FlurryofBlunders’ Guide

to the PF2e Summoner

Newly Remastered!

_Last Updated: 5/29/2025, Spring 2025 Errata_

Image: Summoner, Final Fantasy XIV

If you’d like to access the PF2e Legacy version of this guide, click here.

Introduction

What is a summoner? (A miserable pile of secrets.)

Thematically, a lot of it is left for you to come up with. Maybe you’re a bridge between worlds, having forged an inexorable bond between yourself and some

sort of fantastic alien creature beyond mortal imagining. Perhaps you were a kid with an active imagination and imagined a made-up best friend _so_ hard that they became real. Maybe you just found a really cool robot left on the side of the road. Whatever form your bond between you and your eidolon might take, you’re a potent spellcaster with a combat buddy that can go toe-to-toe with some of Golarion’s mightiest warriors—a shared mark making the bond you share plain for all to see.

Mechanically, it’s the definitive “pet” class of Pathfinder 2nd Edition, to the point where your “pet” is actually more like a veritable PC in its own right than just your character’s little buddy. Animal companions and familiars make for great sidekicks, but with eidolons, both of you share the spotlight equally. You get spells up to 9th level with Master progression, and your eidolon gets offensive and defensive proficiencies that put it right on pace with most martials. You are two halves of a whole, ultimately combining to create a gish-like chassis in a less conventional manner than that of the Magus. Also… you absolutely kick ass at action economy.

You’re a bounded spellcaster like the Magus, which means you get spells of a new level at the same time full spellcasters like the Wizard and Cleric get them, instead of lagging behind like martials with spellcasting dedications, which is awesome. However, you won’t be able to cast nearly as many spells per day as those aforementioned spellcasters and you never reach Legendary proficiency, which is a shame, but it’s the price you pay for having such a kickass eidolon.

All in all, once you wrap your head around the eidolon rules, the Summoner is probably one of the simpler classes to build, owing mostly to the self-containedness of all eidolon-specific feats limited to the Summoner class itself—as opposed to PC options, which are considerably more varied and spread out among much, much more sourcebooks. Want to make a grappler build? A spellcaster eidolon build? A master summoner build? All these character concepts and more practically build themselves when it comes to picking your class options, with many obvious choices at many levels.

However, it’s also one of the more complex classes to _play_ , given that you’re controlling two tokens on the battlefield at all times. Your summoner is a potent spellcaster and your eidolon is a powerful martial, and you can’t neglect the tactical usage of either of them unless you want your build to feel like just a watered-down, weaker version of a Fighter or Sorcerer.

For that reason, I would not particularly recommend the Summoner for a newer player who is only just coming to grips with the system and rules about the 3-action economy, MAP, and the like, but rather, slightly more experienced players who are in the market for something that’s a bit more complex and multifaceted. However, if you’re a new player and you’re fascinated by the class fantasy fulfilled by the Summoner, don’t let that dissuade you from playing the class whatsoever—instead, you should see it as a satisfying challenge to overcome. They say two heads are better than one, after all.

Also, apparently “eidolon” is supposed to be pronounced “ai · dow · luhn,” with the stress on the second syllable. I’d been pronouncing it with the stress on the first syllable for the past decade. If you care about linguistic integrity, have fun interrupting your fellow players and correcting their pronunciation for the rest of your campaign—or just accept that language is fluid and it’s perfectly acceptable anyway.

Disclaimer & Special Thanks

This is my first-ever optimization guide for Pathfinder 2nd Edition or any other TTRPG, so any and all feedback is appreciated! I try to back up my ratings based on math and direct comparisons to other classes/options, but a lot of it is just my own subjective opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Additionally, Pathfinder 2e is a big system with a _lot_ of options, so this guide is not 100% comprehensive with all feats, archetypes, spells, and what have you. Who knows, though? One day, it might be. But probably not.

This guide has also been updated periodically over the course of several years (at the time of writing), and has been thrown through the PF2e Remaster wringer. As such, it’s been updated in bits and pieces here and there, but some of the older text may not currently & accurately reflect all of the options currently available in Pathfinder 2nd Edition.

Shout out to RPGBOT, whose class guides have been helping me for years—since I was playing 1e in high school—and is a large inspiration for the format of this guide.

Big thanks to citricking/bahalbach, whose PF2 expected damage tool helped me out immensely in determining the ratings found in this guide.

Thanks to Gortle and Exocist, whose existing guides make great complements to the information found in this guide.

Thanks to the members of the Pathfinder Discord, who have helped me answer some questions about specific rulings and interactions on more than one occasion.

Thanks to Redrazors, developer of Pathbuilder, a piece of software that has singlehandedly allowed me to theorycraft and roll up as many different Pathfinder 2e builds as I have.

Last but not least, thanks to Syries#3341, my Pathfinder bro and fellow crazy number cruncher who helped me proofread and edit this guide.

I’ll try my best to update this guide as much as I can with new releases and the like, but old sections that I’ve already written and haven’t gotten around to editing may be outdated in relation to new options and potential combos, so beware.

If you have any comments, concerns, questions, suggestions, or corrections, please feel free to leave a post in the discussion thread over on the Paizo forums! (The Reddit discussion thread can also be found here, but it is currently archived.) Anyway, here’s the guide.

Color Grading System

This guide will use the color grading system adopted by most other optimization guides. I will also use shape-based markers for colorblind readers. If the color is used for a feat, spell, or other option, the rating is in comparison to other options available to the class at that level. If the color is used for a class ability, proficiency, or other attribute automatically granted by normal class progression, the rating is in comparison to what other classes get at the same level.

Blue: [ ★ ] This is a _really_ good option, and likely trumps other options at this level. It’s not about whether or not you have a good reason to take it—it’s about whether or not you have a good reason to _not_ take it.

Green: [●] This is a pretty solid option. You can’t really go wrong with a choice like this.

Yellow: [◆] Either this is a solid but pretty negligible option, or it grants you an ability that only applies in a type of situation that doesn’t come up too often. If your campaign is especially suited for this kind of choice, or you really like the specific flavor, feel free to pick it.

Red: [▼] This is a pretty bad ability. If it’s a circumstantial option, it doesn’t even do the thing it’s meant to do well. If you pick this, you’re a crazy bastard, and I salute you. Godspeed.

Summoner/Eidolon Proficiency Progression

Interested in how a summoner’s attack and defense proficiencies match up with other casters and martials? Check out this graph.

This should account for any boosts, like potency runes, stat increases, and apex items, which are acquired at their respective levels. They will assume that you maximize their respective stats, and item bonuses are added when your character reaches the level of the item that confers a bonus. (For example, the Summoner Attack Bonus assumes you get a STR/DEX apex item, while the spell mod assumes you get a CHA apex item.)

Summoner Spell Mod

Summoner Attack Bonus (max DEX/STR)

Summoner AC (max DEX)

Eidolon /usual Martial Attack Mod

STR Eidolon AC

DEX Eidolon /usual Martial AC

Full Caster Spell Mod

Fighter/ Gunslinger Attack Mod

DEX Monk AC

Champion AC 1 7 6 16 7 17 18 7 9 19 19 2 8 8 17 9 18 19 8 11 20 20 3 9 9 18 10 19 20 9 12 21 21 4 10 10 19 11 20 21 10 13 22 22 5 11 12 22 14 23 23 11 16 24 24 6 12 13 23 15 24 24 12 17 25 25 7 13 14 24 16 25 25 15 18 26 28 8 14 15 25 17 26 26 16 19 27 29 9 17 16 26 18 27 27 17 20 28 30

10 19 18 27 21 28 28 19 23 30 31

11 20 21 29 22 32 32 20 24 32 33

12 21 22 30 23 33 33 21 25 33 34

13 22 23 33 26 34 34 22 28 36 37

14 23 24 34 27 35 35 23 29 37 38

15 24 26 36 28 36 36 26 30 38 39

16 25 28 37 30 37 37 27 32 39 40

17 29 30 38 32 38 38 29 34 42 43

18 30 31 40 33 40 40 30 35 44 45 19 31 32 41 34 43 43 33 36 45 46

20 33 33 42 36 44 44 35 38 46 47

Green is Trained, yellow is Expert, orange is Master, red is Legendary. (If any of these numbers are incorrect, that would be pretty embarrassing, so please help me save face and don’t report it to me in the discussion thread for this guide, which can be conveniently found at this link.)

Class Features

Key Ability: Your key ability score is Charisma, which determines your spell DC and attack roll modifiers. It’s also used for social skills, which means you can easily operate as your party’s Face with appropriate skill investment. Additionally, innate spells are also keyed off of Charisma, so if you’ve picked up one of them with ancestry feats or an archetype, you get to use them at your full spell DC and attack roll modifiers (no matter the spell tradition!), which is awesome.

Hit Points: [●] You get 10+ hit points per level, which is awesome! Every other spellcaster in the game gets 8+ or fewer, including the combat-oriented Magus. However, considering the fact that you share hit points with your eidolon, it more or less balances out in the end.

Proficiencies

● Perception: [◆] You start at Trained and increase to Expert at only level 3, but you never progress past that. Consider picking up Canny Acumen if you’re in a high-level campaign.

● Saving Throws: [◆] You start at Expert in Fortitude and Will, and Trained in Reflex. As you level, you slowly progress all of these by one rank. This is better than the progression of full casters, but not as good as most martials.

● Skills: [●] You get two skills determined by your choice of eidolon, and you can choose 3+INT more. This is slightly better than most classes. You can also choose class feats that give you (and your eidolon) new skills and skill feats. Keep in mind your eidolon shares your skill proficiencies (except for with the Dual Studies feat).

● Attacks: [▼] You’re trained with simple weapons and unarmed attacks. As of the Remaster, that’s the absolute bottom of the barrel, and the worst any class gets. For most summoners, you’ll want to leave Strikes to your eidolon, anyway.

● Defenses: [▼] You’re a cloth caster and get no armor proficiencies. Your unarmored defense only increases to Expert at 13th level. Try to keep your eidolon in between you and your enemies if you can help it.

● Spells: [◆] You start with trained proficiency in spellcasting, increasing proficiency at 9th and 17th levels. This is better than the Warpriest and multiclass spellcasters, the same as the Magus, but you’ll never reach Legendary like full spellcasters.

Eidolon: [ ★ ] This is why you’re here, obviously.

● Manifest Eidolon: For three actions, you summon your eidolon. This takes up your entire turn, but luckily your eidolon gets to use a whopping single action before your turn ends. Ideally, you want to have your eidolon already summoned before combat starts, but this is how you get it to return—or leave, if you want.

● Act Together: [ ★ ] You and your eidolon have to divvy up the same 3 actions every turn, so there’s not much to go around. This, however, lets you win at action economy, giving you an effective 4 actions per turn. Characters with animal companions, familiars, and summoned creatures get a similar effect, being able to give up one of their actions to give their minion two. Certain abilities, like Mature Animal Companion, the Independent familiar ability, and Companion’s Cry, can change how many actions are divvied up between master and minion, but the total is almost always just 4 actions. However, your eidolon is stronger and more versatile than any animal companion, familiar, or summoned creature, so you’re even better off.

○ Mind Your Rhythm: The way that this action is designed, you can split your actions in a couple of ways: 1-1-1-1, 2-1-1, or 3-1, but never 2-2. You’ll never be able to cast two-action spells twice per turn this way, or cast a two-action spell when your eidolon uses any special two-action activity it might have. This is by design, and it’s a trait shared by quickened effects like Haste. If you or your eidolon uses a two or three-action activity, it means the other can only use single actions, like Stride, Strike, or

quicker spells like Shield or Boost Eidolon. Keep this in mind when planning out your turn. See “The Rhythm of Combat” for more.

● Share Senses: [●] You can cast this ability to see through your eidolon’s eyes and ears. This allows them to make for pretty good scouts, and if they get in trouble, just unmanifest them. However, by default, they can go only up to 100 feet away from you, which often isn’t much, but you can boost this with items and feats.

● Evolution Surge: [ ★ ] For the low, low price of a single focus point, you can grant your eidolon a new ability on the fly: low-light vision, darkvision, scent, a swim speed, or a faster base speed. As you heighten the spell, you gain new options like increasing size to Large or Huge, a climb speed, or a fly speed. As a great man once said: “fantastic and versatile.”

○ All of these options have the possibility of becoming redundant with evolution feats you take later, though, but having a particular ability constantly instead of needing to cast a spell to access it is still helpful.

● Boost Eidolon: [●] For one action, you can give your eidolon a +2 status bonus to damage per damage die for one round. On average, this is essentially the difference between a d8 longsword and a d12 greatsword. If you’ve ever played a Bard with Inspire Courage, the rhythm of this 1-action focus cantrip (and its follow-up feats) should feel familiar to you.

○ Be wary of other buffs not stacking with the status bonus.

○ This isn’t necessarily your best option. Sometimes, it might be better for your summoner to cast a damage cantrip or spell and have your eidolon attack twice unboosted. See “The Rhythm of Combat” section below.

Via archetype feats, you are completely allowed to have an eidolon, an animal companion, _and_ a familiar, so that build is technically available to you, if you _really_ want it.

Spellcasting: [●] Like the Bard, Sorcerer, and Oracle, you’re a CHA-based spontaneous spellcaster, which means you have a repertoire of spells you can cast with your spell slots on the fly.

Like the Magus, you’re a bounded spellcaster, which means you get new spell ranks at the same level as all other spellcasters, but you’re limited to 2 spell slots of your two highest spell ranks each.

However, because you’re also a spontaneous caster, you can only know, at maximum, five different non-cantrip spells at any given moment. That’s tiny. Even the Magus can write as many spells in their spellbook as they want. You’re going to want to be very, very picky with the spells you choose for your repertoire.

Like the Sorcerer and Witch, you can choose any one of the game’s four different spellcasting traditions, which determines your spell list. This tradition depends on the type of eidolon you choose, which basically functions as your “subclass.” The arcane [●], primal [●], occult [●], and divine [●] spell lists are all very solid, but occupy different semi-overlapping niches. Scroll through the spells available to you and pick one you like.

● I previously had a big blurb written here about the functionality of the divine spell list and how I felt it somewhat lagged behind the other 3, rating it yellow [◆]. However, when I revised this section post-remaster, reevaluated the new spell lists, and asked other people for their input, I felt that I didn’t really have as much of a strong argument anymore for the divine spell list being particularly poor. The overhauling of cantrips and removal of alignment definitely helps, and all the new spells printed in the time since only increase the divine list’s applicability. It’s since been bumped up to green [●]. Go, divine spellcasters!

Weapon Specialization: [◆] You get this at 13th level like other cloth casters. It’s just some extra damage on your strikes, which you probably won’t be using too often, but Tandem Strike builds will probably be happy.

Instant Manifestation: [●] You can now summon your eidolon using one action instead of three. This is mostly useful for when your eidolon unmanifests because you get knocked down to 0 HP and you’ve been healed back up again. You should _always_ have your eidolon manifested before rolling initiative, but if you get caught off guard, this can help. Additionally, if your eidolon poofs because you went too far away or dismissed your eidolon because of something like the Reactive Dismissal [●] feat, this will come in handy.

Summoner Ability Scores

“Vanilla” Summoner

This is probably the most common type of Summoner. Your eidolon will tear it up in melee, while you support with cantrips and focus spells from afar (and by afar, I probably mean just 30 feet away). At decisive moments, you’ll be able to cast spells from your spell slots when it really counts.

Strength: [▼] Your eidolon is going to be the one smacking things around. You can probably do without this.

Dexterity: [●] You don’t get any armor proficiencies as a Summoner, and your Reflex save progression is pretty paltry. Some of your smarter enemies will realize this and swoop in to hit you instead of your more armored Eidolon. When that happens, you want to be as evasive as possible.

Constitution: [●] You share a hit point pool with your Eidolon. When one of you goes down, both of you do. You’ll want to get a healthy amount of Constitution in order to not die. Fortitude saves are important, too.

Wisdom: [◆] This stat determines your Perception, which is rolled a _lot_. Most of the time, you’ll be rolling that for initiative, too. Also, Will saves. Wisdom isn’t super important for your main class features, but makes a decent 4th score to put your stat boosts into. This becomes more important [●] for Primal and Divine Summoners who want to use Extend Boost.

Intelligence: [▼] You probably don’t really need to be all that book-smart. If you’re looking for extra skills, there are a smattering of Eidolon options to help with that. Dump this… ...unless you’re an Arcane or Occult Summoner who wants to use Extend Boost, in which case it becomes more important [◆]. This goes double for Summoners with Construct eidolons who want to use Reconfigured Evolution.

Charisma: [ ★ ] This is your key ability score and determines your spell attack rolls and DCs, as well as the DCs for most special abilities your eidolon can acquire. Max this.

Melee Summoner

The existence of Tandem Strike opens up the possibility of building a Summoner that wades into melee to join their eidolon. This is rough, given that you still have the weapon and armor proficiencies of a cloth caster. You’re

going to be pretty MAD (and you lose a magical item investment slot because of the rules on weapon runes and eidolons), but it _can_ work. You’ll be able to create flanking opportunities and skirt around MAP a tiny bit. Consider picking up ancestry feats or archetype dedications that grant you weapon or armor proficiencies.

See my rating on Tandem Strike under Class Feats and the Weapons section for more.

Strength: [ ★ ] If you’re going to be going into melee, you’re going to want to be able to hit things consistently, and you’re going to want to hit things hard. If you’re using a finesse weapon, this becomes less important [●].

Dexterity: [●] Same as the “vanilla” Summoner, except even _more_ important since you’ll be actively trying to be within reach of enemies. If you’re using a finesse weapon, this becomes more important [★] than Strength. If you get heavy armor proficiency via archetype, rejoice, for you can dump this stat [▼].

Constitution: [●] Same as the “vanilla” Summoner.

Wisdom: [◆] Same as the “vanilla” Summoner.

Intelligence: [▼] Same as the “vanilla” Summoner.

Charisma: [◆] This is your key ability score, but you can get away with not making it too high if you focus on buffing spells that don’t hinge on spell attack rolls and saving throws. Eidolon abilities such as Visions of Sin [★] and Trample [●] will also have their DCs reduced, though, so be wary.

Your Eidolon

Your choice of eidolon is, essentially, your Summoner subclass. The option you choose will set the foundations for the combat style you want to pursue, whether it’s melee damage, ranged damage, skill actions, bonus spellcasting, etc.

● Tradition: The spellcasting tradition of a summoner depends on their choice of eidolon. See the Spellcasting entry in the “Class Features” section above. ● Alignment: No longer a thing as of the remaster. ● Home Plane: This is where your Eidolon goes when you unmanifest it. This is usually just for roleplaying purposes, but might come up if your eidolon gets targeted with banishment. Beast and Plant eidolons’ home

planes are just the regular old Universe, so they can’t get banished if you’re already on Golarion (or your homebrew setting’s equivalent “default” world.) That begs the question… where _do_ they go when you unmanifest them? They could be floating lightyears out in the Dark Tapestry, for all I know. ● Size: At most, each eidolon will start at size Medium. Some eidolons can choose to start at size Small. You can make your eidolon Large or Huge later with evolution feats. Small and Medium creatures both occupy a 5 ft.x5 ft. space on the battlefield the same way, but the difference might matter when it comes to certain effects like mounted combat, Athletics or Acrobatics actions, and so on. ● Attacks: Each type of Eidolon has a “suggested attacks” entry, but they’re just that—suggestions. You can come up with any type of attack for any type of eidolon, though you have a distinct selection of weapon traits you can choose from. Your options for your main attack are: ○ 1d8 damage with disarm [●] ○ 1d8 damage with nonlethal [◆] ○ 1d8 damage with shove [●] ○ 1d8 damage with trip [★] ○ 1d6 damage with fatal d10 [●] ○ 1d6 damage with forceful and sweep [◆] ○ 1d6 damage with deadly d8 and finesse [★]

Additionally, each eidolon gets a secondary attack that deals 1d6 damage and has the agile and finesse traits [●].

(Warning: calculations are not accurate as of the remaster!)

(Thanks to citricking for the expected damage tool!)

In this extremely simplified scenario where your eidolon attacks three times in one turn with no external conditions or modifiers (and your summoner does nothing), the 1d6 forceful sweep attack can deal the most damage when adjacent to 2 enemies until 12th level, where it is surpassed by the 1d8 attacks and the 1d6 fatal d10 attack when they’re followed up by two strikes of the 1d6 agile secondary attack.

As expected, your eidolon’s damage decreases if you go for a finesse build with the 1d6 deadly d8 attack, though the increased defenses/saving throws and the ability to fully utilize ranged attacks may be worth the difference. The difference is most noticeable at low levels, but grows more negligible as you level up.

Regarding the disarm, shove, and trip traits: since eidolons usually don’t have their “hands” occupied, you shouldn’t need a particular trait in order to actually be able to make the appropriate Athletics attack action. However, it allows you to get item bonuses to that maneuver without needing to invest in a Lifting Belt, Armbands of Athleticism, or other item. The level 9 Armbands that give you a +2 to Athletics comes earlier than the level 10 +2 Handwraps, but the +1 and +3 Handwraps come earlier than the Lifting Belt and the Greater Armbands, respectively.

The Stampede Medallion can give your eidolon a +2 or +3 to Shove or Trip checks, but only to those two checks, and at 2 item levels behind +2 or +3 Handwraps of Mighty Blows.

If you’re making a Strength-based melee summoner, your eidolon will get the +3 Athletics bonus from your STR Apex item, but this is still slower than +3 Handwraps.

TL;DR: if you want to be ahead of the curve with Athletics actions, get the appropriate attack trait.

● Eidolon Array: Each eidolon type has two different stat arrays you can choose from. Usually, one of them is a Strength-based array, while the other one is a Dexterity-based array for finesse and ranged attacks. Strength eidolons will have less AC for the first four levels, but will catch up at 5th level once you’re able to max out the Dex cap on its armor. Dexterity eidolons will deal less damage, but have better Reflex saves and can make more accurate ranged attacks. Other stats may vary slightly between the two arrays, which affects Fortitude and Will saves, as well as any skill actions your eidolon might want to use. ○ The “average” initial stat spread is +4 in either STR or DEX, +3 in CON, +2 in the remaining physical stat (STR or DEX), and +0 in all mental stats (INT, WIS, CHA). If a spread has any higher stats, it’s at the price of lowering another stat. ○ Keep in mind that if your eidolon gets spellcasting, it’s always based off of the summoner’s Charisma and proficiency, not the eidolon’s. ● Skills: Depending on your choice of eidolon, you get trained in your spellcasting tradition’s appropriate magic skill and one other thematic skill.

Again, keep in mind that you and your eidolon share your skill proficiencies (except for with the Dual Studies feat). ● Senses: If your eidolon type has any special senses, they’re listed here. So far, your eidolon can only get low-light vision or darkvision by default, but can get other senses via evolution feats. ● Languages: This is a language your eidolon knows—usually its native language, but not necessarily, if its native language is Common. You automatically learn this language, in addition to those from your ancestry, Intelligence modifier, and other miscellaneous linguistic feats. Your eidolon automatically knows all the languages you know. ● Speed: This is your eidolon’s base speed. Currently, every printed eidolon type’s base speed is just 25 feet, but new eidolons with different speeds at level 1 may be printed at a later date. You can increase this speed or add different types of speeds with evolution feats.

Proficiencies

● Perception: [◆] The same progression as the Summoner itself. Your Summoner will be rolling initiative for you, though. By RAW, you can’t increase this with Canny Acumen or multiclass archetype feats that give you Master proficiency.

● Saving Throws: [◆] The same progression as the Summoner itself. By RAW, you can’t increase this with Canny Acumen or multiclass archetype feats that give you Master proficiency.

● Skills: You have the same skill proficiencies as your Summoner.

● Attacks: [ ● ] The standard martial attack progression: trained at 1st level, expert at 5th level, master at 13th level. Only the Fighter and Gunslinger get better proficiencies. Obviously, you can’t wield regular weapons, but you can just flavor your unarmed attacks to look like weapons.

● Defenses: [ ● ] The standard martial defense progression: trained at 1st level, expert at 11th level, master at 19th level. Only the Champion and Monk progress to legendary, and only the Fighter (and the Magus, for some reason?) progress to master more quickly. Your eidolon gets built-in armor, so having only unarmored defense is fine.

● Spells: If your eidolon gets spellcasting, it uses your summoner’s spell DC and spell attack modifier.

Initial Eidolon Ability, Eidolon Symbiosis, and Eidolon Transcendence: Your eidolon starts out with one ability depending on what type of eidolon it is. As you level, your eidolon gets more unique abilities. See the eidolon section.

Eidolon Ability Scores

Depending on the type of eidolon you choose, you’ll have to pick from one or two different ability spreads. Your eidolon will also get ability score increases at the same time you do, and gets a pseudo-Apex item increase at 17th level, too. You’ll want to choose your starting spread and subsequent ability boosts depending on what kind of combatant you want your eidolon to be.

Strength Eidolon

The Strength eidolon is the most straightforward of them all. It hits hard, and it hits often. The Strength eidolon will also often be the best at combat maneuvers like Trip and Grapple. If you’re looking for the most uncomplicated type of eidolon, go for Strength.

Strength: [ ★ ] Well… it’s the Strength eidolon. You want Strength.

Dexterity: [◆] Currently, all printed Strength-oriented eidolon spreads start off with a 14 in Dexterity and a maximum Dex bonus to AC of +3. You’ll want to boost this once to 16, and then you can leave it alone, unless you want better Reflex saves or want to take Ranged Combatant [●] as a circumstantial option.

Constitution: [◆] Your eidolon shares your hit points, so this won’t actually affect their HP. However, it _will_ affect their Fortitude saves.

Wisdom: [◆] This affects your eidolon’s Will saves. It affects Perception, too, which is still really useful, but your eidolon acts on your initiative, so it’s slightly less important… but, sometimes, it’s useful to have an extra pair of eyes.

Intelligence: [▼] Your eidolon doesn’t get trained in extra skills or languages from an Intelligence modifier, so unless you want second opinions on your Int-based Recall Knowledge checks or want your eidolon to co-author your scientific papers, you don’t really need this.

Charisma: [◆] If your eidolon ever gets its own spellcasting, it’ll be based off of the summoner’s Charisma, not its own (note: see the Weird Rules section under my rating for Magical Understudy!). However, if you want your eidolon to Demoralize in

combat or roll social skills in exploration mode, this is probably more important [●] to you.

Dexterity Eidolon

The Dexterity eidolon will stick to finesse and ranged attacks in combat. Though it slightly lags behind in damage, it gains the benefit of being better at striking from range and using Acrobatics to Tumble Through enemies. The difference in damage between a Strength and Dexterity eidolon is most noticeable at low levels, but it’s at those same levels that the Dexterity eidolon outclasses the Strength eidolon in AC before it catches up at 5th level. If you want to build your eidolon to be a nimble & stealthy scout, or to attack enemies from a distance, the Dexterity eidolon is likely your best bet.

Strength: [●] You won’t be using Strength for attack rolls, but it still adds to the damage of your finesse attacks and propulsive ranged attacks.

Dexterity: [ ★ ] Self explanatory.

Constitution: [◆] As Strength eidolon.

Wisdom: [◆] As Strength eidolon.

Intelligence: [▼] As Strength eidolon.

Charisma: [◆] As Strength eidolon.

Skill Eidolons, or “Second Time’s The Charm”

Your eidolon shares all your skill proficiencies (except for Dual Studies), and can gain skill feats of their own up to 7th level at the cost of a class feat, so the possibility is absolutely open to have your eidolon roll skills for you. But, this begs the question: if you’re trained in everything your eidolon is trained in, and you can get skill feats way more easily, why should your eidolon roll skills instead of you?

Trick question. You can both roll the skill.

Many skill actions, such as Demoralize and Identify Magic, have text that states something to the effect of “you can’t use this skill against the same target for so-and-so period of time.” Key word: _you._ If you Demoralize an enemy and want to keep up the Frightened condition for another round, your eidolon can follow up with a Demoralize action of their own. If you’re trying to Recall Knowledge but fail, your eidolon can give it a shot. If you’re Seeking for

traps, there’s no good reason to _not_ ask your eidolon if _they_ see anything. It’s basically just a fortune effect with a few extra steps.

This applies to all eidolons, but if you want your eidolon to be extra skillful, feel free to increase your eidolon’s mental stats according to the appropriate skill (or skill _s_ ) you want them to specialize in. You’ll still want to maximize either Strength or Dexterity for their actual combat capabilities, though.

More on this in Resources, in a Less Conventional Sense.

Eidolon Types

Angel [●]

Be not afraid. Your eidolon came from one of the holy aligned planes—Heaven, Nirvana, or Elysium. This ranges from the singing choral angels, the astral deva messengers, to the purgers of evil that are the planetars.

The angel eidolon’s hallowed origins gives it a handful of nice support and restorative abilities—as well as, of course, being good at killing all things unholy, but _especially_ devils, daemons, and demons.

Not Quite Remastered: Though the Angel and Demon eidolons received errata so that their initial abilities work as intended, the creatures themselves don’t receive holy or unholy sanctification, meaning it won’t inherently transfer over the trait to sanctified spells if your eidolon has spellcasting. If that’s something that interests you for the purposes of targeting weaknesses, ask your GM.

● Tradition: [●] Divine. ● Home Plane: The Remaster has done away with alignment, and, as such, you have your pick between the three previously alignment-restricted planes: the very goodly and organized Heaven, the euphoric and wild Elysium, and the harmonious Nirvana. ● Size: [●] Medium or Small. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Angelic Avenger: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity, standard Charisma. Your eidolon isn’t very book-smart, but it gets a little boost to Wisdom for Perception, Will saves, and, of course, Religion checks.

○ Angelic Emissary: [◆] The Dexterity spread. Same Wisdom as the Angelic Avenger. You only start with +1 Strength, so you’ll have slightly less damage than other Dexterity eidolons, and you only have +1 Constitution, so you have worse Fortitude saves than the Angelic Avenger. However, the +2 Charisma makes for a decent Intimidation eidolon. Be not not afraid. You don’t get an Intelligence penalty like the Angelic Avenger, but a +1 in literally any other stat would have been preferable. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Diplomacy and Religion. Diplomacy is a super fantastic social skill that comes up a lot, and you should already have a good Charisma modifier. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: Empyrean, the language of celestials. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons. You’ll have to wait some levels until your angel can actually get wings.

Hallowed Strikes: [●] This ability confers the holy trait and an extra 1 spirit damage to all of your eidolon’s strikes. The 1 spirit damage is rather negligible, especially considering that it doesn’t scale at all, but it’s great for targeting enemies with a weakness to holy or spirit damage. Also, your eidolon can make nonlethal strikes whenever it wants at no penalty, which is useful for taking in enemies alive if you want to mercifully redeem them! Or… interrogate them for information. Or both.

● This was changed with remaster errata from good damage to spirit damage. It definitely doesn’t hurt that you don’t have to worry about alignment anymore to get that teeny bit of extra damage.

Traveler’s Aura: [●] You and your friends are protected from extreme heat and cold within 20 feet of your eidolon. At 17th level, it works on other planes, too. That’s neat, but might not come up a single time.

The real draw is that your eidolon can’t be caught off-guard in melee by lower-level creatures, which is awesome. However, it’s circumvented by equal-or-higher level creatures, or by creatures that opt to shoot your eidolon from at least 25 feet away.

● The anti-off-guard ability becomes partially redundant with the Ever-Vigilant Senses [★] feat, which makes it so your eidolon can’t be flanked by enemies that are equal or lower in level to it (as opposed to Traveler’s Aura, which only prevents off-guard from lower-level enemies).

However, if your eidolon is caught off-guard by other ways, such as the prone or grabbed conditions, Traveler’s Aura still comes in handy.

Angelic Mercy: [●] Four 9th-rank spells per day is just awesome. You might not need to use them every single day, but when you do, you’ll be glad you chose the angel eidolon. The fact that they’re 9th-rank doesn’t directly impart any heightened bonuses past the maximum, but it’s fantastic for counteract checks. As for the spells available…

● Not Quite Remastered: The printing mentions remove curse, remove disease, remove fear, and remove paralysis as the spells offered—each given one cast per day. None of these spells were reprinted—rather, they were rewrapped into new, more versatile spells. Remove fear was succeeded by clear mind, remove curse and remove disease were succeeded by cleanse affliction, and remove paralysis was succeeded by sure footing.

You could just use this as printed and use the original Core Rulebook spells, but a particularly nice GM might allow you to use this ability as if it gave you 9th-rank clear mind once per day, 9th-rank sure footing once per day, and 9th-rank cleanse affliction twice per day. It’s not a complete direct upgrade, given that clear mind is limited to only one target even when heightened, unlike remove fear, but it’s generally a sizable upgrade to this ability’s applicability (though I’d still rate it green [●]).

Anger Phantom [▼]

Your eidolon is so angry it refuses to die—but with that -2 penalty to AC, it might be dying soon anyway. (More on that later.)

The anger phantom eidolon’s abilities take some pages out of the Fighter and Barbarian’s books, focusing on doling out heavy hits at the cost of a non-negligible amount of defense. Its abilities, which are mostly themed around “doing more damage,” appear appealing at first glance when your goal is to try to maximize the amount of damage you deal, but a lot of the options the anger phantom offers are redundant with other parts of your kit. Added utility or mobility may be more useful for you, especially when they don’t come with such glaring drawbacks.

It kind of hurts to have to rate an entire subclass red, but the innate abilities of the anger phantom are just so mathematically and logistically weird and counter-intuitive. Not to mention red is probably thematically on-point. Let us pray to the Paizo gods for a proper Remaster.

● Tradition: [●] Occult. ● Home Plane: The Ethereal Plane, which is the buffer between the Material and Shadow Planes. Perfect for a phantom that’s too mad at the world to be sent to the afterlife. ● Size: [●] Medium or Small. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Enraged Assassin: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, standard Strength. +2 Charisma adds a tiny bonus to Demoralize builds. At -1 Wisdom, your eidolon’s Will saves might be a weakness, though. ○ Wrathful Berserker: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity. Same Charisma as the Enraged Assassin. Your Will saves will be slightly better than the Enraged Assassin, at the cost of a lower Intelligence, which you probably don’t mind. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Occultism. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: One common mortal language that the eidolon spoke in life. Note that this is a common language, not Common, the language (which, in Golarion, refers to the language referred to in-lore as Taldane). This could be a regional language, like Mwangi or Varisian, or an ancestral language, like Dwarven or Elven. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Furious Strike: [◆] It’s Power Attack, but even more power-y. For two actions, your eidolon makes a single strike that deals an extra damage die, which increases to two dice at 10th and three dice at 18th. However, it’s better than Power Attack because it also gets a +1 to +3 circumstance bonus to the damage roll.

I’d totally welcome this on a Fighter with a d12 greatsword, but on an eidolon that only gets up to a d8 unarmed attack at best, it gets a little more complicated. On average, your eidolon will probably deal more damage by just attacking once with its main unarmed attack and a second time with its secondary agile attack. I’d say the extra bonus to damage per damage die

means it averages out to the damage of a d10 weapon, but since it doesn’t account for the ability adding extra damage dies in and of itself, it’s more, like, a d9 or something. Additionally, this is a 2-action activity, which means it will compete with your summoner’s ability to cast most spells or damaging cantrips on your turn. It can be useful in situations such as punching through resistances or meeting some sort of threshold, like breaking out of a monster’s Swallow Whole, but (except for the first 3 levels,) Furious Strike is usually _not_ a straight DPR increase.

However, against _significantly_ higher-leveled boss enemies, the damage of Furious Strike also comes back on top at most levels in a vacuum (though, understandably, total expected damage output is rather low.)

● Note that this makes Boost Eidolon a bit weaker, since the status bonus from that effect only increases per base damage dice.

Seething Frenzy: [▼] This is just Barbarian rage, except it’s not. Your eidolon takes 1 action to enter the frenzy, and for 1 minute, your eidolon is under the effects of Boost Eidolon and gets temporary HP equal to your level. After 1 minute, your eidolon is fatigued for 1 minute and cannot enter a frenzy again for 1 minute. However, there are some things to note:

● Your eidolon gets a -2 penalty to AC, which is huge. This is like being off-guard at all times, but unlike being off-guard, it’s an untyped penalty, which means it stacks with off-guard, as well as any status penalty you might get to AC, such as by being frightened or clumsy. This is mathematically equivalent to the Giant Barbarian’s rage, but even then, -1 of their penalty is overridden by any other status penalty to AC, and you don’t get nearly as much bonus damage. The temporary HP mitigates this, but not by a lot. ● Boost Eidolon confers a status bonus to damage, not an untyped bonus like the Barbarian’s rage. This means it stacks with Furious Strike, which confers a circumstance bonus to damage. However, this also means that you can’t cast Boost Eidolon on it, because, well… it’s already benefiting from Boost Eidolon. The more disappointing part is that this means it can’t benefit from Reinforce Eidolon [●] to make up for the loss in defense, because Reinforce Eidolon explicitly states that you can’t benefit from it and the effects of Boost Eidolon at the same time. You can still cast the protect companion [★] cantrip, though. ● This has anti-synergy with Furious Strike [◆], since the bonus to damage per hit means you’ll want to be making more attacks per turn, not fewer. ● This won’t stack with the effects of the Blood Frenzy [ ▼ ] feat, which basically does the same thing, but with a much more limited trigger. Not that you’d ever want a -4 penalty to AC, anyway. ● Weird Rules: As far as I can tell, it’s unclear what happens if an Anger Phantom eidolon is knocked to 0 HP and is unmanifested mid-frenzy. If you get healed back up and remanifest it next turn, is it still in its frenzy? Is it fatigued? Is it neither, but just can’t re-enter the frenzy for 1 minute? Effects like summoner’s precaution seem to imply that your eidolon keeps conditions when dismissed, but ask your GM.

Anger Aura: [●] All creatures within 20 feet, enemies and allies alike, have all their resistances reduced by 3 + your eidolon’s Constitution modifier. You can punch through monster resistances with this, but it’s a double-edged sword that can also make your party a bit weaker. Position your party accordingly.

● Keep in mind that Anger Aura affects only resistances, not immunities. Other abilities that reduce resistances clarify that immunities are unaffected. You’re not going to be able to burn a fire elemental to death with this, unfortunately.

Beast [●]

Your eidolon is no mere animal companion—it’s a beast. This includes things like hellhounds, gargoyles, chupacabras, and chimeras. You could just flavor it as a “super” animal companion that has acquired sapience, if you really wanted to, but beasts can be nearly any fantastical animal-like creature.

Mechanically, the Beast eidolon is a lethal & mobile Striker whose special abilities allow it to do more with fewer actions. However, all of the unique abilities it gets are 2-action activities, which will preclude you from the DPR of your summoner casting a damaging spell or cantrip every round, which is the one big catch of the beast eidolon. If you want to make full use of the beast eidolon, make sure you plan ahead and have useful single actions for your summoner to fill out the rest of your turn, such as Boost Eidolon, Reinforce Eidolon [●], _protect companion_ , or Demoralize.

● Tradition: [●] Primal. ● Home Plane: The Material Plane, which is… your plane. I still don’t know where the beast eidolon actually goes when it unmanifests. ● Size: [●] Medium. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Brutal Beast: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity, standard Charisma. Your eidolon isn’t very book-smart, but has a higher Wisdom that makes it slightly better at things you’d expect a beast to be good at like Perception, Nature, and Survival, but also Will saves. ○ Fleet Beast: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, standard Strength. The mental stats are the same as the Brutal Beast. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Nature. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party, and at 7th level, the beast eidolon gets an ability that makes it even more potent. ● Senses: [●] Low-light vision. No other eidolon gets worse, but it isn’t horrible. On the contrary, this means you have the most to gain from Expanded Senses [●]. ● Languages: Fey, the ancient language of… well.. the fey.

● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Beast’s Charge: [ ● ] For two actions, your eidolon can Stride twice and Strike. That’s three actions for the price of two. With Act Together, you’re already getting four actions for the price of three, so together, that’s, like, five actions. However, It also has a nice bonus in that if you run at least 20 feet and only in a straight line, your eidolon gets a +1 circumstance bonus to its attack roll, which is entirely welcome. Don’t go out of your way to get that +1, though.

● For melee summoners who want to be in the heat of battle, consider utilizing Steed Form [●] so you don’t get left behind. However, this means that you won’t be able to use Beast’s Charge with Act Together, as the ability will gain the Tandem trait.

Primal Roar: [ ● ] This is a great big bad debuff that gives you great action economy. For two actions, Demoralize every single enemy that can _hear_ you. The range is vague and subjective, but I’d interpret that it affects everyone on the battlefield who’s not behind a five foot thick wall, including beyond Demoralize’s usual 30 foot radius and, possibly, around corners and out of Line of Effect.

This would be blue [★], but alas, the beast eidolon can only start with 10 Charisma. In Pathfinder 2e, every +1 matters, so your eidolon won’t have as good of an Intimidate modifier as, say, the demon or fey eidolon, which is a shame. If there are enough enemies within range, though, you’re bound to probably succeed against at least one. Hopefully.

There’s no cooldown or time limit in the ability itself, but Demoralize states that your target is immune to your Demoralize attempts for 10 minutes afterwards. (Your Summoner can still try to Demoralize after your eidolon uses Primal Roar. See “Skill Eidolons, or ‘Second Time’s The Charm’” under Eidolon Ability Scores.) Also, check out the Thundering Dominance [★] spell, which is on the primal list.

Whirlwind Maul: [ ★ ] It’s another 2-action activity that gives you more bang for your buck. For 2 actions, hit up to 4 different enemies within reach— _at your current MAP_. That’s some amazing damage. You’ll want Hulking Size [●] and Towering Size [★] to increase your eidolon’s reach to make the most of this—or just use Evolution Surge to temporarily embiggen your eidolon.

This is also a two-action activity, so it means your summoner can’t cast most spells or damaging cantrips on the same turn, but it combos fantastically with Boost Eidolon.

Construct [●]

Your eidolon is one made of both artifice and the energy of the Astral Plane. It may be made of metal, stone, or some other material, but constructs who become eidolons are usually held together more by magic than electricity or clockwork… but often, they’re composed of both. Constructs include animated objects, golems, homunculi, and, of course, robots.

Mechanically, the construct eidolon’s niche is mutability. Except for the first-level ability, your eidolon gets free evolution feats in lieu of unique abilities as you level that you can freely swap in and out with a day of downtime and a Crafting check. For this reason, you probably have more motive to _not_ dump Intelligence than other summoners. This goes double if you take Extend Boost [★]. You can probably get away with not increasing it to max, though. If you anticipate your campaign progressing at a breakneck pace and you won’t be able to get much downtime to take full advantage of this, you probably shouldn’t pick the construct eidolon.

You can choose the construct eidolon if you really _really_ want extra evolution feats instead of unique abilities, but usually the unique abilities are stronger in and of themselves. The construct eidolon’s strength is being able to adapt to an anticipated situation.

The construct eidolon summoner can be construed as being superficially similar to an inventor with a construct companion, but the flavor and actual mechanics are quite different.

● Tradition: [●] Arcane. ● Home Plane: The Astral Plane, the boundary between the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere. ● Size: [●] Medium. Considering how the construct is all about mutability, it seems kind of weird that you can’t choose to be Small, but it’s not really a big deal. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Scout Construct: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, standard Strength, standard Wisdom. Your eidolon isn’t very used to socializing with most creatures, with -1 Charisma, but is relatively knowledgeable with +1 Intelligence.

○ Warrior Construct: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity. The mental stats are the same as the Scout Construct. ● Skills: [◆] Arcana and Crafting. Intelligence is kind of an out-of-the-way stat for the Summoner, so you’re not usually as innately good at Crafting as an Alchemist, but you’ll need it if you want to swap out your eidolon’s free evolution feats. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: One common mortal language. Note that this is a common language, not Common, the language (which, in Golarion, refers to the language referred to in-lore as Taldane). This could be a regional language, like Mwangi or Varisian, or an ancestral language, like Dwarven or Elven. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Construct Heart: [●] Your eidolon isn’t entirely artificial, so it doesn’t get construct immunities, but is nevertheless very resistant to a large amount of conditions that regular constructs would be immune to. The list of resistances is long: death effects, disease, necromancy, poison, fatigue, sickness, and bleeding. Individually, each effect resistance is inherently circumstantial, but together, it ends up applying to a decent amount of effects.

Unlike many constructs, your eidolon isn’t mindless, which means it can still be affected by a large number of buffs—and debuffs. You can also heal it like a normal creature, given that its life force is shared with the summoner.

Reconfigured Evolution: [●] Your eidolon gets a free 6th-level or lower evolution feat. Any one you want. You can swap it out with a day of downtime and Crafting check at a standard DC for your level.

Ultimate Reconfiguration: [●] Like Reconfigured Evolution, but the feat is 16th-level or lower.

