whether enhancement bonuses from belts should add onto the eidolon's physical attributes although the general consensus seems to be yes it does. Similarly there should be a question as to whether rings of protection and amulets of natural armour should also add onto the eidolon's armour. The only posts I've seen seem to indicate that people think that amulets of natural armour dont stack and thus it swings the other way which confuses the issue.
I feel that certainly the synthesists are extremely powerful with high stat lines, effectively near double the HP of other classes, good attacks, etc. My feeling is that if they do not gain bonuses from continuous magical items to stats that are replaced by the eidolon then it may help to mitigate some of the power problems they have.
Thoughts?
