The Summon Monster (sp) ability of the Summoner says they can't use it when their eidolon is already summoned.
Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. As a result, he can only use this ability when his eidolon is not summoned. He can cast this spell as a standard action and the creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level).
However can they use the Summon Monster SLA then summon their eidolon? I know they can do it using the Summon Eidolon spell, I'm asking if they can do it via their normal ritual that takes one minute.
The ability only says they can't use it when the eidolon is summoned, but once it is used the creatures remain for 1 minute per level so what I'm thinking is that the summoner can use SM (standard action) then start the ritual (one minute) to summon their eidolon and once summoned, for the remaining duration of the SM, the summoned monsters and eidolon will overlap. Is that correct?
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No.
You can make an argument that you can summon your eidolon, but only by playing linguistic games about what is and isn’t “a rule.” Let me bold a different part of your quote:
Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. As a result, he can only use this ability when his eidolon is not summoned. He can cast this spell as a standard action and the creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level).
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If the summoned creatures are present you are using the Summon Monster (SP) ability. If it was an SLA your idea would work as the summons would work exactly as the spell, only with a longer duration, but it is an SP ability, and the ability is in use for the whole duration.
Note the text a few rows under the point you cited:
A summoner cannot have more than one summon monster or gate spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends.
So we have two pieces of text: "Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. " and "If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends."
I would say that the consequence is: "Using this ability is the same as summoning an eidolon. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends.".
There is some room for interpretation, but I'd lean towards "it works". The "Drawing upon..." sentence is just fluff text IMO, with its vague mentioning of "power". It goes on with "As a result..." - and mentions that the power can't be used once the eidolon is summoned. Well, it doesn't have to, because the summons are already there.
It can surely be unbalanced for the table, but consider a few things:
1) An eidolon by default needs 1 minute to be summoned. You can bypass that with a 2nd-level spell, but that's a spell slot, 1 round of casting time, a duration of only CL minutes and the eidolon being stopped by protection from whatever and sent away by dispel magic.
2) Any mid-level full caster can cast summon monster / nature's ally several times to field potentially even more power. It burns away their highest slots, so they can't pull it very often, and the timing can be challenging, but it's possible.
3) If the monsters are (mostly) finished off in battle, the summoner is still blocked from getting replacement. The summoner needs to spend most of 3 rounds to get back to summons + eidolon: Dismiss the latter as a standard action, get a fresh batch of summons as another standard action and cast a risky 1 round spell to get the eidolon back into battle.
The rules do not disallow it, the intent probably does disallow it but we'll never know.
Is summoning the eidolon a Summon Monster (or a Gate) ? It isn't. It might draw from the same power but it isn't the same ability.
I'd allow it, it doesn't break anything, as has been pointed above. A duration in minutes still isn't much.
Spells that last minutes/level allow from preparation before combat but do not really carry over into another encounter. Summoning the eidolon isn't a free operation, it costs resources, either duration from summons already brought forth or spell slots. I have no problem letting my players spend their resources how they see fit, as long as adequate costs are paid. The tactic discussed here has a hefty cost and is situational hence can fail if the situation has been improperly assessed - which can happen for many reasons.
No.
You can make an argument that you can summon your eidolon, but only by playing linguistic games about what is and isn’t “a rule.” Let me bold a different part of your quote:
Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. As a result, he can only use this ability when his eidolon is not summoned. He can cast this spell as a standard action and the creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level).
It isn't about playing a linguistic game, it's about the order in which the operations happen.
My point is about using the SLA when the eidolon is not summoned which fits with the part that you've highlighted.
If the summoned creatures are present you are using the Summon Monster (SP) ability. If it was an SLA your idea would work as the summons would work exactly as the spell, only with a longer duration, but it is an SP ability, and the ability is in use for the whole duration.
Summon Monster is actually an SLA, (Sp) stands for spell-like ability. So I guess you are saying it works.
Note the text a few rows under the point you cited:
A summoner cannot have more than one summon monster or gate spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends.So we have two pieces of text: "Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. " and "If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends."
I would say that the consequence is: "Using this ability is the same as summoning an eidolon. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster or gate immediately ends.".
The second part is why I was asking the question indeed. I can definitely see where you're coming from but summoning his eidolon is a ritual, not a summon monster or gate as Agénor pointed out, so I guess using RAW it's legal.
Not sure it is intended though but it takes one minute to summon the eidolon (unless reduced via the elf FCB) so I guess it isn't game breaking if the summoner wastes one minute of his SM spell to summon his eidolon or spends 9 levels of FCB to reduce that to one full round instead of spending the FCB on something else e.g. 2 evolution points (half-elf), hit points, etc.
Summon monster uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call their eidolon, but they are not the same ability. Summon monster spells call creatures chosen from a limited number of choices given on the appropriate table. Eidolons do not appear on any of those tables.
(And BTW, the Monster Summoner's Handbook makes it clear that those lists were not intended to be changed or expanded without some cost, such as a feat or an archetype's class feature.)
I could see an argument for using gate to call your eidolon, because that spell can call a particular individual. But you can't do that until 19th level, so it seems a largely moot point.