Demon [●]

Your eidolon is a foul demon… from the Outer Rifts! Usually, it’s the more lawful devils that make pacts with humanoids (to steal their soul, of course), but somehow, you’ve found yourself inextricably connected to an extraplanar vessel of chaos and destruction.

Mechanically, the demon eidolon has a variety of different abilities that serve many different purposes, but their higher Charisma, training in Intimidation, and symbiosis ability suggest that demon eidolons are meant to serve as

debuffers in addition to damage-dealers. Don’t let this idea pigeon-hole you into the role, though.

As of the remaster, alignment isn’t a thing anymore, allowing the demon eidolon’s previously alignment-restricted abilities to be used a lot more freely, making them a much more solid & reliable pick than what they were previously.

The entry for the demon eidolon states that you have to pick one of the seven sins to associate your eidolon with, but this is just flavor. Take a look at the demons in the three Bestiaries for some ideas.

Not Quite Remastered: Though the Angel and Demon eidolons received errata so that their initial abilities work as intended, the creatures themselves don’t receive holy or unholy sanctification, meaning it won’t inherently transfer over the trait to sanctified spells if your eidolon has spellcasting. If that’s something that interests you for the purposes of targeting weaknesses, ask your GM.

● Tradition: [●] Divine. ● Home Plane: The Outer Rifts, a plane of horror, destruction, and unparalleled sin. ● Size: [●] Medium or Small. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Tempter Demon: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, standard Intelligence, standard Wisdom. The +1 Strength means you’ll be dealing less damage than other Dexterity eidolons, but the +3 Charisma means your eidolon will be fantastic at Intimidation and other social skills. You know, for convincing people to sin, and stuff. ○ Wrecker Demon: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity. At -1 WIS, Will saves might be a weakness. Your above-average +1 CHA is useful for social skills, even if it isn't as high as that of the Tempter Demon. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Religion. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party, and the demon eidolon’s Charisma (especially the Tempter Demon) really helps. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: Chthonian, the ancient tongue of the denizens of the Outer Rifts. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Demonic Strikes: [●] The logical inverse of the angel eidolon’s Hallowed Strikes. Your eidolon’s strikes are given the unholy trait, as well as an extra 1 spirit damage. That little bit of extra damage isn’t much, but it’s great for targeting enemies who have a weakness to unholy or spirit damage. In addition, you can give one of your eidolon’s unarmed attacks versatile bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing.

● This was changed with remaster errata from good damage to spirit damage. It definitely doesn’t hurt that you don’t have to worry about alignment anymore to get that teeny bit of extra damage. ● Weird Rules: The ability specifies that you can only give versatile to an attack that already “deals physical damage.” It seems like this is meant to prevent you from being able to give versatile to an attack you’ve changed to an energy damage type via Energy Heart [●], but… you can take Energy Heart to modify an attack that already has versatile. I would say this works, but I could also see someone making an argument that it doesn’t. Ask your GM.

Visions of Sin: [ ★ ] This is a super fantastic ability, and is quite similar to the _laughing fit_ spell. For two actions, your eidolon torments a target with super-duper unholy sins, and it must make a Will save against the Summoner’s spell DC. The effects give the target various levels of loss of actions, from losing reactions, to being slowed 1, to being outright confused. Plus, the ability is once every 10 minutes, which essentially amounts to you being able to use this once every combat, which is great.

You need to sustain it like a spell, so on a regular failure, you’re trading an action for an action each turn, so you need to pick a valuable target. Use this on the biggest, baddest monster you’re facing in any given encounter to sap away their action economy. You’re the most likely member of your party to have actions to spare, anyway.

● Not Quite Remastered: This ability is written to confer a -2 circumstance penalty to the saves of evil creatures, but as of the remaster, alignment isn’t a thing anymore. This hasn’t been reflected in errata yet, either. As written, it might mean that this penalty just never applies, ever. A nice GM might rule that the penalty applies to enemies with the unholy trait.

Blasphemous Decree: [●] You get a daily 9th-rank _divine decree_ , which scales to a 10th-rank spell at 19th level. This is one big bad spirit bomb, with the possibility to apply enfeebled and straight-up banish otherworldly enemies to their home plane (if you’re already on yours). Lower-level creatures can

become paralyzed, or straight up die on a critical failure. It’s limited to only your enemies, so you don’t have to worry about friendly fire, either.

● Divine decree got buffed with the removal of alignment, and the spell got a “no friendly fire” buff to boot. Awesome! ● The spell has the sanctified trait, but your eidolon doesn’t, so the spell won’t be hitting any sanctified-specific weaknesses.

Devotion Phantom [●]

Like Secrets of Magic’s other occult eidolon option, the devotion phantom is… well, a phantom. However, the devotion phantom lingers in the Material Plane not because of hatred, but a sense of duty. This is usually a desire to protect the summoner, but can take the form of some other grand task.

The devotion phantom’s abilities are geared towards mitigating the impact of your enemies’ attacks, lending it towards more of a defensive role. In that sense, the devotion phantom eidolon is somewhat comparable to the good-aligned Champion.

● Tradition: [●] Occult. ● Home Plane: The Ethereal Plane, which is the buffer between the Material and Shadow Planes. Your eidolon isn't ready to move on just yet. ● Size: [●] Medium or Small. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Stalwart Guardian: [●] The Strength spread. Every single stat is standard, including all mental stats at +0. ○ Swift Protector: [●] The Dexterity spread. It’s just the same as the Strength spread, but STR and DEX are swapped. ● Skills: [●] Medicine and Occultism. Every party needs at least one person who can Battle Medicine and Treat Wounds, so if no one else is gonna do it, it might as well be you. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: One common mortal language that the eidolon spoke in life. Note that this is a common language, not Common, the language (which, in Golarion, refers to the language referred to in-lore as Taldane). This could be a regional language, like Mwangi or Varisian, or an ancestral language, like Dwarven or Elven. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Dutiful Retaliation: [●] Your eidolon yells at an enemy for even _daring_ to try to hit their summoner and then gives them a firm smack. This is very similar to the Paladin’s Retributive Strike (with built-in pseudo-Ranged Reprisal that can technically reach an enemy up to 30 feet away), but it doesn’t reduce the damage from the triggering attack and can only trigger when hitting the summoner specifically and not any other PC. Additionally, this ability seems to encourage your summoner to be within melee, when usually, the best place for a cloth caster is far, far away from any monsters with sharp pointy bits. That being said, it’s still an attack reaction at full MAP, which is great. It also appeals a bit more to actual melee summoners.

When using this ability, it’s probably not good to try to chase your eidolon into battle. Instead of trying to stay within range of your eidolon, try to play it the other way around—keep your eidolon within range of your summoner. If you take Ranged Combatant [●], your Eidolon can take shots at enemies outside of the range of Dutiful Retaliation, baiting them to enter the range of Dutiful Retaliation and your eidolon’s more powerful melee attacks.

Because you want your summoner and eidolon to stick together, feats that allow the two to move together more easily like Steed Form [●] and Tandem Movement [★] are great for the devotion phantom.

You and your eidolon still only get 1 reaction per turn, so once Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] becomes available at 6th level, Dutiful Retaliation will become less appealing, since the two will compete for your reaction.

Steadfast Devotion: [ ● ] Your eidolon gets a +2 circumstance bonus to saves against mental effects, which probably applies to a _lot_ more effects than you might think. Additionally, if they roll a success on a save against a mental effect, they get a critical success instead. At 15th level, your eidolon can’t critically fail against mental effects. All in all, this amounts to your eidolon effectively advancing a proficiency in most Will saves, up to effective Legendary. Let’s hope your enemies don’t try to target your summoner with mental effects instead, though.

Devotion Aura: [ ★ ] Your eidolon now wants to protect your friends, too. Within a 20-foot aura, allies reduce any damage they take by your Eidolon’s Constitution modifier, and you take half the reduced damage. This is almost like giving resistance to your entire party (within the radius). That’s amazing.

Best of all, this isn’t a reaction, or even a free action. It just _happens_. It won’t compete with Dutiful Retaliation [●] whatsoever. Also, if the transferred

damage would reduce you to 0 HP, you can choose for the effect to not apply, so you don’t need to worry about that.

● Even if the phantom is mitigating physical damage, the damage it receives in turn won’t be reduced by Resilient Shell [●], since one: it doesn’t say you take an amount of equivalent physical damage instead, but that your HP just drops, and two: it specifies you, not your eidolon.

Dragon [ ★ ]

By the book, dragon eidolons aren’t _real_ dragons, which might disappoint some people. However, they’re after-images of a particular dragon’s brain waves that’s been floating in the Astral Plane for who knows how long before your summoner came along and helped them find a physical form, which is… pretty cool in its own way.

The dragon eidolon makes for a great striker, with a potent breath weapon that gives them a reliable blasting capability as well. However, just like the beast eidolon, all of the dragon’s special abilities are 2-action activities, which preclude your summoner from casting 2-action spells or any other 2-action activity that turn. Plan ahead with useful single actions for your summoner to use on your turn.

● Tradition: [●] Arcane. ● Home Plane: The Astral Plane, the boundary between the Inner Sphere and the Outer Sphere. ● Size: [●] Medium. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Cunning Dragon: [◆] The Dexterity spread. The Cunning Dragon’s Strength and Constitution are both +1, so its damage and Fortitude saves might be a bit poor, but with +1 Charisma, your eidolon can help you Demoralize, and with +2 Intelligence, your eidolon may very well be better than you at Recall Knowledge and Identify Magic. If these don’t appeal to you and you just want your eidolon to be as good at combat as possible, pick the other spread or another eidolon type. ○ Marauding Dragon: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Dexterity, standard Constitution, and its mental stats are all +0. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Arcana. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1.

● Languages: Draconic, the tongue of dragons. Fus ro dah or something like that. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons. Your dragon won’t be able to take flight just yet.

Breath Weapon: [●] Like any other self-respecting dragon, your eidolon gets its own breath weapon. You can choose from a variety of different damage types, reflective of the diverse variety of different dragons in the Pathfinder 2e bestiaries—or, well, Pathfinder 2e legacy, that is. Pick a damage type you like.

Then, you can pick for the area to be either a 60-foot line or a 30-foot cone. Generally, the line has a smaller total area and can hit fewer enemies, but it’s a bit easier to “thread the needle” and find a perfect angle to hit a bunch of enemies without hitting your allies. The cone has a larger total area and can hit more enemies, but you also run a bigger risk of collateral damage. Ask your friends how good their Reflex saves are, then surprise them with the gift of a backfire mantle.

The damage scales every other level, just like spells, and is comparable to a cantrip in damage, but can hit many more enemies at once with an area that’s more like a proper spell slot spell. Like regular dragons, you need to roll a 1d4 to see how long it takes for your breath weapon to refresh, so you can possibly use it multiple times per combat if you get lucky.

This is a two-action activity, which means that your summoner won’t be able to cast most spells or damaging cantrips that turn. Your eidolon will only be able to Strike, at most, once on turns it uses Breath Weapon, so Boost Eidolon is not a very good use of your summoner’s minimum one action on that turn. Consider using Reinforce Eidolon, _protect companion_ , Demoralize, or something else.

● If your eidolon is Large or Huge, you can position your Breath Weapon beginning at any external corner of the spaces your eidolon occupies. It doesn't always need to be smack dab in the middle. ● Weird Rules: The given damage types mostly reflect all of the various types of breath weapons currently found in the Pathfinder 2e legacy bestiaries. For example, the standard energy types are associated with chromatic and metallic dragons. The void damage comes from umbral dragons, and piercing damage comes from crystal and forest dragons. (Forest dragons’ breath weapons consist of them just barfing up a huge swarm of venomous insects. Have fun with that mental image.) However, two breath weapon types are notably missing: sea dragons’

watery breath weapon that deals bludgeoning damage, and sovereign dragons’ psychic blast that deals mental damage. Mental damage is pretty uncommon, so it somewhat makes sense that they’d choose to exclude that, but the lack of bludgeoning damage is a bit more of a head-scratcher. It gets a bit weirder when you realize that draconic sorcerers get both of these as options for their _dragon breath_ focus spell. As a GM, I wouldn’t really see any reason why I’d tell my players they couldn’t have a sea dragon-esque bludgeoning breath weapon. I wouldn’t say no to a psychic breath weapon, either... but I don’t think I would recommend it, given that mindless creatures are automatically immune to all mental damage. ● Not Quite Remastered: However, the abilities haven’t been updated to reflect the brand-new categorization of dragons that will be found in the upcoming Monster Core book. Taken from the updated _dragon form_ spell, the dragon types are, as follows:

Dragon Tradition Breath

Adamantine Primal Bludgeoning

Conspirator Occult Poison

Diabolic Divine Fire

Empyreal Divine Spirit

Fortune Arcane Force

Horned Primal Poison

Mirage Arcane Mental

Omen Occult Mental

If you ask your GM real nicely, you could have your dragon eidolon follow this new template—and, in turn, the damage types represented by them. If you do so, make sure to change the Arcane trait of this ability to the new corresponding spellcasting tradition. Also, if you do so, pick Fortune dragon every time. Every time. Force damage is the most powerful option [★]. Pick force damage, now. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it’s one of the least resisted damage types and punches through a lot of otherwise universal resistances.

Draconic Frenzy: [ ★ ] In addition to breath weapons, your eidolon also gets the _second_ most iconic Pathfinder 2e dragon ability. For two actions, make three strikes. Simply put, this is fantastic action economy. You’re limited to only using your main attack once and using your secondary agile attacks twice, but that’s probably the most optimal attack combo, anyway. As a nice little bonus, if any of your attacks crit, your Breath Weapon recharges.

This is also a two-action activity, so it means your summoner can’t cast most spells or damaging cantrips on the same turn, but it combos fantastically with Boost Eidolon for some amazing single-target damage.

Wyrm’s Breath: [ ★ ] Once per minute (so, effectively, once per combat), boost your Breath Weapon from cantrip damage to spell slot damage, and double the area, too. A fantastic, straightforward boost. Try to take advantage of this every combat.

Elemental [●]

Who can deny the power of the rage of elements? Their potent energy forms the baseline of much magic, with many a spellcaster slinging arcs of thunder, gouts of fire, and volleys of earth at one another. Even the more martially oriented cannot help but admire their power—who _doesn’t_ get excited at finding a sword that can set itself on fire, y’know? However, none can claim mastery of these forces of nature as easily as the aptly-named elementals. You’ve formed a bond with one of these creatures, though the personal life force you have infused them with means they’re more similar to creatures of the Material Plane than usual.

This could almost be considered six different eidolons under one entry, with the element you choose—air, earth, fire, metal, water, or wood—affecting your eidolon’s abilities (and, in some cases, damage types). Starting out at 1st level, your eidolon gets abilities specific to their element that make them take advantage of particular situations, but the higher-level eidolon abilities make your eidolon adept at multi-target damage.

● Tradition: [●] Primal. ● Home Plane: Your eidolon’s home plane is the elemental plane matching its element—Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Water, or Wood. ● Traits: Though all eidolons naturally acquire the trait associated with their creature type, of note here is the fact that the Elemental trait indicates that the associated creature doesn’t need to breathe. This isn’t

negated in rules text like how the Construct eidolon is. This might not be relevant whatsoever, but hey, it might come up! ● Size: [●] Medium. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Adaptable Elemental: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma. You won’t hit as hard with only +1 Strength, but the +1 to Wisdom means your eidolon will be a bit better at Will saves and Nature checks. ○ Primordial Elemental: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Dexterity, standard Constitution, and standard Charisma. You probably won’t mind the -1 penalty to Intelligence, and the +1 to Wisdom is the same as the Adaptable Elemental spread. ● Skills: [◆] Nature and Survival. Survival isn’t a skill that necessarily comes up every day, but it’s probably going to come up at some point, whether it comes to tracking a plot-relevant NPC down or just straight-up surviving in the woods. If you don’t have a more Wisdom-oriented member in your party, the survivalist might as well be you. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: You and your Eidolon get the language associated with their elemental type: Sussuran for air, Petran for earth, Pyric for fire, Talican for metal, Thalassic for water, and Muan for wood. ● Speed: [●] Most elemental eidolons start with 25 base speed, the standard for all eidolons. However, water elemental eidolons are the exception. More on that later.

Elemental Core: [●] Your eidolon won’t get all of the cool immunities usually associated with Elemental stat blocks, but they’ll get matching bonuses to saving throws against such effects. They get a +2 circumstance bonus to saving throws against poison, sleep, and paralysis effects, and the DC of the flat check to recover from persistent bleeding damage is 5 lower than usual.

Additionally, your eidolon (and all of its Strikes) gain the corresponding elemental trait, which may be relevant for other abilities—friendly or otherwise—that specifically refer to such elemental traits. They will also gain a unique ability, depending on their element.

● Air: [●] It’s not flight, but it’s something, alright. Your eidolon gets really good at jumping, doubling the distance of Leap, Long Jump, and High Jump. This is nice—most players neglect the option of Jumping in combat entirely. Your eidolon also becomes immune to fall

damage—nice for jumping down to investigate wells, perhaps. Remanifest as necessary. However, remember that your eidolon can only be 100 feet away from you by default (Unfetter Eidolon [◆] or Collar of the Eternal Bond [●] notwithstanding).

However, we have the power to make the jumping part of this ability _really_ absurd, and possibly become the fastest Eidolon alive. Bear with me here—we’re entering not quite RAW territory. It’s usually implied that Leaps can’t exceed your base Speed, but text like Cloud Jump mentions that you can spend extra actions to Leap extra far. One could say that it’s just rules text specific to that feat, so there’s a lot of Weird Rules here.

Normally, at base 25 speed, you can only Leap up to 10 feet away horizontally in a single action. Doubled with this ability, that’s 20 feet. It’s nice to clear a gap, but otherwise isn’t too interesting. However, if your Eidolon’s base speed is increased to at least 30—say, by Alacritous Action [●]—your maximum Leap is increased to (152) = 30 feet. That’s just matching that 30 speed, though, and it’s not as high as Alacritous Action. However, if your Eidolon takes Powerful Leap via Skilled Partner [●], that leap increases to (202) = 40 feet, which is a faster horizontal speed than Alacritous Action would offer (in the situation that you are moving in a straight line). Again, no check.

Let’s look at Long Jumps, though. Usually, you can only Long Jump up to your speed (rounded down to the nearest 5 feet), but Elemental Core states that you can “Long Jump twice as far,” meaning that you can jump up to twice your speed (plus five, including Powerful Leap). Typically, the check required is equal to the distance in feet you want to clear: for example, a 35 foot jump requires an Athletics check of 35. However, presuming the ability works similarly to the Cloud Jump skill feat, that same roll of 35 can be a 70-foot jump (or a 80-foot jump, with Powerful Leap). In order to surpass that Leap’s 40-foot speed, we’d need to Long Jump 50 feet, which becomes a roll of 20 minimum ((20+5)*2=50).

As long as you don’t critically fail, that’s an automatic success at as low as 7th level (accounting for maximum ability score and skill increases, as well as the item bonus to Athletics checks imparted by Boots of Bounding or a similar item. Note that the direct bonus to Leap distance doesn’t apply to your eidolon). You could then leap up to 80 feet, your theoretical maximum with Alacritous Action, if you get lucky with a roll of

35. With the +20 foot status bonus from Evolution Surge, though, your maximum Leap distance will become 100 feet, requiring a roll of 45.

Let’s say you also took Quick Jump with Skilled Partner [●]. That means you can, as a single action (with a tiny bit of prep, and a tiny bit of luck), move 100 feet in one direction. Sheesh. I would rate this blue if it didn’t feel so silly… or, well, demand so much investment.

Moving at these blazing speeds, you might not even _want_ to fly. If only your eidolon could get Cloud Jump, too. Just… try not to think too much about vertical movement, since High Jump is capped at (8*2)=16 feet with an effective DC 40 check. Okay, maybe you might still want to fly.

● Earth: [●] Your eidolon is particularly hard to move, netting a +2 circumstance bonus to their Fortitude and Reflex DCs against being Shoved or Tripped, as well as their saves against effects that would make them Prone. It’s a really nifty safeguard against a common combat debuff, even if your GM doesn’t make your enemies use Athletics actions often. Additionally, if they would be forcibly moved over 10 feet, that distance is halved.

● Fire: [●] Your eidolon gets resistance equal to half your level against fire damage. That’s a really common damage type, so you’ll often be thankful for it, even if it’s not complete immunity. On the other hand, your eidolon gains an equal amount as a weakness to cold and water, which is thematic—but a shame.

Arguably the coolest part, though, is dealing 1 additional fire damage with all of your eidolon’s strikes. This is arguably better than using Energy Heart [●] to convert all of your eidolon’s base damage to fire damage, since it will both activate weaknesses and bypass resistances and immunities—both of which are very common for the fire damage type. Well… you’ll miss out on 1 damage, but whatever.

● Metal: [●] One of your eidolon’s Strikes gains the versatile bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing trait. You don’t pick one of the three, you get all of them at once. Nice. No longer shall skeletons, zombies, oozes, or any other creatures with resistances or vulnerabilities with particular physical damage types vex you.

● Water: [◆] Your eidolon gains the amphibious trait. The ability to breathe both in air and in water is redundant, given that elementals don’t have to breathe in the first place, but it also means they can avoid the usual -2 penalty to making bludgeoning and slashing unarmed Strikes underwater. However, of greater significance is the change to your eidolon’s speeds. Their base speed is reduced to 15 feet, and, in turn, they gain a swim speed of 25 feet. Naturally, this is best applied in seafaring and other aquatic campaigns, as you can still always use Evolution Surge to give your eidolon a 30-foot swim speed on the off chance you find a large body of water.

If you take this option, the Amphibious Form [★] evolution feat is practically mandatory, bringing your eidolon’s land-speed up to snuff with most other characters.

● Wood: [◆] When you Refocus, your eidolon (and, in turn, you) restore HP equal to twice your level. Now that you can Refocus as often as you want in the Remaster, this means that you can restore HP infinitely out of combat. That’s cool, but ideally this should already be covered by the Medicine user of your party. Additionally, you can choose to have your eidolon gain the plant trait in the fringe case it comes up.

Elemental Burst: [●] Once every 10 minutes (so effectively once per combat if you have time to rest in between), your eidolon throws a bit of itself at your enemies. After taking damage equal to your level, creatures in a 20-foot burst within 60 feet take 6d6 damage on a basic Reflex save, with the damage type either being the same physical type as your eidolon’s primary attack or fire for fire elementals. Every level after 7th, this damage increases by 1d6. It’s comparable to a

This is essentially a shorter-range fireball that’s a rank (or a half) behind your highest spellcasting slots, which is some decent AoE damage over your adventuring day. The HP cost will hurt a tiny bit, but compare this to the Dragon eidolon’s Wyrm’s Breath [★], which comes online much later, or the Eidolon’s Wrath [●] focus spell, which deals slightly more damage at odd-numbered levels but, as an emanation, is harder to position.

● It specifies that the burst must match the physical damage type of your Eidolon’s strike, so it’s unclear how this interacts with Energy Heart [●]. Does it match the original damage type, perhaps? You might also make an argument for unarmed attacks with the versatile B, P, or S trait, but that still technically suggests a “default” damage type since it isn’t outright replaced.

Elemental Maelstrom: [ ★ ] Oh, boy. As a three-action activity, your eidolon Strides once. As it moves, any enemy that falls within its reach at least once during its movement can receive a Strike _at your current MAP._ Compare this to similar feats on other classes, such as Whirlwind Strike (Fighter, Barbarian) or Devastating Weaponry (Inventor). You’re not going to be hitting with the accuracy of a Fighter or the sheer damage-per-strike of the Barbarian, but you have the ability to target _so_ many more enemies, and you get some free repositioning to boot.

Of course, this only gets better with increases to your eidolon’s movement speed and reach, so look into getting corresponding feats for that. There’s no cooldown on this, either, so if there are more than 3 or so enemies in front of you, forget about _electric arc_ —you should spam the hell out of this.

Fey [ ★ ]

Many people know of the capricious fey. Pixies, sprites, naiads, leprechauns, dryads, unicorns, and even bogeymen all fall under this umbrella. The fey’s First World, being a plane of whimsically erratic positive energy, means that fey there don’t really die, but reincarnate. Your summoner came into contact with one of these fey souls and helped them find a new life.

The fey eidolon is the definitive caster eidolon, automatically gaining various spellcasting feats at earlier levels than any other eidolon, at the cost of the martial capability most other eidolons offer. If you’re looking for more spells per day, look no further.

● Tradition: [●] Primal. ● Home Plane: The First World, the land of the fey and the gods’ first draft when they were trying to come up with the Material Plane. ● Size: [●] Small or Medium. (Other entries say “Medium or Small,” so this seems to imply that fey eidolons are meant to be Small by default.) ● Stat Spreads: Uniquely, both of the fey eidolon’s stat spreads are Dexterity-based. Instead of the STR/DEX divide, the two spreads are defined by whether the eidolon is more combator skill-oriented. If you want Strength, look elsewhere. ○ Skirmisher Fey: [●] The Strike spread. Standard Strength, and Intelligence and Wisdom are both +0. +2 Constitution is slightly less than most other eidolons, but more than the Trickster Fey. With +1 Charisma, your eidolon will also be slightly better at lying and frightening. ○ Trickster Fey: [●] The skill spread. With a Charisma of +3, your eidolon will be a fantastic Demoralizer in combat. Additionally, with an Intelligence of +1, your eidolon is slightly above average at INT skills. However, your Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom are rather poor. ● Skills: [●] Deception and Nature. Deception usually doesn’t come up nearly as often as the other two social skills, Diplomacy and Intimidate, but the Summoner is a Charisma caster, so if someone’s going to lie in your party, it might as well be you. ● Senses: [●] Low-light vision. No other eidolon gets worse, but it isn’t horrible. On the contrary, this means you have the most to gain from Expanded Senses [●]. ● Languages: Fey, the ancient language of… well.. the fey. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Fey Gift Spells: [ ★ ] First of all, your eidolon gets the Magical Understudy [●] evolution feat earlier than any other eidolon, which lets your eidolon cast two cantrips. Cool! But the goodness doesn’t stop there.

This ability means that the summoner, despite being a primal caster, gets every single enchantment and illusion spell on the arcane spell list. Every. Single. One. That’s an absolutely massive number of spells. Compare this to the Sorcerer’s fey bloodline and the Druid’s Fey Caller feat, which only add 9 and 4 fey-themed off-list spells to your list respectively. Not only do you get all the primal tradition’s amazing energyand life-based spells, but you get to steal all of the arcane list’s great debuffing and befuddling enchantment and illusion spells. Your eidolon gets to cast them with their spellcasting feats, too. All in all, this is fantastic, giving you an honest contender for one of the best spell lists in the game (bounded spell slots notwithstanding). It’s probably the main reason you're picking this eidolon instead of just attaching spellcasting feats to another eidolon type.

● Not Quite Remastered: As of the remaster, spell schools no longer exist. The illusion trait still exists for illusory spells, but there’s no tight definition for “enchantment” spells. A reasonable GM would allow you to pick spells based on their legacy spell school classifications (or the corresponding Remastered versions of legacy spells, i.e. laughing fit instead of hideous laughter ). A nice GM might allow you to pick newly printed spells that fit the “enchantment” flavor.

Fey Mischief: [●] In keeping with the spellcasting theme, your eidolon gets the Magical Adept [●] feat a level earlier than anyone else gets it. This lets your eidolon cast two innate spells per day of different levels. Cool, cool. However, you don’t automatically get the final eidolon spellcasting feat, Magical Master [★], so make sure you pick that up later.

Fey Chicanery: [●] Each morning, your eidolon casts a _contingency_ spell on itself. Unlike a regular casting of _contingency_ , you can choose any (common or accessible) 4th level spell on your list (including enchantment and illusion spells from the arcane list) instead of only spells you already know. This is somewhat comparable to the Rogue and Investigator’s Trickster’s Ace feat. _Contingency_ is a great effect, but unfortunately, the spell rank doesn’t scale, so you’ll be stuck choosing 4th level spells for your _contingency_ , even at level 20. Still super nice, though.

Plant [ ★ ]

Your eidolon is some sort of strange intelligent plant, like a leshy, mandragora, or arboreal regent (traditionally known as a treant). Maybe your eidolon is cute like the Ancestry Guide leshys (yes the plural form is spelled leshys I checked), or maybe it’s just straight out of Little Shop of Horrors.

Plant eidolons’ abilities revolve around battlefield control, and a _lot_ of reach, and I mean a _lot_ of reach. Consider doubling down with effects that increase your eidolon’s reach further, like Hulking Size [●], Towering Size [★], and/or Evolution Surge. Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] is practically mandatory, given that nobody can utilize it better than the plant eidolon.

● Tradition: [●] Primal. ● Alignment: Any. Lots of plant creatures are true neutral, but your eidolon is sapient, which gives it the capacity for good… and evil. ● Home Plane: The Material Plane, which is… your plane. Yup, I still don’t know where plant eidolons go when they unmanifest. ● Size: [●] Medium. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Creeping Plant: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Constitution, standard Charisma. With +2 Wisdom, your eidolon will be pretty good at Perception, Nature, Survival, and Will saves. However, +1 Strength means your eidolon might deal less damage than other dexterity eidolons, and -1 Intelligence means your eidolon isn’t very book smart. ○ Guardian Plant: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Constitution, standard Dexterity, standard Charisma. Your low Intelligence is the same as the other spread. Your +1 Wisdom, while not as high as the Creeping Plant, is still higher than most other eidolons. ● Skills: [◆] Nature and Survival. You might not have to worry about getting lost or running out of food in the wilderness, I guess. ● Senses: [●] Low-light vision. No other eidolon gets worse, but it isn’t horrible. On the contrary, this means you have the most to gain from Expanded Senses [●]. ● Languages: Fey, the ancient language of… well.. the fey. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Tendril Strike: [ ★ ] Make a strike with your reach increased by 5 feet. This is the Fighter’s Lunge, but for your eidolon. Reach is _fantastic_ and can help you control the battlefield and harry your opponents. Your eidolon doesn’t really

get many other special attacks, so this might as well be every single attack you make on your turn.

You can also use this to make a Disarm, Shove, or Trip at range if your unarmed attack has that trait.

● Unfortunately, Tendril Strike won’t work with the grab trait, but this is the same text as the Fighter’s Lunge. ● This is a special Strike action, so this doesn’t increase the reach of Eidolon’s Opportunity [★].

Growing Vines: [ ★ ] Your eidolon just straight up gets the reach trait on every single one of its unarmed attacks. This stacks with Tendril Strike [★], Hulking Size [●], Towering Size [★], and/or Evolution Surge for a possible maximum of 25 foot reach, which is longer than the range increments of many throwing weapons, which is ridiculous.

Field of Roots: [●] For two actions, every enemy within your eidolon’s range has to make a Reflex save against the damage of your eidolon’s most powerful attack. (Your allies don’t need to make the save.) They only take the full damage on a critical failure, unfortunately, but if they do, they’re completely immobilized and take the damage again at the end of each of its turns until they Escape. On a failure, they take half damage, but their Speeds are still reduced by 10 feet and they take that half damage at the end of their turns. On a success, they don’t take any damage, but they still take the Speed penalty.

Additionally, in order for the penalties and recurring damage to remain, your eidolon must root itself and become immobilized, but your reach is probably stupid big, so this should be less of a problem to you than other eidolons. You still need to take an action to unroot if you happen to need to reposition your eidolon, though. The AoE damage won’t be as good as a dragon eidolon’s breath weapon or your summoner’s spells, so remember that this is a battlefield control option first and a blasting option _second_.

Be smart with this ability. You shouldn’t necessarily use this every single time you have three or more enemies within your reach. Use this when you spot some enemies that have a good reason to move—say, to move up and attack your squishier party members, or get into flank—and you want to tell them “no.” Against a single enemy, a simple Grab is probably better, even if it doesn’t deal damage.

● Weird Rules: There’s nothing that says your eidolon can’t use Field of Roots again while still immobilized by a previous Field of Roots. This would seem to imply that you can just use Field of Roots repeatedly every turn for repeated AoE damage, but this feels unintuitive. Would you then need to spend an action per time you used Field of Roots to unroot your eidolon, or does the immobilized effect not stack, so you only need to use one action? Personally, I think the most common-sense ruling would be that you can’t use Field of Roots again until it unroots itself, but ask your GM. ● Weird Rules 2: Electric Boogaloo: Technically, this ability doesn’t specify what DC the Reflex save is rolling against. Following the pattern of other eidolon abilities, though, it probably ought to be your Summoner’s spell DC.

Psychopomp [◆]

Your eidolon is a psychopomp, an entity that serves directly under Pharasma, the Lady of Graves, and works to guide fallen souls to their proper resting place in the afterlife. This includes the terrifying winged skeleton-like vanth, the no-nonsense morrigna bounty hunters, and the warm and inviting catrinas. Maybe you were supposed to die and a psychopomp came for your soul, but strange circumstances caused them to become your eidolon. Maybe you and your eidolon even hunt down wayward souls together.

The psychopomp eidolon’s abilities mostly gear it towards a very specific role: destroying incorporeal and/or undead creatures. If you’re in a particularly undead-centric campaign, the psychopomp eidolon becomes a more appealing choice [●], though certainly not just an auto-win. However, in all campaigns, its symbiosis ability also allows it to function as a reliable scout.

● Tradition: [●] Divine. ● Alignment: True neutral. Psychopomps are the ushers of the afterlife, and they do their best to do their jobs without any sort of bias. ● Home Plane: The Boneyard, the domain of Pharasma and her psychopomps, where mortal souls go to be judged after death. ● Size: [●] Medium. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Scribe of the Dead: [◆] The Dexterity spread. Your Strength and Constitution are both +1, which means your eidolon will have relatively poor damage and Fortitude saves, but +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom means your eidolon might be somewhat good at

Recall Knowledge skills. Additionally, you don’t get a Charisma penalty, unlike the Soul Guardian. ○ Soul Guardian: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Dexterity, standard Constitution, standard Intelligence. +1 Wisdom will make your eidolon a little bit better at Perception and Will saves, but -1 Charisma sets your eidolon back a bit if you choose to invest in the automatically granted Intimidate skill. ● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Religion. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party. However, if you want your psychopomp eidolon to take advantage of this as well, their Charisma may lag behind. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: Requian, the language of the psychopomps. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Spirit Touch: [●] All of your eidolon’s attacks get the effects of a _ghost touch_ rune, which make them particularly effective at battling incorporeal creatures. If that was all, this ability would be rated yellow [◆], but in addition to that ability, your eidolon deals 1 void damage to living creatures and 1 vitality damage to undead creatures with its attacks. This is basically a free 1 damage, which isn’t much, but is entirely welcome. It doesn’t scale whatsoever, though, which is a shame.

Plenty of undead have weaknesses to vitality damage, but weaknesses to void damage are super rare. So far, I’ve only seen one printed creature with it.

Hidden Watcher: [●] Once per hour, your eidolon can cast 2nd rank _invisibility_ targeting either you, itself, or both of you at once. Pretty good, and pretty reliable, though it depends on how your table plays the progression of time outside of combat. You can use this to scout, or just as a tiny little buff to get off-guard on your first attack after initiative gets rolled.

Additionally, you could also cast the spell on only the summoner so that the invisibility won’t pop when your eidolon starts attacking, enabling a build where your summoner specializes entirely into support abilities in order to not break that invisibility.

Spirit Taker: [◆] Your eidolon can now attack incorporeal creatures that decide to hide within walls, objects, or other creatures. Additionally, it can attack creatures that are merely projecting their consciousness, such as _project image_. This is a _really_ circumstantial transcendence ability, but if you’re in a ghostbusting campaign… sure?

Additionally, undead destroyed by your eidolon get sent directly to the Boneyard so their soul can be properly judged, but this is more of a flavor thing than anything.

Undead [●]

Your eidolon is some form of (implicitly corporeal) undead—fallen spirits still chained to this plane of existence by some manner of necromantic magic. Your eidolon might be something such as a zombie, skeleton, vampire, or perhaps even something more obscure, like a gashadokuro or baykok.

When it comes to battle, the undead eidolon’s abilities are mainly geared towards being slightly bulkier than eidolons of different persuasions, shrugging off death, disease, and—of course—damage. Don’t get it twisted, though—the undead eidolon still isn’t a “tank” in the MMORPG sense. There’s no aggro to be had here, and the GM will still attack whoever they want to attack. The undead eidolon doesn’t get tools to control the battlefield like the plant eidolon does, nor does it discourage enemies from attacking allies like the devotion phantom eidolon does. Instead, the undead eidolon is just a tiny bit better at making certain saving throws and surviving damage.

This isn’t a playstyle in and of itself, but it’s a non-negligible boon for making sure your eidolon sticks around long enough to carry out whatever gameplan you might have, which will be determined by the feats and spells you decide to pick up.

● Tradition: [●] Divine. ● Home Plane: Either the Ethereal Plane or the Void—not quite the afterlife, but not exactly this world either. ● Size: [●] Medium or Small. ● Stat Spreads: ○ Undead Brute: [●] The Strength spread. Standard Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom. Your Intelligence will be a bit lower at -1, but in exchange, your Charisma will be a bit higher at +1, allowing you to better take advantage of your automatic proficiency in Intimidation. ○ Undead Stalker: [●] The Dexterity spread. Standard Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. Like the Undead Brute, your Intelligence will be a bit lower at -1, but a Wisdom stat of +1 slightly bolsters your Will saves and any Wisdom-based skills, such as the thematic Religion skill.

● Skills: [ ★ ] Intimidation and Religion. Demoralize is a fantastic combat action that helps everybody in your party. ● Senses: [ ★ ] Darkvision. The best an eidolon can get at level 1. ● Languages: Necril, the language of the undead. ● Speed: [●] 25 base speed: the standard baseline for eidolons.

Negative Essence: [●] First and foremost, your eidolon gains void healing, which means it is healed by void energy effects that heal undead and damaged by vitality energy effects that harm undead. Since _many_ common healing effects are expressly vitality (except for, like, _soothe_ , mundane Medicine checks, and, of course, specifically void healing effects), usually void healing in the party causes issues for party clerics or any other class that may be a dedicated healer geared towards vitality healing effects. However, the undead summoner has a clever workaround to this problem—the eidolon shares hit points with the summoner, who doesn’t necessarily need to have void healing! You’re fully free to hit your eidolon with _harm_ and your summoner with _heal_.

If your summoner _does_ have void healing as well (such as from an undead ancestry, heritage, or archetype), you don’t get this clever workaround, but it does make it safer for your party to cast a three-action AoE _harm_ with both you and your eidolon in the blast radius.

Furthermore, though your undead eidolon doesn’t get all of the immunities usually associated with undead, it _does_ get a significant +2 circumstance bonus to saving throws against death, disease, and poison effects, as well as non-damaging effects that target only undead. Additionally, the DC for your eidolon’s flat check to recover from persistent bleed damage is reduced by 5 to a total of DC 10 (or DC 5, if you receive particularly effective assistance). All in all, this is quite a similar bonus to the initial ability the construct eidolon receives—circumstantial, but welcome.

Drain Life: [●] As a two-action activity, your eidolon makes a Strike against a living enemy. If it hits, it first deals damage normally, then prompts a Fortitude save from the target. On anything other than a critical success, the target takes additional void damage equal to half your level. This isn’t really much, but on a failure, the target becomes drained 1, and your eidolon gains temporary HP equal to the target’s level for a minute. On a critical failure, the target becomes drained 2 instead, and your eidolon gains double the temporary HP. If the initial strike was a critical success, the target’s Fortitude save is treated as one degree lower.

The drained condition, other than simply lowering Constitution-based checks (which are more often than not just any future Fortitude saves), also decreases both the target’s current HP _and_ their max HP, which is effectively unhealable damage equivalent to the target’s level times the number of the drained condition (equivalent to the temporary HP your eidolon gains).

This ability isn’t super stellar in terms of raw damage output alone. There are very few creatures that have a weakness to void damage, and it doesn’t function whatsoever against nonliving enemies. Additionally, as a two-action activity, it prevents your summoner from casting a two-action spell of their own on the same turn. However, it’s great as a defensive or support option. If your eidolon is getting whaled on, you can activate it to fish for some temporary HP while still dealing damage. Furthermore, if you or anyone else in your party likes to target Fortitude saves, the Drained condition works out pretty great for them.

Additionally, it’s pretty fantastic that this ability has no cooldown whatsoever. You could use it every turn if you wanted to. You could use it every turn against the _same_ target if you wanted to. (And, yeah, though the drained condition doesn’t stack with itself, the penalty to Fortitude saves will make it easier to get extra temporary HP or fish for drained 2.)

● While your summoner and eidolon share their hit points, it’s never explicitly stated that they share their temporary hit points. If your eidolon has a buffer of temporary HP up from Drain Life, but your summoner gets hit, RAW seems to imply that the temporary HP will not get deducted first, but your GM may rule otherwise. ● This action is not limited to melee strikes. Go wild and suck someone’s life force from 30 feet away with Ranged Combatant [●].

Rejuvenation: [ ★ ] People die when they’re killed—except for you, that is. The first time each day your turn begins while you’re dying, you immediately receive thrice your level in HP, wake up, and get to remanifest your eidolon as a free action. (Your Wounded condition increases as usual.) Afterwards, you get to take your turn as if you were never dying in the first place.

This is an absolutely _fantastic_ ability to have. Even if you never need to activate it a single time, there’s a certain psychological aspect to simply having an activation of Rejuvenation in your back pocket. It’s somewhat comparable to _breath of life_ , but it can kick in when you’re simply downed instead of having to wait until you would outright die, _and_ it doesn’t require a reaction from a charitable party member. Knowing you have a safety net to pick you up

from the brink of death can enable you to play a _lot_ riskier. Just make sure you have a clear path to run back to safety once you expend it. Also… remember that your summoner still needs to stand up after getting healed.

● If you like to stock up on wands of summoner’s precaution , you might not get as much of a chance to activate this ability. You might consider risk vs. reward while weighing the two effects— summoner’s precaution is much more expendable at the levels you can activate Rejuvenation, but it requires you to dismiss your eidolon for a full minute instead of keeping it in the fight. I’d still advise going for both, though—two safety nets are better than one, after all. However, it’s up to you whether you decide to activate summoner’s precaution or allow yourself to go down in order to activate Rejuvenation once your turn rolls around. The choice you make will depend on context—perhaps you still have more encounters ahead of you in your adventuring day, and you don’t want to expend your 1/day Rejuvenation on a fight you think your party can finish off even without your eidolon. Perhaps your party still needs your eidolon to hold the line, so you decide to activate Rejuvenation, then activate summoner’s precaution later in the fight once you’ve managed to whittle down some more enemies. Use your best judgment.

Ancestries

With the introduction of alternate ancestry boosts, a lot of ancestry options that would otherwise be locked behind a poor stat array have opened up to you.

There are a lot of ancestry options out there, so this section isn’t 100% comprehensive with all ancestry feats. For the most part, I’ll only mention feats and heritages that are particularly good for you, or interact with the Summoner’s kit in a unique way somehow. Especially now that alternate ancestry boosts are available, allowing you to skirt around any penalties to your main ability score (Charisma for the summoner), no ancestry is an outright bad choice for any given class.

That being said, some ancestries certainly have a better pick of feats to pick from than others, so you may want to look into Versatile Heritages to expand your options.

● I recommend also checking out Gortle’s Ancestry Guide.

