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I'd notice if someone was trying to call an angel or a psychopomp a "beast"
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summon - (verb) authoritatively or urgently call on (someone) to be present
seems legit
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As far as I am concerned the Summoner lacks anything that would identify it as a Summoner. Outside the name of the class telling us to believe that.
* The class has no mentions of summons in its descriptions.
* The main mechanics is specifically called out to not be a summoned and not treated as such. Even if people keep saying, "its semantics", it is a FACT that mechanically and in the class descriptions not once is the Eidolon ever described as being summoned.
* The only abilities that actually involve summons are either: 1) Removing a penalty that Paizo themselves created when making the class; Or, 2) Token feats someone can point to and say "see they do have something".
If you called this class Beastmaster and the Eidolon your "bonded beast/companion" most people wouldn't notice the difference.
We now have 18 official classes: Alchemist, Barbarian, Bard, Champion, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Investigator, Magus, Monk, Oracle, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Summoner, Swashbuckler, Witch, and Wizard. A barbarian is not necessarily barbaric, a cleric is not necessarily clerical, a monk did not necessarily train in a monastery, an oracle does not necessarily give oracular prophecies, a ranger does not necessarily ride a range, a summoner does not necessarily cast summoning spells, and a witch's witchcraft is the same arcane, divine, primal, or occult spells cast by other classes. Magus and Rogue are even worse names. According to Merriam-Webster a magus is a member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians, some who were the wise men in the Christian nativity story, and a rogue is a dishonest or worthless person, a vagrant, tramp, scamp, or scoundrel.
Summoner is just one of many weak names for classes.
I'd notice if someone was trying to call an angel or a psychopomp a "beast"Monstermaster, Trainer, Tamer, etc. Aren't much different from Beastmaster. Point remains the same.
You could literally change the name and all semblance of "summoning" is gone.
All Temperans' suggestions imply that the summoner is in control of the eidolon. I like the equality in the current version of summoner, where the two characters work together as teammates. The distinction between the summoner and eidolon is that the summoner is mortal flesh and the eidolon has to be conjured into physical form.
An accurate name for the summoner would be "Eidolon Summoner," where "Summoner" refers to the spellcaster's ability to manifest the eidolon. "Eidolon Manifester" and "Eidolon Conjurer" would not be as clear, even though manifesting is not technically a summoning in Pathfinder's magic system. And if we cut "Eidolon Summoner" down to a single word like the other classes, we would call the class "Summoner."
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I feel like if you call it something like a "Caller" or a "Conduit" or something, people might be a bit less bent out of shape, but...
Basically, there are things that PF2 simply doesn't like, doesn't approve of, and won't support past a certain minimal level. Summon spells are one of those things. The summoner hay not have *much* support for summon spells, but *nothing else is ever going to get more*. That's what they're telling you with that name. You *might* see another summon-boosting feat or two come out for the summoner. Maybe. Eventually. Really, though, if you want someone focused on summoning spells... Summoner is what you get. If you want someone who's got more focus on summoning spells than that, PF2 isn't going to be the game that gives it to you.
There's a reason for that. Going all Monkey Madness, and filling the map with enough summon creatures that your turn takes as long as everyone else's turn combined? That leaches some of the fun out of the room for everyone who is not you. Having that same guy use "I summon a creature to X" be the correct answer for almost every potential trap is also not an ideal gaming experience. I actively approve of Paizo's design decision here... and it *is* a design decision. If you want to argue it, you should be addressing that design decision directly... not complaining that the Summoner is misnamed.
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