Over to you both can work.
With a Summoner the default combination would probably be say electric arc, while the mount attacks. As you share a Multiple Attack Penalty. You also have this weird mechanic of sharing hitpoints. Your Eidolon is stronger than the Summoner who takes a back seat. The Construct Eidolon is tough. Not sure it really suits a mount in particular but it can work.
With Inventor if you dismount then you don't have a MAP problem. Which makes it better if you want to fight that way. You do have a few odd abilities like a blast, but no magic unless you branch into other classes. Your Construct is a tool that you use.
What do you want?
Summoner's Meld Into Eidolon sounds like it's the closest thing mechanically to what you're looking for. Unfortunately, it's a really weak pick - you're paying a feat for the privilege of being notably less powerful overall, to the point that your results are likely to be disappointing. You'd almost certainly be a lot better off with the Synthesist Summoner, but while we know that's coming eventually, we don't have any idea of when. There hasn't been anything suggesting that it's going to be any time soon.
Mount Eidolon is still a bit weaker than standard Summoner, but not nearly as bad. On the bright side, eidolons can be quite good at tripping and grappling - plants are excellent, but constructs can still be quite good. Still a bit awkward, mind.
In your situation, I'd suggest having a talk with your GM. What it sounds like you want is "synthesist, but not terrible", which isn't something that exists yet. Still, house rules are there for a reason, and he might be willing to make adjustments for you.
I have zero information about how things work on the inventor side. You're going to have to ask someone else about that one.
There is little reason to mount your Eidolon as you can just take Tandem Movement or Act together and both move. Plus Lance is not a great weapon.
If you take Steed Form and Tandem Strike it sort of works. The Summoner will get the benefit of Mounted Defenses for a +1 AC bonus, but ultimately you are meleeing with the defences of a specialist caster so why are you really doing that?
You could do something like this with a Phantom Eidolon
Phantom Knight
The phantom likes to stay close to his rider to protect him. This summoner likes to melee as well but with a reach weapon. Though you can't really do that till you get Tandem Strike
Caster Occult: Str 16 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 18
Eidolon Devotion Phantom Eidolon: Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10; +2 AC, with the 1d8 damage trip primary attack.
Basic equipment: Full Plate, LongSpear, Handwraps of Mighty Blows to help the Eidolon. A wand of Summoner's Precaution
Class Feats: Level 1:Advanced Weaponry for grapple, Level 2: Champion Dedication, also Steed Form, Level 4:, Level 6: Tandem Strike, then Champion's Reaction Level 10:Protective Bond then Weighty Impact Level 14: Diverse Armor Expert,
Skills: Intimidation, Deception, for you, Athletics for your pet,
Probably wants to start as Ancient Elf + Otherworldy Magic (Electric Arc) to get going earlier.
You could do it as a Construct but the Phantom has a reaction to protect the Summoner. Maybe if you take Lifelink Surge you will fair better.
The really nice think about the Eidolon though is it gets the good version of the grab and trip feats Weighty Impact and GRasping Limbs are the automatic grab and trip that monsters get not the normal PC versions where you need to make a roll.
My ideal gameplay would to mostly be playing a size large construct that grapples and trips enemies. Summoner's spellcasting might be better mostly because I am having trouble figuring out how you hit someone with a sword while in a mecha lol. It does seem like there isn't much of a reason to ride a melee eidolon though.
There is not. You are better off just hanging in the background.
There's not much point to mount your Eidolon as a Summoner. As a caster, you don't want to be at melee range and you don't have action economy issues encouraging you to be mounted. Also, sharing your Eidolon space means that area of effect spells and multi target attacks will obliterate you. So you may end up punished for your fighting style.
On the other side, the mounted Inventor is really a strong build. It helps a lot with the Inventor action economy and you can act on top of your Construct (the Inventor Strikes, the Construct uses Explode or Megavolt). Also, you don't have to choose a Construct Innovation (even if it's quite common) if you prefer to have a Weapon or Armor Innovation. So, for me, the Inventor wins hands down.
Summoner's Meld Into Eidolon sounds like it's the closest thing mechanically to what you're looking for. Unfortunately, it's a really weak pick - you're paying a feat for the privilege of being notably less powerful overall, to the point that your results are likely to be disappointing. You'd almost certainly be a lot better off with the Synthesist Summoner, but while we know that's coming eventually, we don't have any idea of when. There hasn't been anything suggesting that it's going to be any time soon.