Things to Look Out For:

● Stat Bonuses: Each ancestry has a combination of a flexible stat bonus and static stat bonuses/decreases. You can use your flexible stat bonus to get a CHA boost with any ancestry, but arrays that give you an extra boost at the cost of a penalty to a stat you’d want to dump anyway are always welcome. ● Innate Spellcasting: As a spellcaster, any innate spells you acquire will follow your proficiency increases in spell DC, and they’ll also be keyed off of Charisma, your main stat. This means that a lot of spells you gain via ancestry feats will stay relevant for a long time. They can make for good options to complement your limited amount of spells per day, and even give you access to spells from other spellcasting traditions you wouldn’t usually have access to. ○ Though DCs will follow your character’s progression, battle forms, summoning spells, and anything with the incapacitation trait quickly become irrelevant when you can’t heighten them. I’d probably avoid them. Damaging spells can also fall in relevance in comparison to your reliable, scaling cantrips, but not as steeply as the aforementioned spells. ○ Cantrips, in particular, may be more valuable to you than the typical spellcaster due to not having as many spell slots to fall back on. ● Bonus Skill Proficiencies : Your eidolon shares your skill proficiencies, and you’re no Mastermind Rogue, so more skill proficiencies to share are always nice. ● Senses : Low-light and darkvision can be pretty moot depending on how stealthy your party wants to be, or if you just want to use the light cantrip, but getting other senses like tremorsense are great for pointing out invisible enemies. Ask your GM if you need to use the Point Out action for your own eidolon. ● Resistances: Many ancestries and heritages offer easy, simple ways to get resistances to particular damage types. This is great for any class to shore up their defenses, but there’s a notable weakness for the Summoner in that your eidolon, which you share HP with, won’t get the same resistances. Maybe the bad guy with a flaming +2 striking sword will decide to turn away from whacking the Ifrit and start hitting the flammable eidolon. This might not exactly be a big deal, considering that many Summoner builds at most levels will have the Summoner have

lower AC than the Eidolon… but things get a little complicated when effects can target both of you at once. See “My Weakness Is Fireball.” ● Ancestral HP: This becomes less relevant the higher-level you get, given that ancestral HP doesn’t multiply by level, but one hit point can be the difference between life and death at any level. Your eidolon shares your HP, so it’s probably in your best interests to be able to take a hit. This is probably the last thing I’d consider when picking an ancestry, but I definitely wouldn’t not consider it… if that makes sense. ● Size: Small and Medium are the standard here, but there are now more Tiny and Large ancestry options in Pathfinder 2e than ever. Owing to how squishy your Summoner’s AC is, you probably don’t want to paint yourself as too big of a target: being Tiny means you can run in between other characters’ legs out of obvious sight, while being Large means there are now 12 squares that are considered adjacent to you instead of

8. However, your size may also become relevant for emanation and touch-range effects. ● Speeds: Every time a boost to speed allows you to clear a distance in 1 action that would otherwise take 2, you’re getting an extra action to actually act during your turn. For that reason, speed is highly valuable. Look for not only the base speeds of an ancestry, but any feats or heritages that allow their speed to be increased further. Alternate speed types, such as climb or swim speeds, can also be circumstantially useful. At later levels, when airborne combat becomes more of an expectation, innate flight can help you save on items or spell slots that would otherwise give you a fly speed.

Common Ancestries

Dwarf: [ ★ ] The addition of alternate ancestry boosts bumps up dwarves from a sub-par choice [▼] to a fantastic one [★]. Dwarves get a ton of feats you make them that much harder to knock down, and since you share hit points with your eidolon, that’s absolutely welcome. Take Charisma and maybe Constitution or Dexterity, and you’re set.

● Mountain’s Toughness [★] is fantastic. It’s a Toughness [★] that stacks with your Toughness. Every summoner will want more hit points for their Eidolon, and recovering from the dying condition more easily is just a nice bonus. In Pathfinder 2e, most things are designed to prevent super-stacking cheese, so anything that explicitly stacks is amazing.

Elf: [●] Dexterity is sweet, Intelligence is pretty eh for most builds, and a Constitution penalty on top of only 6 ancestry HP hurts, but you get the fastest base ancestry speed. You’ll probably want to use alternate ancestry boosts to get rid of that CON penalty—though, if you’re just here for the feats, consider being an Aiuvarin [★].

● Nimble Elf [★] will let you match the speed of an eidolon with Alacritous Action [●]. ● You and your eidolon move on the same initiative, so Elven Instincts [★] is great. It’s essentially a +2.5 bonus to initiative rolls. Note that it doesn’t stack with Incredible Initiative. ● Otherworldly Magic [★] and Wildborn Magic [★] are great ways for divine and occult summoners to pick up electric arc.

Gnome: [ ★ ] A phenomenal stat spread for most Summoners, and you don’t mind the Strength penalty one bit. Not only that, but you have some absolutely _stellar_ ancestry feats.

● Fey-Touched Gnome [★], Wellspring Gnome [★], and First World Magic [★] are great ways for divine and occult summoners to pick up electric arc.

Goblin: [●] A bonus to Dexterity and Charisma is perfect. A penalty to Wisdom isn’t particularly good, but you can make it work. A lot of the Goblin’s ancestry feats are really powerful—and fun.

● Unbreakable Goblin [●] and Unbreakable-er Goblin [★] are fantastic ways to give you—and your eidolon—some extra durability.

Halfling: [ ★ ] Put your flexible stat boost into Charisma, and you have an amazing setup for a Summoner.

● Halfling Luck [★] and its follow-up feats are fantastic, but it can’t innately benefit your eidolon, so make sure you pick up Shared Luck [★] as well. ● Helpful Halfling [●] is a rather obvious choice for summoners that want to specialize in the Aid action, whether for their allies or their own eidolon. See Your Eidolon, The Aid Action, and You. ○ Weird Rules: The feat’s text specifically mentions that you get an increase to the bonus conferred by Aid if you are Expert in the “skill,” but nowhere else does it specify that the Aid reaction must specifically be used to add a circumstance bonus to an ally’s skill

roll, not an attack roll. Usually, feats like this are more specific with their required conditions. This may not have been intended, and “skill” may have just meant “the check in which you are attempting to Aid.” Ask your GM.

Human: [ ★ ] To the surprise of absolutely no one, humans get a blue rating. Put your stat spreads into anything you like.

● Natural Ambition [★] is amazing. Take it if you want to evolve your eidolon even further or take a non-evolution feat at 1st level. Extend Boost [★] is a really good pick for this. ● Arcane Tattoos [★] and Dragon Spit [★] are good ways for divine and occult summoners to acquire electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● You can also get Adapted Cantrip [●] to pick up electric arc or scatter scree, but it means you’ll have one fewer cantrip overall, so it’s generally better to just pick up some sick tats. ● Uncommon Weaponry [●] is a nice way for melee summoners to pick up any uncommon martial weapon they’ve been eyeing. However, I’m unsure what Unconventional Expertise [▼] is supposed to do for anyone other than a Wizard, since the granted weapon will already scale for you like a simple weapon. ● Cooperative Nature [●] is a rather obvious choice for summoners that want to specialize in the Aid action, whether for their allies or their own eidolon. See Your Eidolon, The Aid Action, and You.

Leshy: [●] A very thematic choice for a summoner for a plant eidolon, but can work for nearly any build. Constitution and Wisdom are great, and put your flexible bonus into Charisma. Most summoners won’t mind the Intelligence drop. You get some powerful plant-themed innate spellcasting feats.

● Leaf Leshy [●] renders you immune to all fall damage. All of it. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. ● Leshy Superstition [●] is nice, letting your summoner use a reaction to gain a +1 circumstance bonus on a saving throw against magic. Lucky Keepsake [★], allowing you to get the effect passively instead of having to spend a reaction, is even nicer. The Orc gets two similar feats.

Orc: [●] An interesting choice for a melee summoner, but if you just want the super nice feats, you can just take the Dromaar [★] versatile heritage.

● Since you share HP with your Eidolon, Orc Ferocity [★] is really nice, and Incredible Ferocity [★] makes it even nicer. ● Orc Superstition [●] is nice, letting your summoner use a reaction to gain a +1 circumstance bonus on a saving throw against magic. Pervasive Superstition [★], allowing you to get the effect passively instead of having to spend a reaction, is even nicer. You can even make the effect even juicier with Spell Devourer [●], giving you temporary HP whenever you succeed against magic. The Leshy gets similar feats, but has no Spell Devourer equivalent.

Uncommon Ancestries

Athamaru: [ ● ] The fish people option. It obviously plays well in aquatic campaigns like the Azarketi and Merfolk, but unlike the former, you don’t need to dunk yourself every 24~48 hours, and unlike the latter, you actually have legs. The default stat spread isn’t the worst—you likely don’t need Strength, but you probably don’t mind losing Intelligence either.

● Emit Defensive Odor [●] is a nice way to shoo away someone who’s stepping into melee to attack your summoner—or, at the very least, damage them. It’s only usable once a day, but it’s easy to fit into your Act Together routine as a single action without incrementing MAP or triggering Reactive Strikes. It has a follow-up feat line for every level, too! Should you pick up this feat, the follow-up Noxious Odor [●] is a no-brainer, applying sickened 1 on a failure (and sickened 2 on a critical failure) to help further dissuade your attacker, should they choose to press the assault. I don’t think Persistent Odor [◆] is nearly as necessary, which just adds a bit of persistent damage to the action as well, but Rapid Pheromone Recovery [★] is great to squeeze more daily value out of these feats. Finally, if you’ve invested heavily into this feat line already, you’re probably going to want the “capstone” Offensive Odor [★] at 17th level, allowing you to either boost your damage to d8s (a solid choice) or changing it to a 15-foot cone (fantastic in the right situation!). That’s a lot of feats that go towards smelling really bad! ● Attuned Electroreceptors [●] can be handy for detecting invisible creatures (doubly so in water). Sure, buddy, you can try to cover up your scent, but how are you gonna hide the literal electric pulses in your body? ● Coral Symbiotes [◆] is a very flavorful, but rather circumstantial feat, giving you better defenses against poisons and persistent poison damage

(so long as you dunk yourself in water once a day). There’s a whole line of follow-up feats here, but they’re all separate little effects instead of compounding value onto the same option like the aforementioned Emit Defensive Odor. The real prize here, however, is Coral Lifeline [★], saving you from death with a burst of 4d8 healing once you go down for the first time each day. Just make sure you have more healing to top yourself up afterwards!

Azarketi: [◆] An increase to Constitution and Charisma is welcome. The Wisdom penalty is disappointing, but workable. However, the main thing about the Azarketi ancestry is that its options are mostly aquatic-themed, and unless you take the Mistbreath Azarketi [●] heritage, you have to take a dip in water every day or else you just die. Like every other water-themed option, this is better in aquatic campaigns, letting you make full use of your 30-foot swim speed without being too slow on land with a 20-foot base speed. Consider looking at the Undine [●] versatile heritage as well for another way to make a water-themed character, or the Athamaru [●] ancestry.

Catfolk: [●] The ammuruns make for pretty solid summoners. Dexterity and Charisma increases are welcome. The Wisdom flaw is less than ideal, but workable.

● You don’t have too many ancestry feats that particularly complement the summoner’s kit, but the Cat’s Luck [★] line of feats, giving you various kinds of free rerolls, is amazing on any character.

Centaur: [●] Alongside the Minotaur, the Centaur is one of the first ancestries in Pathfinder 2nd Edition to be Large by default. You probably don’t want to be a bigger target than your Eidolon. Once you get over that, though, there’s actually a decent amount of magical flavor and support options here. Make sure to use standard ability selection to get around the Charisma penalty.

● If you want to be a centaur but don’t want to deal with the consequences of being Large, Ponygait Centaur [★] is the heritage for you. On top of that, you get a +1 circumstance bonus to all Reflex saves. This is fantastic, since ancestral bonuses to saves are usually circumstantial. ● Budding Speaker Centaur [★] is a good way for divine and occult summoners to acquire electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● Fleetwind Centaur [★] will let you match the speed of an eidolon with Alacritous Action [●].

● Stubborn Defiance [★] gives you a +1 status bonus to saves against mental effects, and allows you to reroll said saves as a reaction once per hour if you fail. It’s a really useful safety net against a rather common effect trait.

Fetchling: [●] The Fetchling can be pretty appealing for a summoner who really wants to lean into the stealthy scout role. Just put your flexible bonus into Charisma and you’re good to go.

● Shadow’s Assault [★] is really nice for some great—and flexible!—additional blasting capacity per day. The fact that it scales at 17th level is just the cherry on top.

Kholo: [●] Previously known as gnolls pre-remaster. The standard ability score increases aren’t suited for most summoners, but there’s a lot of fun new feats here added in Player Core 2.

● The Ant Kholo [●] heritage is currently the only Small ancestry with an innate Strength increase. Perhaps it’d be interesting for a Steed Ally [●] + Tandem Strike [◆] build? ● Dog Kholo [●] allows you to get on all fours and run with a 30 ft. base speed… but no holding wands, staves, weapons, shields, or anything else. ● Laughing Kholo [●] gives you Battle Cry for free, as well as allowing you to non-linguistically Demoralize like Intimidating Glare, making it basically 2 skill feats for 1 ancestry feat. Retrain if necessary. ● Bonekeeper’s Bane [◆] can make enemies think twice about getting up close and personal with your summoner, though it doesn’t apply unless they start their turn adjacent to you. If enemies are next to you, you should probably be getting out of there—staying in melee is probably your eidolon’s job! ● Legendary Laugh [★] is something that I, a person who struggles to make Summoners without ranks in Intimidation, wish I could take on every character. A 30 feet to 60 feet range increase is massive, and can allow your summoner to frighten enemies from a safer distance without needing to reposition. As an extra cherry on top, you deal 3d8 damage on a success, or 6d8 on a critical success. It’s no massive 1/day power move, but as a rider on an action that I really like to use anyway, it’s just incredibly fantastic value.

Hobgoblin: [◆] The ability boosts and flaws aren’t ideal for most Summoners, and few of their many martially-oriented feats are of much interest to non-Tandem Strike [◆] builds.

● If you want to use Tandem Strike, Remorseless Lash [◆] is pretty good for getting more out of the frightened condition. You won’t be hitting as often as a proper martial to get the most use out of it, though. ● On the other hand, Agonizing Rebuke [●] lets you get more oomph out of your Demoralize, but isn’t limited to summoners who want to get into melee.

Kitsune: [ ★ ] Of course you’ll want Charisma, so an ancestry with a static Charisma bonus gives you a lot of freedom as to where you invest your second ability score increase. The ancestry feats are pretty amazing for summoners themed around social subterfuge and spellcasting. It’s a pretty thematic choice for a summoner with a fey eidolon, but the kitsune can work with other builds, too.

● Dark Fields Kitsune [★] is an amazing heritage for Demoralize builds. Not only do you get built-in Intimidating Glare, but once per hour, you can spend a reaction when a creature is frightened to give you (and your eidolon!) temporary HP equal to that creature’s level, minimum 3. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be you doing the frightening. ● Star Orb [★] gives you a pet rock—I mean, a familiar. It doesn’t come with a land speed, so you need to slap a fly speed on it if you want it to move anywhere… but you don’t have to do that. Personally, I like the idea of taking this feat, taking two master abilities, and then leaving my star orb in my back pocket for the rest of my adventuring career.

Kobold: [●] A very thematic choice for a summoner with a dragon eidolon, but can work with any build. The Kobold gets some pretty amazing feats, and a bonus to Dexterity and Charisma is perfect for you. An innate Constitution penalty on top of only 6 ancestral HP hurts, but it may very well be worth it.

● Kobold Breath [●] is the damage of a cantrip with the area of burning hands or grim tendrils usable every 1d4 rounds. For all summoners, it’s a nice, small, and reliable blasting option. For kobolds with dragon eidolons, it’s not as strong as the dragon eidolon’s breath weapon, but they have separate cooldowns, and you can use this while your eidolon Strikes twice. You can juice this up with bigger damage dice and a bigger area with Dragon’s Breath [●], or add some rider persistent damage on a critical failure with Dragonblood Paragon [●].

● The Spellscale Kobold [★] heritage is a good way for occult and divine summoners to pick up electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● Wyrmling Flight [●] is the permanent flight option at 17th level that a lot of ancestries and heritages get, but it costs you two prerequisite feats instead of just one.

Lizardfolk: [◆] The iruxi’s ancestral options are mostly geared towards melee combat, so it can make an interesting choice for Tandem Strike [◆] builds. Everyone else can probably pass.

● The Frilled Lizardfolk [●] heritage can make for some pretty good Demoralize builds if you don’t mind your summoner being in melee.

Merfolk: [◆] As a merfolk, you’re most at home in the water with a 25-foot swim speed… but you drop on the deck and flop like a fish with a 5-foot base speed. The Azarketi [◆] and Athamaru [◆], alternative ancestries also apt for aquatic areas, are actually adequately adapted to air-breathing accessibility, ambling about ashore at a 20-foot move speed. When you want to get about on land, you’ll probably need a supramarine chair (or its fancier equivalent, the land-delver’s chair), increasing your speed to 20 feet to match. You still won’t be as fast as the 30-foot swim speed of the Azarketi, though.

The default stat spread is alright: bonuses to Dexterity and Charisma are welcome, even though a penalty to Constitution isn’t preferable. It allows you to specialize in a tertiary stat compared to standard ability selection if you’re willing to give up a little bit of survivability.

The merfolk’s aquatic abilities naturally compliment amphibious eidolons, like the water elemental, but there’s nothing wrong with choosing any of the other eidolons.

● Swimmer’s Guidance [●] can be a lifesaver in aquatic campaigns, especially at low levels, giving all allies starting their turns within 30 feet of you (in the same body of water) a 10-foot swim speed, as well as protecting them from critical failures to Swim. If you’re playing a merfolk, you’re more likely than not in an aquatic campaign, right? ● Strong Tail [◆] increases your land speed to 15 feet, allowing you to get around when you don’t have access to a supramarine chair. However, denying access to a wheelchair is what is usually known as a “dick move.” Shore Gift [●], on the other hand, allows you to get a pair of legs with an action and disguise as something a bit more terrestrially

humanoid with a 25-foot land speed. You don’t have to give up your voice for it, but you do give up your swim speed… until you switch back with another action, anyway. You can also get up to some disguise shenanigans with it, too.

Minotaur: [ ◆ ] What an a-maze-ing ancestry. Many of their options revolve around them being big and burly, which usually isn’t the #1 priority on a summoner’s mind. The horns probably won’t be of use to most builds, either. You’ll probably also want to use standard ability score selections to get around the Charisma penalty. Did I mention you’re also Large? Ultimately, the Minotaur isn’t the most _natural_ pick for a Summoner, but there are still lots of fun options here.

● Littlehorn Minotaur [●] is pretty good for if you want to play a minotaur, but don’t want to deal with being Large. On the other hand, the change to your horn unarmed attack to be d6 agile instead of just d8 isn’t probably much of a buff, given that you’re almost certainly not attacking multiple times in a turn with your Summoner anyway. ● Alarming Disappearance [●] might be one of the most action-efficient ways to make your enemies frightened at 5th level without a spell slot, automatically activating when you Hide from enemies for the first time per hour. If you’re Large, you might have trouble finding suitable cover, though. Hell, you might have trouble even if you’re Medium. It’s still really enticing, though. In theory. ● Friendly Fling [●] is a rather fun feat. I don’t believe using this to chuck your eidolon and have it make an action on your own turn as a reaction would skirt around MAP, but it’s still fun to chuck your allies around with this. You don’t even need Strength investment! ● Threatening Pursuit [●] is a nice AoE Demoralize effect, though it requires you to be stealthy as well. Try asking your party to see if they can sneak alongside you and start off encounters with this, which will certainly help swing a fight in your favor.

Nagaji: [●] This ancessssstry offers a lot of options that hearken to their connection to naga, such as scales, swim speeds, Scent, skills, spells, serpentine stares, splitting skin, and a surplus snakelike Strikes spanning spitting, slamming, and sharpened fangs. You can probably pass on the Strength bonus, and it’s unlikely the martially-oriented options will interest you, but there’s also a decent amount of interesting utility & abilities here.

● Pit of Snakes [★] is a fantastic once-per-day burst of area denial, grabbing and coiling up creatures inside of a 20-foot burst within 120 feet. ● Breath of Calamity [★] offers 7th-level chain lightning once per day, which is a fantastic damage-dealing addition to your limited daily spell slots. As a cherry on top, you’ll flashbang enemies that critically fail, rendering them blinded & deafened for a round. That horde of low-level enemies is going to have a bad day.

Ratfolk: [◆] The ysoki don’t make terrible summoners, but they’re not the best, either. The Dexterity increase is welcome and you likely don’t mind the Strength penalty one bit, but the Intelligence increase isn’t particularly appealing for most builds. Most of the ratfolk’s feats don’t particularly complement a summoner’s kit.

Samsaran: [●] Reports of your death were greatly exaggerated. You get low-light vision, as well as some unique abilities: a +1 circumstance bonus to untrained skill checks, and attempts to resurrect you with a ritual are one degree of success higher. You’ll probably want to use alternate ability score increases to get around the Charisma penalty. Overall, a pretty decent ancestry for a Summoner.

● Oracular Samsaran [★] is a good way for divine and occult summoners to acquire electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● All This Has Happened Before [●] is a pretty nice 1/day effect, allowing you to get a +4 circumstance bonus to your initiative roll and become Quickened for 1 turn to Recall Knowledge or Step. Since it’s a reaction that happens when you roll initiative and makes it more likely to go early in initiative, your 1/round reaction slot will likely be quickly replenished, meaning it doesn’t compete much for action economy. The quickened effect might not be nearly as useful to you as other classes because you likely aren’t that good at Recall Knowledge and you can’t use it to reposition your eidolon (who likely needs to dance around in melee a lot more than your summoner does), but it’s still a handy little boost. ● Thousand-Year Grudge [●] allows you to, as a 1/day reaction, inflict sickened instead of frightened with a Demoralize action. I’m a big fan of Demoralize on Summoners, and sickened is a debuff that your enemies will need to sacrifice their action economy to get a chance to mitigate instead of simply needing to wait it out like frightened, while still conferring the same penalties. I hesitate to call sickened a strict upgrade to frightened, since it allows your enemies to retch and recover

before they throw a single offensive roll, but I think it’s safe to say that needing to spend an action to get rid of a debuff that could otherwise be used for, say, a Strike, is stronger than a simple 1-turn penalty to have a chance of making that Strike miss. ● I think it would be funny if you used Life’s Blood [●] on your eidolon and effectively did nothing. It’s an alright ability if you have HP to spare, and I like that it doesn’t have a frequency limit, but your mileage may vary depending on how squishy you and your eidolon are/how often they get smacked around. ● The Cycle Continues [★] is a great “nuh-uh” to being killed or otherwise knocked down, gaining 6d8 + half level healing. The clause for suppressing effects like doomed that would otherwise instantly kill you is also handy. Most importantly, it means you don’t need to manifest your eidolon again, which is probably the most annoying part of being knocked to 0 and healed back up.

Tanuki: [ ★ ] These fun-loving shapeshifting raccoon dogs were a popular part of the Tian Xia Character Guide, and it’s easy to see why. The abilities the ancestry confers are fun and flavorful for a trickster character who’s doing it more for the good-hearted fun of it than anything else. Boosts to Constitution or Charisma are perfect, and though a Wisdom flaw isn’t great, you can choose to either offset it… or lean into the humor of such a weakness. There are lots of shapeshifting abilities here, which are great for the creative player—even better if you can use your eidolon to play along with the deception!

● Even-tempered Tanuki [◆] has more upsides to comparable heritages like Gutsy Halfling, as not only does it boost successes on emotion effect saves to critical successes, it gives you a +1 circumstance bonus to such rolls. However, on the other hand, it also lowers failures to critical failures on those rolls. There’s not so much for the powergamer here as there is for the comic relief character who wants their failures to be as exceptional as their successes. ● Hasty Celebration [★] is as funny as it is fantastic. As a reaction (once per hour, not once per day!) when you critically succeed at an attack or an enemy critically fails a save against you, you can give all your allies within 60 feet a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls until the end of your next turn. This includes your eidolon! Such widespread circumstance bonuses are rather rare, and as such, this is likely to stay relevant for a long time… unless you have a party member running One for All or Fake Out or similar. It also stacks with any status bonuses you

might impart via spells. There’s a downside, though: you sing and dance for the duration, rendering you off-guard, so make sure you’re in a relatively safe position before committing.

Tengu: [●] Personally, I love these funny little birds. They get a handful of fun feats for both martial and spellcasting-oriented Summoners. Just put the flexible bonus into Charisma and you’re ready to go.

● Skyborn Tengu [●] renders you immune to all fall damage. All of it. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. It also gives you access to the Tengu’s flight feats. ● Storm’s Lash [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to get electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● Squawk! [●] is effective—and funny—for summoners investing in social skills, effectively rendering you immune to any critical failure-induced faux pas. ● Tengu Weapon Proficiency [◆] is a neat way for melee summoners to pick up some pretty cool swords. ● As a bounded spellcaster, Tengu Weather Fan [★] and its follow-up feats are a great way to get more spells per day. ● Soaring Flight [●] and Soaring Form [★] are the standard 9thand 17th-level flight feats several ancestries and heritages get. They require the Skyborn Tengu heritage, though.

Tripkee: [●] It’s not easy being green [●]. These tree frogs are great at all manner of frog-like things, from climbing to tongue-flinging. If you put your free ability score increase into Charisma, you’ve got yourself a decent spread.

● Windweb Tripkee [●] renders you immune to all fall damage, so long as you have a hand free. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. ● Poisonhide Tripkee [●] isn’t a bad way to punish people trying to target you instead of your eidolon by exposing them to poison. Narratively, it makes sense why it doesn’t apply on melee weapon attacks, but mechanically, it’s a little sad. Still decent, though. ● Terrifying Croak [★] is Demoralize, but cooler. It allows you to get around not sharing a language like Intimidating Glare and, on a success, prevents a target from reducing their frightened condition below 1 for 1

round. This means that if your target goes immediately after you, their frightened condition doesn’t immediately reduce to 0 at the end of their turn, allowing your allies to get their hits in against the enemy’s reduced defenses. Depending on how your GM reads the feat, it might also mean that they still have the frightened status apply to their actions on their next turn as well. However, as a bespoke action, it means you can’t use it with Battle Cry and similar. ● Hop Up [●] allows you to both Stand and remanifest your eidolon on the turn after you get healed up from 0.

Vanara: [◆] These funny monkeys offer a lot of playful abilities mainly revolving around trickery, mobility, and legerdemain. A Dexterity bonus is welcome, but there aren’t too many abilities that particularly stand out for Summoners.

● Vanara Battle Clarity [★] is fantastic as a 13th-level feat, essentially giving you Deny Advantage. Usually, you have to spend multiple feats on a multiclass archetype to get that. It’s great to make your less armored Summoner a less enticing target for your enemies to gang up or sneak up on compared to your eidolon. If your eidolon gets Ever-Vigilant Senses [★], you two can match! Kind of.

Wayang: [●] Wayangs are a shadowy people similar to Fetchlings, but, owing to their Javan origins as shadow puppetry, have many feats also themed around performance & trickery. Many of these feats are better off on a character that spends time in melee range Striking, but there are still a couple of feats that will catch the Summoner’s eye. Dexterity and Charisma are good bonuses, though the Constitution penalty might hurt.

● Shadow of the Wanderer [★] gives you a +5 bonus to your base speed that stacks with Fleet [★].

Rare Ancestries

Anadi: [●] Yes, the cute round-eyed spider is the shapeshifting Anadi’s default form. Put your flexible boost in Charisma and you’re good to go, though the Constitution penalty might hurt.

● Adaptive Anadi [★] is a fantastic heritage, getting you Adopted Ancestry at first level and letting you make some super unique mix-and-match builds. I wish this could let you pick Small ancestries, though.

● Studious Magic [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to pick up electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. You can follow it up with Studious Adept [●], which nets you 2nd-level humanoid form and mirror image once per day, which is pretty neat. ● Reassuring Presence [◆] is a cute feat. For a reaction, reduce a frightened condition an ally would gain by 1. It’s no Aura of Courage, but it very well might come in handy. Therapy spider, coming through!

Android: [●] Ah, yes, the token wildly anachronistically high-tech ancestry, but actually not anachronistic at all because Pathfinder lore is just like that. This can be a pretty thematic choice for a summoner with a construct eidolon. You’ll probably want to use alternate ancestry choice

There’s a lot that really sticks out about this ancestry. You get an innate +1 circumstance bonus on saves against poison, disease, and… radiation...? Is that coming in a future book? In exchange, however, you get a -1 circumstance penalty to Diplomacy, Performance, and Sense Motive, which somewhat weakens you as your party’s Face even though Charisma is your main stat. As for the other options within the ancestry, the heritages are relatively underwhelming, but some of the Android feats are really neat.

● Nanite Surge [★] is fantastic. Once per hour, get a +2 status bonus to any skill check for free. Usually, other ancestries have to wait until 13th level to get sweet once-per-hour abilities like this. If you’re picking up Android, this is probably why. The follow-up feats make it even better, though. Protective Subroutine [★] lets you use Nanite Surge on saving throws, Offensive Subroutine [●] lets you use it on attack rolls (but only at a +1, boo), and Consistent Surge [★] lets you use it once per ten minutes. ● Proximity Alert [★] gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks made as initiative rolls, which is pretty great for anyone. Compare to Incredible Initiative [★], which grants a similar effect but doesn’t stack. Generally, ancestry feat slots are more valuable than general feats, but you can get this at level 1 instead of having to wait until level 3. Note that, unlike Incredible Initiative, Proximity Alert applies to Perception checks only, so if you’re, say, rolling Stealth or some other skill for initiative, the bonus won’t apply. ● Warrior Android [◆] is one way for melee summoners to get martial weapon proficiency. However, it doesn’t scale, so past 13th level, it’s pretty bad [▼].

Automaton: [●] If you want a technological ancestry but prefer artifice over bionics, the automaton is for you. Introduced in Guns & Gears, this bad boy ancestry offers an unparalleled level of customizability for a bunch of different roles. However, the bonus to Strength probably is only important for Tandem Strike builds, and is less than ideal for other summoners. The automaton makes a thematic choice for summoners with construct eidolons, but can work with any type of summoner.

● This ancestry is quite unique that, instead of having specific follow-up feats, it has the Lesser Augmentation [★] and Greater Augmentation [★] feats, which bolster or add new functionality to existing feats you’ve already taken. ● Mage Automaton [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to pick up electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. You can follow it up with Core Attunement [★], which nets you any one 1st-level and one 2nd-level arcane spell as daily innate spells. Pick something that doesn’t need to scale and you’re set. ● Reinforced Chassis [★], in its remastered state, is a stupidly good feat for any armor proficiency-less class who wants respectable AC without having to go all the way into Dexterity, giving you a +3 item bonus to AC (using your unarmored proficiency, according to PFS ruling) that scales to +4 and +5 at levels 5 and 10 respectively, which, with a +1 Dex cap, is equivalent to half-plate. That’s something you’d otherwise have to throw 2 or 3 General feats at. It makes Dragonblood’s Scaly Hide look absolutely pathetic. ● Arcane Propulsion [●] and its enhancement through Greater Augmentation [★] are the standard 9thand 17th-level flight feats several ancestries and heritages get. ● The text of Rain of Bolts [●] doesn’t specify any sort of saving throw for the piercing damage, but Pathfinder Society organized play rules that “the DC is the higher of your class DC or spell DC.” It still doesn’t actually say what kind of save it is, but I’m assuming it’s a basic Reflex save. Overall, it’s a pretty solid blasting feat that scales pretty well, and only gets better with Greater Augmentation [★]. ● Astral Blink [★] to get you translocate ( dimension door) once per hour is incredible. If you get the enhancement, you can replace your regular Strides with teleports for the turn, but honestly, this isn’t really much of an upgrade [◆] unless you don’t want to provoke reactions by casting an innate spell or something. If it lasted a minute, maybe it’d be kinda good.

Awakened Animal: [ ★ ] You’re an animal. And you don’t mean that metaphorically, or anthropomorphically, or lycanthropically, or in any other way. You’re an animal, straight up. This is a rather versatile ancestry, as it covers any case of an animal gaining sapience, allowing you to be anything between Tiny or Large, as well as giving you a whole smattering of choices of different speeds. The +Con, +Wis, -Int stat spread is pretty solid; just put your floating bonus in Charisma and you’re golden.

● Flying Animal [●] renders you immune to all fall damage. All of it. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. It also gives you access to the ancestry’s flight feats. ● Take Flight [●], Strong of Wing [●], and Full Flight [★] place Awakened Animal amongst the earliest ancestral fliers, having a permanent flight speed at 9th level, as well as some limited fluttering before that. ● Awakened Magic [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to pick up electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. ● Natural Senses [●] allows you to get a smattering of unique senses: low-light vision, darkvision, scent, tremorsense, or even precise echolocation. You just have to make sure it’s something that’d be normal for your animal. (You can even skip low-light vision and go ahead to darkvision, apparently.) ● Scurry [●] is a nice feat to make sure your squishy, Tiny summoner is positioned well at the start of combat while your Eidolon gets ready to battle in melee. ● Natural Ambassador [●] allows you to talk to all animals, not just those of your kind. Additionally, you get a +1 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy when entreating with such fauna, increasing to a +2 for animals that are the same kind as you are. You definitely have the Charisma to take advantage of this. You might annoy your GM by repeatedly asking “Any ants crawling on the floor in this dungeon?” all the time, though. ● Animal Summoner [★] might be the best ancestry feat that grants a summoning spell, and is highly recommended for Master Summoner builds. Summon animal is a greatly versatile summoning spell at practically every level, with a large portfolio of stat blocks to draw from. The real thing that sets this apart is that the rank of the spell scales as you level up. This is really important, since summons quickly become irrelevant when not heightened!

Conrasu: [ ◆ ] One of the more alien ancestries printed for Pathfinder thus far, conrasus are creatures with a plant-like exoskeleton but a core of cosmic origin. Since they have an innate Charisma penalty, you’ll probably be looking at taking alternate ability score increases. The Sunlight Healing ability is interesting, but it’s pretty negligible if you have a party with someone in charge of Medicine—which should, hopefully, be most parties. Treelike creatures that they are, they can be a thematic choice for a summoner with a plant eidolon.

● Rite of Reinforcement [▼] grants you built-in medium armor, equivalent to a breastplate. What it doesn’t grant you, however, is medium armor proficiency. If you want to take this heritage because you have a phobia of being ambushed in your sleep while you’re not wearing your armor, look elsewhere to get the necessary armor proficiency, such as the Sentinel [●] archetype.

Fleshwarp: [●] If you’re a fan of body horror, this is the ancestry for you. Though we don’t have any printed aberration eidolons as of Secrets of Magic, this can be a thematic choice for people who are looking to really push the “evolution” and “mutation” theme of the Summoner. Constitution is nice on everybody, so just put your flexible boost into Charisma.

● Startling Appearance [●] is nice for Summoners looking to pick up Intimidating Glare at 1st level. ● Uncanny Awareness [★] gives you motion sense at 5th level, which is super good as far as secondary senses go.

Ghoran: [●] These plantfolk, notably taller than their leshy brethren, feature a decent amount of plant-related abilities. Plant eidolons are an obvious thematic choice for them, but they can work with any type of Summoner. Constitution is nice on everybody, so just put your flexible boost into Charisma.

● Enchanting Lily [●] is a solid option for characters hoping to serve as their party’s resident social butterfly and make good impressions on any NPCs you meet. Apart from granting you trained proficiency in Diplomacy, it gives you a +1 circumstance bonus to checks to Make an Impression if the person you’re trying to impress can smell you, which should be most of the time. ● Violent Vines [●] should be blue [★], given that it grants you a once-per-hour control option to supplement your limited spells per day that doesn’t need to scale to keep its single-target control relevant. However, murderous vine prompts you to make an attack roll, making it

contribute to MAP alongside your eidolon. Once-per-hour limit is good enough to make it still worth considering, though. ● Ghoran’s Wrath [◆] also offers you a nice control ability in a once-per-hour spell, but it’s considerably less applicable considering that nature’s reprisal is contingent on plants covering the battlefield. If you do pick this feat, though, the frequency means it’ll probably be available to use whenever such a venue does present itself.

Goloma: [▼] You’d think an ancestry whose entire theme is having eyes and seeing really well would have innate Darkvision, but I guess you have to spend a heritage _and_ a feat to get that. The golomas’ unique abilities are best capitalized upon by a character with a high Perception proficiency that often jumps right into the middle of the melee, which is probably not you. A boost to Wisdom and a flexible boost certainly isn’t terrible for a Summoner, but the rest of what the ancestry offers doesn’t particularly complement your kit.

Kashrishi: [●] These insect and/or rhino-like humanoids are identified by their glowing horns and their empathic link to the creatures around them—a thematic natural fit for a summoner with a magic link to their eidolon, perhaps. Constitution is nice on everybody, so just put your flexible boost into Charisma.

● Open Mind [●] gives you any one occult cantrip. The follow-up Unlock Secret [●] and Transcendent Realization [★] gives you any 1st-rank or 3rd-rank occult spell once per day. It’s great to be able to choose, especially if you wouldn’t otherwise have access to the occult spell list. Pick a decent one that doesn’t need to scale to stay relevant. ● Kashrishi Revivication [★] is great for keeping you up and in the fight—or, more likely, out of it, given that your eidolon will be unmanifested after you get up. Half a character is still better than no character, though. Run back to safety, and hope you’ll only need the once-per-day use of this ability.

Poppet: [●] The puppet-like poppets, which resemble poppet-like puppets, usually make for great familiars, but you’ve been blessed with independence—and, if you’re reading this guide, an eidolon as well. There’s probably a funny build in here where you pretend to be your eidolon’s familiar. The Constitution and Charisma bonuses are perfect for summoners, but the penalty to Dexterity will hurt. You also get some minor resistances to effects regular constructs would usually be outright immune to, but in exchange, you have a weakness to fire equal to a third of your level. The poppet makes for a

particularly thematic option for summoners with construct eidolons, but they function well as any kind of summoner.

● Stuffed Poppet [●] renders you immune to all fall damage. All of it. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. ● Toy Poppet [◆] allows you to be Tiny instead of Small, which means you can enter other creature’s spaces, but only have a reach of 0. Unlike 1st edition, being Tiny doesn’t inherently give you bonuses to your AC and the like, so this feels more like a novelty than anything. ● Soaring Poppet [●] gives you an innate all-day fly speed at 17th level without any prerequisites. Most other ancestries need to take at least two to get innate flight. However, in exchange, your fly speed doesn’t scale off your land speed—instead, it’s a static 15 feet, and won’t be boosted by effects like Fleet and tailwind. It’s still flight, though.

Sarangay: WIP

Shisk: [◆] The shisks are particularly adept at recalling information and stabbing things with their quills, though a Summoner is unlikely to be interested in such affairs. The boost to Intelligence isn’t that appealing to most, and you’re unlikely to be enough of a bookkeeper or martial to take advantage of most of their offered features. Some of their abilities that aren’t keyed off of Intelligence skills or making Strikes may be of interest to you, though.

Shoony: [◆] These funny little pugs are, currently, the only ancestry that has been printed as part of an Adventure Path. Unlike most other ancestries, it’s not really clear what classes the shoony is meant to naturally mechanically excel at, with… some abilities for crafting, some for Aiding Will saves, some for digging, some for swimming… some for Grabbing an Edge? I dunno. The Dexterity and Charisma bonuses are welcome for a Summoner, but a Constitution penalty on a 6 HP ancestry hurts. If you like the flavor of these short, squat puppies, perhaps look into picking a versatile heritage?

Skeleton: [ ★ ] Once you come to grips with the special clauses that come with undeath (mainly dealing with void healing, and also the compulsion to collect bones instead of eating like a normal person), the skeleton’s stat spread fits the Summoner like a glove. Practically every summoner will appreciate boosts to Dexterity and Charisma, and few summoners will mind a penalty to Intelligence. On top of that, you get the undead bonus to saving throws against

disease and poison, and there are a couple of really fantastic heritages and ancestry feats to be had here.

● The Fodder Skeleton [★] heritage increases your base speed from 25 feet to 30 feet. If you pick up Fleet [★] as well, you can match the speed of an eidolon with Alacritous Action [●]. ● The Sturdy Skeleton [●] heritage will boost the hit point pool you share with your eidolon by 4 points. Though this difference grows more negligible the more you level up, the bonus Diehard feat that the heritage also grants can come in handy at any level. ● It’s a shame that As In Life, So In Death [●] doesn’t allow you to pick up an ancestry feat that Adopted Ancestry grants you access to until a later level, like Adaptive Anadi or Cultural Adaptability… though, perhaps that’s to be expected, given that the former is a heritage and the latter is a 5th-level feat. You may be interested in taking Ancestral Paragon [●] at 3rd level. You also get a tiny additional benefit of being able to automatically pass as an alive member of your original ancestry before undeath to anyone who doesn’t look at you too hard, which is either incredibly important [★] if you’re in some sort of urban intrigue campaign where being undead is a big deal, or incredibly situational [◆]. ● It’s hard to really rate Rejuvenation Token mechanically, since it feels like it serves more of a narrative purpose than anything else. If you eventually want to be revived and stay undead, you’re going to need this… but, also, being revived as a living member of your ancestry might make for a good story beat. You’ll… have to slightly redo your character build, though. ● Skeletal Resistance [★] gives you resistance 2 to cold, electricity, fire, piercing, and slashing damage, which increases to 3 and 4 at 13th and 17th level, respectively. There are many ancestry feats that give you resistances to specific damage types, but few that give you resistances to so many different damage types at once. ● Necromantic Heir [★] is fantastic, allowing you to cast 6th-level harm once per hour. As a bounded spellcaster, you’ll no doubt appreciate effectively getting so many extra spell slots. Additionally, since you have void healing, harm has fantastic flexibility in being able to either damage your living enemies or heal your undead self.

Sprite: [●] Sprites were the first Tiny ancestry printed for Pathfinder 2e, which was their big shtick for a while, but they also offer some pretty good spellcasting and mobility feats. The flavor lends itself towards a fey or beast

eidolon summoner, but the bonus to Intelligence may best complement an Arcane or Occult Extend Boost build. There aren’t as many feats here as other ancestries, but they confer some pretty potent innate spellcasting and social abilities—as well as early permanent flight!

● If you like the Sprite’s abilities, but find being Tiny inconvenient, you can choose the Pixie [●] to just be small. You probably shouldn’t mind, though, since your summoner is most likely spellcasting-oriented. Not to mention, most people I know play the Sprite specifically for the novelty of playing a Tiny PC. ● Corgi Mount [●] is pretty good, giving you a mountable corgi familiar. It used to be even better, given that you could give your familiar the Independent trait and essentially move for free, but this combo was removed with APG errata in April 2022. That being said, though, it’s definitely still not bad—since your corgi can Stride twice with a single Command action from your summoner, giving you 50 feet of movement speed for a single action. You can bump up your corgi’s speed even further with Fast Movement, increasing its speed from 25 feet to 40 feet, allowing you to move 80 feet with a single Command action. However, it does mean that you can’t really take advantage of Tandem Movement [★], should you need to reposition your summoner and eidolon at the same time. Perhaps it’s worth considering if you want to pick up something else with your 4th-level class feat slot… ● Most sprites should beware of Fey Disguise [◆]. If you’re Tiny, you can only disguise as a creature of comparable height, so tough luck using this to sneak into an orc stronghold or something when you’re still the size of an average housecat. Pixies can pull it off a bit better [●]. ● Evanescent Wings [●], Energize Wings [●], and Hero’s Wings [★] place Sprites amongst the earliest ancestral fliers, having a permanent flight speed at 9th level, as well as some limited fluttering before that. You also get a cute rider effect to be well-recognized amongst other sprites at the end of it. ● Invisible Trickster [★] is pretty neat, getting you heightened invisibility at 13th level, which doesn’t dissipate if you take a hostile action. I guess being able to cast it once per day is pretty neat, but—wait, hold on, it’s once per hour!? That’s so good. Spam this. Cast it before every single combat, if you can. Cast it either on yourself, if you want to make yourself a less obvious target, or your eidolon, to make nearly all their enemies off-guard to all of their attacks. Or maybe your party Rogue if you wanna be nice. This makes the Psychopomp symbiosis ability seem

pretty lame in comparison. I’m telling you; squeeze as much juice out of this feat as possible.

Strix: [●] Strix are the OG champions of ancestral flight. Nowadays, there are other ancestry options that can achieve early flight, but the Strix still place amongst the best. You get to jump further than usual, but you also get to avoid fall damage—a highly abusable ability in the right situations. The boost to Dexterity is welcome, so just put your bonus into Charisma and you’re good.

● Fledgling Flight [●], Juvenile Flight [●], and Fully Flighted [★] place Strix amongst the earliest ancestral fliers, having a permanent flight speed at 9th level, as well as some limited fluttering before that. It notably doesn’t scale with base speed, sticking at a simple 25 foot speed, but can be increased to 35 feet by taking Fully Flighted a second time. ● Ferocious Gust [★] is also really nice, letting you essentially cast gust of wind once per 10 minutes. It’s useful for restricting enemy mobility, controlling the battlefield, knocking out fliers, or just straight-up tripping enemies in a 60-foot line. It’s only a 1st-level spell, but a really good, reliable, and reusable spell.

Surki: [●] Surki are a fascinating, magic-eating, insectile ancestry. You’ll have to choose a tradition for your Magiphage ability: this might be the same as your spellcasting tradition from the Summoner class, or you might add some variety by choosing a different one. The heritages are also interesting in that they open up specific “evolutions” you can pick up with a 9th-level ancestry feat, Grand Evolution.

● Sequestered Spell [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to pick up electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips. Just make sure your Magiphage ability is either arcane or primal. ● Small Speak [●] is a rather fun ability if your GM plays along with it, allowing you to speak with & entreat all kinds of bugs with your high Charisma. Ants, spiders, and cockroaches are pretty common in dark dungeons, right? ● Elytron Surki [●] renders you immune to all fall damage. All of it. Most people have to wait for 15th level and max out Acrobatics to get this. It’s technically a circumstantial option, but it’s more abusable than most other options rated yellow in this guide. Using Grand Evolution to pick up Stridulating Song [●] is a rather strong choice, allowing you to keep a particularly nasty boss enemy debuffed up to 1 minute once they fail a single save.

