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I recently completed the first draft of a guide evaluating all outsiders listed on Archives of Nethys (barring certain unique or noncallable ones) for their usefulness as called allies via planar binding and similar spells.
This is only a first draft and needs further review (now that all entries are written, the next draft will largely involve reviewing for consistency, making sure that entries in the same bracket that I may have written months apart haven't drifted over time for e.g. what I deem good or bad in melee). Nevertheless, it's now complete enough to post for use, feedback, criticism, etc. Feedback is particularly welcome as I pause before taking a comprehensive second cut at it!
Some similar guides already exist, though as far as I know all are either incomplete or cover a somewhat smaller scope. In particular I would like to mention a series of posts on planar binding, the diabolist, and related topics by Douglas Muir 406, with contributions from various other posters, on the order of a decade ago. I read those at the time and took from them a number of thoughts about what makes for a good outsider ally.
Good to have some free outsider calling guide stuff out there for PF1e, Coriat. ;)
Coriat- I have just started reading your guide, ie read the introduction. My first impression is that it is well written and thought out.
I have 2 suggestions-
1) The word "minimum" is used in the first sentence of your third paragraph but should be replaced by it's antonym "maximum".
2) It might be worth mentioning in the intro that good outsiders are the least likely to murder or torture your character for attempting to bind them. Conversely, evil outsiders are the most likely, with neutral ones in the middle.
And a question, would you like me to point out every typo?
Thanks both. Jezebel, I reworded the spot you mentioned, and while I don't expect anyone other than me to sink a lot of time into top-to-bottom proofreading, please do let me know any typos you notice.
On point 2, it might be worthwhile to expand the short discussion in the introduction about how the most powerful and useful outsider in a given bracket isn't the same as the one that is the best idea for you to bind. There's a fair amount more that could be said than I have said so far; for instance, it's a published element, haha, of their flavor that elementals are impressed by displays of power, so binding them comes with a straightforward strategy for keeping them in line, which is a point in their favor even though an elemental is never going to be the strongest creature you can bind.
On the other hand, there's room for tons of variation in how the nature of outsiders will be expressed by different GMs and in different games. In some games, you may be able to pretty much forget about a basic, pretty dumb fiend like a barbazu as soon as the binding is over; in others, binding even lesser devils may irrevocably draw you to the unwanted attention of infernal higher-ups. In other games still, you might want that attention and actively prefer fiends to celestials. Maybe you're a servant of infernal powers already; there's at least two APs for 1e in which you probably will be.
So there's probably room for more of a general discussion than I have right now, but I'm not sure I can cover the topic of what broad families of outsiders are safer, or less safe, to bind in a reasonably authoritative, campaign-neutral way that also isn't just stating obvious things: handle fiends with care, at least be aware of whether you are binding an outsider for tasks aligned with its ethos or violently opposed to its ethos, etc.
Besides that, as it stands now, some, but not most, specific entries do contain think-twice-before-binding caveats. Generally, they are the entries for creatures that present outstandingly glaring risks or hurdles: a deimavigga that can attack you from all the way back in Hell, a succubus that is fantastic at manipulating your enemies and just as fantastic at manipulating you, an early-access sahkil that might be stronger than you when you can first get it and that can come right back after the binding ends, and so on.
I see what you mean about not launching into long discussions about binding outsiders of different alignments as the consequences are going to vary so much from GM to GM.
Indeed, the effect of the consequences of your actions varies a lot from GM to GM. Many, perhaps most GM will have their campaigns carry on the way they intended and if a PC wants to alter that in a significant way they are really going to have to do something extraordinary. This is especially true when a GM is running an adventure path as the general nature of future events is set.
Ratings now use both colors and stars instead of just colors (for color blindness and other reasons), and a few entries have been revised. More substantial edits, such as pulling together a bit more on the advisability of binding certain types of outsiders, are on the back burner pending a motherboard replacement.