Mount Eidolon is still a bit weaker than standard Summoner, but not nearly as bad. On the bright side, eidolons can be quite good at tripping and grappling - plants are excellent, but constructs can still be quite good. Still a bit awkward, mind.
I will note Meld removes your softer target from the line of fire, and with the low number of spell slots the casting can probably be reserved for out of combat utility. If you can squeeze enough out of an eidelon's third action versus two actions + electric arc, then you're mostly losing boost eidolon's extra damageand the scouting/positioning flexibility of having two pieces on the board.
In the case of a mounted summoner, you're not really getting the latter advantage and the defensive advantage might outweigh the DPR loss. But that just makes me feel like mounted summoners are probably bad rather than meld being good.
Meld still seems pretty functional, though, and definitely best fulfills the concept of Mecha pilot.
I will note Meld removes your softer target from the line of fire, and with the low number of spell slots the casting can probably be reserved for out of combat utility. If you can squeeze enough out of an eidelon's third action versus two actions + electric arc, then you're mostly losing boost eidolon's extra damageand the scouting/positioning flexibility of having two pieces on the board.
In the case of a mounted summoner, you're not really getting the latter advantage and the defensive advantage might outweigh the DPR loss. But that just makes me feel like mounted summoners are probably bad rather than meld being good.
Meld still seems pretty functional, though, and definitely best fulfills the concept of Mecha pilot.
The summoner isn't that much softer than the Eidolon's, and can stand back. The construct eidolon doesn't come with any particularly good two-action effects. Third action on a psuedomartial is not goign to be equivalent to a cantrip cast. Moreover, it's nto jsut cantrips. It's cantrips (not just Electric Arc), plus wave casting, plus staff, plus an other useful gear you might have on you (wands? scrolls?) The Summoner is a bit on the weak side in raw power, but makes up for it with flexibility. Meld takes away every bit of that flexibility and just drops it, leaving you one of the least flexible characters on the board, rather than one of the most.
The summoner isn't that much softer than the Eidolon's, and can stand back. The construct eidolon doesn't come with any particularly good two-action effects. Third action on a psuedomartial is not goign to be equivalent to a cantrip cast. Moreover, it's nto jsut cantrips. It's cantrips (not just Electric Arc), plus wave casting, plus staff, plus an other useful gear you might have on you (wands? scrolls?) The Summoner is a bit on the weak side in raw power, but makes up for it with flexibility. Meld takes away every bit of that flexibility and just drops it, leaving you one of the least flexible characters on the board, rather than one of the most.I will note Meld removes your softer target from the line of fire, and with the low number of spell slots the casting can probably be reserved for out of combat utility. If you can squeeze enough out of an eidelon's third action versus two actions + electric arc, then you're mostly losing boost eidolon's extra damageand the scouting/positioning flexibility of having two pieces on the board.
In the case of a mounted summoner, you're not really getting the latter advantage and the defensive advantage might outweigh the DPR loss. But that just makes me feel like mounted summoners are probably bad rather than meld being good.
Meld still seems pretty functional, though, and definitely best fulfills the concept of Mecha pilot.
Standing back isn't an option if you're mounted, though. I'll concede the other points, though, I wasn't considering staffs and consumables. Nor did I consider that you lose Evolution Surge, which I consider a cornerstone of the summoner's flexibility.
Summoner's Meld Into Eidolon sounds like it's the closest thing mechanically to what you're looking for. Unfortunately, it's a really weak pick - you're paying a feat for the privilege of being notably less powerful overall, to the point that your results are likely to be disappointing. You'd almost certainly be a lot better off with the Synthesist Summoner, but while we know that's coming eventually, we don't have any idea of when. There hasn't been anything suggesting that it's going to be any time soon.
Mount Eidolon is still a bit weaker than standard Summoner, but not nearly as bad. On the bright side, eidolons can be quite good at tripping and grappling - plants are excellent, but constructs can still be quite good. Still a bit awkward, mind.
I will note Meld removes your softer target from the line of fire, and with the low number of spell slots the casting can probably be reserved for out of combat utility. If you can squeeze enough out of an eidelon's third action versus two actions + electric arc, then you're mostly losing boost eidolon's extra damageand the scouting/positioning flexibility of having two pieces on the board.
In the case of a mounted summoner, you're not really getting the latter advantage and the defensive advantage might outweigh the DPR loss. But that just makes me feel like mounted summoners are probably bad rather than meld being good.