● Lantern Surki [◆] is a rather plain ancestry that just frees a hand you would otherwise use to carry a torch. However, using Grand Evolution to pick up the Lantern Beam [★] action is fantastic, allowing you to spew fire in a 30-foot line every 1d4 rounds. As a single action, it’s super easy to fit into your 4-action routine to supplement your damage. ● Nodal Healing [◆] is a rather negligible feat in most situations, since you should probably have out-of-combat healing already covered by a Medicine user. However, it’s a prerequisite for Nodal Regeneration [★], which gives you a regeneration spell you can cast on yourself as a lifeline when you are reduced to 0 HP by non-cold damage. It’s deactivated by cold instead of acid or fire, which is generally a less common damage type than even fire by itself, let alone acid and fire combined.

Vishkanya: [◆] This _other_ snake-related ancestry focuses quite a lot more on the venom aspect of things. However, given that you’re not a full martial, you won’t really have too many opportunities to apply those poisons, and even Tandem Strike [◆] builds will struggle with the action economy that comes with that.

Yaksha: WIP

Yaoguai: WIP

Versatile Heritages

Versatile heritages don’t confer any innate stat bonuses or penalties, so you’re mostly here to take them for the feats. Most of them also advance your vision by a step—“regular” vision to low-light vision, and low-light vision to darkvision. If you want to take an ancestry with less-than-stellar ancestry feats, consider taking a versatile heritage to expand your options.

Aiuvarin: [ ★ ] Previously known as half-elf before the remaster. Elves have a lot of fantastic feats, and being able to mix and match them with the options from another ancestry only opens up doors—if you’re okay with being 5 feet or so slower, that is. See my ratings for the Elf ancestry for more.

Ardande: [●] Emerging alongside the new Plane of Wood, this elemental ancestry makes for a neat character that is particularly good at, perhaps, speaking for the trees. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with a wood elemental or plant eidolon, but the feats offer utility nearly any summoner can enjoy.

● Ambersoul [★] is a fantastic 1st-level option in a game where every -1 matters. If an enemy attacks you in melee, your sticky blood coats its weapon (or unarmed body part) and gives it a -1 circumstance penalty to attack rolls with that weapon or unarmed attack until the end of the turn. No reaction—it just happens. Note that this stacks with circumstance bonuses to your AC, like raising a shield or taking cover. It’s a great deterrent for enemies to try attacking your likely better-armored eidolon instead of you. It’s a shame it doesn’t last longer, but at that point it might almost be too good. ● Charismatic summoner that you are, Treespeech [●] will likely be of use to you. It requires you to take Muan as one of your languages, but should you fulfill that requirement, you can ask any woody plant the things it’s seen. Your imagination is the limit. Ask for directions. Ask how things have been around the place. Anybody pass by? Did you see the killer on the way here? That sort of thing. Admittedly, it depends on how much your GM plays into it, but it can be very fun.

Beastkin: [ ● ] Instead of waiting for Paizo to print an ancestry based around your favorite animal, you can just pick this and call it a day. Beastkin are, obviously, a very thematic pick for summoners with a beast eidolon, but since a handful of the feats lend themselves towards melee combat, a Tandem Strike build may appreciate them as well.

● Beastkin don’t innately get low-light or darkvision like most versatile heritages, so you have to pick up Animal Senses [●] to get that. However, using the feat to get scent may be more appealing. ● Greater Animal Senses [●] gets you echolocation or tremorsense as an imprecise sense, but depending on what animal you pick, your GM might ask you to pick up the Bestiary and make sure that animal actually has that ability. ○ Weird Rules: In monster stat blocks, the listings for “echolocation” usually state they can “use hearing as a precise sense at the listed range.” This carries the implication that “echolocation” doesn’t seem to actually exist in and of itself as a sense in Pathfinder 2e—it’s just souped-up hearing. That’s the problem: unless you’re playing a deaf or hard of hearing character, you already, by default, have hearing as an imprecise sense. So what in the world is “echolocation (imprecise)” supposed to even mean? “Ah, yes, I would like to pick up this 9th-level feat to acquire normal human-level hearing.” Yes, of course, right this way.

A looser interpretation would mean that invisible creatures, using Stealth to mask the sound of their footsteps, could still be detected by you since their physical presence means soundwaves still bounce off of them, but they’re still just hidden instead of observed or undetected. ● Animal Swiftness [★] is fantastic. You can use it to get permanent flight, but for NO prerequisite feats! On top of that, it gives you a +5-foot static bonus to your Speed that, ostensibly, stacks with things like Nimble Elf [★]? Wow. You can also use it to get a climb or swim speed, but, eh, that’s not really 17th-level feat-worthy. If your chosen animal doesn’t fly, climb, or swim, you’re arguably even better off than those climbers or swimmers, since it means it gets you a +10-foot bonus to your speed instead of just +5. Wow, this feat is good!

Changeling: [ ● ] Your mother was a hag. There’s a handful of interesting spellcasting-related options here, but other than getting _electric arc_ , there’s nothing that particularly stands out for Summoners. The unarmed attacks probably don’t interest you.

● Virga May [★] is a good way for occult and divine summoners to get electric arc , the gold standard for damaging cantrips.

Dhampir: [ ● ] Something something, I vant to suck your blood, something something. The one most notable thing about picking up the heritage itself, heritage feats notwithstanding, is that you are harmed by vitality damage and healed by void effects as if you were undead. Basically, you’ll have a life-threatening allergy against your party cleric’s healing font, but _harm_ (and _soothe_ , and mundane Medicine checks!) will juice you up just fine. If you’re a divine spellcaster, it might be a nice combo to be able to cast the harm _spell_ to either damage living enemies, or heal yourself, or both, with the 3-action version. Make sure you coordinate with your party about this. Maybe ask your cleric to point all _heal_ spells towards your eidolon, if it doesn’t have void healing. Or just convince everybody in your party to go undead. Either or.

Other than that, though, there’s a pretty decent selection of feats here, including a lot of nice innate spells. Thematically, a dhampir summoner might be drawn towards the undead eidolon, but any type of eidolon can work. Mechanically, the dhampir’s abilities naturally complement divine spellcasters the best (woo, _harm_ !), and arcane and occult spellcasters to a lesser extent, though building a primal dhampir is by no means impossible.

● Adhyabhau [◆] is a rather nice lineage, giving you a +1 bonus to Will saves against emotion effects, which can be rather common—however, not nearly as common as the more broad “mental” descriptor, like with the devotion phantom’s symbiosis ability. Additionally, if you roll a success against such an effect, you get a critical success. This is neat, but becomes redundant past 15th level once you get Shared Resolve. For arcane and occult summoners, however, the real draw here is the follow-up feat Feed on Pain [★]. It’s a feat that allows you to, once per hour, gain half the mental damage you deal as temporary HP for a minute (shared with your eidolon, of course). If you like spells like phantasmal killer and phantasmal calamity , this is a fantastic thing to have. ● Undead Companion [◆] only affects animal companions and familiars, not eidolons, but we’re getting an undead eidolon option in an upcoming book anyway. If you took Beastmaster or Familiar Master, you could assemble a whole undead gang with this. ● Twist Healing [◆] is interesting, allowing you to turn your Staff of Healing into a Staff of Harming and the like, but by 17th level, you should probably already have a way to heal yourself by now. If you want damaging spells, I’d sooner pick up Symphony of Blood [★] for a nice, juicy 7th-level vampiric exsanguination.

Dragonblood: WIP

Dromaar: [●] Previously known as half-orc before the remaster. Orcs have a great selection of solid, sturdy feats, and being able to mix and match them with the options from another ancestry only opens up doors for you. See my ratings for the Orc ancestry for more.

Duskwalker: [●] You are a reincarnated soul, one with an acute awareness of the line between life and death. Thematically, a duskwalker is a good fit for a summoner with a psychopomp eidolon, but the feats are pretty good for any summoner, with nice feats for both spellcasting-oriented and Tandem Strike-oriented builds.

● If you’re building a Tandem Strike build with a psychopomp eidolon and want that nice flavor! , Ghost Hunter [●] and Spirit Strikes [★] allow you to emulate some of your eidolon’s combat abilities. The former allows you to damage incorporeal creatures as if you had a ghost touch rune, and the latter gives you +1 void damage against living creatures and +1 vitality damage against undead on all of your strikes.

● Do you like not dying? Chance Death [●] is the feat for you. Once per day, if you would die because you failed a saving throw or a recovery check, you can spend a reaction to reroll. Nice! Unfortunately it’s only for dying, and not just being dropped to 0, and you can’t do anything about dying because an enemy successfully hit you with a Strike, but oh well. However… ○ Weird Rules: Technically you can’t act while unconscious and dying, and this is a reaction, so… can you still use this while you’re in the throes of death? Additionally, it doesn’t specify that you would die from your own failed roll. Normally, if you become unconscious and dying, your eidolon unmanifests. However, if your eidolon were to be struck by a death effect and they fail, could you use this? How do death effects even work when it comes to the shared HP between you and your eidolon? Ask your GM. ● Lifesense [●] is a pretty unique imprecise sense, as the presence of life (or unlife) is pretty hard to mask using Stealth and the like, unless you freeze yourself in carbonite or something. This makes it pretty useful for detecting invisible or otherwise undetected creatures. However, the 10 foot range is pretty tiny. Still not a bad thing to have, though.

Naari: [●] Previously known as Ifrit. You are a scion of fire, descending from efreet, salamanders, or maybe even magma dragons. Instead of getting low-light or darkvision, you get resistance to fire equal to half your level. You get some pretty good options that complement a blasty spellcaster kind of build. You might want to lean into the whole fire deal and pick up Energy Heart [●] for your eidolon, too. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with an fire elemental eidolon, but any summoner can appreciate this heritage’s options.

● Inner Fire [●] is certainly no electric arc , but produce flame is a nice fallback option for divine spellcasters to vary your damage types if you ever need to use a spell attack roll cantrip. (Still gotta worry about sharing MAP with your eidolon, though.) ● I really like Blazing Aura [★], allowing you to explode at the start of your turn as a reaction (!!) that deals 7d6 fire damage to enemies and quickens your allies for a round. Additionally, since this is a trigger at the “start of your turn,” it occurs before you regain your actions. That means you can quicken your eidolon—and, in turn, yourself—with this. What a fascinating interaction!

Nephilim: [ ★ ] Aasimars, tieflings, aphorites, and ganzi have been wrapped up into this single planar scion heritage in the Remaster. They’re obvious thematic picks for summoners with angel or demon eidolons, but their great selection of feats can work on any character.

● Celestial Mercy [●] is a really nice feat, allowing you to cast a 4th-level spell to counteract curses, diseases, or poisons twice per day. ○ It might be redundant with an angel eidolon that reaches 17th level and gets their transcendence ability, but if you want to double down on restorative effects, you could argue for taking both. ● Nimble Hooves [★] gives you a +5 bonus to your base speed that stacks with Fleet [★]. (It won’t stack with other similar feats like Nimble Elf, though.) ● Slip Sideways [★] is pretty great, giving you 5th-level translocate as an innate spell. Avoid TPKs by teleporting a mile away from your soon-to-be-late party members! Just kidding; don’t do that. ● Divine Wings [●] and Eternal Wings [★] are the standard 9thand 17th-level flight feats several ancestries and heritages get. ● Anarchic Arcana [◆] is an interesting innate spellcasting feat, granting you two spells that change at random every day. Some of these spells are more useful than others, though the damaging spells in particular might quickly fall behind the damage of your cantrips as you level up. ● Extraplanar Haze [●] is essentially like casting blur on yourself once per day, making you concealed for a minute. Extraplanar Cloud [◆] allows you to spend an extra action to spread the concealment to a 10-foot-radius cloud around you instead. Perhaps useful, but it’s just a smaller obscuring mist , and you’d probably want more bang for your buck at 9th level. ● Arise, ye Worthy! [●] is great, allowing you to cast breath of life once per day. Ideally, you’ll want to heal up your party members before they actually die, but you’ll probably feel a lot safer knowing you always have this option at your disposal if you’re up against the wall and really do need it. ● Channel the Godmind [★] is a nice, big, fat “no” to any enemies using invisibility, illusions, or the like. Once per day, get 60-foot precise (!!) motion sense, automatically see all invisible creatures and objects, and the effects of a 9th-level true seeing to counteract any illusions. Arguably circumstantial, but this feat has got a lot of bells and whistles.

Oread: [●] This heritage really rocks. Ha. Anyway, these scions of earth mostly just have skill-related ancestry feats at 1st level, with a bit of spellcasting available as higher-level ancestry feats. Compared to other planar scions, there’s nothing too flashy here, but the options aren’t bad, either. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with an earth elemental eidolon, but any summoner can appreciate this heritage’s options.

● Shaitan Skin [●] is pretty sweet—for a 13th-level ancestry feat, cast a 4th-level stoneskin three times a day. You definitely like not taking damage. However, you can only cast it on yourself and not your eidolon, which is a shame. I’d prefer this on summoners that plan to get in melee, since other summoners might not really get value out of it. ● If you picked up a burrow speed on your eidolon, you can join them by getting One with Earth [●].

Reflection: [●] Mirror, mirror, on the wall… who’s the best versatile heritage of them all? …Well, you’re probably biased. The heritage itself isn’t particularly notable in a mechanical sense, being largely RP-oriented, but some of these feats are _really_ nice.

● Clone-Risen [●] is nifty for when, once a day, you wanna try really hard to not be affected by a mental effect. The resistance to mental damage is a nice bonus. ● Mirror-Risen [●] helps make your summoner just a little bit harder to hit once per day, adding a 50% chance for a Strike that would hit you to be reduced by 1 stage of success to a minimum of a regular failure. ● Morph-Risen [◆] is good for summoners who want to avoid negative polymorph effects, which are… really, really rare in this edition. It also gives you a +1 circumstance bonus to resist transmutation effects, but spell schools don’t exist in Remastered anymore, so YMMV. ● Mistaken Identity [★] allows you to, once per minute, roll twice on your saving throw against a mental effect. Having it be once per minute is really solid. Being frightened 1 after using this reaction isn’t the most ideal of costs, but it’s likely not as bad as whatever you were trying to save against. Just let your eidolon cover you for the time being. ● Reflect Foe [●] gives you duplicate foe as a daily spell, scaling up to 8th-rank at 20th level. Usually, summoning spells granted via ancestry feats don’t scale well, but this is the exception that proves the rule—you’re copying an enemy’s statistics, anyway. There’s still a level cap, yes, but it’s higher than standard summoning spells.

Suli: [●] When asked what your favorite elemental energy type is, you answered “yes.” These geniekin get a smattering of pretty sweet elemental-themed abilities. They don’t really have enough feats for people who want to only take Suli feats and none from their base ancestry, but the ones you do pick will be pretty great. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with an elemental eidolon, but any summoner can appreciate this heritage’s options.

● Dualborn [★] is just amazing. For one feat, get resistance equal to half your level to damage from effects of two out of the four elements you choose—air, earth, fire, or water. Most similar ancestry resistances only let you pick one resistance. The downside is that you can only pick those two elements with some other element-based Suli feats you get, but if you don’t pick those feats, there’s literally no downside. ● Elemental Bulwark [●] is pretty neat. With no cooldown, spend a reaction to get resistance 5 to an air, earth, fire, or water effect. This resistance gets boosted to 10 with Improved Elemental Bulwark [●]. However, for most summoners who took Eidolon’s Opportunity [★], this will compete for your reaction. It’s somewhat less flexible for summoners who took Dualborn, who can only pick those two specific elements, but the resistances will stack. ● Elemental Assault [◆] and the follow-up Tetraelemental Assault [◆] feats are pretty great on more traditional martials, giving you 1d6 bonus elemental damage on your Strikes for one turn (or four turns with Tetraelemental Assault). However, even on melee summoners, who will likely only be attacking once per turn and cannot bolster their eidolon’s attacks with these feats, it’s not as worth it. ● Suli Amir [★] is a pretty loaded spellcasting feat. You can cast read omens and 4th-level invisibility as innate spells, as well as the detect magic cantrip, which means you can now swap out that cantrip slot for something else. However, since read omens is a prediction effect, this feat is Uncommon, so ask your GM before taking this.

Sylph: [ ★ ] These scions of air get some pretty darn good ancestry feats that cover a lot of different bases—mobility, spellcasting, energy resistance, and what have you. It’s also the only elemental scion to get innate flight. No summoner can go wrong with a sylph. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with an air elemental eidolon, but any summoner can appreciate this heritage’s options.

● Fumesoul [●] and Stormsoul [●] give you half-level resistance to poison and electricity damage, respectively. It’s your call to which one you expect to come up in your campaign more often. Do you think you’re going to be fighting a lot of conniving murderers and venomous creatures, or a lot of lightning-slinging wizards and genies? ● If you get a staff with obscuring mist on it, you’d probably be able to make use of Cloud Gazer [●] pretty well, allowing you to pierce through cloud/mist-induced concealment. But… your eidolon won’t. Use with caution. ● As a class that never gets above Expert in Reflex by default, you’ll definitely appreciate Wind Tempered [●], which gives you +1 to saves against air and wind effects, as well as gives you a critical success against them if you roll a regular success. ● Swift [★] gives you a +5 bonus to your base speed that stacks with Fleet [★]. (It won’t stack with other similar feats like Nimble Elf, though.) ● Wings of Air [●] and Eternal Wings [★] are the standard 9thand 17th-level flight feats several ancestries and heritages get.

Talos: [◆] It doesn’t get much more heavy metal than this. These scions of the newly-minted Plane of Metal naturally have feats for the sturdiness of steel fit for a striker, yes, but other aspects of metal—such as its conductivity & shininess—get some good representation here, too. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with a metal elemental eidolon, but the Talos’s feats are more or less equally good on any summoner.

● Reflective Defense [◆] would be pretty good [●], as a reliable once-per-10 minutes reaction to mess with your enemies’ accuracy. However, RAW, it’s keyed off of class DC. Following Remaster text, you automatically start off trained in this, but it doesn’t scale at all, as opposed to your spell DC. It’s probably fine in a low-level one-shot, though. ● Conductor’s Redirection [●] only pops up when you’re facing electricity damage, but when it does, it has the ability to be really, really funny. Keying off of your spell DC (for a Summoner), when you take electricity damage, you can force a target within 10 feet to make a basic Fortitude save or take all of the damage (before resistances) as well. This ability has no cooldown, either. You might not be mixing it up in melee as often as other classes, so I feel like this ought to be yellow [◆] in terms of applicability, but my heart’s telling me green [●].

Undine: [●] To no one’s surprise, people with the water elemental heritage like water. Instead of getting innate low-light or darkvision, you gain the amphibious trait and a 10-foot swim speed, allowing you to swim without making Athletics checks or being off-guard. Undines will particularly shine in aquatic campaigns, obviously, but they have some pretty nice feats for all campaigns. It’s a perfect thematic fit for a summoner with a water elemental eidolon, but any summoner can appreciate this heritage’s options.

● Rimesoul [●] gets you half-level resistance to cold damage, and you can resist environmental cold better. ● Tide-Hardened [●] gives you a +1 to saves against cold and water effects, and if you roll a success against them, you get a critical success. Normally, you never advance beyond Expert in Reflex saves, so this is pretty welcome. However, for the couple of cold and water effects that call for Fortitude saves, the latter effect will be redundant with your 11th-level Twin Juggernauts ability. ● If you picked Undine for the swimming, Strong Swimmer [●] will make that swimming match your land speed. ● Tidal Shield [★] is just absolutely splendid in both power and imagery. Once per day, for two actions, get a +4 circumstance bonus to your AC (which is like taking cover behind a tower shield), and your adjacent allies also get a +2 bonus to their AC. You can sustain this for up to five turns, or dismiss it as a reaction to reduce damage you or an ally would take by 40 damage, possibly averting death. Personally, I just absolutely love the “get behind me!” feeling of this ability. Summoners who enjoy getting into melee or sticking together with their ranged allies will love this.

Backgrounds

I won’t list every background here, since as long as you can get a boost to your key stat, you’re probably good to go. However, here are a few ones I’d like to mention:

Eidolon Contact: [●] The flavor of this background is mostly meant for characters who used to know an eidolon, but don’t anymore. There’s no rule saying an actual summoner can’t take it, though, even though having a character that’s “class: summoner, background: also summoner” is kind of lame. Both Constitution and Charisma are welcome for you, lore for your

eidolon is thematic, and Dubious Knowledge is just a fun feat depending on how good of a liar your GM is.

Field Medic: [ ★ ] Constitution and Wisdom both work for you, and Battle Medicine [★] at 1st level is just great for more Wisdom-inclined Summoner builds.

Warrior: [●] Ironically, I’d rather take this on a summoner that _doesn’t_ get into melee than someone that does. Intimidating Glare [★] is a great feat for the Summoner, but for a character that’s pumping up Strength, Intimidating Prowess [★] is objectively better and renders Intimidating Glare redundant. You can’t retrain feats granted by your background, either.

Revenant: [●] The choice of Constitution and Charisma is perfect for a Summoner here, and the Religion skill is alright, but what’s really of note for this background is its ability to grant you void healing without limiting your more valuable choices like ancestry, heritage, or class feats. The value of void healing is largely party-dependent, however.

Class Feats

1st Level Feats

At this level, you’re either picking an evolution feat for your eidolon or you’re a human with Natural Ambition. None of the evolution feats give your eidolon any real big power boost; they just add a little versatility or utility, or cater to a particular combat strategy other than just “hit the enemy really hard.” You may end up having to use one of your later-level feat slots if there’s a particular feat you’re really eyeing (and you’re not a human).

Advanced Weaponry: Add a new trait to one of your eidolon’s attacks. Your choices are disarm [●], grapple [★], nonlethal [◆], shove [●], trip [★], or versatile bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing [●].

● You don’t choose between versatile bludgeoning, versatile piercing, or versatile slashing. The trait encompasses all three physical damage types. ● Unfortunately, you can’t take this feat multiple times to make one big super-weapon. Darn. The Inventor’s niche is safe… for now.

Dual Studies: [●] You become trained in a skill, and your eidolon becomes trained in another skill. At level 7, you both become expert. That’s 4 skill

increases for a feat. If you don’t have a Rogue or Investigator or other skill monkey in your party, this can be great to cover up team composition weaknesses. Additionally, if you want your eidolon to be proficient in a skill that your summoner doesn’t particularly have the stats to fully utilize (or vice versa), this may appeal to you. Otherwise, you’ll likely want to focus on more combat-based feats instead.

● Weird Rules: If you decide to increase your summoner’s skill from this feat to master or legendary, does your eidolon also increase their proficiency in that skill? If so, do they increase it to trained or expert, or do they jump up and match your proficiency? Personally, I’d rule that increasing your summoner’s skill from expert to master using a regular skill increase turns your eidolon’s proficiency to trained, but ask your GM.

Energy Heart: [●] Pick an energy type (other than force), and one of your eidolon’s attacks changes entirely to that energy type. Additionally, your eidolon gets half-level resistance to that energy type. This is good for bypassing physical resistances and targeting a specific weakness. Your choices are acid, cold, electricity, fire, sonic… and don’t forget that vitality and void are considered energy types, too, though they only work depending on whether or not your target is undead or otherwise has void healing.

The thing with choosing an energy type is that if you pick an energy type that lots of monsters don’t resist, your eidolon probably won’t be taking too much of that type of damage, either, so the resistance will come up less. The inverse is true—if you choose to resist an energy type that lots of monsters deal, you’ll probably also run into a lot of monsters that resist it, too. I _highly_ recommend picking a versatile bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing attack for this feat to fall back on, or just use your secondary attack if you’re eyeing another weapon trait.

There is _one_ item that might be of note to you—or, rather, several similar ones. Greater versions of energy damage property runes, such as greater flaming, allow Strikes to completely ignore resistance to that damage type. However, these runes are 15th level items, and don’t ignore immunities.

Expanded Senses: [●] Your eidolon gets low-light vision, darkvision, and imprecise scent. All current printed eidolons get at least low-light vision, though. Eidolons that don’t get innate darkvision have the most to gain by taking this. However, scent is fantastic for all eidolons, as it means that

undetected enemies your eidolon can smell within 30 feet automatically become just hidden instead of undetected, no check.

Extend Boost: [ ★ ] If Boost Eidolon is your Inspire Courage, Extend Boost is your Lingering Composition. No longer do you have to worry about whether you want to fit a boost in between your cantrips and attacks, you can just keep the boost for 3 or 4 rounds. Lots of combats can end in 3 or 4 rounds.

However, you need to make a skill check to make this work, which is either Intelligence or Wisdom depending on your spellcasting tradition. You don’t get the luxury of rolling a skill based on your key stat for your lingering buff check like the Bard does. If you dumped those stats, this can be somewhat less reliable… but it’s still _really_ , really good. You don’t have much to lose from failing the check, since you keep the focus point if you can’t pull it off, so you can just try again next turn.

● This is a spellshape (metamagic) action. Because of the way spellshape functions with activities that include actions within them, you won’t be able to use this if you use Act Together to cast Boost Eidolon. ● Regarding Assurance: If you rank up the appropriate skill as early as you can, Assurance will only get you to pass a standard DC for your level at level 7 and 8. No more, no less. If you’re any other level, Assurance will always fail at Extend Boost. If you’re playing a level 7 or 8 one shot, you can use Assurance for this, I guess? Or you could just set aside some time for retraining? I’d still rather use my skill feat for something more interesting, though.

Glider Form: [◆] Your eidolon can fall… slowly. Additionally, you can move 25 feet horizontally for every 5 feet you fall vertically. This can mitigate fall damage if you anticipate having to jump off a big tall ledge, but it’s rather circumstantial that you’ll happen upon such a huge cliff or something like that. It’s not a reaction, so your GM might say you don’t get enough time to use it defensively if your eidolon gets shoved off a cliff or something.

This feat in itself is relatively underwhelming, but it’s required for the follow-up feat Airborne Form [★].

Meld into Eidolon [ ▼ ] : In a combat sense, this is terrible. You don’t want to be giving up the action economy of having your summoner on the battlefield alongside your eidolon just so your summoner can wear your eidolon like a suit of armor. Instead, this is more of a utility option for exploration mode with usefulness that depends on the other abilities your eidolon may have acquired.

If they’re amphibious, you can use this to use your eidolon as a set of scuba gear. If they have a fly speed, you can use this to get your summoner to high places.

However, even with that in mind, this feat is _still_ pretty bad. You don’t need Steed Form [●] to just ride your eidolon normally outside of combat, which makes this pretty unappealing.

● If you’re disappointed by this feat, you’re definitely not alone. In the Secrets of Magic playtest, this feat was called Synthesis, and was meant to emulate the Synthesist Summoner archetype from 1e that offered a similar transformation ability. However, upon receiving feedback that the feat was pretty terrible in combat and rather underwhelming overall, Paizo promised they would release a better and more proper Synthesist archetype in a future book. Let’s look forward to that. If you just want a martial character with an epic transformation/suit-up sequence like a magical girl or tokusatsu protagonist (like I may or may not have), I recommend looking into the Soulforger archetype. ● Weird Rules: You can’t cast spells while your eidolon is manifested using this feat, which means you can’t cast Evolution Surge while using this ability to give your summoner-slash-eidolon self a temporary ability for utility outside of combat. On the other hand, it’s not clear what happens to buffs or other conditions to your eidolon when it’s unmanifested. Additionally, it’s not too clear as to whether or not you can use Meld into Eidolon while your eidolon is already manifested normally, or vice versa. Depending on what your GM says, you might be able to manifest your eidolon normally, cast Evolution Surge to give them a special ability, then remanifest them with Meld into Eidolon.

Unfetter Eidolon: [◆] By casting this focus spell, your eidolon can now be an unlimited distance away from you, but only for a single minute and not a second more. If you want to build your eidolon to be a scout, this is your spell, but it’s a relatively underwhelming feat. I really wish it was 10 minutes or something, or at least scaled the duration with spell rank, but… oh well.

It may be better to just simply pick up a Collar of the Eternal Bond [●].

2nd Level Feats

At this level, your choices of evolution feats start to branch out a bit, and your eidolon starts to become a little more specialized.

Alacritous Action: [ ● ] Your eidolon gets faster by 10 feet. That’s a nice bonus that any build can appreciate. Every foot counts, because once you outspeed an enemy, that means it needs to use twice as many actions to catch up to you in melee. Note that it doesn’t stack with using Evolution Surge to boost your eidolon’s speed.

● If you’re an arcane or primal spellcaster and you pick up Magical Adept [●] at 8th level, your eidolon can just cast 2nd-level tailwind on themselves at the beginning of the day and get a 1st level spell slot to spare. Since Alacritous Action is also a status bonus, the two effects don’t stack. If you’re going that route, you can get away with skipping Alacritous Action this level and picking up Magical Understudy [●] instead. Retrain if necessary.

Amphibious Form: [▼] Your eidolon becomes amphibious, being able to walk _and_ swim. Most eidolons are landlubbers with the same simple 25 base speed, but for eidolons that start with a swim speed and a slower base speed, like the water elemental eidolon, this is basically mandatory [★]. However, for now, this is mostly only for people who are playing in seafaring campaigns, or for people who just want an aquatic flavor for their eidolon.

I would rate this yellow [◆], because when swim speeds are useful, they’re useful, but you can already just use Evolution Surge to grant your eidolon a swim speed whenever you happen to come across a large body of water. If water is particularly common in your campaign, though, you can take this feat to save yourself the action economy and focus point.

Magical Understudy: [●] Your eidolon can now cast two cantrips using your spell DC and spell attack roll modifier. Fey eidolons get this for free, but for other eidolons, this is the gateway to the “caster eidolon” build.

● Note that these don’t have to be (and probably shouldn’t be) cantrips your summoner already knows, so this is also kind of the summoner’s version of the Cantrip Expansion feat. ● There used to be a Weird Rules section here about spellcasting ability modifiers and whether it applies your eidolon’s or summoner’s modifier (as opposed to explicitly mentioned spell attack rolls and DCs), but it’s mostly a moot point now that ability modifiers to damage have been removed from most spells and cantrips as of the Remaster and replaced with extra damage dice. It might still be relevant for certain Legacy spells, though.

Ranged Combatant: [●] Your eidolon gets a 1d4 propulsive ranged weapon. This is especially good for Dexterity eidolons, but can be a decent fallback option for Strength eidolons, too. It only has a range increment of 30 feet, so your eidolon will still want to be relatively close to enemies for maximum accuracy, but 30 feet still means enemies will have to Stride at least once to get into melee.

Additionally, you can choose any physical or non-force energy type for this attack. If your eidolon is a celestial, fiend, or non-true neutral monitor (currently unpublished), you can pick appropriate alignment damage too. It can be useful to have a variety of different damage types for different enemies.

Reinforce Eidolon: [●] It’s Boost Eidolon, but defensive instead of offensive. The boost is great—the +1 to AC and saving throws can make a huge difference. If your eidolon still gets hit, it gets resistance to _everything_. If you’re building your eidolon to be a defender, like a Plant or Devotion Phantom eidolon, this is a great choice. If you’re not building your eidolon to be a defender, this is still a great choice for when you’re down to the wire and need to shift gears from dealing damage to staying alive.

Steed Form: [●] Your eidolon can now effectively function as your mount. This is another way to squeeze more bang for your buck out of your actions, since you’ll be able to move both you and your eidolon with one action. However, Tandem Movement [★] at 4th level serves largely the same purpose in a fashion that is redundant with this feat, and is more widely and flexibly applicable. If you want to do a mounted combat build, though, or you’re _way_ slower than your eidolon, this is how you do it.

● Note that your eidolon still needs to be at least one size larger than you. Unless you have Hulking Size [●] or want to deal with casting Evolution Surge to enlarge your eidolon every combat, Medium summoners need not apply. ● When mounting your eidolon with Steed Form, your eidolon’s movement actions all gain the Tandem trait, which means you can’t use them with Act Together. Tandem Movement [★] has the same restriction, but still lets you and your eidolon move independently should they wish to do so. ○ Weird Rules: This text about mounted movement gaining the Tandem trait is limited to only Steed Form, and strangely isn’t

found in the text in Evolution Surge if you choose to evolve your eidolon to a larger size to use as a mount.

4th Level Feats

At this level, there’s a handful of pretty solid options to enhance the strength and utility of your eidolon… and then there’s Tandem Movement [★]. If you’re in doubt, just choose that one.

Bloodletting Claws: [●] Eidolons don’t natively get any sort of critical specialization effect on their attacks, so this allows them to get one. On a critical hit with a slashing or piercing attack, get the same critical specialization effect as knife weapons. Eidolons that deal bludgeoning or energy damage need not apply. This isn’t super duper good, especially at the price for a class feat, but persistent damage on a crit is never unwelcome.

Defend Summoner: [▼] If you’re in your eidolon’s reach, it can take this action to give you a +2 circumstance bonus to AC. Most summoners won’t _want_ to be in melee, but even for melee summoners, this means that you won’t be able to flank with your eidolon (unless your eidolon has stupid big reach).

Honestly, just get a shield. You don’t need the Shield Block [●] reaction to just use the Raise a Shield action.

Dual Energy Heart: [◆] Choose another energy type. Your eidolon can now deal and resist that damage. Obviously, you need Energy Heart [●] first to get this feat, but if you think there’s another energy type that will come up a lot, sure. I’m rating this yellow [◆] since, once you can already deal an energy damage type instead of physical, picking a second energy type nets you diminishing returns on resistance-bypassing utility. All in all, it’s a more circumstantial choice.

● It might be worth considering a little bit more if you plan on taking Energy Resistance [●] later, though.

Irezoko Tattoo: [▼] A cross-class feat available to pretty much every class with focus spells at 4th level. If you meet the expert in Arcana or Occultism entry requirement and are granted access to the uncommon feat, you get the fantastic ability of… spending three actions once per day to regain a single focus point.

Yeah, uh, no thanks. Compare this to the champion’s Desperate Prayer feat, which is available at 1st level and lets you regain a focus point once per day as

a free action, or the wizard’s Linked Focus feat, which is available at 4th level and allows you to regain a focus point once per day when you use your Drain Bonded Item action, which is also a free action. This is especially poor post-Remaster, as you can now Refocus multiple times to fill out your pool by default. If you want more resources per day, it’s probably better to get a feat that will simply bolster your summoner or eidolon’s capabilities with other feats so that you’ll need to spend less resources in the first place to make it through future encounters.

Lifelink Surge: [ ◆ ] For a focus point and an action, give your eidolon fast healing 4 for 4 rounds, and the fast healing increases by 2 every spell rank. This is like the Witch’s Life Boost, which is a focus spell that grants an equivalent amount of fast healing, except it’s worse because you can’t heal your party members and you get it later.

You know what’s the suckiest part of this spell? It only targets your eidolon, not your summoner. If you get knocked down to 0 HP and gain the Dying condition, your eidolon poofs, and likely, its fast healing poofs with it (see Weird Rules), so you can’t use this to save yourself from death rolls. It’s self-healing that you can Refocus for each combat, so I _really_ want to like this spell, but unfortunately, it has quite a lot going against it.

Consider taking the Blessed One [★] archetype to acquire _lay on hands_ , which gives you 2 fewer HP per spell rank, but is more immediate and can also be used to heal your allies with a bonus AC boost.

● If you have the undead eidolon, your eidolon will have void healing. Lifelink Surge is expressly a vitality healing effect. This makes this feat choice somehow worse than bad [▼], as you will just end up spending a focus point and an action on damaging yourself every turn. ● Weird Rules: If your GM rules that your eidolon keeps its fast healing in whatever plane it goes to when it unmanifests, this becomes a bit better [●].

Reactive Dismissal: [●] For a reaction, when your eidolon takes damage, unmanifest it and gain resistance equal to twice your level against the damage. Twice your level is a pretty high amount of resistance. Having to take three actions to remanifest your eidolon is a pretty steep price, though, and not being able to remanifest for at least a round is even steeper.

This is meant to be an absolute last resort option, but it can often be the difference between life and death. After you use this reaction, run like your life depends on it, because it probably does.

Compare this to casting (or picking up a wand of) _summoner’s precaution_ [★], which offers a more powerful damage-mitigating effect for only a spell slot, but unmanifests your eidolon for an entire minute and can’t be used an unlimited amount of times per day.

Shrink Down: [ ◆ ] For an action, shrink your eidolon up to size Small. If you’d like your eidolon to be Small, there are a bunch of eidolons that can already start out at that size. The difference between Small and Medium is negligible in most situations, so it’s not really worth it as an utility option if your eidolon is Medium.

If you have the feats that make your eidolon bigger, like Hulking Size [●] and Towering Size [★], this might be useful for getting small enough to fit in small rooms and narrow corridors, but at that point, just use Evolution Surge to enlarge your eidolon temporarily and save yourself the three feats.

You can get the follow-up feat Miniaturize [◆] to shrink your eidolon to Tiny.

● Weird Rules: I’m going to interpret the phrasing of “reduces in size, to a minimum of size Small” to mean that if your eidolon is Large or larger, it can choose to shrink to any size category between its current size and Small. Some people might interpret this to mean “reduces in size by a single size category, but if it’s Small, it can’t get smaller,” but that seems kind of dumb because it makes this feat even worse than it already is. If your GM rules that way, this feat is red [▼]. ● Weird Rules 2: Electric Boogaloo: Nowhere in this feat does it mention that your eidolon’s reach changes whatsoever. Other similar effects, such as the shrink spell, usually specify that your eidolon’s reach changes to the appropriate amount. Therefore, by RAW, if you take this feat and use it with Hulking Size [●], Towering Size [★], and/or the size increase conferred by Evolution Surge, your eidolon will still have their massive reach no matter how small they get. (Technically, you'll still be threatening a smaller area, since your eidolon has a smaller perimeter, so to speak, but the reach from one edge of its space will still be the same.) This doesn’t feel like an intended interaction. Ask your GM.

Skilled Partner: [●] Your eidolon gets a 1st level skill feat and a 2nd level or lower skill feat. At 7th level, your eidolon can get a 7th level or lower skill feat.

Skill feats are all weaker than class feats individually, but 3 skill feats for a class feat may very well be a good trade for you. Your eidolon shares your skill proficiencies, but not your skill feats, so if you want your eidolon to specialize in a skill like Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidate, Stealth, or even something else, this is a fantastic option.

Tandem Movement: [ ★ ] For one action, both you and your eidolon Stride (or Burrow, or Climb, or Fly, or Swim, etc...) This feat is amazing and will make managing the positioning of your summoner and eidolon much, much easier. You can technically get the same effect by using Act Together [★], but you can use this in conjunction with using Act Together to do something else. Additionally, you can use this as many times per turn as you want.

Vibration Sense: [●] Like Expanded Senses [●], this nets you an imprecise sense—either tremorsense, wavesense, or both, depending on if your eidolon is terrestrial, aquatic, or amphibious. Just like scent, this is great for helping you track down stealthy, hidden, or invisible enemies.

● If you want to pick up Burrowing Form [●] later, this is pretty important to prevent your eidolon from being completely blind while underground.

6th Level Feats

For most summoners, Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] is the big winner at this level, but it may be less important to eidolons such as the devotion phantom or Dexterity eidolons who took Ranged Combatant [●]. Tandem Strike [◆] opens up melee summoner builds, and Master Summoner [●] opens up summoning spell builds. The other options at this level are also pretty solid, but it’s less straightforward as to whether or not you should take them.

Blood Frenzy: [ ▼ ] This is just the anger phantom’s Seething Frenzy [▼], but you need to deal bleed damage with an attack before you can use it. The “default” way to fulfill this requirement is by getting a critical hit with the requisite feat, Bloodletting Claws [●], but getting a wounding rune on your Handwraps is much more consistent if you really want to use this, which you probably shouldn't. If you don’t have an action remaining after applying bleed damage, you’re out of luck.

As for the actual effect, getting a -2 penalty to AC in order to not have to cast Boost Eidolon is a pretty hefty price. See my entry for Seething Frenzy under Anger Phantom for more.

Eidolon’s Opportunity: [ ★ ] It’s Attack of Opportunity, but for your eidolon. The chance of getting another free attack with no MAP each round as a reaction is too good to pass up for any melee martial. Interrupting manipulate actions on a crit is just a nice bonus.

● This is practically mandatory on eidolons with increased size or reach, such as plant eidolons and/or eidolons who took Hulking Size [●] and Towering Size [★]. ● An eidolon with Ranged Combatant [●] could maybe get away with not taking this if you like to stick yourself a decent distance away from any enemies, but remember that no eidolon is ever without a potent melee attack, so this is still really worth considering for when enemies decide to get all up in your business. ● Keep in mind that you and your eidolon only get one reaction to share between the both of you. If you already have other things to do with your reaction, like the devotion phantom’s Dutiful Retaliation [●], this is less appealing [◆].

Eidolon’s Wrath: [●] Your eidolon casts this focus spell instead of you. For two actions and a focus point, everybody within 20 feet of your eidolon has to make a basic Reflex save or take the energy or alignment damage you picked when you took this feat. This only deals 1d6 damage less than a _fireball_ spell heightened to an equivalent level, which isn’t bad at all for a focus spell. However, it’s an emanation, not a burst, line, or cone, which means it’ll be more difficult to position this in a way that doesn’t hit your allies. Invest in a backfire mantle.

Master Summoner: [●] Named after the 1e archetype that allowed a Summoner to summon more creatures than just their eidolon, this is the first in a line of feats that lets the 2e Summoner to specialize in summoning spells. You trade one of your spell slots for two slots of the same level that can only be used for summoning or incarnate spells. You’re a bounded spellcaster, so if you like summoning spells, you need this.

I will say, though, that picking the right summoned creature for a given situation and commanding them effectively can take a _lot_ of system mastery. Creatures in 2e aren't built the same way as PCs (or eidolons, for that matter). The monsters you summon will almost always lag behind mathematically in AC, attack rolls, DCs, and damage, so picking the right summon for the situation can be difficult. You'll pretty much have to page through all three Bestiaries and then some if you want to make the most of summoning spells.

If you're up for the challenge, though, summoning minions on the fly can be very rewarding—and fun. I recommend checking out Exocist's Guide to Summoning.

● As of the remaster, “summon” is just a trait that spells can have now—including summon undead, the successor to animate dead.

Ostentatious Arrival: [ ◆ ] If you use this before manifesting your eidolon or casting a summon spell, everybody within 10 feet of it takes 1d4 damage per spell rank—no save. That’s pretty impressive. It’s a free action, too, but that’s pretty much necessary because it takes three actions to manifest or summon.

That being said… if you’re using this to manifest your eidolon, they’ll _always_ be adjacent to you, which means you’ll _always_ be in the AoE. Ouch. Not that you wouldn’t want to have your eidolon unmanifested before battle, anyway. (The playtest version of this feat specified this damage didn’t include you, so maybe this was omitted? I dunno.)

If you’re not looking to cast summoning spells, this becomes pretty bad [▼]. For that reason, you may want to wait until 8th level to take this feat after taking Master Summoner [●], or perhaps even until 10th after taking Boost Summons [◆]... or maybe skip it outright.

On paper, I could definitely see someone abusing this like an AoE Magic Missile, but… there’s just a lot going on here. Or, perhaps, there’s a lot _not_ going on here that should be.

● Ostentatious Arrival specifies that you need to use Manifest Eidolon as a 3-action activity in order for the spellshape (metamagic) to actually take effect, so once you hit 19th level and get Instant Manifestation [●], you won’t be able to use it with this feat. It feels like a shame, but otherwise, you’d be able to Ostentatious Arrival, then Manifest Eidolon as a single action, then strike with your eidolon within that Manifest Eidolon action, then use Act Together to have your eidolon strike again and then Unmanifest your Eidolon (because Manifest Eidolon is not a Tandem action, so you can use it within Act Together), and then Ostentatious Arrival again, and then, finally, Manifest Eidolon again, with a third eidolon strike within that Manifest Eidolon, which is, likely seeing as how your eyes completely glossed over those last few lines of text, ridiculous. ● Weird Rules: Ostentatious Arrival is a spellshape action. By RAW, this means that it needs to be used “directly before Casting the Spell you

want to alter,” which means you can’t use it to modify spells that are casted within non-Cast a Spell actions… including Act Together. That’d mean if you use this with a summoning spell, your eidolon would have to just sit there and do nothing for a turn. If your GM goes with that interpretation of RAW, this feat is terrible [▼]. As a GM, I’d say it feels way more intuitive to let summoners use this with Act Together. With this hiccup, and the lack of a saving throw for the damage, and the self-damage from manifesting your eidolon… this feat feels weird.

