In the unlikely event that I ever get to play in my local gaming group (I'm currently GM'ing), one of the character concepts I had was a Summoner who, as much as possible, used "Merge With Eidolon", mostly for RP reasons.
So, I was looking at various types of Eidolon, and plant eidolons struck me as interesting. (Not going to lie, so did construct eidolons), but.... do they need to breathe?
Like, if the party was trapped in a room with a limited supply of breathable air, would using Merge with Eidolon extend the duration for the rest of the party? (I'm not looking for "I'm immune to Cloudkill because plant" levels of cheese.)
Ultimately that is going to have to be decided by your gaming group and GM.
But for me, I would say that the baseline expectations for player characters is that they do need to breathe. So if there is something that overrides that, it would need to say so.
Also consider that Poppet ancestry needs to eat, sleep, and breathe. And Automaton doesn't need to sleep or eat, but even they need to breathe-equivalent.
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Yes, plants need breathable air, but absorb CO2 and release O2, rather than the other way around.
I was going to say what turtle said, but then I thought about an Aquatic Eidolon in an underwater game. I would be fine if a player Merged with a Shark Eidolon as their primary play style, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for the plant eidolon.
I think that's a pretty clever solution to being in a sealed room, as the plant would be reversing the buildup of CO2 in there. It wouldn't be fast enough to make it an infinite solution, but it would help buy some time. The other problem is sunlight though, as that's a plant's primary energy source.
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I am not certain a biology discussion would provide any useful answers. Well, not any relevant answers. You need sunlight which is nonexistent in all but the most contrived sealed rooms in a dungeon. A single plant character could not reasonably be expected to keep pace with multiple mammal characters. My photosynthesis cycle is a little rusty, but I seem to recall plants use oxygen like the rest of us when they are consuming stored energy reserves such as at night. Granted at a much slower rate given their generally low activity level and with exceptions because nature loves being difficult.
Given the precedent for making player options balanced, it looks like you need to breathe until something explicitly states you do not need to breathe.
I think that's a pretty clever solution to being in a sealed room, as the plant would be reversing the buildup of CO2 in there. It wouldn't be fast enough to make it an infinite solution, but it would help buy some time. The other problem is sunlight though, as that's a plant's primary energy source.
There is also a feat for that. Surprisingly, one that is not available to plant Eidolons.