Meld still seems pretty functional, though, and definitely best fulfills the concept of Mecha pilot.
Meld into Eidolon is a first level feat allowing you to pass obstacles. For example, if you have to climb a cliff, you meld into your Eidolon to use its superior strength instead of your ridiculous one.
It isn't meant to get back the Synthesist from PF1 and is in now way useful in combat as it's basically the same than just not having the Summoner in the fight. Actually, it's worse as the Summoner who's in the inn waiting for the Eidolon to come back can at least heal himself/his Eidolon.
Summoner's Meld Into Eidolon sounds like it's the closest thing mechanically to what you're looking for. Unfortunately, it's a really weak pick - you're paying a feat for the privilege of being notably less powerful overall, to the point that your results are likely to be disappointing. You'd almost certainly be a lot better off with the Synthesist Summoner, but while we know that's coming eventually, we don't have any idea of when. There hasn't been anything suggesting that it's going to be any time soon.
Mount Eidolon is still a bit weaker than standard Summoner, but not nearly as bad. On the bright side, eidolons can be quite good at tripping and grappling - plants are excellent, but constructs can still be quite good. Still a bit awkward, mind.
I will note Meld removes your softer target from the line of fire, and with the low number of spell slots the casting can probably be reserved for out of combat utility. If you can squeeze enough out of an eidelon's third action versus two actions + electric arc, then you're mostly losing boost eidolon's extra damageand the scouting/positioning flexibility of having two pieces on the board.
In the case of a mounted summoner, you're not really getting the latter advantage and the defensive advantage might outweigh the DPR loss. But that just makes me feel like mounted summoners are probably bad rather than meld being good.
Meld still seems pretty functional, though, and definitely best fulfills the concept of Mecha pilot.
Meld into Eidolon is a first level feat allowing you to pass obstacles. For example, if you have to climb a cliff, you meld into your Eidolon to use its superior strength instead of your ridiculous one.
It isn't meant to get back the Synthesist from PF1 and is in now way useful in combat as it's basically the same than just not having the Summoner in the fight. Actually, it's worse as the Summoner who's in the inn waiting for the Eidolon to come back...
The problem there is that Evolution Surge already handles those challenges incredibly well, and meld prevents you from using it. And instead of melding you can always just cling to your eidolon's back, or tie yourself to it or whatever.
The problem there is that Evolution Surge already handles those challenges incredibly well, and meld prevents you from using it. And instead of melding you can always just cling to your eidolon's back, or tie yourself to it or whatever.
If the situation is a bit dangerous, you will prefer to Meld. You have also cases where you have a limited amount of utility buffs, like Water Breathing of Fly, so you may prefer to Meld instead of Unmanifesting your Eidolon if you don't have enough of them or don't want to use 2 of them just for you.
Meld into Eidolon is very versatile for an ability. It's not awesome, but it's a level 1 feat after all.Also, the rules aren't clear about buffs and Manifesting/Unmanifesting, but I'm pretty sure most GMs will allow buffs to continue while Unmanifested. So you can Evolution Surge, Unmanifest, Manifest and Meld and then climb the wall.
The problem there is that Evolution Surge already handles those challenges incredibly well, and meld prevents you from using it. And instead of melding you can always just cling to your eidolon's back, or tie yourself to it or whatever.If the situation is a bit dangerous, you will prefer to Meld. You have also cases where you have a limited amount of utility buffs, like Water Breathing of Fly, so you may prefer to Meld instead of Unmanifesting your Eidolon if you don't have enough of them or don't want to use 2 of them just for you.
Meld into Eidolon is very versatile for an ability. It's not awesome, but it's a level 1 feat after all.Also, the rules aren't clear about buffs and Manifesting/Unmanifesting, but I'm pretty sure most GMs will allow buffs to continue while Unmanifested. So you can Evolution Surge, Unmanifest, Manifest and Meld and then climb the wall.
Thats is probably fine, though you Eidolon could just as easily picked you up and carried you over.
Its is unclear as to what you can do in melded Eidolon form. Sustain? Maybe. I guess I would assume it can work. Others might argue sustain is an action the summoner makes so it doesn't work in a meld. Then there are non action abilities that a summoner might have, eg Catfall, Incredible Initiative - do they function in a meld?
At least the Meld ability is optional and you can still choose to manifest your Eidolon normally. Does Meld work with Ostentatious Arrival? The Eidolon would still get an attack that round, maybe that might make sense if you were surprised and couldn't easily get away.