Phase Out: [ ▼ ] For phantom eidolons only. For a whopping three actions, your eidolon gives up its ability to do _any_ attacks or otherwise interact with the physical world for the great benefit of… getting half-level resistance. It doesn’t even actually become incorporeal, so this doesn’t let it fly, walk through walls, or even just grates. If you ever run into something that deals force or void damage, the resistance will become useless. There are better defensive options. If you don’t want your eidolon to take damage enough to give up its attacks, you might as well unmanifest it for the same amount of actions.

You _can_ turn your eidolon into a spooky ghost that just walks around Demoralizing enemies or something like that, but… eh. Demoralize is good in lieu of your third attack per turn, not _every_ attack per turn.

● Weird Rules: Could your eidolon cast spells while using Phase Out? If so, Phase Out could actually make some rather interesting combinations with feats such as Magical Understudy [●] and Eidolon’s Wrath [●]. There’s a ton of precedent for it in the way of actually incorporeal spellcasters in the Bestiaries, but that’s technically not a RAW ruling. The PFS note on this feats states “using the Phase Out summoner ability means that your eidolon cannot make any Strikes, nor can it take any actions requiring a physical form.” Verbal components are probably okay, and material components are right out. The question as to whether or not somatic components count as an action “requiring a physical form” will get kind of metaphysical. If your GM rules that intangible eidolons can cast spells, this feat becomes a little bit better [◆], but still not particularly superb.

Tandem Strike: [◆] For two actions, both you and your eidolon make a strike against a single target at the same MAP. This is the feat that enables melee Summoners, so if you’re going for that build, take this feat.

That being said… it’s a really risky play style. You’ll be getting up close and personal with your enemies, so make sure to invest in your defenses. Your

attack modifier will pretty much always be worse than that of your eidolon’s, but if the difference in modifier between you and your eidolon is smaller than a single increment of MAP, it _might_ just be worth it. Maybe.

You may also be interested in a Tandem Strike build that relies on battle form spells, which will give you decent attacks, though beware of their weird scaling. At some levels, you’ll match the attack roll modifiers of your eidolon and most martials, but at other levels (even-numbered levels where you don’t gain access to a new level of spells, mainly, but some odd-numbered levels, too, depending on the specific battle form spell), you’ll lag a tiny bit behind. At most levels, though, you’ll surpass your cloth caster simple weapon proficiency.

Keep in mind you can’t cast a 2-action spell and use Tandem Strike on the same turn.

8th Level Feats

Grapple, reach, and (non-fey) spellcaster eidolon builds have clear picks at this level, but the other options at this level are either circumstantial or pretty average. If none of them appeal to you, consider taking a 6th level feat that you missed out on.

Boost Summons: [◆] When you cast Boost Eidolon, it now boosts your nearby summons _and_ your eidolon. However, Boost Eidolon only boosts damage, when the real weakness of summons is accuracy—especially those with rider actions like Grab. This is obviously best for summoners who specialize in summoning spells, but this isn’t absolutely mandatory even for them. It may be better to pick another 8th level feat.

Constricting Hold: [●] It’s the Constrict ability that a lot of monsters have, but for your eidolon. Enemies you have grabbed or restrained have to make a basic Fortitude save or take damage equal to your eidolon’s level plus their STR modifier. For grapple builds, this is better DPR than a 3rd attack at full MAP.

Energy Resistance: [●] Your eidolon’s resistances from Energy Heart [●] and Dual Energy Heart [◆] increase to your eidolon’s level, instead of just half their level. If you took those feats and those resistances have been useful for you, you can take this to make them even more useful.

Hulking Size: [●] Your eidolon becomes Large, and their reach increases to 10 feet. Reach is great for commanding the battlefield, and it’s great whenever an enemy has to spend an action to Step into melee with your eidolon.

This is also great in conjunction with Eidolon’s Opportunity [★], since you threaten so much more space. If an enemy with smaller reach decides to Stride up to you, that provokes reactions. Let your eidolon be the big ol’ terror it’s always dreamed of being.

● This just changes the size and reach of your eidolon, nothing else. It doesn’t add damage or the clumsy condition like the enlarge spell. ● If you’re in a campaign that sees a lot of combat in small rooms and narrow corridors, this may be less appealing for you. Remember you can always use Evolution Surge to increase your eidolon’s size on command.

Magical Adept: [●] The follow-up feat to Magical Understudy [●]. No longer is your eidolon limited to just casting cantrips—it can cast _real_ spells, with _real_ spell slots. Fey eidolons get this for free, but for everyone else, this feat is how you build a spellcaster eidolon.

Your eidolon gets two spell slots—initially, just one 1st level and one 2nd level spell, which are just below the bounded summoner spell slots you have 8th level. At every even-numbered level, though, you can replace one of those spells for a higher-level spell, but they must always be lower-level than your summoner’s spell slots. I love it when spell slots from abilities and feats scale.

There are also a lot of really awesome spells that hinge around their caster making Strikes that can’t be cast to buff someone else, so this opens up those spells as options for your eidolon to take advantage of.

● Weird Rules: If you decide to take this feat at a level later than 8th, by RAW, you still must start with one 1st level and one 2nd level spell, even though the spell rank “cap” is higher by then. It’ll take 4 more levels before you can replace both of them with higher-level spells. If you’re ever in that situation, ask your GM nicely if you can have higher-level spells.

Miniaturize: [◆] The follow-up feat to Shrink Down [◆]. Being Tiny has more useful utility for getting into hard-to-reach spaces, but it’s still a bit underwhelming for spending two feats. You probably don't want your eidolon to be Tiny in combat, and being smaller doesn’t confer the AC bonuses it did in 1e, so this is solely a utility spell. You could probably just cast (or get one of your friends to cast) a _shrink_ spell.

10th Level Feats

A lot of the feats at this level are evolution feats that emulate specific creature abilities usually found only in the Bestiaries. A number of builds may want to look at lower-level feats.

Burrowing Form: [●] Your eidolon gains a burrow speed of 15 feet. This is neat. You could possibly skip an entire dungeon with this, so don’t be too surprised if your GM says “oops, there’s solid rock underneath the dirt and you can’t burrow any further.” You can also be really, _really_ annoying in combat using this and force your enemies to play whack-an-eidolon.

One thing to note, though, is that your eidolon will be essentially blind underground unless you get tremorsense via Vibration Sense [●].

Merciless Rend: [ ▼ ] The numbers are in. (First of all, big thanks to citricking for helping me out with their expected damage tool specifically for this use case!) It appears that using Merciless Rend increases your damage over simply attacking thrice with the secondary 1d6 agile attack (obviously,) but doesn’t give you an increase over simply attacking with a 1d8 for your first strike.

Save this ability for your GM’s monster stat blocks.

Protective Bond: [●] If you and your eidolon would both have to take damage from an AoE, you can use this reaction to take the lower amount of damage instead of the higher amount of damage. This is pretty good in that it shores up one of the summoner’s biggest weaknesses, but in combat, it’ll compete for your reaction for stuff like Eidolon’s Opportunity [★]. It might be better to try to just position yourself in the backline away from your Eidolon whenever possible instead. If your GM really, really likes to throw fireballs or the like at you, though you might find this worth the while. Tough luck if you go against two pyromancers at once, though.

Pushing Attack: [◆] The first of a number of feats that allow your eidolon to get the Athletics-related abilities from the Bestiary. This one’s for the Push action, allowing you to Shove after a successful Strike without applying or contributing to MAP. You’ll need the shove trait on your unarmed attack, either from what you initially chose or from the Advanced Weaponry feat.

Shove is useful for getting an enemy into flank, forcing them to have to move back up to you, or pushing them off a cliff, but it’s more circumstantial by nature than trip or grapple, both of which confer direct debuffs.

This feat allows you to take advantage of that Athletics action without compromising on the accuracy of your usual Strike, but the ability to use Push afterwards without applying MAP hinges on whether or not your first Strike hits its target. If making the maneuver is more important than the Strike damage, you might prefer to use the Athletics action first before Striking as usual.

● This ability was indirectly nerfed in the Remaster, as monster abilities of this type previously simply allowed you to automatically apply the effects of the relevant maneuver. If your GM allows you to use the Legacy version of the abilities, you may want to retrain Athletics if redundant.

Transpose: [◆] For an action, you and your eidolon do a switcheroo and teleport to each other’s locations. I’m not sure what kind of build would really want to use this on a consistent basis. Most summoners will, ideally, want to be a sizable distance from combat, and eidolons will usually want to be in the fray, so swapping spots won’t usually be very good. Melee summoners will likely be very close to their eidolon anyway.

That being said, it can still give you some pretty nifty mobility if you’re farther away than the distance you’d cover with Tandem Movement [★], and has an interesting combo with Unfetter Eidolon [◆], but it’s still rather circumstantial.

Weighty Impact: [●] Like Pushing Attack [◆], this allows you to make an Athletics action after a hit without applying or contributing to MAP. This one’s for the Knockdown action, which permits a Trip attempt. You’ll need the trip trait on your unarmed attack, either from what you initially chose or from the Advanced Weaponry feat.

Tripping is great. It makes it easier for your party to hit that enemy and makes it harder for that enemy to hit your party. It takes an action for that enemy to get back up, but that action provokes AoOs, so if you’re taking this, you should probably already have Eidolon’s Opportunity [★].

This feat allows you to take advantage of that Athletics action without compromising on the accuracy of your usual Strike, but the ability to use Knockdown afterwards without applying MAP hinges on whether or not your first Strike hits its target. If making the maneuver is more important than the Strike damage, you might prefer to use the Athletics action first before Striking as usual.

● This ability was indirectly nerfed in the Remaster, as monster abilities of this type previously simply allowed you to automatically apply the effects of the relevant maneuver. If your GM allows you to use the Legacy version of the abilities, you may want to retrain Athletics if redundant.

12th Level Feats

There are some pretty fantastic options at this level, but they might not appeal to every build.

Flexible Transmogrification: [●] Every morning, pick an evolution feat of 6th level or lower, and your eidolon gets that feat for the day. This is like the construct eidolon’s Reconfigure Evolution [●] ability, but you don’t need to spend downtime or make a Crafting check. If you’re a fan of the more circumstantial options, and your party is good at acquiring knowledge of encounters beforehand, this is the feat for you. If you’re indecisive and don’t know which of the feats at this level you like the best and want to push your decisions for later, this is also the feat for you.

Grasping Limbs: [ ★ ] Like Pushing Attack [◆] and Weighty Impact [●], but for the Grab action, allowing you to make a follow-up Grapple without applying or contributing to MAP. This requires the grapple trait, which you can’t automatically get right off the bat, so Advanced Weaponry is an indirect feat requirement unless they print some other way to get the grapple trait on your eidolon’s attacks.

The Grab action is fantastic. It immobilizes your foe and reduces their AC, and they need to roll an Escape check to break out. The grabbed condition also means you need to succeed on a DC 5 flat check to use manipulate actions, which is amazing for shutting down enemy spellcasters. Additionally, so long as your foe doesn’t Escape, you can automatically maintain the grabbed condition by just using the Grab action each turn, no roll. There’s a reason why you don’t get this at the same level as Pushing Attack and Weight Impact.

This feat allows you to take advantage of that Athletics action without compromising on the accuracy of your usual Strike, but the ability to use Grab afterwards without applying MAP hinges on whether or not your first Strike hits its target. If making the maneuver is more important than the Strike damage, you might prefer to use the Athletics action first before Striking as usual.

● This ability was indirectly nerfed in the Remaster, as monster abilities of this type previously simply allowed you to automatically apply the effects of the relevant maneuver. If your GM allows you to use the Legacy version of the abilities, this is more powerful. Unlike Pushing Attack and Weighty Impact, however, keeping your eidolon’s Athletics modifier high is still somewhat important since it determines the Escape DC.

Link Focus: [◆] Following the Remaster’s changes to the Refocus action, you no longer need feats to get extra Focus points in between combats—you can already Refocus as often as you like. To put this more in line with classes reprinted in the Remaster, this would simply mean that you can refill all your focus points with a single Refocus (10 minutes) versus having to do it multiple times (20 or 30 minutes). I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a situation where I could spare 10 minutes in between combats, but not 20 or 30. Your mileage may vary.

Summoner’s Call: [◆] As a reaction, if you or your eidolon takes damage, teleport your eidolon next to you. This can be somewhat useful if your eidolon is in the fray, far away from you, and an enemy runs up to your summoner to

attack them. This might be useful for the devotion phantom or something, but in that case, you probably won’t want to be in the situation where your eidolon is _way_ away from you in the first place. You can also use this if your eidolon is taking too much damage and want to get them out of the fray.

I generally prefer Reactive Dismissal [●] overall, even though it has a more restrictive trigger, because it reduces a ton of damage and also costs a 4th level feat instead of a 12th level one.

Towering Size: [ ★ ] Your eidolon is now Huge. Permanently. If you’ve already picked Hulking Size [●] because you wanted big boy reach, obviously you’re going to want to double down and take this.

14th Level Feats

Starting at this level onwards, most of the options available to you are pretty good. If any of these feats were available at lower levels, they would have been blue, but here, they’re just green.

Airborne Form: [ ★ ] Flight! Permanent flight! That’s _fantastic!_ You were already able to grant your eidolon flight at 9th level with Evolution Surge, but that was only temporary and cost a focus point and 2 actions. This feat makes that flight permanent, no duration or required setup time attached. This requires the kind of meh Glider Form [◆] feat as a prerequisite, but I feel it’s worth it.

● You can get an animal companion with innate flight right away at 1st level, but since eidolons are more like a PC in their own right, you have to be patient and wait until 14th level. However, it’s still earlier than the permanent flight feats most PC ancestries get, and it’s only a level behind strix PCs. ● If your eidolon is big enough, your summoner can ride with them, though it means you’ll lose an action per turn unless you have Steed Form [●] or cast Evolution Surge. As of writing, no animal companions have both the mount special ability and innate flight, so you win when it comes to flying steeds. Onwards to the skies, my trusty eidolon!

Resilient Shell: [●] Your eidolon gains resistance to physical damage equal to its Constitution modifier. Simple, straightforward, and effective. If your eidolon is often a big target, it doesn’t hurt to take this.

Share Eidolon Magic: [●] Now, your summoner can cast your eidolon’s innate spells using their spell slots. If you have a fey eidolon or are otherwise going all-in on the spellcaster eidolon feats, this is pretty good for action economy,

since it means you can use Act Together to have your summoner cast the spells you’ve gained while your eidolon makes its Strikes.

Spell-Repelling Form: [●] Your eidolon gets a +1 status bonus to all saving throws against magic. In a game where every +1 matters, this is great.

● The status bonus won’t stack with effects such as heroism or guidance. ● You only get this at 14th level, while the Sorcerer can get an equivalent feat at 8th level, and the Leshy and Orc ancestries can spend two feats to get a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against magic at 9th level. Perhaps it’s considered more expensive for the martial-equivalent eidolon?

16th Level Feats

For most summoners, Ever-Vigilant Senses [★] is the clear winner at this

level, but the other two options may appeal more to specific builds.

Effortless Concentration: [ ● ] Sustain a spell for free every round. For summoning spell builds, this is an auto-pick [★], but any Summoner can take advantage of this feat with the right spell selection.

Ever-Vigilant Senses: [ ★ ] Nothing gets past your eidolon. They get a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception, which is essentially pseudo-master Perception. Additionally, they can no longer be flanked by equal or lower-level creatures. Not only that, but they automatically get checks to disbelieve nearby illusions, and all invisible creatures and objects automatically turn concealed instead of undetected with no roll needed. This is a _lot_ for just one feat with no prerequisites.

● For angel eidolons, this may make your symbiosis ability partially redundant. Check out my rating for Traveler’s Aura [●] under Angel Eidolon for more.

Trample: [●] Another feat that gives your eidolon an ability straight out of the Bestiary. For three actions, it Strides twice (no flying, swimming, or burrowing allowed) and can move through the spaces of smaller enemies. Every enemy it runs over has to make a basic Reflex save against the damage of its second attack.

You’ll probably want to have taken Hulking Size [●] and Towering Size [★] in order to make the most out of this feat (for maximum square footage, size of enemies affected, and for the fact that you’re probably going to have more

trouble squeezing past enemies otherwise), but for those eidolons, this is a neat ability that can be utilized for both mobility and AoE damage.

● The damage seems like it should be increased by Boost Eidolon since the damage is equal to that of your eidolon’s secondary attack, making Act Together to Boost Eidolon and then Trample a pretty good combo.

18th Level Feats

The two best options at this level both have prerequisites, so if they don't fit your build, you might want to look at feats from earlier levels.

Link Wellspring: [ ▼ ] As of the Remaster, you can already Refocus as many times as you want in between combats. This change, alongside Link Focus [◆], renders Link Wellspring obsolete.

Magical Master: [ ★ ] The ultimate eidolon spellcaster feat. Now, you and your eidolon can cast spells of every level from 1 to 9 per day, giving you more juice for your spellcasting than any other bounded caster.

● Unlike the prerequisite feats, fey eidolons don’t get this for free, so they’ll have to pick this up like everyone else.

True Transmogrification: [◆] You can swap out any number of evolution feats you’ve taken for other evolution feats every morning without having to spend the time to retrain, ostensibly giving your eidolon an unparalleled level of daily flexibility. This doesn’t actually grant you a feat in and of itself like Flexible Transmogrification [●], however, which would’ve made this feat somewhat better. It definitely is a lot of flexibility, though.

● You can only swap out feats for feats you could have acquired at the levels you spent feat slots on them. For example, if you picked Advanced Weaponry, Alacritous Action, and Bloodletting Claws at 1st, 2nd, and 4th levels, you couldn’t swap them out for Resilient Shell, Ever-Vigilant Senses, and Trample. ● Weird Rules (and Unethical Life Pro Tips): You need to meet the prerequisites if you want to acquire a feat using True Transmogrification, but there’s technically no clause that says that you can’t swap out evolution feats that are prerequisites for other evolution feats you have. The rules for retraining state that if you retrain out of a feat, your feats that list it as a prerequisite stop functioning… but this technically isn’t retraining. However, even with that in mind, one interesting combo comes to mind... Grasping Limbs [★] doesn’t list any prerequisites, but

states “choose one action with the grapple trait.” Take the Advanced Weaponry feat to grant your eidolon’s main attack the grapple trait, then take Grasping Limbs, then swap out Advanced Weaponry to technically still gain the benefits of the Grab action on the attack. I don’t recommend trying this on your GM, though.

20th Level Feats

Congrats, you made it to the land where few campaigns tread. The Summoner only has three printed capstone feats as of Secrets of Magic, but they’re mostly pretty good. If in doubt, pick Eternal Boost [★].

Eternal Boost: [ ★ ] This is the Summoner’s version of the “constant quickened” capstone feat almost every class gets. Your version lets you use your Quickened to cast focus cantrips. You don’t have to worry about fitting your focus cantrips into your action economy anymore.

● As a little bonus, this feat allows you to be constantly casting a focus cantrip even when you’re not using the Repeat a Spell exploration activity, so you can have it up even before you take your first turn in initiative. This is mostly good for Reinforce Eidolon [●] if it takes a hit before it can act, but casting Boost Eidolon before combat might circumstantially be useful if your GM says you can take reactions like Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] when an enemy provokes it before your first turn. ● This makes Extend Boost [★] redundant, so if you took that feat, retrain it. If you took Link Focus [◆] and retraining it would put your Focus Pool to 1, swap it out for another focus spell. ● This doesn’t stack with other sources of quickened like haste , even if both you and your eidolon are quickened separately.

Legendary Summoner: [ ★ ] The capstone feat for summoning spell builds. Trading a 9th-level spell slot for two 10th-level summoning spells is fantastic. Bounded spellcasters don’t normally get 10th level spells, so this is great. Unless you’re playing with the “proficiency without level” alternate rule, you _need_ to heighten your summoning spells in order for them to stay relevant in combat, and this is how you do that.

Twin Eidolon: [●] This is getting out of hand. Now, there are two of them!

...Anyway, this capstone allows you to turn into an exact copy of your Eidolon while manifesting them, giving you all of their physical statistics and abilities,

but keeping your own mental stats. In this way, it functions similarly to Meld into Eidolon [▼], but obviously, two eidolons are better than one.

You’re giving up your summoner’s spellcasting and a lot of PC abilities to use this feat, so what do you get in return? Well, your AC is probably lower than your eidolon’s, so this will help defend your summoner if they’re usually easy to hit. Additionally, this means that you can make four attacks per turn with your eidolon’s attack proficiencies instead of three… but you’ll still share the same MAP, so this isn’t particularly appealing. A more appealing option is using Act Together to both strike twice and use a special two-action activity your eidolon has that doesn’t advance MAP, such as Breath Weapon.

This is definitely a lot more interesting of a feat than Eternal Boost [★], but it’s definitely not _necessarily_ better. Using this ability will change how you plan out your actions per turn in a major way. Look over your build and all of your eidolon’s available abilities, and ask yourself if what you’re giving up—not only your summoner’s spellcasting, but a capstone feat slot, too—is worth this ability.

● Unfortunately, Share Eidolon Magic [●] only works one way, so you can’t use it to keep your spellcasting abilities while in eidolon form. Boo. ● Combining this with Towering Size [★] and Eidolon’s Opportunity [★], especially if you chose the plant eidolon, gives you a stupid amount of battlefield presence. Still only one reaction per turn, though. ● Weird Rules: I wonder if summoners with devotion phantom eidolons can still use Dutiful Retaliation [●] while using this feat. It’d be pretty nifty if it worked that way. Like, you might not be able to use your own normal “summoner” kit, but can your eidolon’s abilities still affect you in Twin Eidolon form? How about Tandem Strike [◆]? Ask your GM, but honestly, I’m unsure what I would even rule if one of my players asked me this question.

Skills and Skill Feats

You share all your skill proficiencies with your eidolon. If your summoner is super proficient at doing backflips, your eidolon will be pretty good too. You can’t give your eidolon and summoner skill ranks separately, similarly to how you get ability score increases separately.

This can be frustrating if you want to specialize in skills in which you have a stark statistical difference. For example, if you want your eidolon to make use

of Athletics options, you’ll probably want to invest in Athletics. However, unless you pump your summoner’s Strength, they won’t be able to utilize Athletics nearly as well, even if they have the same proficiency. In this kind of situation, your summoner may have fewer fully-leveled skills they can effectively utilize than other characters of equivalent level. Dual Studies [●] will help alleviate this problem, but only to an extent, because it only progresses the two skills to Expert.

If you want skill feats on your eidolon, check out Skilled Partner [●].

Acrobatics: [●] For a summoner, your Dexterity is probably going to be higher than your Strength, so this can be useful for more nimbly moving about the battlefield, breaking out of grapples, walking on tightropes 50 feet above a tank full of sharks, and the like. DEX eidolons also have a bit to gain from investing in this.

● Acrobatics currently doesn’t have any printed 15th level skill feats, but I would consider Nimble Crawl [●] to be an honorary Legendary skill feat. It’s okay at Expert, pretty decent at Master, but at Legendary, you straight up aren’t off-guard while prone. ● I love Kip Up [★]. For a free action, stand up from prone without provoking reactions. I’m sensing a trend here. This is probably better for front-liner eidolons who are more prone to being knocked down by enemies, but honestly, if you have the skill feat slot to spare, take this on your Summoner too.

Arcana: [◆] Arcane summoners will automatically be trained in this. You probably won’t have the book smarts of the Wizard or Witch, but it’s still a useful skill to have. If you’re an arcane caster and you want to take advantage of Extend Boost [★], though, you’re probably going to want to put ranks into this [●].

● If you’re ranking this up, you might want to take the Arcane Sense [●] skill feat, which offers you an innate detect magic cantrip that scales as your proficiency increases. It doesn’t heighten nearly as quickly, but hey, it frees up a cantrip slot.

Athletics: [ ★ ] Your summoner likely isn’t going to be winning too many wrestling matches, but your eidolon probably will.

● If your eidolon wants to (or if you want to?) specialize in combat maneuvers like Trip and Grab, Titan Wrestler [★] is pretty important. However, it

becomes slightly redundant if you pick up Hulking Size [●] and Towering Size [★] at later levels. ● (Fighters Hate Him!) Be A Caster With Legendary Proficiency In Attack Actions With This One Simple Trick: Your Strikes will never go above Expert, but you can get Athletics to Legendary like any other character with any other skill. That means you’ll be scaling pretty well with “attacks” like Grapple, Shove, and Trip. You might miss the broadside of a barn with a sword swing, but you could very well be good as hell at suplexing that barn to the very ground it was built on. Unfortunately, you can still only use Tandem Strike [◆] with, well… Strikes.

Crafting: [▼] You’re certainly no Alchemist or Inventor. However, summoners with a construct eidolon will want this [●] if they want to take advantage of their eidolon’s modular abilities... but even then, you could get away with leaving this at Trained.

● Specialty Crafting [●] will give you a neat bonus if you like crafting items during downtime, but it won’t help you when reconfiguring your eidolon’s evolutions.

Deception: [●] Deception doesn’t come up nearly as often as the other two social skills, but with your high Charisma, you’ll still be pretty darn good at it. Your Eidolon might also want to Feint every once in a while, though your eidolon doesn’t get abilities that enable this kind of build like Rogue and Swashbuckler do.

Diplomacy: [ ★ ] In social encounters, this will be your go-to most of the time. You have the high Charisma to make it work. You can even get your eidolon to Aid you by, like, emphatically agreeing with everything you say, or something.

● Bon Mot [●] is stellar if you or your party likes spells with Will saving throws, or perhaps even a set-up for Demoralize. ● Once you gain access to Glad-Hand [★], there’s little reason why you shouldn’t be using it every time you meet a new face.

Intimidation: [ ★ ] A great social skill, and you’ll be stellar at it with your high Charisma. Demoralize is a fantastic combat option that helps everybody in your party. You can also team up with your eidolon to effectively get around the cooldown period on Demoralize. Out of combat, Coerce is a much harsher option than Diplomacy, but I definitely can’t say it’s not effective.

● If you’re not leveling Strength, Intimidating Glare [★] is almost a necessity to make sure you can Demoralize beyond language barriers, including against animals and the like. If you are (or your Eidolon is) leveling Strength, Intimidating Prowess [★] comes later but is a straight upgrade over Intimidating Glare that renders it redundant. ● Battle Cry [★] is amazing action economy. If both you and your eidolon pick it up, that’s even better. ● If you make it all the way to Legendary, Scare to Death [★] is a super-Demoralize that can outright kill on a critical success. It has the incapacitation trait, but it still frightens 2 on a success and frightens 1 on a failure and you can use it as many times per day as you like (but only once on a specific target within a single minute).

Lore: [▼] The inherent specificity of Lore makes it a circumstantial skill by default, and you’re probably not going to be the brainiest of your party, anyway. This is mostly just for players that want to emphasize a particular RP angle of their character.

● If you do want to pick up a Lore skill, go with Additional Lore [●] instead of spending your valuable skill increases. Nearly every background automatically trains you in a Lore skill right off the bat, so you should easily meet the prerequisite.

Medicine: [●] It’s nice to have at least one person in your party that’s good at any particular skill, but this goes double for Medicine.

● Battle Medicine [★] is super nice for anybody. It’s only one action, which means it’s pretty easy to squeeze into your turn. After you target someone with this, they’re immune for 1 day, but you and your eidolon are separate creatures that share a HP pool, so you can effectively Battle Medicine twice a day. Neat. ● If it’s decided that you’re going to be your party’s main medic, you’re going to want to take Continual Recovery [★] so you don’t spend an entire afternoon just trying to top up your Fighter’s HP before walking to the next room in the dungeon. You can also take Ward Medic [●] to speed up Treat Wounds in between combats by allowing you to treat multiple people at once, but honestly, just take Continual Recovery and you’ll be fine.

Nature: [◆] Primal summoners will automatically be trained in this. It’s Wisdom-based, not Intelligence-based, so this is slightly better for a go-to Recall Knowledge or Identify Magic skill If you’re a primal caster and you want

to take advantage of Extend Boost [★], this is probably more important to you [●].

Occultism: [◆] Occult summoners will automatically be trained in this. However, you probably won’t have the book smarts of the Wizard or Witch. If you’re an occult caster and you want to take advantage of Extend Boost [★], though, you’re probably going to want to put ranks into this [●].

Performance: [▼] Your Summoner will have high Charisma, so they’ll definitely be good at this, but the skill in and of itself doesn’t have that many direct applications. Take it if you like the RP aspect of it, I guess. Or if you want to multiclass into Bard.

Religion: [◆] Divine summoners will automatically be trained in this. It’s Wisdom-based, not Intelligence-based, so this is slightly better for a go-to Recall Knowledge or Identify Magic skill. If you’re a divine caster and you want to take advantage of Extend Boost [★], this is probably more important to you [●].

● Battle Prayer [●] and Sacred Defense [●] aren’t really all that powerful, but as single actions, they could possibly help you pad out your turn. Maybe. You can use Sacred Defense to generate a small temporary HP buffer before battle if you want, too.

Society: [◆] Your Intelligence likely won’t be very high, but this is still a pretty useful Recall Knowledge skill. It doesn’t hurt to at least be Trained if you have room to spare.

Stealth: [●] If you and/or your eidolon want to be a stealthy scout, this is the skill for you. Even if you don’t, you never know when you might need to take an inconspicuous approach to a situation.

● Even if you don’t want to be the stealthiest member in your party, if one of your teammates has Quiet Allies [●], it’s good to be at least trained in this.

Survival: [▼] This skill is pretty situational, but you can follow tracks, I guess…? You can probably save it for the Druid or Ranger, though.

Thievery: [◆] Your Dexterity is probably not half-bad, so this isn’t terrible for a summoner, but the idea of getting your Dexterity eidolon to pick locks for you is pretty interesting. You can probably leave it to the Rogue, though.

Misc. Skill Feats:

● I wouldn’t particularly say Dubious Knowledge [◆] is a good feat, per se, but a fun GM might exploit this in the best possible way.

General Feats

This section is not yet 100% comprehensive, and probably will not be for at least some time.

Armor Proficiency: [●] If you take this, you get light armor proficiency. Hooray, AC! As of the remaster, this also scales at 13th level, the same time you would scale in unarmored defense, which makes this a rather solid pick to shore up the defenses of your Summoner.

● You can take this feat multiple times to get medium or heavy armor proficiency, but man, that’s a lot of feat slots. Have you considered lifting some weights and taking up arms in the name of your deity instead?

● It’s worth taking a look at the Sentinel [●] archetype. It’ll take a class feat slot, which is generally more valuable than a general feat, but it grants you medium armor immediately and opens up some interesting defensive options. You can also take this twice and Sentinel to get scaling heavy armor proficiency, which is powerful, if a little feat-hungry.

○ The reason why you have to take it twice is because Sentinel will only grant you scaling heavy armor proficiency if you already have proficiency in medium armor. If you take Sentinel when you have only light armor proficiency, you’ll only get bumped up to medium, even though you would get medium armor proficiency if you took it with only unarmored proficiency. You could also possibly interpret taking this on top of Sentinel only once will grant you scaling medium armor proficiency and non-scaling heavy armor proficiency. A very mean GM might rule that if you already have a Sentinel and a single Armor Proficiency feat, you couldn’t take Armor Proficiency again if you wanted scaling heavy armor. If you do want heavy armor, just take this twice and be very nice to your GM. That’s the real takeaway here: the ultimate minmaxing tip is to just be nice to your GM. Wait, we were supposed to be talking about a general feat, right?

Weapon Proficiency: [◆] For melee summoners, this is one way to get martial weapon proficiency. As of the remaster, it also scales at 11th level, the same level you progress with simple weapons.

● I’d recommend also looking at ancestry feats that grant you scaling weapon proficiencies, if you’re interested.

Adopted Ancestry: [●] This can make for some pretty interesting character builds by mixing and matching ancestry feats, or picking up good options from an ancestry with a Charisma penalty. It goes best with humans, who can take this feat at 1st level, or other ancestries like the Halfling and Anadi who have this built-in to some of their ancestry options.

Ancestral Paragon: [●] If you’re eyeing multiple 1st-level ancestry feats, Ancestral Paragon is the way to go. Save your higher-level ancestry feat slots for higher-level ancestry feats.

Diehard: [●] Like Toughness [★], this feat helps you not die by letting you go up to dying 5 instead of dying 4 before your soul gets sent to the Boneyard. However, it only helps you with death rolls and not keeping you up, conscious, and in the action, so I consider it slightly less important. Still nice, though.

Fleet: [ ★ ] +5 foot bonus to your land speed. Fantastic on nearly any character. If you have Steed Ally [●], it’s more skippable.

Incredible Initiative: [ ★ ] Get a +2 circumstance bonus to all initiative rolls. It’ll work whether you’re using Perception when you notice unexpected monsters around a corner, Stealth when you’re making an ambush, or Athletics when you’re busting down a wall with a pitcher of kool-aid and going “oh yeah!” to start a combat, or any other initiative roll you can think of. You and your eidolon share initiative, so going first is always welcome. However, make sure someone in your party doesn’t already have Incredible Initiative, Scout dedication, or similar, since it would grant you the same non-stacking circumstance bonus.

Toughness: [ ★ ] An extra hit point per level seems small, but in a game where you’ll often get slapped around, that one or two last hit points can make all the difference. I take this on practically every single character I build. Since you share your HP with your eidolon, this is super useful. Additionally, your recovery flat checks become 5% easier, which is a nice bonus, but let’s hope you won’t ever need it.

Canny Acumen: [ ★ ] This is an absolutely fantastic general feat, but has some pretty weird progression. If you know you’re only going to play at 1st and 2nd level, you can bump up your Perception to expert, and if you know you’re not going to play past 8th level, you can use this to bump up your Reflex saving throws to expert. At 17th level, you can use this to rank your Perception and Reflex saves to master, which you can only get otherwise via multiclassing. Between those levels, though, it does nothing [▼], so retrain if you have to.

Keep in note, though, that this will only increase your summoner’s Perception and saving throw proficiencies and not your eidolon’s, which is a darn shame, but it’s still really, really nice.

Incredible Investiture: [●] You can easily meet the Charisma requirement. This gives you 2 extra magical item investment slots. Unless you’re starting your campaign past 11th level, you should probably know by now whether you want to take this or not. If you _are_ starting your campaign past 11th level, you likely won’t be meeting the investment cap with just starting gear, so it’s a harder call.

Archetypes

There are a lot of archetypes, so this section is not (yet) 100% comprehensive.

Generally, one of the biggest catches with picking options for a summoner outside your class is that they’ll only boost the capabilities of your Summoner, not your eidolon. No Flurry of Blows for them, that’s for sure. It’s a shame that you can’t really make full use of most of these archetypes’ cool martial abilities, even for melee summoners, who are usually limited to using Tandem Strike to attack once per round. On the other hand, boosting your own spellcasting and skill capabilities is super feasible and can help round out your summoner’s role as a spellcaster and support.

As of the Remaster, any increases to spellcasting proficiency apply to all traditions at once, so when you’re picking an archetype dedication to acquire extra spell slots, you don’t have to worry about deciding between a matching tradition to have matching DC progression or a new tradition to expand your available spells. Summoners investing in Extend Boost [★] may be more interested in picking a spellcasting archetype with a matching spell tradition so that the required skill increases for picking up higher-level spellcasting archetype feats also cover the skill checks required for Extend Boost. Otherwise, just pick whatever spellcasting tradition feels right to you.

Multiclass Archetypes

Alchemist: [◆] For most summoners, Intelligence is kind of an out-of-the-way stat, but there might be some appeal here for summoners with construct eidolons, or arcane and occult summoners that took Extend Boost. There’s only a limited amount of things you can do with this archetype, though. Given that you don’t get any way to make your alchemical item DCs scale, you’ll probably want to avoid poisons and the like. You become trained with alchemical bombs with this dedication, but because they’re considered martial weapons, your proficiency won’t scale. You’ll probably be restricted to elixirs and mutagens.

Additionally, your advanced alchemy level will initially lag behind by 1 at 2nd level, before eventually lagging behind by 5 at 12th level and beyond. The difference will be even greater if you don’t take the Expert Alchemy [●] and Master Alchemy [●] feats.

If you want healing abilities, there are probably better ways to go about that, but there’s probably an interesting build somewhere in here where you feed mutagens to your eidolon. It might require a bit of GM fiat, though, since there’s not much explicit rules text on whether or not eidolons can carry, draw, and use consumable, non-magical items.

Barbarian: [▼] Other than being very thematic for a Tandem Strike build with an anger phantom eidolon, the barbarian multiclass doesn’t really have much going for it for a Summoner. Your Rage doesn’t scale, and since ideally Tandem Strike builds don’t want their summoner to attack again at full MAP after a Tandem Strike, you’re only getting that paltry Rage damage, at most, once per round, which is not much. Additionally, unless you find some other ways to shore up your Summoner’s AC, the penalty from Rage is gonna hurt you. The scaling temporary HP is nice, I guess, but I don’t think it’s worth the AC penalty. Worst of all… Rage means you can’t cast spells with verbal components, which is almost all of them. If you want to boost your summoner’s abilities as a melee combatant, there are probably better ways to go about that.

● If you do want to use spells and other concentrate actions mid-rage, Moment of Clarity [●] is a must, but the action economy here is still far from ideal. ● Demoralize is also a Concentrate action, so for Intimidate builds that want to rage (for some reason), Raging Intimidation [●] is practically a feat tax. You get Intimidating Glare for free, but with your higher

Strength, you’re probably going to want Intimidating Prowess, which (for the most part) makes Intimidating Glare redundant. Additionally, you get Scare to Death for free at 15th level, which is nice, I guess, but spending a class feat in exchange for a skill feat, another skill feat that may very well basically do nothing, and the ability to use an action that other characters can just do innately without restriction is… not very good. ● The one thing that appeals to me the most about the Barbarian multiclass dedication is the Barbarian Resiliency [★] feat. As a 10 HP per level class, this is the only way for the Summoner to increase their max HP via multiclassing. Does it make it worth going all-in on the Barbarian archetype? Probably not, but it’s something.

Bard: [ ★ ] A Charisma-based occult spontaneous spellcasting archetype. If you don’t like being a bounded spellcaster, this is a fantastic option for increasing your summoner’s number of spells per day. Additionally, the Bard focus cantrips are, for the most part, pretty spectacular, and you’ll be getting them at full power. It makes for a pretty convincing reason to ditch Boost Eidolon.

● Anthemic Performance [★], which nets you the courageous anthem focus cantrip, is pretty great. The +1 status bonus to damage will quickly become irrelevant, but in Pathfinder 2e’s tiers-of-success system, every +1 to attack rolls and saving throws counts. ○ If you have courageous anthem and Boost Eidolon up at the same time, the status bonus to damage won’t stack, but the larger bonus from Boost Eidolon will override the small bonus from courageous anthem while still getting the bonus to attack rolls and saves against fear. ● Rallying Anthem [★] is pretty darn good. It has the same effect as your Reinforce Eidolon (and doesn’t stack with it), except it buffs all your party members within 60 feet of you instead of just your eidolon. ● Lingering Composition [★] is a pretty nice focus spell, allowing you to make a Performance check to make your cantrip compositions last extra rounds. That’s some nice action economy, and your Charisma modifier to Performance is likely pretty high. You don’t lose the focus point on a failure, which is nice. Just like Extend Boost, keep in mind that you can’t use this if you use Inspire Courage within Act Together. ● Fortissimo Composition [★], though you get it pretty late, will allow you to boost your status bonus from courageous anthem, rallying anthem, or song of strength to +2 or +3, making it comparable to the attack bonus

from heightened heroism and the like. You won’t be able to use this and lingering composition at the same time, though.

Champion: [ ★ ] This is absolutely AMAZING for people who want to walk the path of the melee Summoner, giving you straight up heavy armor proficiency and allowing you to dump Dexterity. Choosing to enter the melee with your eidolon is _still_ pretty risky, don’t get me wrong, but if you want to do it, this is one of the best ways to go about that.

Even if you’re not intending to pick up Tandem Strike, the heavy armor can be welcome for all Summoners, though the Strength requirement can be a hard ask.

● Healing Touch [●] is great, and using a Champion’s Reaction [★] on your own eidolon is even greater. The fact that both of these scale at the same rate as full Champions is the greatest. ○ Keep in mind that both you and your eidolon have to share one reaction. If you use a Champion’s Reaction, your eidolon won’t be able to use Eidolon’s Opportunity, if you have that feat. ○ Additionally, keep in mind that Champion’s Reaction has a 15 foot range. If you’re just here for the armor and don’t want to position yourself in melee most of the time, it’s probably less useful for you. ● After getting Champion’s Reaction, feats that make that reaction even better like Ranged Reprisal [★], Unimpeded Step [◆], and Weight of Guilt [★] are just gravy. ● The armor proficiency doesn’t automatically scale, but you can get it up to Expert at level 14 with Diverse Armor Expert [★], which is basically a feat tax.

● For Tandem Strike builds, Divine Ally [●] to get Blade Ally is a neat way to get both critical specialization effects and one free rune on your favorite weapon. Comparatively, the shield and steed allies are pretty meh.

Cleric: [●] As far as spellcasting multiclass dedications go, the cleric, a prepared divine caster, isn’t half bad. It’s based on Wisdom, which definitely won’t be your highest stat, but it’s probably not too low, either. With the extremely limited amount of spells you know, you’ll definitely appreciate being able to prepare any spell from the divine list at the start of each adventuring day.

You can also automatically prepare your deity’s granted spells in your Cleric spellcasting slots. If you need help picking one, I recommend checking out The Gentleman’s Guide To Faith.

Druid: [●] Like the cleric, the druid is a Wisdom prepared spellcaster, and they can select any spell from their list, but they’re primal spellcasters instead of divine.

● I really like Tempest Surge [★] as a focus spell. It deals 1d12 electricity damage to a single target per spell rank. This is nice enough on its own, but if your target fails their saving throw, they become clumsy 2 for a round. It might be just for one round, but that clumsy 2 can be absolutely nasty when you focus-fire a single target with your party. ○ It used to also deal persistent damage before the Remaster, but the spell is still really good regardless. ● You can get an animal companion for another token for you to control on the battlemap through the Druid dedication, but if that’s what you’re here for, you’ll likely be better served by the Beastmaster [★] archetype, even if you’re already taking the Druid multiclass for the spellcasting.

Fighter: [◆] The Fighter dedication can be an interesting pick for Tandem Strike builds, but it’s hard for a summoner to make full use of the options that the Fighter class has to offer. Meeting the 14 STR and 14 DEX requirement might leave you with a pretty weird stat spread, especially for melee summoners who plan to pick up armor proficiencies. Additionally, a lot of fighter feats grant you specific attack actions, which will _not_ work with Tandem Strike. The Fighter dedication will also give you training in martial weapons, which scales to expert with Diverse Weapon Expert [●], but it might be better to just get weapon proficiency from an ancestry and specialize in just one type of weapon.

● Opportunist [●] is an interesting choice. Your eidolon will always hit harder than you do, so you’d probably rather be using your reaction for Eidolon’s Opportunity, but you might be able to threaten more spaces on the battlefield this way.

Gunslinger: [▼] Alas, the legend of the 1st edition chained summoner Gundolon is dead and buried, Brigh bless their soul. You can’t Tandem Strike with ranged weapons, so using guns effectively in combat alongside your eidolon is an impossibility. This leaves firearms (if you have access to them in the first place) as a last-resort option at best.

Inventor: [▼] The Inventor may be an interesting (and thematic) choice for summoners with construct eidolons who want to _really_ lean into Crafting. The bonuses conferred by the innovations, however, are pretty negligible.

● The weapon innovation seems interesting for a Tandem Strike build, but you don’t get a modification on it right away—you have to wait until 8th level to take Basic Modification for it to even really do anything. The buy-in to just add a handful of bonus traits to your weapon is super overpriced [▼]. ● The summoner is only innately trained in unarmored defense, so unless you picked up armor proficiency through some other dedication or feat, the armor innovation is straight up unusable [▼]. If you do have armor proficiency, somehow, this could be an interesting way to get a couple of elemental resistances or something, but there are probably easier ways to do that, such as via heritages or magical items. ● The construct innovation is one way to get a third token to control on the field, but you only get multiclass feats at half-level, so the companion will very quickly grow irrelevant in combat [▼]. Consider looking into the Clockwork Reanimator [●] archetype instead. ● Brilliant Crafter [◆] gives you scaling boosts to your Crafting skill proficiency at the earliest possible level, which will be shared by your eidolon. This might appeal to summoners with construct eidolons, who need Crafting to reconfigure their eidolon, but don’t want to skimp out on skill increases on other skills. Decide whether or not a class feat is worth three skill boosts.

Investigator: [▼] You might want to dip into this archetype for a feat or two if you want to play a summoner in a particularly intrigue-filled campaign, but other than that, there’s not much here for the Summoner. You probably won’t have the Intelligence to make full use of all of the class’s abilities, and it’s not very easy for a summoner to utilize the more martially oriented abilities.

Kineticist: [●] You’re not getting this multiclass archetype for the blasting. It doesn’t automatically scale without significant investment, and even then, you’ll greatly lag behind anyway. Instead, you’re likely picking this up for the neat, consistent utility that many of the impulses offer. Look for some of them that you like, then pick an element accordingly.

For more information on Kineticist feats and options, I recommend checking out HunterIV4’s PF2e Guide to the PF2e Kineticist.

● Hardwood Armor [●] and Metal Carapace [●] are pretty interesting ways to get medium armor, imparting a +3 AC bonus and requiring only a DEX modifier of +2 to get “standard” AC progression on your summoner, who would otherwise be a cloth caster. It scales with your highest armor proficiency (which seems to imply that it doesn’t scale with unarmored defense, so you may need to take Armor Proficiency as a general feat to get light armor first).

In addition, you get a free shield—which isn’t much, in and of itself, since you could just buy one anyway. The cooler part is that you can Shield Block with them without requiring the Shield Block feat itself, and once they break, you can simply resummon a new one by using the impulse again. It’s what the shield cantrip wishes it could be.

Metal Carapace gives you a harder shield than Hardwood Armor, meaning it negates more damage on a shield block, but it’ll vanish when you take a critical hit, so watch out.

You’ll need to take an action to have it up in the first place (on top of using an action to first channel your kinetic aura), and afterwards, it only lasts for 10 minutes. However, you might just be able to tell your GM “I re-cast it every 10 minutes out of combat.”

Be wary of the Strength +2 requirement, though, if you’d like to keep your summoner at full speed and not suffer a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity checks. You might be interested in taking Steed Form [●] to partially skirt around this penalty.

● The _really_ neat armor impulse, though, is Armor in Earth [★]. At the minimum level you can pick it up via the dedication, it’s already at its heightened state. It works similarly to the above armor effects, but instead of giving you a shield, it imparts heavy armor, giving you a +5 bonus to AC that requires only a +1 DEX modifier to fill out. Additionally, it gives you the armor specialization effect, which, in this case, is resistance to slashing damage equal to 2 + your armor’s potency rune modifier. Oh, and add the bulwark trait on top of that. That’s a lot of value.

Note that the armor slows you down 10 feet instead of 5 feet this time, requiring a Strength modifier of +3 to reduce to just a 5-foot penalty and negate the -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity checks. You may be

even more interested in taking Steed Form [●] to partially skirt around this penalty.

Also, as above, note you may need to take Armor Proficiency to get light armor proficiency first.

● Timber Sentinel [★] is great support for your eidolon and the rest of your party, allowing you to effectively cast scaling protector tree at will. Protector tree is just okay in and of itself, but it’s the spammability of this ability that makes it blue [★]. It can singlehandedly greatly increase the longevity of your entire party without actually healing, negating 10 HP of Strike damage per spell rank. Note that only the target of the Strike needs to be adjacent to the tree, so you don’t need to worry too much about your enemies’ positioning in order to take advantage of its benefits. ● Four Winds [★] is mobility and action economy for your entire party—or, well, 4 members of your party, anyway. By spending a two-action activity, four willing creatures within 30 feet can Stride (or Fly, if it has a fly Speed) up to half their Speed. If you’re in distance and can coordinate this with your party, this can be a great repositioning maneuver. It gets even better at 10th level, allowing the targets to move up to their full Speeds.

Magus: [▼] Nope, you can’t Tandem Spellstrike, unfortunately. Intelligence is probably an out-of-the-way stat for you. This archetype gives you simple weapon proficiency, but you already have that. If you want extra spellcasting, it’s probably better to get it from a non-bounded spellcasting dedication.

Monk: [ ● ] Tandem Strike builds who don’t want armor might be interested in the Monk archetype. By taking the dedication, your basic unarmed strikes become comparable to shortswords. Many of the unarmed attacks granted by the stance feats are better than most one-handed martial weapons, and you can still have free hands for shields and staves and the like. You won’t be able to utilize Flurry of Blunders alongside Tandem Strike though, so you might prefer the Martial Artist [●] dedication to get stances at earlier levels. If you like stance feats and the other monk feats, you might even want to take both.

● I love Mountain Stance [★] on cloth casters. Just by entering the stance, you get a 1d8 unarmed attack, which is comparable to most one-handed martial weapons (with forceful, but that’s probably not important for you). The real draw here is getting a +4 item bonus to AC when you enter the stance, that will stack with your explorer’s clothes runes or

bracers of armor. Now you can (mostly) dump DEX and enjoy a decently high AC. Be wary of the first round of a combat, though, when high-initiative enemies might attack you before you can enter your stance. ○ You’ll also want to take Mountain Stronghold [★] to increase your dexterity cap to AC from +0 to +1, allowing your AC to match up with light and medium armor. That’s supposed to only be a bonus to the feat’s “main” effect of being able to spend an action to get a +2 circumstance bonus to AC until the beginning of your next turn, but you can always just use a free hand to carry a shield, so it’s not too important. You have to wait 4 levels longer than summoners with the Martial Artist dedication to take it, though, and you can’t take the other follow-up feat, Mountain Quake [★], at all. ● Your summoner might only get cloth caster weapon proficiency progression, but they can still get legendary in Athletics like anyone else. That means you can take Whirling Throw [★] to chuck enemies around the battlefield like you’re competing at the hammer throw in the Olympics. Enjoy being a wrestling tag-team duo with your eidolon. You still have to deal with the fact that Grapple is an attack action, and you don’t get an auto-grab ability like your eidolon does, which means dealing with MAP, but Whirling Throw is so fantastic I’d say it’s worth the hassle. ● Monk Moves [●] gives you a +10 status bonus to your base speed whenever you’re not wearing armor, in case you want to match up with your eidolon with Alacritous Action [●]. However, arcane and primal summoners might just want to pick up a wand of 2nd level tailwind. ● Stoked Flame Stance [◆] isn’t particularly good if you get it via multiclassing, as the speed bonus only stacks with the Monk’s incredible movement class ability and not the watered-down Monk Moves archetype feat. If you don’t plan on getting status bonuses to speed from any other source, though, the +5 foot status bonus to speed this stance confers isn’t so bad.

Oracle: [ ★ ] A Charisma-based divine spontaneous spellcasting archetype. If you don’t like being a bounded spellcaster, this is a great option for increasing your summoner’s number of spells per day.

● First Revelation [●] gets you access to your chosen mystery’s initial revelation spell. However, compared to other focus spells you might pick

up through archetypes, this comes with the downside of activating your mystery’s minor curse for the rest of the day, which might be manageable depending on the mystery you choose and your build. However, you can never get the curse to decrease lower than minor for the rest of the day, even by Refocusing. When your curse progresses again to moderate, instead of getting the “your curse gets worse but you also get a thematic buff” effect that full Oracles get, you just become off-guard until you Refocus, which sucks. As a cloth caster, you’re probably easy enough to hit already, and it limits the usage of focus spells as a reliable reusable resource throughout your adventuring day. There are some pretty nifty spells to be had here, though, so maybe you’ll consider the tradeoffs worth it to make sure you have spells ready to go for any encounter over the adventuring day.

Psychic: [ ★ ] Psychic is another spontaneous spellcasting archetype: this time, of the occult tradition. It can be taken as either an Intelligence or Charisma-based caster, technically, but as the summoner is a Charisma-based spellcasting class, there’s no good reason to invest in Intelligence for a psychic multiclass dedication.

Compared to other multiclass spellcaster dedications, however, the dedication feat is an insane amount of value. You only get one cantrip instead of two, sure, but that cantrip is gained as its improved psi version. Additionally, you get the ability to amp it, giving you an extra focus point to spend on it a la a regular focus spell. There are several good picks here, and overall, it’s a fantastic way to keep your spellcasting potent over the course of a long adventuring day, presuming you get the time to Refocus.

● Frostbite [★] is even more excellent as a psi cantrip. Even when not amped, it reaches a max range of 120 feet, which is a huge distance compared to any other damaging cantrip. That’s great enough in and of itself, allowing yourself to reliably deal damage when enemies would otherwise be just out of reach. When amped, however, it deals 1d4 more damage for every spell rank than the normal scaling for frostbite , providing rather serviceable single-target damage. The really neat part is the fact that you gain temporary HP equal to half the damage your target takes, which is a fantastic way to make you—and your eidolon—all the more survivable without compromising on damage output. ● Guidance [★], as a psi cantrip, gets bumped up from an odd here-and-there bonus to a possibly fight-winning support focus spell

that can nudge fate itself. When using the cantrip normally, the range gets bumped up to 120 feet, which is alright, but when amped, you can use it as a reaction to boost a failing attack roll, Perception check, saving throw, or skill check by 1 retroactively. This means you can change a failure to a success or a critical failure to a normal failure. At 6th rank, the amped cantrip increases to a +2 bonus. You, your eidolon, and your teammates will all appreciate this. ● Warp step [●], as a psi cantrip, can help for when your summoner really needs to reposition. The normal cantrip gets boosted from a +5 to a +10 foot status bonus to your Speed, which is a nice bonus, but the really nice part is getting to amp it and use it (including the double Stride) as a single action. At 4th rank, you can just teleport instead.

Ranger: [▼] This isn’t appealing even for Tandem Strike builds, since you can’t get hunter’s edge effects through the archetype, which is, like, half of the draw of the class. You can’t really take advantage of the special Flourish actions, either. Maybe if you just want to be good at tracking down people and/or animals, I guess? At that point, though, just take the Bounty Hunter [◆] archetype.

Rogue: [ ● ] You don’t need to be stabbing things for this dedication to be a useful pick. The Rogue has a handful of very decent defensive options that can be useful on any caster. Additionally, for summoners who really want to lean into skill options, this will make you better at that. Also, this archetype gives you light armor proficiency, which is pretty sweet at lower levels. However, it doesn’t scale, so it's a relatively negligible bonus compared to the rest of the archetype past 13th level.

There’s a decent amount of overlap between this and the Swashbuckler [●] archetype, so take a look at both of them and see which one you like more.

● Nimble Dodge [●] is a pretty decent use of a reaction. When your summoner is attacked, get +2 to AC for that attack. It’ll mean your eidolon can’t use Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] that turn, though. ○ The Swashbuckler [★] archetype also offers this feat. ● Mobility [★] is fantastic, uh… well… mobility. If moving half your speed or less, you straight up don’t provoke reactions. Obviously, this is better the faster you are. I only wish that you could get this on your eidolon too, but oh well.

● Skill Mastery [★] is two skill increases (one Trained to Expert, and one Expert to Master) and a skill feat for a class feat. If you like skills, this is your best bet for getting even more of them. ○ Your eidolon will get the new skill proficiencies, but not the skill feat. ● Evasiveness [★] is a great way to shore up your paltry Reflex saves at 12th level by letting you advance it to Master. For comparison, without multiclassing, you’d have to wait until 17th level to take Canny Acumen (Reflex). ○ Unfortunately, your eidolon will not have their Reflex saves increased by this feat. A shame, but I still really like this regardless. ○ The Swashbuckler [★] archetype also offers this feat. ● You can probably skip Sneak Attacker [◆], since even Tandem Strike summoners will only be attacking, at most, once per round.

Sorcerer: [ ★ ] A Charisma-based spellcasting archetype. If you don’t like being a bounded spellcaster, this is a fantastic option for increasing your summoner’s number of spells per day. You can also pick your spellcasting tradition based on your bloodline.

● Dangerous Sorcery [★] is a great option for getting more bang for your buck if you’re a summoner who likes blasting spells. ● Bloodline Resistance [●] gives you a +1 status bonus to saving throws against magic, in case you want to get a matching outfit with your best bud eidolon who took Spell-Repelling Form [●] two levels ago.

Summoner: Nope, you can’t multiclass into Summoner if you’re already a Summoner. You only get one eidolon. No double dipping. Sorry.

Swashbuckler: [ ★ ] Like the Rogue, you don’t need to be stabbing things for this to be a useful pick. If you like investing in mid-combat social skills (and/or Acrobatics), Panache is a great little boost, giving you a cute little +5 foot status bonus to Speed once you succeed at Tumble Through or your chosen style’s skill check. Additionally, some of the feats you can pick up are just fantastic.

There’s a decent amount of overlap between this and the Rogue [●] archetype, so take a look at both of them and see which one you like more. For Free Archetype games, you’ll start running out of non-Strike-related class feats as you approach higher levels, so consider picking up a second archetype dedication.

● Nimble Dodge [●] is a pretty decent use of a reaction. When your summoner is attacked, get +2 to AC for that attack. It’ll mean your eidolon can’t use Eidolon’s Opportunity [★] that turn, though. ○ The Rogue [●] archetype also offers this feat. ● Charmed Life [★] is _fantastic_. For a reaction, get a +2 circumstance bonus to a saving throw. By virtue of taking this archetype, you already meet the prerequisite 14 CHA. Usually, saving throws are sparser and nastier than individual Strikes, so this is a big deal. If saves happen to come up outside of combat, you can use this then, too. ● Antagonize [●] is pretty interesting for Demoralize builds, letting you extend the duration of a Frightened condition if enemies don’t attack you. As a cloth caster, you might not have the AC to exactly want enemies swarming around you, but if you can plan around it by doing something like, say, strategically positioning your eidolon to strike advancing enemies with Eidolon’s Opportunity [★], it could make for a pretty neat build. ● One for All [★] is stupid good. You can use Diplomacy instead of a matching check in order to Aid allies up to 30 feet away from you. It’s a pretty stellar use of an action, and you have the Charisma to make it _fantastic_. See The Eidolon, The Aid Action, and You. ● I really love the Leading Dance [●] feat in both flavor and power. Make a Performance check against someone’s Will DC, and if you succeed, both you and your target move in _any_ direction of your choice. It’s super great in a game with flanking, cover, and all of that good tactical stuff. It’s a good reason to level Performance and take the Battledancer style. You need to be within melee range, though, which may not be ideal, and is the only thing keeping this from a blue [★] rating. ● Evasiveness [★] is a great way to shore up your paltry Reflex saves at 12th level by letting you advance it to Master. For comparison, without multiclassing, you’d have to wait until 17th level to take Canny Acumen (Reflex). ○ Unfortunately, your eidolon will not have their Reflex saves increased by this feat. A shame, but I still really like this regardless. ○ The Rogue [●] archetype also offers this feat. ● Swashbuckler’s Speed [●] gives you a constant +5 foot status bonus to Speed that effectively stacks with your Panache, which is great for summoners who _gotta_ go fast and already took Fleet. Unless you’re a Dwarf or something, this probably means you’ll be matching the speed of your Alacritous Action [●] eidolon with Fleet and without panache, or

with panache and without Fleet. If you have both, you’ll outrun them. Arcane and primal summoners might just want to get a wand of 2nd level tailwind , though. ● Even melee summoners can probably skip Finishing Precision [▼]. You don’t want to be making any attack actions with your summoner other than Tandem Strike [◆], and the extra 1 precision damage on all other attacks when you have panache is pretty small for a class feat—especially when you’re probably only attacking once per turn.

Thaumaturge: [◆] Though you almost certainly have the Charisma to meet the archetype dedication’s prerequisites, you won’t be able to take full advantage of the archetype’s martially-oriented benefits. For example, Glimpse Vulnerability does nothing for you by itself unless your Summoner is making Strikes—and, even then, it’s probably not worth it. It’s a requirement to activate other abilities you may gain as part of the archetype, however.

Witch: [◆] This archetype will give you extra spellcasting, but the fact that it’s Intelligence-based is rough for a summoner. Even if you don’t rely on spells with attack rolls or saving throws, you still need +2 INT to meet the entry requirements for the dedication. That being said, if you don’t mind meeting those prerequisites (or if you’re already boosting Intelligence because you’re an arcane or occult summoner with Extend Boost or something), this might be an interesting archetype.

You only get one cantrip instead of two like most other spellcasting dedications, but in exchange, you get a familiar, which is a pretty nifty trade. The moment you pick up Basic Witchcraft [★], your familiar gets a third ability to match a regular (1st-level) Witch, which can be boosted further with additional feats.

Additionally, like the sorcerer and, of course, the summoner, this is a pick-a-tradition spellcaster. For the witch, it depends on the patron you choose.

● Life Boost [●], accessible through Basic Lesson [●], is straight up better than the summoner’s Lifelink Surge [◆], which has an identical effect that can only target your eidolon. It has a 30-foot range, unlike Lifelink Surge, which can heal your eidolon, no matter where it is, but… you and your eidolon share HP, so you could always just cast it on yourself for the same effect. Additionally, you can get it at the same level via multiclassing as you would get Lifelink Surge normally.

● Cackle [★] may be of interest to Master Summoner builds, though other builds can take advantage of it as well. For a focus point, you can Sustain a Spell as a free action. It comes online much earlier than Effortless Concentration [★], and even then, can be used in conjunction with it if you have 2 summons (or otherwise Sustained spells) up simultaneously. I’m not sure if that usage is optimal, but it’s definitely fun.

Wizard: [◆] The wizard is an Intelligence-based prepared spellcaster like the witch, but it’s locked to the arcane tradition and you don’t (automatically) get a familiar. I’ve rated the two classes yellow, but… just between the two of us, I like the witch multiclass archetype better. The free familiar is nice, and the feats are a lot more appealing.

● The focus spell Fortify Summoning [◆] may be of slight interest to Master Summoner builds, giving a summoned creature a +1 status bonus to every single one of its checks and AC for as long as it’s summoned. It seems good to keep your summons slightly more relevant in combat, but since summoning spells pretty much always take 3 entire actions to cast, you’ll have to wait until your next turn to get the buff up, so the action economy may be a hard ask, even for you. Also, no, you can’t use this on your Eidolon, since it doesn’t have the summoned trait.

Other Archetypes

Blessed One: [ ★ ] This archetype dedication just gives you the Champion’s _lay on hands_ and an extra focus pool point right off the bat, no feat tax required. For a single action, the focus spell heals you or an ally at touch range for 6 HP per spell rank, and if you target an ally, they get a +2 status bonus to AC for a round. Compare this to Lifelink Surge [◆], which is a focus spell that heals for a single action, but heals 2 more HP per spell rank. However, unlike _lay on hands_ , it can only target your eidolon, is spread out over a number of turns, and confers no extra status bonuses.

● If your GM says that “Blessed One doesn’t specify you gain a bonus focus point if you already have a focus pool,” send them this link and tell them to check out the “Focus Points from Multiple Sources” section.

Bounty Hunter: [◆] If you really like tracking down people, this is the archetype for you. You also get some feats that allow you to get scaling proficiency in a couple of weapons, which might be interesting for Tandem Strike builds, I suppose. Nothing in here particularly complements the

summoner’s kit; I’m mostly just rating this to show that it’s better than the Hunt Prey action conferred by the Ranger [▼] archetype, though you don’t get a new skill proficiency via the dedication.

Martial Artist: [●] This is comparable to the Monk [◆] multiclass archetype, allowing your summoner to get harder-hitting unarmed attacks and the nice bonuses that come with stances, which may be of appeal to Tandem Strike builds. The archetype also comes with a couple of special unarmed strike actions, but they’re pretty much all incompatible with Tandem Strike.

● Scroll up and check out my rating for the Monk multiclass archetype for why I like Mountain Stance [★] so much. Additionally, you can get Mountain Stronghold [★] at an earlier level, and you can actually get the final follow-up feat, Mountain Quake [★]. The actual effect is pretty poor, given that you don’t actually have a scaling class DC, but I’ll gladly trade a class feat to increase my AC by 1. Just make sure that you’re maxing out that new Dex cap.

Reanimator: [●] If you want to make an undead-themed Master Summoner [●] build, even just the dedication of this archetype alone can, theoretically, be exceptionally appealing [★]. A +1 status bonus to attack rolls, AC, saving throws, and skill checks? That’s like the conjuration’s wizard _augment summoning focus_ spell, except it doesn’t come with the complications of a focus point or an action. It just immediately applies—no need to wait until your next turn to cast the buffing spell.

The archetype designates the _animate dead_ spell, which has been succeeded by _summon undead_ in the remaster.

Here’s the big complication, though… in order to get that status bonus to everything, you’re going to have to target the “mostly intact remains of an appropriate type of dead creature.” Pathfinder 2e’s loot, equipment, and crafting system is good for making sure that all types of adventurers can easily get whatever gear you need—magical weapons, suits of armor, skill-boosting items, and whatnot. Save for plot-altering artifacts, each piece of necessary materiel has a static gold value, and there are straightforward rules for either procuring said equipment from the adventurer’s market or crafting the gear yourself.

Corpses… don’t exactly have this same quality. If you want to summon a lion visitant with your 5th-level _summon undead_ , you’re not only going to need to

find a way to get the rotting remains of a lion, you’re going to have to lug around said rotting remains in a bag of holding or something.

Ew.

Obviously, if you want to make this work in any serious capacity, you’re going to have to cooperate with your GM to see if they’re okay with you just… buying corpses to lug around. When you advance to a new spell rank, you gain access to a new array of _summon undead_ statblocks, and you may need to procure new corpses each time. You could always just try to cast your summons on whatever corpses you find lying around (of which there will certainly be many—you’re an adventurer, and only a fraction of you probably have the nonlethal trait on your eidolon’s unarmed attacks), but doing so will severely limit the power of flexibility that is usually inherent to summoning spells. Does the body of a villager whose heart was still breathing mere moments ago constitute suitable remains for a skeleton guard? Does the process of raising a corpse in such a manner involve the rending of flesh itself from that poor soul’s bones in order to bring it into action on the battlefield under your macabre control? What of infecting creatures with vampirism? Ghoul fever? Do you need to logistically supply the manmade tools and weapons included in such summoned creatures’ stat blocks? What is the logical endpoint of this narrative requirement? Where does it end?

…Ahem.

In short, this may rely on an above-average amount of GM hand-waving. Ask your GM if it won’t be too much of a headache to make it work. If it does, though, that +1 status bonus will do you good.

The dedication also has an effect that automatically makes _summon undead_ a signature spell, but all of your spells are automatically signature spells anyway, so it’s a pretty moot point.

● Bonds of Death [●] is great for when you really want to command way too many creatures at once. Once a day, if you cast summon undead while you already have a separate undead creature summoned, you get to sustain that spell as a free action. On subsequent turns, you can sustain both summons with the same action. Once you become high-enough level to pick up Effortless Concentration [★] as well, you can definitely get up to some serious silliness on the battlefield… if you don’t mind using up all of your spell slots at once, that is.

● Greater Deathly Secrets [●] is a nice feat to pick up. Even if you have an undead eidolon, the first option, malignant sustenance [▼] is kind of bad, as it’s basically just a worse Lifelink Surge [◆] in terms of rate of healing, action economy, and spell range. Granted, it’s technically not objectively worse since Lifelink Surge is a vitality healing effect and will damage an undead eidolon, but pound-for-pound, it’s undertuned in relation to healing effects of a similar level. Additionally, though malignant sustenance will last longer, 4 rounds is usually more than enough for most combats. The second spell, grasping grave [●], is much better, dealing extremely respectable damage on a Reflex save and limiting the mobility of its targets on a failure or critical failure. This spell alone is probably what you’re going to pick up with this feat. Watch out for flying enemies, though. ● Master of the Dead [◆] is interesting, granting you the shambling horror focus spell. It’s essentially an summon undead spell that requires a focus point instead of a spell slot. However, you’ll need to have a very recently slain corpse within touch range in order to actually use the spell, and the creature will, specifically, have to be at least 4 levels lower than the level of your summoner. Any higher, and the spell doesn’t work. Any lower, and your newly summoned horror will be weaker. Needing touch-range on a 3-action spell is rough, as you can’t easily reposition to move up next to a corpse and then cast the spell on the same turn, even with Act Together. Additionally, unless you somehow have the logistics to supply yourself with a fresh corpse each sunrise, it will be highly situational whether or not you’ll be able to find a slain creature of the appropriate level, since, more often than not, the enemies you will face in combat will be too high level to be targeted with this spell after death. Finally, being limited to only skeletons and zombies is rough, severely limiting your summoning options at many levels.

Sentinel: [ ● ] This is one way to get armor proficiency that _scales_. As a summoner, this will grant you the ability to wear light and medium armor, which is up to a +4 AC increase, which can help a _lot_. Compare this to Armor Proficiency [●], which is only a general feat, but also only gives you light armor proficiency right away.

Additionally, you can take Armor Proficiency twice and the Sentinel dedication to get heavy armor, allowing you to ignore DEX entirely for your defenses (and

giving you an extra +1 total AC compared to other armor types with maximized DEX). See the Champion archetype under Multiclass Archetypes, which has a slightly higher barrier of entry but offers heavy armor with a single class feat (that scales with a second feat).

● Sentinel technically doesn’t offer scaling armor proficiency to match unarmored defense until 13th level, but that’s the same level at which the Summoner gains expert proficiency in unarmored defense. ● Armor Specialist [●] will give you innate resistance to a specific type of physical damage based on your armor type. It used to be printed as a skill feat, but got errata’d to be a class feat, which means it now punches slightly below its weight class instead of punching way above. Unfortunately, this also means that you can’t fulfill the 3-feat requirement to take Sentinel and then another archetype dedication of your choice nearly as quickly. If you’re playing a free archetype game or something, though, it definitely doesn’t hurt.

Spell Trickster: [ ★ ] As a bounded spellcaster, the amount of spell slots you can use every day is rather limited, leaving you to fend with mostly cantrips for most of your adventuring career. An archetype that offers you more utility for your cantrips and squeezes more value and action economy out of your spell slots, then, is exceptionally welcome. Especially if you really like _fireball_. Of additional note is that they aren’t spellshape abilities that require an extra action, which makes them extra appealing for a Summoner to use.

● Forceful Push [●], allowing you to effectively Shove using Mage Hand, really rubs in how much of a joke telekinetic maneuver is as a 2nd level spell. ● Toppling Tentacles [●] is nice, allowing the black tentacles spell to Trip instead of Grapple. Grappling is generally more powerful than Tripping, but the real draw here is able to target either Fortitude or Reflex depending on which effect you choose. Pretty helpful when you can only know, like, 5 spells at any given time. However, the fact that black tentacles doesn’t heighten might make this a bit less than ideal for a bounded spellcaster in the long term. ● Lingering Flames [●] reduces the initial damage of your fireball , but makes it deal persistent fire damage in exchange. It slows the damage, but only needs an enemy to fail their recovery flat check once in order for it to be slightly-higher-than-average damage for a regular fireball , even if it’s a bit slower. Also, enemies with weaknesses to fire damage will really, really hate this.

● Scattered Fire [★] allows you to change fireball from a single 20 foot burst to two non-overlapping 10 foot bursts. This is great for making sure that you hit as many enemies and as little allies as possible. ● Smoldering Smoke [★] doesn’t decrease the power of your fireball in any way, but leaves a 1-round obscuring mist in the area if the spell is heightened to at least 4th level. Pretty nice for annoying your enemies—especially ranged damage dealers—without having to compromise on blasting. ● Choking Smoke [★] makes me drool. When casting fireball , you can choose to decrease the damage by 6d6 to leave the effects of stinking cloud in the same area. Blasting, debuffing, and battlefield control all for a 2-action spell? Yes, please. Minion Archetypes There are enough of these now that I’m putting them in their own section. These archetypes may be of interest to you if you want to control even more tokens on the game board. ● Pathfinder Society Note: In official organized play, you are only allowed to place up to 2 pawns on the board at any given time (other than temporary summons). You may be able to say that your familiar just rides on your shoulder and occupies your space at all times, but archetypes that grant you animal or construct companions are inaccessible to PFS summoners [▼].

Summoner Attack Bonus (max DEX/STR)

Summoner AC (max DEX)

Eidolon Attack Mod

Eidolon AC (STR)

Eidolon AC (DEX)

Animal Companion Attack Mod (max DEX)

Animal Companion Attack Mod (max STR)

Animal Companion AC (max DEX, light barding until 8th lvl, nimble, ambusher, daredevil)

Animal Companion AC (+2 DEX, heavy barding from 2nd lvl, indomitable)

Construct Companion Attack Mod

Construct Companion AC 1 6 16 7 17 18 6 6 17 15 6 16 2 8 17 9 18 19 7 7 18 19 7 17 3 9 18 10 19 20 8 8 19 20 8 18 4 10 19 11 20 21 10 10 21 22 10 20 5 12 22 14 23 23 11 11 22 23 11 21 6 13 23 15 24 24 12 12 23 24 12 22 7 14 24 16 25 25 13 13 24 25 13 23 8 15 25 17 26 26 16 16 26 28 16 26

9 16 26 18 27 27 17 17 27 29 17 27 10 18 27 21 28 28 18 18 28 30 18 28 11 21 29 22 32 32 19 19 29 31 19 29 12 22 30 23 33 33 20 20 30 32 20 30 13 23 33 26 34 34 21 21 31 33 21 31 14 24 34 27 35 35 26 25 36 34 25 35 15 26 36 28 36 36 27 26 37 35 26 36 16 28 37 30 37 37 29 28 39 36 27 37 17 30 38 32 38 38 30 29 40 37 28 38 18 31 40 33 40 40 31 30 41 38 29 39 19 32 41 34 43 43 32 31 42 39 30 40 20 33 42 36 44 44 33 32 43 40 31 41

Beastmaster: [ ★ ] Want to be the ultimate pet class? This is how you do it. The Beastmaster archetype allows you to get an animal companion (or two, or three!) much more quickly than if you were to get them through the Druid or Ranger multiclass archetypes. In fact, though you have to wait until 2nd level to buy into the archetype initially, you’ll get the Mature, Incredible, and Specialized Animal Companion at the same level as a Druid (and 2 levels earlier than the Ranger, for some godforsaken reason. Not that they can’t just take Beastmaster themselves). All you need is to be trained in Nature to take the dedication. While your eidolon is statted out more like a proper martial in its own right, your animal companion will be a supporting sidekick. When you Command your companion, you’ll be trading one action to give your companion two. Together with Act Together, this is basically like 5 actions in a turn, which is great. They will always have weaker attacks than full characters, but unlike your eidolon, it doesn’t share your MAP. Even if your animal companion never manages to land a solid hit on an enemy a single time, at the very least, it’ll provide flanking. Each animal companion offers a unique support benefit, but they primarily function only when you (i.e., your PC) are in melee with an enemy. This renders them relatively useless when your eidolon is the one doing most of the actual hitting. (A particularly gracious GM might rule that your eidolon can take advantage of support benefits as if they were your PC, but I wouldn’t expect them to say yes to this.)

Generally, a Dexterity-based animal companion taking the Nimble advancement [★] is your best bet, being able to advance their to-hit and AC at the same time, making them survivable skirmishers. On the other hand is the Savage advancement [◆], trading a _lot_ of defenses for a tiny bit of extra damage. Sandwiched somewhere in between is the Indomitable advancement [●], boosting your companion’s Constitution and making it better at defending in barding.

● You’ll want to take Mature Animal Companion [★], Incredible Animal Companion [★], and Specialized Animal Companion [★] as early as possible in order to keep your animal companion relevant in combat. You might even want to take Specialized Animal Companion more than once, but this is the most feasible in Free Archetype games. ● Additional Companion [◆] allows you to have a second animal companion of a different type, but you can’t command them in combat at the same time. Since you can’t really take advantage of different support benefits and the like, the utility offered by this flexibility option is pretty limited. However, this allows you to take Lead the Pack [★], which will give you the ability to fight with both of your animal companions at the same time— and your Eidolon. You have to split up your actions between the two companions, but each still has their own MAP. You’re going to be occupying a lot of spaces on the battlemap, so I hope you’re not playing in a campaign with a lot of cramped spaces and indoor corridors. Lead the Pack has the Uncommon trait, though, which is understandable, because some GMs might very well say “hell no” to the frivolity of one player keeping track of four different tokens at the same time.

Clockwork Reanimator: [●] It’s alive! An alternative to the Beastmaster archetype, Clockwork Reanimator allows you to nab a construct companion a la the Inventor class, but with a more macabre flavor. Your mechanized corpse will progress at the same rate as a non-Innovation construct companion.

Like the name would imply, a construct companion (even if within a corpse) is a construct. Unlike a construct eidolon, this means the construct companion gains all of the immunities associated with being a construct: namely, it’s immune to bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, necromancy, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, and unconscious.

However, this also comes with a caveat: your construct companion can’t be healed like a normal living creature. It doesn’t even have void healing like

undead. Instead, you need to make a Crafting check using the Repair action to maintain it (or other similar effect). You require to be trained in Crafting to take the archetype, but this also means that you’ll need to actually use the skill. Naturally, summoners with construct eidolons are the most likely to gravitate towards this archetype for both mechanical and flavor reasons, but anyone can invest in Crafting. Theoretically, you could allow a party member with higher Intelligence investment to actually Repair your companion, but if it gets destroyed in battle, you’ll need to make a Crafting check yourself with a high DC for your level after a day of downtime. Good luck.

Additionally, the construct companion’s attack modifiers and AC never surpass that of an optimal animal companion, and, at some levels, it lags behind. However, the ability to have a companion in and of itself is still rather powerful, so if you’re content with all of the caveats (and like the creepy flavor), feel free to take the archetype.

● Self-Destruct [★], albeit costly, is rather powerful and perhaps even overtuned. When your construct companion is reduced to 0 HP and you’re within 60 feet of it, you can take a Reaction to make it explode, dealing 2d6 fire damage per level within a 30-foot radius with a basic Reflex save, up to a max of 40d6 at 20th level. That’s 140 expected damage per target on a failure. Compare to 10th-rank fireball , which is 20d6 (70 expected damage) or cataclysm , which is 21d10 (115.5 expected damage). It feels likely that they accidentally gave this double the damage it ought to have.

It does have a limited trigger as well, but consider this: final sacrifice , which is usable with your construct companion, exploding it to deal 2d6 * (spell rank + 1) damage within a 20-foot radius. You can then use Self-Destruct as a reaction immediately afterwards. It’s a quite deranged combo, and your party will probably give you looks with it, but maybe you’re crazy enough to try it.

Familiar Master: [ ● ] Want to be the _ultimate_ ultimate pet class? This is how you do it. Right off the bat, the archetype dedication just gives you a familiar—or gives you the Enhanced Familiar feat if you already have a familiar from some other source, such as an ancestry feat. Familiars don’t offer much in the way of martial capabilities like the animal companion, but they are highly customizable for augmenting your spellcasting, lending a hand with skill usage, or even serving as a scout. Or maybe it just opens doors for you. Not metaphorically, just literally opening doors.

Intelligence is usually an out-of-the-way stat for you, but if you can afford that prerequisite, consider looking at the Witch [◆] archetype if you want to pick up a familiar.

● Enhanced Familiar [★] and Incredible Familiar [★] give you more familiar for your familiar. Select them and pick all the abilities you like. ● Improved Familiar [●] reduces the necessary buy-in to pick a specific familiar, allowing you to more easily pick more expensive familiars or giving you more flexible slots for familiar abilities. Remember that you get to choose any abilities you have in excess of the minimum number of abilities for selecting a specific familiar.

Class Archetypes

Elementalist: [▼] I’m going to start out and say that I really, really wanted to find a reason not to rate this red [▼]. I really did. The new elemental spells in Secrets of Magic are super cool and super flavorful, all the new spells in Rage of Elements are great, and I love the idea of creating a build based around a particular element. That being said… this archetype is really, really bad. It feels like everyone is saying this archetype is really bad, so I figured everyone was overreacting and I wanted to be like, “no, it’s not _that_ bad,” but after looking at it for a while… It's bad. I mean, it’s bad in general, but it’s probably even worse for the Summoner than other classes.

First, you can only take this if you’re an arcane or primal spellcaster. At first level, this will replace your spell list with the special elemental spell list. This is the first problem: it massively reduces your selection of spells by whittling it down to just elemental spells and _maybe_ one or two odd utility options each spell rank, most of which are mobility-based. Most of the elemental list’s spells are already shared by the arcane and primal spell lists, or, more rarely, belong to only one of those two lists, such as _searing light_ or _levitate_. Rarer still are a handful of spells that are divine or occult only, _like holy cascade_ or _blistering invective_. If you’ve got the time, go through the elemental spell list, make a tally of all the new spells you get that you like, then go back to your original tradition’s spell list and tally up all of the spells you like that you would lose. Just a fun little take-home exercise. Hands-on learning and all that. Take your time. This guide will be waiting for you the moment you finish.

Like, c’mon. They could have at least loosened the definition of “element” to include energy types like electricity and cold. I mean, if ice-based spells are on the table, then so should _frostbite_ and _cone of cold_. Lightning’s just

superheated air, anyway! You’re losing _electric arc_! Your beautiful, beautiful consistent DPR—gone, like that, in just an instant! Poof!

...Ahem.

Another saddening loss for the summoner are all of the eidolon-specific spells, such as _summoner’s precaution_ and _summoner’s visage_. They’re normally available to all four usual traditions, but they’re inaccessible to the elementalist.

Furthermore, a lot of Elementalist feats are spellshape feats. Spellshape feats are great for full casters, who usually spend their actions to Cast a Spell and then use their last third action to, I dunno, cast _shield_ or something. You, on the other hand, like casting a spell and having your eidolon smack somebody twice. Additionally, spellshape feats don’t really play nice with the Act Together activity. Nevermind the fact that the spellshape feats themselves are pretty lame.

The other feats consist of pretty flavorful but situational options. Two are reactions that rely upon enemies casting elemental spells at you. Not your party, or your eidolon, but you. The other lets you walk on water, but you probably already have spells for that. Sadly, the option I like the most from this archetype is the ability to get a familiar, but there are better ways to get those.

Just… just take Energy Heart [●] or something and flavor your eidolon appropriately. You don’t have to take this archetype. You really don’t.

Wellspring Mage: [◆] If you’re taking this archetype, it’s probably because you consider “randomness” and “fun” synonymous. Or maybe you like PvP.

Starting out, you lose 1 spell slot of each rank. As a bounded spellcaster, that’s at _least_ half of all of your spell slots, which is a lot. However, you’ll get a chance to get them back each combat (or otherwise non-trivial encounter)! When initiative is rolled, you make a DC 6 flat check, and if you succeed, you get a temporary spell slot randomly picked from one of the Summoner’s 2 available spell ranks. If you don’t use it within 3 rounds, you lose it and generate a wellspring surge. If you fail the flat check, you also generate a wellspring surge. If you get a critical success on the flat check, you can choose the spell rank, and the slot lasts for 1 minute (and if you don’t use it, you also get a wellspring surge.) Also, spells with durations expire when the slot would expire.

What’s a wellspring surge? Sometimes it can be helpful, like the healing effect (if you’re not already healed up at the beginning of combat, that is). Sometimes it can just be interesting, like broadcasting your thoughts to everyone or splashing everything around you with water. Most of the time, however, it’s downright harmful: damaging you and your teammates around you, knocking them over, or even summoning an extra enemy that you have to fight.

Theoretically, it’s infinite spells (once you uncap the limit with the 2nd-level dedication), which would be appealing on a bounded caster, but it relies on getting lucky at least 3 times a day for it to be worth it. It’s infinite value at best and friendly fire at worst. Do you like those odds?

Well, of course you do, or else you wouldn’t have taken this archetype. Something something studies show 90% of gamblers quit right before making it big.

The Summoner Multiclass Dedication

You remember how in the beginning of this guide, I wrote a couple of paragraphs about how the summoner’s eidolon isn’t just a sidekick? Well, when you take the Summoner multiclass dedication, your eidolon becomes a sidekick.

Here’s what the Summoner dedication feat gets you:

● An eidolon. You pick its type, initial stat spread, and attacks. You can Manifest it as normal, and you can split your actions between yourself and the eidolon as normal (asterisk). Additionally, you share hit points and MAP with your eidolon as normal. ● Level-up stat increases. Your eidolon gets stat increases at the same time as normal PCs and regular eidolons. There are some catches, though: From 1st to 4th level, your eidolon will only have a 16 in its highest stat, however, but they catch up at 5th level—which is the same time that they’ll be outpaced in attack proficiencies by regular martials, mind you. Additionally, your eidolon doesn’t get a 17th-level apex item-equivalent stat increase. ● Trained in your eidolon’s listed skills. This is your appropriate magic knowledge skill, as well as whichever other thematic skill your chosen eidolon type has listed. If you’re already Trained in one of those skills, you get to choose another skill to become Trained in instead. This

definitely isn’t the biggest draw of the archetype, but it’s nice to have regardless, especially considering that some other multiclass archetypes only give you a single extra Trained skill. ● A skilled partner. As normal, your eidolon shares all of your skill proficiencies automatically, giving you second shots at actions like Demoralize and giving you a convenient buddy to abuse the Aid action with. ● Perception and saving throw scaling. Your eidolon shares your proficiency bonuses to Perception and all saving throws. Strangely enough, this is better than what a regular Summoner gets, especially for classes with stellar saving throw proficiency progressions and characters who take Canny Acumen and the like.

Here’s what the Summoner dedication feat _doesn’t_ get you:

● Act Together. This is the biggest catch. Your eidolon is only very slightly behind a full-powered martial, but without the ability to get 4 effective actions per turn, your tag-team combo is nowhere near as strong as that of a full Summoner. You can’t get any other tandem actions either, like Tandem Movement or Tandem Strike. Boo. ● Share Senses. No getting to see through your eidolon’s eyes. The idea of a summoner is generally that the PC and the eidolon are able to move in tandem, controlled by the same player, but, in some weird specific situation, this might create some opportunities for miscommunication between your two characters. ● Your eidolon’s language. If you want an archetype for languages, take Linguist or something, I guess. Or just wait until your party can cast Tongues or something. ● Bounded spellcasting. You don’t even get cantrips through the multiclass dedication. You can get a scaled-back version of this through a feat, though. ● Boost Eidolon and Evolution Surge. You can still pick up the focus spells you get via feats, but these two that are pre-baked into the class are off-limits to you. ● Full martial proficiency scaling. By default, your eidolon doesn’t progress past Trained in unarmed attacks and unarmored defense, nor do they get weapon specialization. They can advance via a 12th level feat, but this is still limited to Expert proficiency. ● Eidolon abilities. You can get the initial eidolon ability for its type with an extra feat, but you can’t get the symbiosis or transcendence abilities at all.

Let’s also look at some of the other feats you can get via the archetype:

Basic Synergy, Advanced Synergy: Customize your eidolon or boost your summoner-ness with a Summoner feat up to half your character’s level. Of course, how good this is depends on the feat you actually choose. I’m going to mention a few that you might value differently than a regular summoner:

● Tandem Movement, Tandem Strike: [▼] You straight up can’t use tandem actions at all. Don’t take them. ● Extend Boost, Boost Summons: [▼] You don’t get Boost Eidolon, so you can’t use these, either. ● Meld into Eidolon: [◆] This is actually… not too terrible on a full cloth caster. Okay, first of all, let me get something straight: it’s still not great. Your eidolon is doubtless going to be much, much weaker than a regular summoner’s eidolon, with fewer abilities, worse stats, and, more likely than not, lower max HP. However, you can’t give up the stellar action economy of Act Together if you never had it in the first place. For cloth casters, donning your eidolon like a suit of armor when you’ve run out of spell slots isn’t too bad of an idea, and might be comparable to having a battle form polymorph spell on command. Taking this feat as a multiclass summoner isn’t about raw numbers and raw power, but about flexibility. It might be appealing for a low-AC Sorcerer or something who doesn’t like having to be babysat by their party’s martials in order to survive taking a hit or two. That being said, depending on your level and spell list, you should decide whether or not you’d rather just spend a spell slot on heightened Elemental Form for 22+level AC or something. ● Master Summoner, Ostentatious Arrival: [●] By RAW, you can use these with your main class’s summoning spells, so they might be appealing to a summoning-based build or something. (Using Ostentatious Arrival for Manifesting your eidolon is still pretty bad, though. Don’t do it.)

Initial Eidolon Ability: Of course, this completely depends on the initial eidolon type you chose. Most of them are pretty linked to your eidolon’s martial abilities, which makes them decidedly less appealing than on a full summoner’s eidolon, but these a couple of them merit special mention.

● Breath Weapon: [ ★ ] This ability is based on your “spell DC.” It doesn’t seem like it was written to account for multiclassing, but this might mean just your Summoner spell DC (which is, in this case, arcane) or

just your main spell DC. Ask your GM. Either way, it means Wizards and other arcane spellcasters might do this better than full Summoners.

● Fey Gift Spells: [●] This also wasn’t written to account for multiclassing, but it seems that the intended interaction would be for the extra spells to only be utilizable through the summoner multiclass bounded spellcasting and not any other primal repertoire you might have, such as from being an elemental bloodline sorcerer. If you smooth-talk your GM into letting you use this on a full spontaneous primal spellcaster, this is fantastic [★], and might be worth spending 2 feats on and then completely ignoring your eidolon.

Basic Summoner Spellcasting, Expert Summoner Spellcasting, Master Summoner Spellcasting: [◆] You get bounded spontaneous spellcasting benefits. It’s always good to have more spells. That being said, you get nowhere near as many spell slots as multiclassing for non-bounded spellcasting, and you’ll always be two or three spell ranks behind real spellcasters and one spell rank behind non-bounded multiclass spellcasters. If this is all you’re here for, you might want to just multiclass into Sorcerer instead.

Expert Combat Eidolon: [ ★ ] If you’re using your eidolon in combat in any capacity, this is practically a feat tax. This gets your eidolon expert proficiency in unarmed attacks and unarmored defense, as well as weapon specialization, so long as your main PC already has them first.

Signature Synergy: [ ★ ] You can choose 4 feats, and pick them up with a prerequisite of your level minus 4 instead of half your level, which is great. Airborne Form [★], Burrowing Form [●], Ever-Vigilant Senses [★], and Hulking Size [●] are all fantastic feats. You can only take this feat once, though, so choose wisely. Keep in mind you can still pick up Burrowing Form and Hulking Size via Advanced Synergy, albeit at later levels.

In summary, who might the Summoner multiclass dedication appeal to?

● Rogues, Investigators, or any other skill monkeys might appreciate having a buddy that shares all their proficiencies for Aid actions and second tries. ● Demoralize-centric builds may appreciate an eidolon that can give them a second use of Demoralize.

● Martials might appreciate having a second body on the battlefield to help generate flanking opportunities, especially Rogues with Sneak Attack. ● Cloth casters like Wizards, Sorcerers, Witches, and Cloistered Clerics may appreciate having a sidekick to look after them—or wear as a suit of armor with Meld into Eidolon. ● Some super weird builds might enjoy using an eidolon as a mount. At later levels, with an expensive combination of feats, you can even get a mount that has an innate fly speed! ● And, of course, an eidolon is perfect for characters who just want the roleplay potential of having a sapient companion without sacrificing their main PC’s ability to specialize in other fields.

That being said… if all you want is a combat buddy, you may be better off just taking the Beastmaster archetype to get an animal companion, which doesn’t share MAP and gives you better action economy.

Items

Preface: Can Eidolons Use Items?

Nah. Unless they’ve got the Eidolon trait.

The “Gear and your Eidolon” section states “Your eidolon can't wear or use magic items, except for items with the eidolon trait.” No carrying around wands; your usual item bonuses to skills, saves, AC, attack rolls, and Perception will be copied over from your summoner to your eidolon, though.

So you can’t use magic items, but are non-magical items on the table? Also no. Tucked away under the description for the Eidolon trait is this line:

“An item with this trait can be used or worn by an eidolon only, and an eidolon can't use items that don't have this trait. (An eidolon can have up to two items invested.)”

The separation of this rules text is confusing and easy to miss, but, technically, they don’t contradict each other. So, even if you hand over a shield to your eidolon (for example), it won’t be able to Raise it. You’ll probably have to stick to using _protect companion_ or something like that.

Weapons for a “Vanilla” Summoner

Cantrips are reliable, but it absolutely doesn’t hurt to have a weapon on your person if there’s any antimagic effects, if you’re cornered without your eidolon and don’t want to provoke reactions, or you have absolutely nothing better to do with your summoner’s last remaining action. Keep in mind that you share MAP with your eidolon, though.

You’ll probably want to stick to finesse or ranged weapons, given that you’re more likely to have Dexterity instead of Strength. If you’re going for a Tandem Strike build and want to use simple finesse weapons, refer to these ratings.

● On Weapon Runes: Summoners have a weird, unique ability that does not explicitly exist in the rules, but is rather just the logical extensions of the rules-as-written. This special ability is that they can technically take advantage of the runes on any magical weapon. If you find some badass +4 major striking dwarven war axe or something in a dungeon, you don’t need to wait until you return back to town to get the runes transferred onto your weapon or handwraps of choice. You can just immediately pick up the weapon and invest it, and your eidolon automatically gets the weapon runes applied onto their unarmed attacks. That’s it. Just like that. You don’t even need to be proficient in the weapon. Just hold it and let the energy flow through you.

Ideally, you’ll probably want to get those runes on handwraps (or any other weapon that you actually intend to use normally) so that you won’t need to keep one or two hands occupied by a beatstick you’re never actually going to swing, but you could theoretically go your entire adventuring career holding a sword you can only wield as effectively as a wet pool noodle. I don’t recommend it, though.

Dagger: [●] Agile, finesse, ability to deal either piercing or slashing damage, and you can throw it 10 feet. Not bad at all.

Throwing Knife: [●] Like dagger, but you give up versatile for a larger range increment. The twin trait is likely irrelevant to you. It’s uncommon, though, so you may need to ask your GM nicely for access. If you need to use a feat to get access, you should probably just use a dagger or javelin.

Javelin: [●] A bigger damage die and better range than any other simple throwing weapon, but you can’t make melee strikes with it. You _can_ make

ranged attacks at point-blank, but it'll provoke reactions. If you wanna throw things, this is it. Get a returning rune.

Crossbow: [●] 120 range, 1d8 damage. Pretty solid if you need a strike. You probably won’t be using this often enough that the reload will be a consistent problem. It’s 2-handed, so you’ll need to drop or stow any staves or other items you’re holding.

Hand Crossbow: [◆] If you like having a free hand, you might want this over a regular crossbow, but if you’re holding something else like a staff or a shield, you can’t reload, so be wary.

Heavy Crossbow: [◆] Like the regular crossbow, but has a d10 and reload 2. On average, it’s 1 more damage per damage die on a hit, but it’s even more of a one-and-done thing.

Sling: [▼] Like a crossbow, but worse range and damage dice… but it has propulsive!

...Your average damage with this will only outpace the regular Crossbow once you reach a Strength of 18, so get the Crossbow instead.

Fist: [◆] Drawing a weapon provokes reactions, so when all else fails, there’s only two guns you can trust. Additionally, if you’re investing in Handwraps of Mighty Blows to boost your eidolon’s unarmed attacks at all times without needing to actually hold a weapon, your own unarmed attacks will be stronger as well. If you manage to knock out a weakened enemy with this, that’s hilarious.

Gauntlet / Spiked Gauntlet: [◆] These 1d4 agile weapons have the free-hand trait, which means you can wield it and have your eidolon gain the effects of its weapon runes at all times while still having a free hand for staves, shields, material components, and all that good stuff. Additionally, unlike the default fists, these are not nonlethal weapons, so you could kill someone with this. In exchange, though, they lose the finesse trait, which is less than preferable for most summoners, who can’t really afford to invest into Strength.

Staff: [▼] If you’re picking up any sort of staff to get you some extra spells per day, you’ve technically already got a weapon in your hands already. It’s a simple weapon, so you’re going to get proficiency bonuses to it, too. However, it’s not a finesse weapon, so you’re only going to be adding your (probably meager) STR bonus to the attack roll. Additionally, as a one-handed weapon,

it’s immediately outclassed by the morningstar, and as a two-handed weapon, it’s immediately outclassed by the longspear.

Additionally, though you can add fundamental runes to a spellcasting staff, you’re not permitted to add any property runes to it whatsoever (unless you multiclass for that one Magus feat, for some reason). For that reason, you’re probably better off just putting your runes on a pair of handwraps of mighty blows.

If you’re getting a staff that’s just a weapon and not actually one of the spellcasting staves, please leave me a message elucidating as to why, because I don’t even think a gestalt twisting tree magus/summoner would want to do that, and I am always open to broadening my own perspective and opening up new doors to gateways I once thought impossible. Until that momentous day occurs, however, I will very heartily recommend you to stick to casting spells with your staff and refrain from actually swinging it around.

Flintlock Musket: [◆] Comparable to a crossbow, but with a smaller damage die in exchange for Concussive and Fatal d10. With cloth caster attack proficiencies, you’re definitely not going to crit like a Fighter, so I’d probably rather take the crossbow.

Flintlock Pistol: [◆] The flintlock pistol is to the flintlock musket as the hand crossbow is to the crossbow, and the flintlock pistol is to the hand crossbow as the flintlock musket is to the crossbow. Smaller damage die, but one handed. You still need another free hand to reload, so if you anticipate doing that, you can’t really have a staff or shield or something in your other hand.

Air Repeater: [●] Give your summoner an airsoft gun. This is actually pretty good as far as ranged options go, since you can attack 6 times without having to reload. The weapon has the agile trait as well, which is pretty uncommon for a ranged weapon. You need to take 3 actions to load a new magazine, but honestly, if your cloth caster needs to attack more than 6 times in a single combat, you probably have bigger things to worry about. The range increment is only 30 feet, but this is the same range as a lot of cantrips.

Long Air Repeater: [●] Like the regular air repeater, but it doesn’t have the agile trait. In exchange, the range is doubled, and you have a larger magazine (8 pellets instead of 6). If you’ve dismissed your eidolon with Summoner’s Precaution or something and need to fill out your turns while your eidolon is dismissed for the combat, I think I’d actually prefer this over the regular air

repeater, since you don’t need agile if you’re planning to cast a cantrip and make a single strike.

Weapons for a Melee Summoner

Your eidolon has their unarmed attacks, but if you’re a melee Summoner, you’ll want to have a weapon of your own.

Simple Weapons

By default, Summoners only get simple weapon proficiency, so unless you pick some archetype or ancestry feat, you’re stuck with these.

Longspear: [ ★ ] Reach is awesome, and can help keep you out of harm’s way. Additionally, d8 is the biggest damage die size for a simple melee weapon.

Morningstar: [●] 1d6 bludgeoning, versatile piercing. If you want a shield or free hand, this is solid.

Spear: [●] Also a 1d6 one-handed weapon, but you can throw it 20 feet.

Martial Weapons

If you can get proficiency with these, cool! They’re generally better than simple weapons, but the small difference may not be worth the feat slot. YMMV.

Longsword, Warhammer: [●] This is generally the “baseline” for one-handed martial weapons, if you want a shield or staff in your other hand. Longsword allows you to choose between slashing or piercing damage, but get the warhammer if you wanna shove things with Athletics.

Battle Axe: [◆] Your attack proficiency is bad enough, so you definitely don’t want to be attacking with MAP. This makes the sweep trait pretty useless for you in most situations.

Bastard Sword: [ ★ ] You can use this one-handed for a respectable d8, or wield it two-handed and go ham with a d12. If you have Shield Block, this is great for when your shield breaks. This is the weapon that says “I can hold my own!”

Greatsword, Maul: [●] The longsword and warhammer, but… _bigger_. If big damage dice matter to you, this is your go-to.

Greataxe: [◆] Again, sweep and Tandem Strike do not mix. It’s still a d12, though.

Rapier: [●] 1d6 finesse and deadly d8. All in all, a pretty solid option for Dexterity-based melee summoners. Oh, and it’s also got disarm.

Halberd, Guisarme: [ ★ ] Reach and a d10 is great. If you’re boosting Athletics, get the guisarme. If not, get the halberd.

Ranseur: [●] Like Guisarme, but with Disarm instead of Trip.

Glaive: [◆] Reach with a d8. It has deadly d8, but your poor attack proficiency means you won’t be critting too often. You don’t want to be attacking multiple times a turn, so Forceful is meh.

Lance: [●] As of writing, this is the only weapon in the game with the Jousting trait. If you have Steed Form [●], this could be… interesting?

xd6+x damage, where x is the amount of damage dice you have based on runes, has the same average output as xd8, but Deadly pushes it marginally higher. Keep in mind the obscure rule that states that if you’re a Medium creature on a Large or Huge mount, your Reach weapons can still only hit enemies adjacent to your mount. This is a smaller range than a Small creature with Reach on a Medium mount, which is super weird.

Whip: [●] A one-handed 1d4 weapon with finesse and reach definitely isn’t something to scoff at. It has the Disarm and Trip traits, too, but if you’re investing in Dexterity, you’re probably mostly here for the finesse and reach. It’s a nonlethal weapon, so you won’t be killing people with this. At least, not directly.

Uncommon Martial Weapons

Asp Coil: [ ★ ] It’s a gnome flickmace lite! One-handed 1d6 damage with reach and versatile piercing. This leaves your other hand free for a shield, or staff, or making rude gestures to your enemies, or whatever.

Katana: [●] Nothin’ personnel, kid… Anyways, since you won’t be critting as often as a true martial, the deadly d8 is less useful to you than just a regular bastard sword, but hey, it’s a freakin’ katana. Also, it’s versatile piercing, which may or may not be important to you. The drop in damage might be worth living out your samurai summoner fantasies.

Gill Hook: [ ★ ] d10 damage, reach, and the grapple trait. Grappling at range is absolutely fantastic.

Bladed Scarf: [ ★ ] This weapon got way better after the Lost Omens errata. 1d6 finesse with reach is fantastic for Dexterity-based melee characters. It has Disarm, Sweep, and Trip, too, which is a _lot_ of weapon traits, god damn. They’re probably not too useful to a Dex-based melee summoner, but still.

Scorpion Whip: [●] Like a regular whip, but you can kill people with it. Yay, murder(?)

Wish Blade/Wish Knife: [◆] I’ve always thought the Resonant trait was super interesting, and this might be a fun option for a melee Summoner. However, between spellcasting, your own strikes, and your eidolon’s strikes, you might not have enough spare actions remaining to make it really work. If you _do_ try this, shoot me a message and let me know how it goes, because I’m really curious.

Staves

As a bounded caster, you’re only graciously granted so many spell slots every day. As a _spontaneous_ bounded caster, you can only have so many unique spells stored in your brain at a time. To offset that, it’s even _more_ important for you to have a staff on hand to keep the spellcaster half of your Summoner/Eidolon tag-team duo in the fray throughout the standard adventuring day, granting free spells from the staff’s list whose sum of spell ranks are equal to your highest-level spell _without_ the need to juggle around different wands.

● Spontaneous spellcasters with staves are permitted to expend a single charge from their staff and a single one of their usual daily spell slots to cast a spell from the staff’s list whose level is equal to—or lower—than your own expended spell slot. Given that you’re a spontaneous bounded caster who only has spell slots of your two highest spell ranks, and that staves you can usually obtain at a given level will almost certainly be lower than your highest level of spells, this is usually not a good trade. However, if you only have 1 charge left in your staff and you really need to cast a specific spell that’s on your staff’s spell list… the option is there. ● Make sure you pick a staff whose spells are on your spellcasting tradition of choice’s spell list. ● The traditions listed after each staff are the traditions whose spell list contains all the spells on the staff. Casters of other traditions can still always cast spells that also appear on their spell list, but will find their usage of that given staff to be more limited.

● Many staves give you circumstance bonuses to specific knowledge-related checks thematic to the staff. Note that this will stack with item bonuses from any other applicable magic item.

Animal Staff (Normal, Greater, Major): [▼] (primal) Even the beast eidolon summoner can probably pass. _Runic body_ is a fantastic spell at low levels, but at the level you can get the animal staff, it’s probably useless. Master Summoner builds will want to cast _summon animal_ with their highest-level slots, not from a staff. _Moon frenzy_ isn’t exactly the greatest party buff for its level. The rest of the spells are flavorful, but rather situational.

The staff also gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to Nature checks to identify animals. If you don’t know if that giant purple worm counts as an animal or beast, ask your GM.

Legacy Staves

Mentalist’s Staff (Legacy) (Normal, Greater, Major): [●/ ★ ] (occult) A solid, versatile staff. _Daze_ isn’t the best damage-dealing cantrip overall, but occult summoners may find it their best bet. _Phantom pain_ is decent single-target damage with a good chance to debuff. _Paranoia_ is situationally funny. _Hypercognition_ doesn’t innately gel with a CHA-based caster, but can be useful for any occult summoners who invested in Intelligence or Wisdom. _Synaptic pulse_ is less than preferable, as it’s an incapacitation effect that will always stay at 5th level, but _synesthesia_ is one of the best debuffs in the game—even once you gain access to higher-level spells—and singlehandedly bumps the Major version of the mentalist’s staff up to blue [★]. The rest of the spells are mostly just situational (but fun) mind tricks.

The staff also gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to checks to identify mental magic.

Staff of Abjuration (Legacy) (Normal, Greater, Major): [◆] (arcane) For the summoner who believes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Many of the spells on the staff’s list, like _feather fall_ , _endure elements_ , and _resist energy_ are the best at doing what they do—when you need them, you _really_ need them. However, they’re not spells you can always expect to be using every day, which is why I rate this staff yellow [◆]. On the other hand, _shield_ is a decent “I’ve got nothing better to do for my last action” cantrip, and _repulsion_ is a fun crowd control tool, but it’s not quite enough to eke the rating up to green.

The staff also gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to checks to identify abjuration magic.

Staff of Conjuration (Legacy) (Normal, Greater, Major): [●] (arcane) A conjuration staff is a pretty on-brand choice for the Summoner. That being said… most of the spells on this staff’s list aren’t that good. Master Summoner builds won’t be particularly interested in the _summon construct_ or _summon elemental_ spells—not only would they rather be using their highest-level spell slots for their summons, but _summon elemental_ has a rather weak list of available summons, and _summon construct_ is even weaker. _Tanglefoot_ will interfere with your eidolon’s MAP, and spells like _unseen servant, phantom steed,_ and _creation_ are interesting, but situational. However, the real winners here are _obscuring mist_ , _stinking cloud_ , and _black tentacles_ , which are all fantastic crowd control options.

The staff also gives you a +2 circumstance bonus to checks to identify conjuration magic.

Spellhearts

Spellhearts are talisman-like items that you can affix to your equipment, usually armor or a weapon. They have a variety of applications, such as giving you some extra spells per day stuck at a set DC, as well as minor buffs that apply to you depending on where the spellheart is affixed once you cast the contained spells. However, they can also be fantastic ways of acquiring new cantrips that scale off of your usual spellcasting DC, especially those that wouldn’t otherwise be on your spell list.

Jolt Coil (Normal, Greater, Major): [ ★ ] The bonus to a weapon isn’t too useful to you, though the electricity resistance is circumstantially useful. _Draw the lightning_ isn’t as high value on a non-martial, and _lightning bolt_ is nice in the right situation (at levels where the DC is relevant). The real draw here is being able to pick up _electric arc_ as a divine or occult spellcaster.

Trinity Geode (Normal, Greater, Major): [●] _Scatter scree_ is a serviceable cantrip in the right circumstances, and the two other spells it grants— _meld into stone_ and _spike stones_ —have the benefit of not hinging off of spell DCs. The neatest thing here is the resistance 1 to physical damage (except adamantine), which is consistently applicable even if your summoner isn’t typically a frontliner.

Apex Items

Apex items are a “capstone” piece of equipment for adventurers—increasing a given ability score modifier by 1 or increasing it to +4, whichever would be higher. You’ll likely want to pick one up as soon as you can.

Bangles of Crowns: [ ★ ] A Charisma apex item. It’s listed as Rare, but if you can get your hands on it, it’s exceptionally appealing for Intimidate-centric builds, as it gives you a +3 item bonus to that skill. As a reaction once per hour when an enemy within 60 feet becomes frightened, you gain a +1 circumstance bonus to checks against them for 1 round and 15 temporary HP. Nice, but not earth-shattering. However, the real draw here is being able to cast 3rd-level DC 38 _fear_ once per hour, which is pretty great for large groups of lower-level enemies.

Beguiling Crown: [ ★ ] A Charisma apex item. It’s 20th-level and Uncommon, but if you can get your hands on it… hoo, boy. It automatically improves the attitude of creatures within 30 feet from you by one step, up to friendly, no save. This can allow you to just breeze through any social encounter you walk into—and, given that you’ve reached 20th level, I’d say it’s somewhat warranted.

Once per turn, you can get the effects of _sanctuary_ for a round—effectively at-will, if you have the actions for it. (No DC is listed, but I’m presuming it follows the other effects of the item, so DC 41, probably.) It’s a great “nuh-uh, don’t touch me” button.

Additionally, once per hour, you can spend a reaction when hit by an enemy to force them to make a DC 41 Will save or have the attack fail, magically rendering them friendly to you until the end of its turn. On a critical failure, it becomes friendly to you and grovels in front of you for 1 minute (or until it gets attacked). That’s one way to take an enemy out of the battle, alright.

Finally, as a 2-action activity once per day, you can force a creature within 30 feet to pass a DC 41 Will save or become friendly to you for the next 24 hours. On a success, though, they _still_ become friendly to you, but only for 1 hour—which, in the right circumstance, is still plenty of time. On a critical success, though, they’re immune for a year. Overall, this apex item is a great “I win at the social encounter” button, and you’re likely already super-invested in Charisma.

Circlet of Persuasion: [ ★ ] A Charisma apex item. If you want to keep your spellcasting potent, you’ll want this as soon as possible. In addition to

boosting your Charisma by 2, this item gives you (and your eidolon!) +2 item bonus to Deception and Diplomacy checks, which is nice. Additionally, once per hour, you can cast a 4th-level _charm_ spell, which can be spammed quite a lot.

Mask of Allure: [●] A Charisma apex item. It grants you a +2 bonus to all Charisma-based skills: Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, and Performance. Furthermore, you get a once-per-day free action ability to transform the mask to gain a one-time +4 status bonus to one Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Performance roll.

Troubadour’s Cap: [●] A very bardlike Charisma apex item. It grants a +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Performance checks. It gives you a once-per-hour DC 37 _hypnotic pattern_ , as well as a once-per-day DC 35 _prismatic spray_. Fascinated isn’t too great of a condition, and the DC on the _prismatic spray_ is slightly low (especially as you level up). It’s still an apex item, though.

Other Magic Items

Handwraps of Mighty Blows: [ ★ ] Your eidolon’s attacks scale off of the Handwraps of Mighty Blows that its summoner has invested. You can get your eidolon’s attacks to scale off of any other magical weapon, but then you’d need to be holding it for the runes to benefit your eidolon, _and_ you’ll still have to use up an investment slot. Upgrade this whenever you can.

Collar of the Eternal Bond: [●] One of two eidolon-specific magic items printed in Secrets of Magic. This allows your eidolon to go up to 150 feet away from you without unmanifesting instead of 100, and once per day, you can activate the item to let your eidolon go as far as they’d like for 5 minutes. Compare this to the Unfetter Eidolon [◆] focus spell, which _can_ be used as many times per day as you can Refocus, but lasts only one minute. I wouldn’t consider this item strictly necessary for _every_ summoner, but it’s good for _any_ summoner.

Stampede Medallion: [●] The second of two eidolon-specific magic items printed in Secrets of Magic. Your eidolon can activate it once per day to deal AoE damage to enemies only in an emanation around them. The fact that the area scales with your eidolon’s speed is particularly interesting, and means that this works best if you’ve taken Alacritous Action [●] or some other option to make your eidolon faster. Additionally, if your enemies fail, they get knocked prone, which turns this item from pretty okay to pretty good. However, unless

your GM gives you this item super early for some reason, the DC and damage will lag behind your more proper spell slots.

Additionally, this item gives your eidolon an item bonus to Shove and Trip checks, but if you’re specializing in those, you should already have the appropriate weapon trait so your Handwraps (or other invested magical weapon) will give you an item bonus.

Boots of Bounding: [●] Ooh, neat. +5 foot item bonus to your Speed. You’re also a bit better at jumping (looking at you, Air Elemental eidolons). Item bonuses to speed don’t really come by often. That being said… unlike item bonuses to Perception and skill checks, your eidolon doesn’t benefit from your item bonuses to Speed. Boo.

Spells

Work in progress. There are just so many spells, especially after Secrets of Magic added _two-frickin’-hundred_ of them, and then the remaster rewrote a lot of them. Hopefully I’ll get to this eventually, but in the meantime, I recommend spamming _electric arc_ checking out Gortle’s Spell Guide for the Sorcerer.

Remember that you’re a bounded spellcaster, not a full spellcaster. Situational utility options, as well as spells that you can burn through quickly (like those with low action cost or reaction spells), are less valuable to you. You want to pick spells that will be your bread and butter and provide lasting value.

Keep in mind saving throws. Enemies printed in Pathfinder 2e most commonly have Will as their lowest saving throw, and Fortitude as their highest saving throw, but this might vary depending on your specific campaign or as a larger variety of enemies get printed. Use your common sense when targeting saves whenever possible. For example, the big dumb cave giant probably has high Fortitude saves and low Will saves, and the crumbly spellslinging lich probably has high Will saves and low Fortitude saves.

Spells that can target either animal companions, familiars, and/or eidolons will be rated with the eidolon in mind, but you might value them differently if you’re taking, say, the Beastmaster [★] or Familiar Master [★] archetypes.

Spells that hinge around their caster making Strikes are rated under the assumption that your eidolon is casting them with Magical Adept [●].

Legacy spells will be rated in comparison to remastered options.

For summoners who want to specialize in summoning spells, I highly recommend checking out Exocist's Guide to Summoning.

Other guides with much more comprehensive listings of published spells exist, so I recommend checking those out as well.

Cantrips

For damaging cantrips, watch out for effects that only scale every other spell rank and effects that require spell attack rolls, which will contribute to the MAP you share with your eidolon. Additionally, watch out for touch-range damaging spells. You don’t get Reach Spell like non-bounded casters, and even if you multiclass, metamagic is hard to utilize with Act Together.

Ancient Dust: [◆] (arcane, divine) Deal void damage in a 15-foot cone, with some persistent damage to boot. It’s not the worst, but arcane spellcasters in particular will have better options.

Approximate: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) This cantrip is the perfect fit for people who want to effortlessly be moderately successful at “guess how many jellybeans are in the jar” contests.

Bullhorn: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult + fey gift) I cast megaphone. Might have some interesting use in some social situations, like if you want to engage in loud negotiations with an army standing 500 feet away, or are trying to campaign your eidolon for a mayoral election and need to broadcast a speech to the townspeople. Additionally, you get a +1 status bonus to checks to Coerce (not covered by 6-second _guidance_ ) or auditory Performance checks in a large venue (may or may not be covered by 6-second _guidance_ [●], depending on how avant-garde and brief your performance is).

Caustic Blast: [●] (arcane, primal) Creatures in a 5-foot burst within 30 feet take 1d8 acid damage for every odd-numbered spell rank, dealing 1 persistent acid damage for every odd-numbered spell rank. Man, _acid splash_ is so terrible in comparison. Even if AoE cantrips have delayed scaling, the fact that the damage die is a d8 means it actually might catch up in multi-target situations. Beware friendly fire, though.

Daze: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult + fey gift) Target an enemy within 60 feet, and they take 1d6 mental damage with a basic Will save. If they critically fail, they’re stunned 1. At every odd spell rank past 1st, the damage increases by

1d6. The damage is nonlethal, so you can safely pacify enemies with this. It’s hardly any damage, though, even if the range is somewhat good.

Deep Breath: [▼] (arcane, primal) Hold your breath for a really, really long time. You still lose a huge amount of time if you speak or provide verbal components for a spell, though. Maybe good for aquatic campaigns, but I wouldn’t take it otherwise—and, even then, there are other non-cantrip spells that’ll make you much more useful underwater.

Detect Magic: [●] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Check whether or not there is unexpected magic within 30 feet. At 3rd spell rank, learn the school of the highest-level magical effect within range, and at 4th spell rank, pinpoint its exact location. This is one of those spells that at least one person in every party is going to want to have.

Detect Metal: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) If this was a Minecraft optimization guide, I’d rate this blue [★]. Mining, bank heists, looking for armored guards around the corner, maybe…? Maybe you can be more creative with this than me.

Divine Lance: [◆] (divine) WIth a spell attack roll, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) spirit damage. With the removal of alignment, Divine Lance is a lot more applicable than it was previously (though you can’t get into any “trial by fire” hijinks with it anymore, for better or for worse). However, there are still a decent amount of soulless creatures with immunity to spirit damage, and it’s still an attack roll that contributes to MAP. Luckily, this isn’t the Divine spell list’s best damage-dealing option anymore.

Draw Moisture: [▼] (arcane, primal) This is a very good cantrip for doing your laundry.

Eat Fire: [●] (arcane, occult, primal) As a reaction, get resistance 5 to fire until the end of the current turn, increasing by 5 more resistance for every 3 spell ranks. Then, until the end of your next turn, you can take an action to create a 5-foot burst smoke cloud within 20 feet, concealing everyone inside and concealing everything else from everyone inside. This cloud lasts for 1 minute (or until some wind blows it away). Reaction spells are pretty good action economy, and creating the cloud using only action is great (compared to _mist,_ which takes three whole actions). A 5-foot burst is small, but sometimes, that’s all you need. As good as this spell is, it’s dependent on how much fire damage you encounter.

Electric Arc: [ ★ ] (arcane, primal) With a basic reflex save, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) in electricity damage to up to two (!!) enemies within 30 feet. This is the gold standard of damaging cantrips. Divine and occult spellcasters will envy you for this. I feel like I toot _electric arc_ ’s horn a bit too much for such a simple cantrip, but it’s really that good.

Forbidding Ward: [●] (divine, occult) Cast for two actions, sustain with one. One specific ally gets a +1 status bonus to AC and saving throws against one specific enemy. Throw this on your eidolon or party frontliner (it stacks with _protect companion_ [★]_!_ but not _reinforce eidolon,_ ) and target the big bad boss for a climactic showdown. At 6th spell rank, the bonus increases to +2 to catch up with other status bonuses, which is sweet.

Elemental Counter: [◆] (arcane, primal) Expend a spell to counteract a spell—based on element, anyway. The flavor is nice, but you probably don’t have the spell slots to use on this…

Figment: [●] (arcane, occult + fey gift) They made _ghost sound,_ but better! It’s one of the more limited illusion spells, but since it’s a cantrip, you can try to spam this as much as you can. These uses depend on how much your GM is willing to play into it, admittedly, but it’s as useful as your imagination lets it be. It might also be mechanically useful for more stealthy summoners who want to attempt to Create a Diversion.

Frostbite: [ ★ ] (arcane, primal) With a basic fortitude save, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) in cold damage to an enemy up to 60 feet away. On a critical failure, you give them weakness to bludgeoning equal to the spell rank. It’s not as hard-hitting as _electric arc_ , but since the two cantrips are on the same spell lists, together, they make an exceptionally potent damage-dealing combo for the arcane or primal summoner. _Electric arc_ will still be your bread and butter, but _frostbite_ is the perfect complement for:

● An enemy with a worse fortitude save than a reflex save. ● An enemy that you can’t easily get to within 30 feet (e.g. flying enemies when you’re grounded). ● An enemy with a resistance to electricity damage. ● An enemy with a weakness to cold damage.

Gale Blast: [◆] (arcane, primal) With a basic Fortitude save, deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage to all adjacent creatures. The damage increases by 1d6 at every odd spell rank past 1st. On a failure, a target is pushed 5 feet away from you, and on a critical failure, a target is pushed 10 feet away from you. I like

this more for the “Ha! You have to spend a _whole_ action to step back into melee!” value than the damage, so this is probably interesting for melee summoners who didn’t dump Charisma.

Glass Shield: [●] (arcane, primal) Like _shield_ [★], but the shield doesn’t reduce as much damage on a shield block. Instead, when it breaks, the attacking creature (if within 5 feet) takes damage equal to your spellcasting attribute modifier, plus 1d4 for every 2 spell ranks after 1st. I don’t think it’s worth it over _shield_ for arcane casters, but primal casters who don’t typically have access to _shield_ may consider it. Or just get a real shield.

● Unlike shield, the glass shield has HP, which might mean it could circumstantially survive a shield block. I wouldn’t count on it, though.

Gouging Claw: [◆] (arcane, primal) Spell attack roll, deal 1d6 * (spell rank + 1) slashing or piercing damage and persistent bleed damage equal to spell rank on a hit, and on a crit, deal twice as much damage. This is pretty high single-target damage as far as spell attack rolls go, but it’s still a spell attack roll, and you have to be directly in melee. You may or may not want to leave this to the Magus.

Guidance: [●] (divine, occult, primal) Grant the target a +1 status bonus on one attack roll, skill check, or saving throw they make within the round, and then they’re immune for 1 hour. This is a good contender for a random last action you cast at the end of your turn when you have nothing better to do. Out of combat, you can use this in conjunction with Aid if you want to make sure an ally definitely probably succeeds on any skill check that takes 6 seconds or less to complete.

Haunting Hymn: [◆] (divine, occult) In a 15-foot cone, deal sonic damage equal to your spellcasting ability modifier with a basic Fortitude save, and deafen for 1 minute on a critical failure. The damage increases by 1d6 at every odd spell rank past 1st. You probably have to get pretty up close and personal to optimally position this small cone. Sonic damage isn’t resisted often, but Fortitude is pretty commonly a high saving throw for enemies. At least it’s not an attack roll, I guess.

Healing Plaster: [▼] (primal) Turn dirt or mud into a plaster you can use to patch up wounds with the Medicine skill as if it were healer’s tools. Maybe this is nice for saving 5 gp at 1st level, but you’ll probably want to pick up real healer’s tools sometime soon instead of using one of your cantrip slots on this.

Ignition: [●] (arcane, primal) The remastered version of _produce flame [◆]_. Make a spell attack roll to deal 1d4 (spell rank + 1) fire damage to an enemy within 30 feet, or make a melee spell attack to deal 1d6 (spell rank + 1) fire damage. On a critical success, set your target on fire 1d4 spell rank persistent fire damage, or 1d6 spell rank persistent fire damage for a melee attack. You’re still contending with MAP, of course, but this could be an interesting alternate damage type option.

Illuminate: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Light all fire-based light sources within an emanation around you, with area scaling with spell rank. Cool for dramatic effect, I guess?

Infectious Enthusiasm: [●] (arcane, occult + fey gift) It’s a mini-inspire courage! For two actions, get a +1 status bonus to your choice of attack rolls, Will saves, or Charisma-based skill checks for the duration. During that same duration, a single ally within 30 feet who saw you cast the spell can spend a single action to gain the same buff. That’s a lot of actions, but the fact that it applies to multiple attacks and doesn’t have a cooldown (unlike _guidance_ ) is nice.

If you really, _really_ need your eidolon to hit something (and can’t cast _guidance_ ), you can cast this, have your eidolon take the extra action to gain the +1 status bonus, and then strike once, but _man_ that is a lot of actions for a +1 status bonus to a single attack. Let someone else in your party make use of this instead.

Inside Ropes: [▼] (divine, occult, primal) …Ew…?

50 feet of rope is only 5 sp, so I’m not sure if I could justify taking this for pure mechanical merit, even when heightened to give you an item bonus to Climb.

Invoke True Name: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) This is a rare cantrip, so you can only use this if your GM includes true names as a specific plot element in a campaign. In that case, the effect is pretty darn strong, giving enemies off-guard against your spells and a -2 circumstance penalties to saving throws against your spells. Additionally, you deal double the cantrip’s spell rank in additional damage whenever you damage the target with a spell. In this specific situation, it’s pretty darn good… but even then, you’re probably not going to know the true name of just any creature you end up fighting, and it doesn’t benefit your eidolon. Leave this for the prepared spellcasters who can swap their cantrips in and out on a daily basis.

Join Pasts: [▼] (occult) As an uncommon cantrip, this seems more like a plot device or roleplaying gimmick than anything else. Touch two creatures’ foreheads, and they share memories, ideas, and thoughts. Additionally, you can use any Lore skill to Aid the other’s Recall Knowledge checks, even if the Lore skill wouldn’t normally apply. Every heightened spell rank, you can add one additional target to the mental communion, which evokes a slightly amusing image of a 19th-level spellcaster trying to touch 10 different foreheads at once to cast this spell. The Aid ability is interesting, but it’s probably not something you want on a spontaneous caster.

Know the Way: [◆] (divine, occult, primal) When cast, you can discern north, as well as the direction of a familiar location you’ve been to in the past day, scaling to a week and, eventually, unlimited. If you’re in the wilderness a lot and don’t have anyone trained in Survival for some reason, this might be useful, but I probably wouldn’t take this on a spontaneous spellcaster and would opt to use a more mundane method to find my way. It might be useful in a more wilderness-oriented campaign if you don’t have a more survival-oriented character, I suppose…

Light: [●] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Create a floating light, or attach a light to a friend. Now you don’t need a separate cantrip for _dancing lights_. Unless everybody in your party has darkvision, at least one person will want to have this spell so they don’t need to use a hand to carry a torch.

Message: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult + fey gift) Directly send a message to the ears of a target within 120 feet, and they can respond to you as a reaction or free action. At 3rd spell rank, the range increases to 500 feet. There might be some interesting out-of-combat utility here, but it’s probably too much of a novelty for a spellcaster with a limited repertoire.

Musical Accompaniment: [◆] (arcane, occult + fey gift) A +1 status bonus to Performance checks, as well as Deception, Diplomacy, and Intimidation checks in certain situations. A Charisma-based class like the Summoner could have some fun with this…

Needle Darts: [●] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Make a spell attack roll against a target within 60 feet, dealing 1d4 * (spell rank + 2) piercing damage on a hit (and possible bleed on a critical hit). That’s pretty decent damage, but you’re still contending with MAP, and it doesn’t scale as well as other cantrips. The real draw here is that you can use a piece of metal in your possession for this spell, dealing damage according to the type of metal you use—silver, cold

iron, adamantine, et cetera. This is a fantastic cantrip for targeting those weaknesses.

Phase Bolt: [◆] (arcane, occult) For a spell attack roll, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) piercing damage to a target within 30 feet. The niche here is being able to negate circumstance bonuses to AC by 2, but since you’re contending with MAP, it’s usually not worth it for a Summoner.

Prestidigitation: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) The P in “prestidigitation” stands for “party trick.” The uses are very limited—gone are the glory days of being affectionately called “least wish” in the d20 3e era. You can chill a drink, warm up a meal, or add some flavoring to food. You can lift an object a whopping 1 foot off the ground. You can make a small, nonfunctional trinket that is very obviously made out of nondescript solidified magical goop. Finally, you can clean, dirty, or color a small object, or maybe give yourself a magical shower very, _very_ slowly. Take it if you really hate room temperature-food, I guess.

Protect Companion: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) It’s like _shield_ [★], but for your eidolon (and also any minions you might have, I guess). The +1 circumstance bonus to AC will stack with the +1 status bonus from Reinforce Eidolon [●]. Additionally, you get a Shield Block-like reaction called Life Block, which allows you to take 5 damage in order to reduce damage your eidolon/targeted minion would take by 10. You share HP with your eidolon, so this just ends up being a net -5 to damage taken (which also stacks with resistances!). I probably wouldn’t use the reaction on a summoned minion, though, since your hit points are more valuable than theirs, and any damage a summoned minion takes is damage you don’t have to heal.

The cantrip also heightens at every odd level, boosting Life Block’s reduced damage by 10 and increasing the damage you take as a result by 5. Also, if you don’t want the damage you take to knock you out, you can also lower the damage reduction and ensuing damage that you take to any level you like (but this situation will never happen if you’re using this on your eidolon since you’re sharing hit points anyway and you’ll just be reducing less damage in increments of 5 so you probably won’t want to make use of that effect if you’re casting this on your eidolon but if you’re using Life Block on a summoned minion for some reason then the option is there I guess).

Puff of Poison: [◆] (arcane, primal) With a range of 5 feet (so, basically, melee range), make a target take 1d8 poison damage with a basic Fortitude save. Additionally, on all but a critical success, they take 2 persistent poison damage. Every odd spell rank past 1st, the initial damage increases by 1d8, and the persistent poison damage increases by 1. Poison is a neat damage type,

but you probably shouldn’t cast this on robots and the like. Fortitude is often a hard save to target, but the fact that the persistent damage still applies even on a regular success is great. It might only scale every other spell rank, but at least it increases by 1d8 instead of 1d6. The fact that the range is only 5 feet is pretty disappointing, though. Eh, at least it’s not a spell attack roll.

Read Aura: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Take 1 minute to cast this cantrip to tell whether or not an object is magical, as well as its school of magic if it is. When you heighten it, you can target more objects. It’s comparable in many situations to _detect magic_ [●], but this can come in handy when you want to quickly sort out the +2 striking weapons from the mundane ones from the bodies you loot or something.

Root Reading: [◆] (arcane, primal) An interesting niche utility spell with a variety of uses. Within a 30 feet emanation, you’ll be told if unnoticed creatures are in the area (as long as they’re Medium or larger). This doesn’t make them detected, though, but you get to make an immediate check to Seek with a +1 status bonus. This spell’s not very useful for the boost alone, considering the action economy involved (just Seeking by itself is 1 action). Perhaps more interesting is the ability to learn if creatures passed through an area in the last hour, offering you a +1 bonus to Track said creatures. You don’t really have the Wisdom to take full advantage of these abilities, but it’s interesting, I suppose. This cantrip is on the cusp of being red [▼], but it has enough uses that I might consider giving it the time of day. I’m not sure if I’d ever take it using my limited spontaneous spellcaster cantrip slots, though.

● Despite the flavor, it doesn’t seem like this requires trees or bushes to be nearby you.

Read the Air: [▼] (divine, occult) It’s a shame that this spell isn’t on the arcane list, since it totally sounds like something an antisocial wizard came up with to help deal with the burdensome task of interacting with other people. When you cast the spell, you can make a Society check to Recall Knowledge about your immediate social situation, and then you get a +1 status bonus to the next Make an Impression check you make within the next minute on the people who were present when you cast this spell. Make an Impression takes longer than 6 seconds, so it’s a use not covered by _guidance_ [●]. Still super duper circumstantial, though.

Rousing Splash: [ ★ ] (divine, primal) When you cast this spell, give 1d4 * spell rank temporary HP to a target that lasts up to 1 minute, with a cooldown of 10 minutes. If you have the time, this is fantastic to precast before any combat.

It’s also consistently applicable if you take the time to Refocus and Treat Wounds. When used in combat, it’s not as powerful, but also has great utility in helping recover from persistent acid and fire damage. Overall, this is a great cantrip that punches a bit above its weight class.

Scatter Scree: [●] (arcane, primal) In an ideal situation, you can feasibly deal as much damage with this as _electric arc_ [★] (technically more, if you have multiple enemies in a single square), but only if the two targets are directly adjacent to each other. It targets the same save and is found on the same lists, but deals bludgeoning damage instead of electricity damage. Additionally, it has a rider effect of making those two squares difficult terrain until 1 minute elapses, you cast _scatter scree_ again, or a character spends an Interact action to sweep them away, whichever comes first.

I’d never take this over _electric arc_ , but it has some fringe utility (different damage type, difficult terrain effect, enemies with weakness to area attacks like swarms) that you might consider taking it in addition to _electric arc_.

Shield: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult) This cantrip is a staple hands-free solution for casters who can’t (or don’t want to) get a real shield. The +1 circumstance bonus to AC is comparable to a buckler, and the scaling reaction is great, since you don’t have to repair your shield after every single combat.

Sigil: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Leave a unique magical sigil on a creature or object. I dunno. Might be flavorful with the glowing sigil you and your eidolon share. Stamp your letters with this, or maybe be a gentleman thief and leave it at the scene of a crime.

Slashing Gust: [◆] Is this _electric arc_ [★] _,_ but for spell attack rolls? Make up to two spell attack rolls (if you have two hands free) against up to two different creatures at the same MAP. If you hit, deal 1d4 (spell rank + 1) slashing damage, and on a critical hit, deal 1d4 spell rank persistent bleed damage. This would be pretty strong, but you’re a summoner who wants your eidolon to do the attacking, and as such, must contend with MAP. As strong as the cantrip is in and of itself, you’re one of the few who can’t make good use of it.

Spout: [●] (arcane, primal) In a 5-foot cube, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) bludgeoning damage with a basic Reflex save. If you’re using this in a decently-sized body of water, the area increases to a 5-foot burst (four squares instead of one), which could possibly hit even more enemies than Electric Arc, so if you’re ever in the unique situation of having to damage four creatures adjacent to each other in a perfect square in the middle of a pond

or something, this is theoretically high damage… but in most situations, I’d rather have _electric arc_ [★]. It might be useful against water-vulnerable creatures, like clay golems. Surprisingly, fire elementals aren’t innately vulnerable to water by RAW.

Stabilize: [●] (divine, primal) One target ally loses the dying condition. If you’ve run out of literally every other possible source of healing, this is a nice safety net to make sure your friends don’t die, but they’d probably rather be conscious.

Summon Instrument: [▼] (divine, occult) Exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a nice party trick, I guess?

Take Root: [◆] (arcane, primal) As a 1-action spell, give a creature within 30 feet a +1 circumstance bonus to their DCs and saves against Shove, Disarm, Trip, and anything that would knock something out of their hands. It’s circumstantial and small, but as a 1-action spell, you might just find an opportune moment to use this.

Tame: [▼] (occult, primal) This is the “petting random dogs I see on the street” cantrip. With a Will save, make a specific domesticated animal temporarily friendlier to you. It doesn’t work on hostile creatures, so you can’t use it to pacify the K9 unit that’s actively trying to take you out.

Tangle Vine: [◆] (arcane, primal) A spell attack roll that lowers the speed of an enemy on a hit instead of dealing damage. On a critical hit, immobilize your target. Beware of MAP. As the cantrip heightens, the effect lasts longer, but the target can still spend an action to Escape.

Telekinetic Hand: [●] (arcane, occult) Slowly pick up and carry a small unattended object without directly touching it. How sanitary! You can’t use it for anything fancy like picking pockets, picking locks, or holding doors shut, but it’s useful when you really, really _don’t_ want to touch something—for example, something that would burn you or give you some weird disease if you touched it. With conspicuous verbal and somatic components, though, it might not be ideal for doing things stealthily. The initial range is 30 feet, but increases to 60 feet at 5th rank. Initially, you can only move objects of light bulk (about the size of a dagger), but at 3rd spell rank, you can move an object of 1 bulk (about the size of a longsword), and at 7th rank, you can move an object of 2 bulk (about the size of a greatsword).

Telekinetic Projectile: [●] (arcane, occult) 1d6 * (spell rank + 1) is the highest for any spell attack roll cantrip, and it’s nice that you can pick from either bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing to account for specific weaknesses or resistances. Beware of sharing MAP with your eidolon, though.

Timber: [◆] (arcane, primal) In a 15-foot line away from you, all creatures make a Reflex save or take 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) bludgeoning damage. On a critical failure, they’re dazzled until the end of their next turn. It’s technically more maximum damage than _electric arc_ [★] since you could hit up to 3 Medium-sized creatures with this, but you’ll have to get lucky to have three enemies line up so nicely for you. Additionally, you’ll probably need to spend an extra action just to move into place and line up the shot, which is slightly more feasible on a full caster than a Summoner (you have more effective actions, sure, but wouldn’t you rather have your Eidolon swing one more time?). All in all, it’s not horrible damage, but perhaps just a bit too clunky to use for a Summoner.

Time Sense: [▼] (arcane, occult) It’s a magic pocket watch. It might also be a magic calendar, timer until sunrise, etc… All in all, very circumstantial uses. You can get a +1 status bonus to a variety of different rolls if the situation calls for precise timing, but you might as well just use _guidance_ [●] for that.

Torturous Trama: [◆] (arcane, divine) You sadistic spellcaster, you. Against a creature with organs within 30 feet, deal 1d4 * spell rank + spellcasting ability modifier nonlethal bludgeoning damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target is fatigued until the start of your next turn. If you’re a divine spellcaster, this might be one of the most okayest damage-dealing cantrips you have (against creatures that have the physiology for it, anyway), but arcane casters can probably pass.

Tremor Signs: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) It’s earthy _message_. Do your party members know Morse code? No? You can probably pass, then.

Vitality Lash: [◆] (divine, primal) Against an undead or other void healing-having creature within 30 feet, deal 1d6 * (spell rank + 1) vitality damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a critical failure, that creature is enfeebled 1 until the start of your next turn. It’s decent damage that scales pretty well, especially on the divine spell list, but it’s rather limited in its usage. You might want to take it just to complement _void warp_.

Void Warp: [●] (arcane, divine, occult) Against a living creature within 30 feet, deal 1d4 * (spell rank + 1) void damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a

critical failure, that creature is enfeebled 1 until the start of your next turn. If you’re a divine spellcaster, this might be one of the okayest damage-dealing cantrips you have… against creatures that are alive, anyway. Constructs and undead need not apply.

Warp Step: [●] (arcane, occult) Give yourself a +5 foot status bonus to Speed for your turn, then move twice (typically Stride, but other movement types work here, too). If you don’t have a status bonus to speed already, this is just better than moving twice. It’s a very small bonus, though, but since you’d be moving a lot anyway, there’s not much opportunity cost here outside of the cantrip slot.

Wash Your Luck: [▼] (divine, occult) For one minute, cancel out one misfortune effect on a roll, and then the spell ends. It’s probably not something you want to have every day, but I guess if you’re going up against a pugwampi den or something, it might be nice to pre-cast this before a battle, but it still works only once every 10 minutes.

Legacy Cantrips

Acid Splash: [▼] (arcane, primal) Acid is a nice damage type, but a spell attack roll is less than ideal, and _acid splash_ lost its niche in targeting the AoE vulnerabilities of swarms and troops when _scatter scree_ [●] got printed, which is on the same spell lists. Just take _caustic blast_ [●].

Chill Touch: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult) Against a living creature, deal 1d4 * spell rank + spellcasting ability modifier void (negative) damage, basic Fortitude save, and on a critical failure, the target is enfeebled 1 for a round. Void damage is a decent damage type, but Fortitude saves are often high, and having a range of touch really hurts. Against an undead creature (who will most likely be immune to void damage), they are off-guard for 1 round on a failure, and if they critically fail, they have to make a Will save, and if they fail _that_ , then they’re fleeing for a round, which isn’t particularly stellar.

Dancing Lights: [◆] (arcane, occult, primal) It’s like _light_ [●], but times four, and you can move them around to create a fun little display, and you have to sustain it. For reliable lighting, just use _light_ , but you might be able to come up with unique uses for this.

Disrupt Undead: [◆] (divine, primal) Against an undead target, deal 1d6 * spell rank + spellcasting ability modifier vitality (positive) damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target becomes enfeebled 1 for a round. That’s pretty good damage, and many undead take extra damage from

vitality effects. That being said, you probably still want another damaging cantrip for alive enemies.

Ghost Sound: [▼] (arcane, occult + fey gift) Make a spooky noise somewhere relatively nearby. This is a cantrip for people who like to be clever, and people whose GMs like to play along with clever solutions that don’t cost spell slots. Just make sure anyone you’re trying to fool doesn’t notice your verbal and somatic spellcasting components. Figment [◆] has more uses, but doesn’t get scaling range.

Know Direction: [▼] (divine, occult, primal) You immediately discern which direction is north. At 7th spell rank, you can discern the direction of a specific familiar location. _Know the way_ [◆] is a straight upgrade.

Mage Hand: [●] (arcane, occult) Renamed to _telekinetic hand_ [●].

Produce Flame: [◆] (arcane, primal) Very similar to its remastered version, _ignition [●]._ With a ranged spell attack roll, deal 1d4 * spell rank + spellcasting ability modifier fire damage to a target. On a critical hit, set your target on fire for 1d4 persistent fire damage per spell rank. You can also use it in melee if you want to for some reason (you won’t be able to avoid Attacks of Opportunity this way, as the spell will still have the manipulate trait). It’s a decent damaging cantrip with a nice critical rider effect, but it still contributes to MAP. Technically, 1d4+mod damage has greater expected damage than 2d4 by an absolutely _teeny_ amount, but you don’t get the d6 in melee.

Ray of Frost: [●] (arcane, primal) Wow, 120 foot range! With a ranged spell attack roll, deal 1d4 * spell rank + spellcasting ability modifier cold damage to a target. On a critical hit, the target gains a -10 circumstance penalty to all its Speeds for a round. As far as spell attack roll cantrips go, this is pretty splendid. I’d rate it blue [★] on any other spellcaster, but summoners still have to contend with sharing MAP with their eidolon. For the range alone, this might still be worth using post-remaster… but maybe slightly less so on a summoner.

Tanglefoot: [◆] (arcane, primal) Renamed to _tangle vine_ [◆].

1st Rank Spells

Bless: [ ● ] (divine, occult) Turns out “we have _courageous anthem_ at home” is still pretty darn good. Apply a lasting +1 status bonus to attack rolls to yourself and all allies within 5 feet. You’ll probably have to be a bit too close for comfort for your eidolon and party to immediately take advantage of that, but

by spending an action on turns thereafter to increase the radius of the spell, you can increase the area of the spell exponentially to pretty decent levels.

However, this spell doesn’t heighten, so you might look elsewhere as you level up.

Pet Cache: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) You can’t use this on your eidolon. Even if you could, uh… you could always just dismiss them.

Runic Body: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) When cast on somebody, it turns all of their unarmed attacks to +1 striking attacks, giving them a +1 item bonus to attack rolls and dealing an extra die of damage on a hit. This is absolutely fantastic at 1st level, making your eidolon (or anybody else in your party that uses unarmed attacks) a veritable force to be reckoned with. In this newly remastered version, it also scales, becoming a +2 greater striking weapon at 6th rank and a +3 major striking weapon at 9th rank. Assuming you gain runes as soon as you reach the matching item level, this will be most relevant at 1st level, but also slightly relevant at 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 17th, and 18th levels. Though it can be heightened now, at those ranks, you might get more bang for your buck selecting a newer, cooler spell.

See the comparable _runic weapon_ [★].

Runic Weapon: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) Cast this on a weapon, and it becomes a +1 striking weapon for 1 minute, gaining a +1 item bonus to attack rolls and dealing an extra die of damage on a hit. This is absolutely fantastic at 1st level. In this newly remastered version, it also scales, becoming a +2 greater striking weapon at 6th rank and a +3 major striking weapon at 9th rank. Assuming you gain runes as soon as you reach the matching item level, this will be most relevant at 1st level, but also slightly relevant at 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 17th, and 18th levels. Though it can be heightened now, at those ranks, you might get more bang for your buck selecting a newer, cooler spell. However, if you want to get those runes on your eidolon…

● Weird Rules: I love it when the “weird rules” section is bigger than the rest of the rating. Anyways, yes, you theoretically can use this to buff your eidolon’s attacks, but it’s very weird and unintuitive, and the rules for getting weapon rune effects on your eidolon definitely weren’t written with this spell in mind and vice versa. Your eidolon gains the effects of any runes on a weapon you are currently holding in your hand(s), which means that if you cast this spell on a stick or sword or staff or whatever else you have in your hands, you

can get the potency and striking runes on your eidolon’s unarmed attacks. However, if you want to use a regular weapon to boost your eidolon’s unarmed attacks instead of handwraps of mighty blows, you’re required to first invest that weapon to gain the effect, even though you usually don’t have to invest magical weapons to gain their effects. If you’re casting this on a mundane weapon, you might not be able to invest the item until you actually cast this spell and enchant it with magic. Investment only takes an action (it’s not like D&D 5e attunement), but an action spent attuning mid-combat is still an action not doing literally anything else. If you cast this on a +1 weapon without a striking rune, you could pre-invest the weapon no problem, but the spell will have ever so slightly less value if you’re casting it on something that already has a +1 item bonus to attack rolls. If you have a nice GM, they might let you pre-invest a weapon you plan to cast magic weapon on later, with some in-lore explanation about “latent magical energies” or whatever. Runic weapon is decidedly more clunky to use to get runes on your eidolon than the comparable runic body [★] , but you might find a niche in that both spells are touch range, so runic weapon may be more useful if your eidolon isn’t right next to you.

Sure Strike: [ ★ ] (arcane, occult) A good pick for an Eidolon with Magical Adept [●]. On your next Strike, roll twice and take the higher attack roll. That’s not only a bonus to hit, but also a bonus to crit. This one’s especially nasty if your eidolon has an unarmed attack with the deadly or fatal trait, as well as if it has a particularly fearsome Strike activity like Furious Strike [◆]. It’s also handy for avoiding flat checks when attacking. Also check out _true target_ [★].

Tailwind: [ ● ] (arcane, primal) The remastered version of _longstrider._ This spell is simple—giving you a +10 status bonus to your Speed for an hour. That’s a decent buff if you can precast it. However, when heightened, it’s even better [★], lasting you a whole 8 hours, which should be good enough to last you a whole working day.

This is better when it’s not your highest-rank spell slot, but as a bounded spellcaster, you won’t have lower-level spell slots to spare, so pick up a wand.

● If your eidolon has spellcasting, like through Magical Adept [●], you can possibly render Alacritous Action [●] obsolete.

Legacy 1st Rank Spells

Magic Fang: [▼] (primal) Reprinted and improved as _runic body_ [★].

Magic Weapon: [▼] (arcane, divine, occult) Reprinted and improved as _runic weapon_ [★].

Shillelagh: [◆] (primal) Reprinted and generally improved as _runic weapon_ [★]. It doesn’t include the extra damage die against undead, aberrations, or extraplanar creatures, but, eh, whatever. Your summoner isn’t a martial.

2nd Rank Spells

Albatross Curse: [ ★ ] (occult, primal) A rather great support spell to help both martials _and_ casters in your party. Place this on a target, and your allies within range automatically get a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls against it, no save. On its turn, the target can automatically get rid of it with a Strike, but this takes an action, increments MAP, and makes it receive another nasty effect: on a failed Will save, roll twice and take lowest on the next Will save, setting your party up to throw an even nastier spell on it. On a success, the target is stupefied 1. This spell does a _lot._ Just make sure to let your party in on it so they can fully capitalize on its effects.

Clawsong: [▼...?] (divine, primal) An uncommon spell from the Strength of Thousands AP. At first glance, this spell seems pretty appealing. If you tell your GM that your eidolon’s secondary unarmed attack is a claw strike and take Advanced Weaponry [●] to give it versatile P, this could theoretically transform your eidolon’s strikes to 1d8 (finesse) deadly d8 with agile and versatile P, which is like if you combined all the best traits of the longsword, shortsword, _and_ rapier onto one ridiculous weapon. At most levels, though, the action economy required to sustain this spell is pretty unjustifiable, especially when _boost eidolon_ exists. Once Effortless Concentration [★] enters the mix, though…

This spell could actually be kind of okay [●]... on paper, at least. It still requires a lot of setup, and you might need to buy a lot of wands. It’s clunky, weird, and expensive, but you (theoretically) get some insane DPR with a super-claw on your eidolon. Hell, it might even slightly justify Merciless Rend [▼]. I haven’t actually tried this in a real game, but it really does give me “too good to be true?” vibes. If you’re planning for an “ideal” situation, you might as well be planning to roll natural 20s on every single strike… but I digress.

Dispel Magic: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) With your limited spell slots, you’re going to want to choose spells with good value and lasting effects. Negating an enemy’s lasting effect is, in and of itself, a lasting effect. Since your spell slots will be higher-rank by default, the counteract ranks will stay competitive. This only increases in applicability in later levels, where enemies sporting all kinds of magical nonsense becomes increasingly common in Golarion’s high fantasy world. Goodbye, buffs! Goodbye, magical hazard! Goodbye, unattended magical item! (Temporarily!)

Rapid Adaptation: [◆] (arcane, primal) Your companion (in this case, probably your eidolon) gains an adaptation based on your current natural environment. There’s a handful of small, but flexible benefits here, but a lot of it is rather negligible or could probably already be served by casting Evolution Surge, which every summoner has.

● Aquatic: You can already get a swim speed with Evolution Surge, but if you cast both, you get a +10 foot status bonus to your eidolon’s swim speed. ● Arctic: Your eidolon isn’t harmed by severe or extreme cold, which is nice, but the rest of your party might still freeze to death. Additionally, when using Acrobatics to balance on ice and snow and you succeed, your eidolon gets a critical success. ● Desert: Like Arctic, but heat instead of cold, and sand instead of ice and snow. ● Forest: Your eidolon gains scent as an imprecise sense of 30 feet. This is redundant with Evolution Surge. ● Mountain: Your eidolon isn’t off-guard while climbing, but unless you’re still 3rd or 4th level, this is redundant with Evolution Surge. Additionally, boost successes on Acrobatics checks to balance on rubble to critical successes. ● Plains: Your eidolon gets a +10 status bonus to land speed. This is redundant with Evolution Surge. ● Underground: Your eidolon gains darkvision. This is redundant with Evolution Surge.

Summoner’s Precaution: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) I kind of wish they didn’t print this spell. Not because it’s bad, but because it’s _too_ good. I somewhat bemoan opting for a 4-color rating system for this guide instead of a 5-color rating system, because this should probably be somewhere above blue.

With a 10-minute cast, you get a special reaction, Sever Conduit, that you can take any time until your next daily preparations. Sever Conduit allows you to prevent _all_ damage your eidolon would take from a single effect, and then automatically unmanifests them for 1 minute. Not having your main class feature for an entire minute means you’ll practically be only half a PC for the rest of that combat, but it’s better than being dead. This is a super fantastic safety net to have for _any_ summoner.

Once your bounded spell slots go past 2nd level, you probably won’t want to have this memorized anymore. Instead, get a wand of this spell. Hell, get a dozen, so you can recast it after any combat. The price of a 2nd-level wand becomes super negligible at higher levels, and you don’t need to heighten the spell whatsoever. This spell is really, _really_ good.

Summoner’s Visage: [◆] (arcane, divine, occult, primal) For 10 minutes, your eidolon becomes visually identical to you. This is a transmutation effect, not an illusion effect. They still retain all of their eidolon abilities, attacks, and statistics (other than size) while in this form, though, so they can kick as much ass as normal while still looking like… uh… whatever you look like. This might be an interesting choice in some specific social situations, but remember that your eidolon needs to be within 100 feet of you by default or else it poofs out of existence, which kind of limits the potential “be in two places at once” utility.

Thundering Dominance: [ ★ ] (occult, primal) Another companion-specific spell. This is absolutely fantastic for any summoner whose eidolon specializes in the Intimidate skill, as it grants your eidolon a +1 status bonus to Intimidate checks for every 2 spell ranks for 1 minute. Looking at you, beast eidolons, who probably desperately need the boost for their Primal Roar. Scaling status bonuses to skills don’t come by often, and this curves ahead of effects like _heroism_ that apply a status bonus to all skills.

Additionally, during the duration of the spell, your eidolon can take an action to make a Thundering Roar, which deals 4d8 sonic damage to enemies (no friendly fire!) in a 10-foot emanation, basic Will save, and gives enemies that fail their throw frightened 1. Sonic damage is rarely resisted, and Will is most commonly the lowest save for most Pathfinder 2e enemies. Un-heightened, this is more damage than a _burning hands_ of the same level. (It technically takes 3 actions total as opposed to just 2 for _burning hands_ , but you have Act Together, so you probably don’t mind.) The damage won’t scale as well, only gaining 2d8 every 2 levels, but this spell would probably be _too_ much value if it did.

Timely Tutor: [◆] (arcane, occult) When casting this on your eidolon, it becomes Trained in any one Lore skill you choose for one minute, as long as you sustain the spell. Use this whenever you discover some new group, location, or important plot element to convince your GM into dumping all the lore they have prepared onto you. This spell only gives your eidolon Trained, not any higher proficiencies, but the lower DCs on specific Lore checks should help. Obviously, this is better if your eidolon has a higher Intelligence, but it can still be helpful on any eidolon. If you don’t have a loremaster, enigma bard, or something like that in your party, it might interest you to pick this up as a wand [●].

3rd Rank Spells

Envenom Companion: [ ★ ] (primal) For one minute, the first time each round your eidolon attacks someone and deals slashing or piercing damage, the victim also takes an additional 1d8 poison damage. That’s nice and all, but the real draw is the rider effect: when that poison damage is applied, the target must make a Fortitude save, and if they fail, they become clumsy 1. It’s pretty nice to make a target easier for your party to hit, especially when you can reapply it nearly every round, as long as you keep on hitting. Every 3 spell ranks, your eidolon deals an extra 1d8 damage, which is nice, but the clumsy value also increases by 1, which is _super_ nice. I bet the people who picked bludgeoning attacks for their eidolon feel super dumb right now.

● The clumsy only lasts for 1 round, which means that (unless you’re attacking with a reaction) it expires at the start of your next turn. If you’re only applying clumsy on the last Strike of your turn, you won’t be able to capitalize on the Dexterity penalty yourself.

Fireball: [●] (arcane, primal) The classic gold standard for AoE damage. Deal 6d6 fire damage in a 20 foot burst within 500 feet. That range and area is pretty fantastic, and the damage is maximized for a spell without any rider effects or debuffs attached to it. At every heightened level, the damage increases by 2d6.

If you wanna play a blasty Summoner, this is your spell of choice. However, if you like casting fireballs, you’re going to be eating through your spell slots pretty fast, and as a Summoner, you don’t exactly have many to go around. You’re still likely going to be falling back on _electric arc_ most of the time.

Haste: [●] (arcane, occult, primal) This is the spell for when having an effective 4 actions just isn’t enough for you. Make sure you read the “Lost And Altered Actions” section of the Summoner class entry to understand the full nitty-gritty of how conditions like quickened and slowed affect the shared action economy of the Summoner and their eidolon, but tl;dr: it still works to buff your actions. (It still costs 2 actions to cast in the first place, so the later in a combat you are, the less valuable it is to cast this on yourself.)

Unheightened Haste isn’t as powerful as it was in 1st edition, since MAP is a thing, but it can be useful if you need either your Summoner or eidolon to reposition before doing a bread-and-butter full-turn routine, like Cast a Spell into double eidolon strike. However, note that the quickened condition from

_haste_ only allows you to Stride or Strike with your bonus action, nothing else (so no using Tandem Movement [★] or the like!).

Ultimately, though, it might be better to buff a party member who’s more action-hungry like a Magus or something (or a Flurry ranger who actually _likes_ to strike 5 times in a single turn) than to cast this on yourself. However, the heightened 7th level version of this spell allows you to buff 6 creatures at once, which is pretty fantastic action economy [★] and can make your entire party’s lives a lot easier.

Heroism: [ ★ ] (divine, occult) A fantastic, widely applicable buff to attack rolls, skill checks, Perception, and saving throws—practically everything except your AC. Throw this on your eidolon before busting into a room of mobs, or if you just have two actions to spare. Throw this on your fighter if you’re feeling charitable. Throw this on your wizard for a laugh. Overall, it’s an extremely great spell that gains more value the earlier you cast it in a combat.

It gets even better when heightened, and if you’re fighting Treerazer or something, it’s arguably necessary. For the Summoner, who has a limited amount of spells per day compared to the usual spellcaster, this is a fantastic choice.

Warding Aggression: [ ★ ] (arcane, divine, occult) For spellcasting eidolons. By casting this spell, make a melee Strike. On a success, you gain a +2 status bonus to AC against the foe you struck, and on a critical success, the status bonus becomes +3 for the first round. Even if you miss (but not critically miss), you get a +1 status bonus to AC for the duration. The duration lasts until the enemy dies or if you don’t manage to hit it in a turn (see Weird Rules), up to a minute.

Notably, this spell isn’t affected by your spellcasting ability modifier whatsoever, nor do you ever need to heighten it. That’s a fantastic bonus… for eidolons who can cast this with Magical Adept [●]. Summoners (even Tandem Strike builds), who will have more trouble taking advantage of this, can probably pass [◆].

● Weird Rules: My interpretation of the spell appears to be, technically, against RAW. Notably, the spell mentions that it ends “at the end of any turn in which you didn't hit that foe with a melee Strike.” Key word: turn, not round. Every combatant takes their own separate turn within a single round. There’s round 1, round 2, round 3, but there’s your turn, your allies’ turns, your enemies’ turns, and so on. Even with Eidolon’s

Opportunity, there is practically no way you can be attacking every turn. I definitely don’t think this was how the spell was designed to function. If, however, by some stretch of the imagination, it was , this spell is nonfunctional garbage [▼].

4th Rank Spells

Draw the Lightning: [●] (arcane, primal) This is a pretty excellent way for eidolons with Magical Adept [●] to kick off an encounter. First, you strike an enemy with a mini-Sudden Bolt. If the caster raises a weapon, for the next minute, their Strikes with that weapon deal an extra 1d12 electricity damage, but in your eidolon’s case, this’ll be all their unarmed attacks instead. (Note that it says _all_ your unarmed attacks, not just a single particular one like Magic Fang.)

It only heightens once at the 8th level slot, since the difference between “extra 1d12 damage every hit” and “extra 2d12 damage every hit” is pretty massive and there’s no real elegant way to create any sort of increment between them, but that’s probably fine.

This is a pretty awesome and flavorful spell, and can definitely add up to a lot of damage over the course of a fight. It’s somewhat comparable to previous spells like _envenom companion_ [★], but I like it just a smidge less because it’s still just damage and not something with a more multiplicative effect like a buff or debuff. Additionally, heed the requirement that the target needs to be “1 creature that is either taller than you or higher in the air than you,” so Large and Huge eidolons—and, situationally, flying eidolons—may have trouble casting this at times. Even with the implicitly necessary buy-in of having Magical Adept on your eidolon, it’s still not _super_ impressive, but still pretty solid.

Weapon-toting Summoners (even Tandem Strike builds), who will have a lot more trouble taking advantage of this, can probably pass [◆].

5th Rank Spells

Blink Charge: [●] (arcane, divine, occult) Another Strike spell your Eidolon may want to pick up with Magical Adept [●]. You can teleport up to 60 feet then make a Strike with extra force damage. Nothing personnel, kid. You can also blink your target 5 feet away on a critical hit. Heightening adds range and force damage. Overall, it’s a flashy movement option with some extra damage to boot.

6th Rank Spells

Chain Lightning: [ ★ ] (arcane, primal) It may have taken a hot minute for you to level up to this point, but if you want amazing value out of the few spell slots you have for blasting, look no further. Chain Lightning deals 8d12 + spell rank * 1d12 electricity damage to targets on a Reflex save, but you can target as many targets within range as you like _without_ fear of harming your allies. The damage is extremely solid, but the lack of friendly fire and the ability to easily target any enemies you see within range really makes this spell spectacular. No more fretting over the optimal position of your lines, cones, or bursts.

● Be wary that the chain breaks if any one target critically succeeds on their Reflex save, so in order to maximize damage, target your enemies in order of how likely they are to succeed on a Reflex save—whether you’re acting on information from their previous rolls during the same combat, from a Recall Knowledge check, or just gut intuition of “that rogue-looking dude probably has good Reflex saves.”

7th Rank Spells

Duplicate Foe: [●] (arcane, occult) A summoning spell that isn’t actually a summoning spell. Choose a foe, make them roll a Fortitude save, and if they fail, you get to create a duplicate of them that’s basically a dumbed down stat block. (It still functions on a success, but deals half damage and only lasts for 2 rounds maximum.) Since this isn’t a summoning spell, it doesn’t interact with abilities that specifically affect your creatures with the summoned trait like Boost Summons [◆], though it still synergizes with Effortless Concentration [●] as usual for sustained spells.

Choosing a target for this spell is a bit of a gamble. Target a weaker enemy, and you get a duplicate with lower stats. Target a stronger enemy, and they’re more likely to succeed at their initial saving throw. If you’re lucky, you’ll find an enemy with a low Fortitude save that still hits very hard to use this spell on.

True Target: [ ★ ] (arcane, occult) A souped-up version of _sure strike_ [★] that allows you to buff up to 4 of your allies instead of only applying to yourself. That also means you can target your eidolon with this without them needing to be able to cast the spell themselves. This is just fantastic action economy all around.

8th Rank Spells

Clone Companion: [▼] (primal) This is for animal (and, theoretically, construct) companions, not eidolons, unfortunately. Not that it’d really do much, with your shared MAP and all.

9th Rank Spells

The Rhythm of Combat

The Summoner’s “Default” Damage-Dealing Turn

With Act Together, the Summoner and their eidolon can get some pretty fantastic action economy, but has its restrictions. Like I mentioned before, an important thing to recognize is that, because of the way Act Together works, if you or your eidolon opts to use a 2-action or 3-action activity, the other can only use single actions and no multi-action activities, even if they have multiple actions remaining. This means you won’t be able to cast _electric arc_ twice per turn, or anything like that.

The question is: how do you make the most out of those 4 actions?

Against a single target, using Boost Eidolon and letting your eidolon attack thrice is comparable to single-target _electric arc_ and two strikes. However, when there’s two targets, _electric arc_ reigns supreme by a considerable amount.

Whenever you can only use 3 total actions instead of 4 (for instance, if you have to reposition or something), Boost Eidolon comes a little bit ahead of single-target _electric arc,_ but 2-target _electric arc_ still reigns supreme.

_Electric arc_ won’t always be your best option for consistent all-day damage (there are always enemies with high Reflex saves!), but in a vacuum, it is. You don’t have the spell slots to be casting big spells all day long, but cantrips never run out. The divine list’s _divine lance_ and the occult list’s _telekinetic projectile_ are great, for example, but not so much for you, since those cantrips are spell attacks and you share MAP with your eidolon. For divine and occult summoners, I highly, highly recommend picking up _electric arc_ via an ancestry feat.

Damage Is The Weakest Condition

Until your enemy is dead, that is.

For the most part, there are no “death spiral” effects in Pathfinder—an enemy at 1 HP will hit just as hard as an enemy at full HP. Skittish enemies that run away at low HP notwithstanding, simply dealing damage won’t change the

state of the battlefield until you reach the threshold where your target of choice is lying on the ground unconscious.

Even with the aforementioned _electric arc,_ which deals lots of damage on paper, you’ll need to spread that damage between two different hit point pools, meaning it’ll usually take a lot longer to down an enemy just by yourself. Even your eidolon’s single-target Strikes don’t exactly match up with a legendary Fighter or a raging Barbarian, especially if your eidolon is utilizing a Dexterity spread. Your damage dice don’t really compare either, being limited to a d8 at most. Even the luxury of having an agile attack for follow-ups isn’t quite the same as a Double Slice.

This means that damage is more of an additive effect rather than a multiplicative one. Simply hitting an enemy won’t make your allies able to hit them even harder on their turns. This means that the inverse is true, of course: your damage _can_ be multiplied by the buffs and debuffs your allies confer, but you won’t have as much damage _to_ multiply as those aforementioned martials.

If your build tunnel-visions into simply dealing damage, you might find play not quite as satisfying for you as it is for the other martials at your table that get huge Strikes or full spellcasters that can sling full-power spells all day. I daresay you might end up spending most of your sessions twiddling your thumbs and building dice stacks while waiting for your next turn.

Which leads us to…

Being the Multiplier

Pathfinder is a team game. Whether it be with spells or skills, there are a lot of ways to _be_ the player who adds lasting value to the table and enables your allies to work better not just on your turn, but for the entire round. A damaging spell goes out in a fleeting burst of glory, but a buffing or debuffing spell (like _heroism_ or _fear)_ will have lasting effects on the flow of combat. A Strike is one-and-done, but a Demoralize or Trip will put your enemy in a situation™. If you play on Foundry, this is especially obvious if you have the Modifiers Matter module.

As a bounded spellcaster, you _especially_ have a vested interest in choosing spells that offer lasting value. Additionally, as a summoner-and-eidolon duo, you both have the opportunity to make use of skill actions that confer buffs and debuffs. Additionally, you have more effective actions than anyone else. Utilize all of that to your benefit, and make the most of what you have!

The inverse is also true: you’ll want to make the most of your allies’ multiplicative effects. For example, if an ally sets up flanking, you might want to move in to Strike. If an ally uses Bon Mot, utilize a spell or a skill that targets Will saves… and so on and so forth.

Buff Who?

Each spellcasting tradition gets potent spells to make their targets stronger or otherwise more threatening for a set period— _enlarge, haste, heroism,_ just to name a few staples. For a summoner, your first instinct might be to buff your eidolon to make them even more rough n’ tumble, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make your build stronger. You’ve got spells, and you’re gonna use them!

However, with buffs being the multiplicative force that they are, it might be considered that it might be even more potent on a harder-hitting ally. That fighter with Legendary weapon proficiency might make slightly better use of extra damage on each attack, for example. Furthermore, though you have more effective actions than most of your party members as a player, remember that a buff only affects either your summoner or your eidolon, not both. That’s an average of 2 actions for each of them; your eidolon isn’t necessarily using 3 actions every turn to pummel your enemies into dust like a flurry ranger might, for example. For that reason, it might be more mechanically compelling to tend to use your precious buffing spells on your allies, not your own battle buddy.

…However! Combat doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The state of the battlefield might point your attention in certain directions more than others. If your eidolon is being descended upon and kettled by a troop of guards, you’d probably rather throw a spell their way than a back-line archer in a safer position, for example. Change up your buff targets every now and then as the situation calls for it, and keep things interesting!

● Additionally, there are those buff spells that you can only use on your companion, like envenom companion [ ★ ], thundering dominance [ ★ ], and especially the evolution surge focus spell, which every Summoner has. You don’t need any excuses to be more selfish with these ones, since you literally can’t use them on your allies.

The Eidolon, The Aid Action, and You

When the question of “what do I do with my spare single actions while my eidolon is beating the living Heaven, Hell, and the Abyss out of my enemies?”

is posed, the oft-forgotten Aid action is often brought up. The idea is pretty straightforward: use your summoner’s minimum 1 action, as well as your reaction for that turn, to bolster the accuracy of your eidolon’s next attack with an Aid action. You can specifically build for this as well, taking feats that bolster the Aid action such as Helpful Halfling [●] and Cooperative Nature [●].

However, it’s rather hard to really write about the Aid action in an optimization guide because of how nebulous and unspecific the Aid action is. This isn’t a flaw, or an oversight—this is by design. They couldn’t possibly have written rules for every single application of Aid in every single possible situation, so it’s left to the table to improvise so that the specific Aid action can be used for a variety of different nonspecific situations. In order to Aid, you decide exactly _how_ you want to do that Aid action, then the GM tells you whether or not you can actually do it. The “default” DC is 15, which becomes relatively trivial at even medium levels, but this, too, can be changed by the GM depending on what they feel is appropriate.

However, there’s one line of text that particularly stands out for this specific situation: “The GM can add any relevant traits to your preparatory action or to your Aid reaction depending on the situation.” One particular and very relevant trait is the Attack trait. Actions with the Attack trait advance MAP, so… in order to give your eidolon a +1 or +2 bonus to attack rolls, you need to first give your eidolon a -4 or -5 penalty to the rest of its attack rolls that turn.

Yeah.

However, though adding the Attack trait to the Aid action in this situation makes a lot of sense, it is technically not strictly RAW, and your GM might rule otherwise or perhaps not even remember the text for Aid well enough to remember that it very well might increment your MAP. So… as always, ask your GM.

● One particular way to get around this is to multiclass to Swashbuckler to pick up the One for All [★] feat, which allows you to use Diplomacy to Aid any check within a range of 30 feet. Come up with names for each of your eidolon’s attacks and shout at your eidolon to use its moves like a Pokémon trainer.

Even if Aiding your eidolon’s attack rolls are out of the question, you can still always do it with skills. Skills like… Intimidation! If you’ve read the “Skill Eidolons, or ‘Second Time’s The Charm’” section, you should get what I mean. Once you’ve already Demoralized a creature, you can’t Demoralize it again for

the next 10 minutes, but you’ll (probably) still be able to Aid your eidolon should they wish to attempt to Demoralize that creature.

Resources, in a Less Conventional Sense

Many might tell you that Pathfinder is a game about managing resources. You’re only capable of so much in a given fight or a given adventuring day. That much is true.

However, when you think of “resources” in Pathfinder, some of the more common things that may come to mind are things like gold, spell slots, focus points, and the like. Though focus points are easy enough to get ahold of (especially post-Remaster), spell slots are a bit more tough to come by as a bounded spellcaster. Additionally, since you’ll be getting weapon runes like a martial and (probably) staves like a caster, your wallet will be hurting a bit, too. It might feel like you get the short end of the stick here, and just casting cantrips all day might feel a bit lame.

However, you have more refreshing resources than you think.

If you define a resource as “something you can expend (i.e. not have afterward) in order to do something,” there’s actually a lot of other mechanics in Pathfinder that fit the bill. Many of these can be described as cooldowns and similar mechanics. Said things have limits on using them too frequently for a reason—they’d be too powerful otherwise!

Keep an eye on these in order to make the most of them. Not all of these are available for all builds, but you may be interested in gearing your builds towards them. Additionally, this isn’t an exhaustive list—be on the lookout for more!

● Skill Cooldowns: As stated in Skill Eidolons, or “Second Time’s the Charm,” both you and your Eidolon can make attempts at a skill. ○ Demoralize: You (and your Eidolon) get one attempt to Demoralize a given target every 10 minutes. ○ Battle Medicine: So long as you have the proper feats, you (and your Eidolon) get one attempt to heal a given ally every day. ● Cantrip Cooldowns: Perhaps not as potent overall as the aforementioned skills, but still worth mentioning. These immunities typically persist for a target irrespective of the caster. ○ Rousing Splash: Can be used every 10 minutes. ○ Guidance: Can be used every hour.

● Multiple Attack Penalty: Yes, this can be considered a resource, too! You might already know it’s not a good idea to Strike 3 times a round, but, similarly, it’s more effective to Strike once per round for 2 rounds instead of twice in the same round. What else could you do with that freed-up action? One of the actions listed above, perhaps? Ask yourself if it would be more valuable to strike a 2nd time or do something else.

My Weakness Is Fireball

One of the inherent weaknesses of the Summoner that’s easy to miss if you just skim over the text entry for the class is area damage. Take this section from the “Eidolon” section in the Summoner class entry:

Like with your actions, if you and your eidolon are both subject to the same effect that affects your Hit Points, you apply those effects only once (applying the greater effect, if applicable). For instance, if you and your eidolon get caught in an area effect that would heal or damage you both, only the greater amount of healing or damage applies.

Damage might only be rolled once for all targets of a blasting spell or the like, but each target rolls their saves individually—including you and your eidolon. In that case, the character whose save would cause more damage to be inflicted on them is effectively treated as the only one who got hit by the effect.

If you’re having trouble picturing that: in order to go unscathed from a basic saving throw damage effect, you need to crit succeed _twice_.

This is essentially a misfortune effect that stacks with actual misfortune effects. It’s better than taking the full amount of damage twice, don’t get me wrong, but it still increases the amount of damage you’re expected to take from an AoE effect. It definitely adds up, especially when you’re going up against blast-happy enemies.

Similarly, it has an unfavorable interaction with resistances, too. Say that either you or your eidolon gets resistance to cold damage—maybe your 10th level Summoner is a Wintertouched Human, or your eidolon took Energy Heart [●] and picked cold damage; in either case, one of you resists 5 points of cold damage and the other doesn’t.

Now picture that the two of you and your party are up against something like, say, a white dragon with a nasty cold damage breath weapon. It flies up to your front line and hits everyone in your party with a big 40 foot cone. Luckily,

both you and your eidolon succeed at the Reflex save—but not critically succeed, so the damage is halved. Better yet, you have resistance to cold damage, so you’ll get to reduce the damage even more!

Just kidding. Since only _one_ of you has resistance to cold damage, only the greater amount of damage applies, effectively bypassing the damage resistance entirely. It’s always a shame when you spend a character option on a specific type of damage resistance that is inherently situational (the situation being running into an enemy that deals that type of damage) and then it ends up not even working in that specific situation.

That being said, there may be some strange case where the half of the duo that has damage resistance fails at the save while the one without resistance succeeds, and after calculating everything, the damage total where resistance is applied _is_ greater than the one where resistance isn’t applied. Luckily, you passed middle school algebra, so you will definitely never miscalculate simple twoor three-digit mathematical operations like this ever.

Notes for GMs

We Have Errata at Home

The Summoner class and chassis was largely passed over when it came to Secrets of Magic remaster compatibility errata. Here are some changes I would make as a GM to make summoners and their eidolons slightly more in line with their Remastered counterparts.

Feel free to modify these changes further as you see fit for your own personal games.

Class Features

● Eidolon Unarmed Expertise: Add the following text: “Your eidolon gains the following critical specialization effects, based on the damage type its unarmed attacks deal. ● Bludgeoning: As brawling group. Use your spell DC as the DC for the Fortitude save. ● Slashing or piercing: As knife group. ● Other: As knife group, but the persistent damage is the attack’s original damage type instead of bleed damage.”

Eidolon Features

Anger Phantom

● Seething Frenzy: Change the description to the following: “ Requirements: Your eidolon isn’t fatigued or in a frenzy. Your eidolon's fury boils over into a reckless, out-of-control frenzy. While frenzied, your eidolon is affected by boost eidolon and gains temporary Hit Points equal to your level, but it takes a –1 penalty to AC. Your eidolon can't voluntarily end the frenzy. The frenzy lasts for 1 minute, until your eidolon is automatically dismissed due to being reduced to 0 hit points, or until the encounter ends, whichever comes first. When the frenzy ends, your eidolon loses any remaining temporary Hit Points from Seething Frenzy, and can’t gain temporary Hit Points from entering a frenzy again for 1 minute.”

Feats

Remove these feats entirely: Bloodletting Claws, Link Wellspring.

● Link Focus: Change the description to the following: “Your focus recovers faster. Whenever you Refocus, completely refill your focus pool.” ● Blood Frenzy: Remove the prerequisites, and change the description to the following: “ Requirements: Your eidolon's last action dealt bleed damage to a living creature, and isn’t fatigued or in a frenzy. Your eidolon flies into a frenzy. It gains the effects of boost eidolon and gains temporary Hit Points equal to your level, but it takes a –1 penalty to AC. Your eidolon can't voluntarily end the frenzy. The frenzy lasts for 1 minute, until your eidolon is automatically dismissed due to being reduced to 0 hit points, or until the encounter ends, whichever comes first. When the frenzy ends, your eidolon loses any remaining temporary Hit Points from Seething Frenzy, and can’t gain temporary Hit Points from entering a frenzy again for 1 minute.” ● Magical Understudy: Replace the text “Choose one 2nd-level spell and one 1st-level spell of your eidolon's tradition” with “Choose two spells of your eidolon’s tradition. The first must be at least 2 ranks lower than your highest-rank spell slot, and the second must be at least 3 ranks lower than your highest-rank spell slot.”

Example Builds

Unless specified otherwise, the following builds do not take items into account, including ability score boosts conferred by any apex items. Though item acquisition in Pathfinder 2nd edition is generally standardized based on the difference between item and character level and an expected “wealth by level” metric, when and where you can acquire specific items of a particular level (whether by buying, crafting, or looting) can be slightly GM and/or campaign dependent.

(Angel Eidolon) Cassiopeia, Angeltouched

Cassiopeia had always been a pious girl. She came from humble beginnings, being the daughter of two farmers in a small, backwoods town nobody’s ever heard about. Growing up, she was always taught to go out of her way to help her neighbors whenever she could, and she always prayed together with her family for a bountiful harvest every year. However, when warmongers of nearby nations tore through the area, burning and pillaging the land as if all the people who lived there were a mere afterthought, Cassiopeia’s small village was subject to disease and famine. With their season’s harvest destroyed and all supply lines by which they would normally acquire food and medicine cut off by warring troops, Cassiopeia could do nothing but sit and watch as her parents slowly passed away before, as they gave up the little food they had to feed their daughter. Weakened, starving, and alone, Cassiopeia prayed day in and day out to her goddess, Sarenrae, hoping that a miracle might happen to save her from her languid conditions. Her cries for help were answered—but not in the way she expected. When that angelic being first made its presence known, Cassiopeia was somewhat startled to see a blade in its hand. Where she expected a savior, she got a soldier.

In order to save Cassiopeia’s life, the angel gave her some of its own divine life force, permanently infusing her blood with otherworldly divine energy—and intertwining her fate with that of the heavens. Once the farm girl had regained her strength, the angel raised its blade and encouraged her to follow her newfound destiny as a slayer of corrupt warmongers, and pointed its vengeful blade towards the open road—where the warring kings’ armies tread.

Cassiopeia wondered to herself what in the world she had gotten herself into.

Cassiopeia is spec’d out for healing and support, and can easily get party members up to full HP in between each combat. Mid-combat, she can use Battle Medicine or expend some of her healing spells to keep her allies—and

her eidolon—up and in the fray. She also puts some increases in Diplomacy to help win over others in social encounters.

Her eidolon is a tough, mobile, and straightforward bruiser. At level 8, it can smite enemies in an AoE with Eidolon’s Wrath.

Initial Summoner: Aasimar Human Pilgrim. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Sarenrae Lore, Medicine, Nature, and Religion.

Initial Eidolon: Angel Eidolon. Medium. Angelic Avenger. 1d8 slashing trip attack.

1st: Glider Form, Natural Ambition > Extend Boost.

2nd: Alacritous Action, Battle Medicine.

3rd: Toughness. Skill Increase > Medicine.

4th: Continual Recovery, Tandem Movement.

5th: Clever Improviser. Skill Increase > Religion. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +4 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Ward Medic, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Medicine.

8th: Advanced First Aid, Eidolon’s Wrath (spirit).

9th: Celestial Wings, Skill Increase > Religion.

10th: Hulking Size, Sacred Defense. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON , +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +1 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Glad-Hand, Towering Size.

13th: Aasimar’s Mercy, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Battle Prayer, Airborne Form.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Religion. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

16th: Divine Guidance, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Eternal Wings, Skill Increase > Medicine. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

18th: Legendary Medic, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Negotiation. Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +5↑ WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +3 CHA.

(Anger Phantom Eidolon) Lady Umlara and Wenrys, the Unlucky

Hitman

The life of the daughter of royalty seems like one of unfettered luxury, but Umlara always knew that it wasn’t all glitter and gold. While many people respected her mother and father, there would always be just as many who wanted to see their heads on a plate—some of which were inside the royal family themselves. For this reason, the King and Queen of the elven citadel would always be surrounded by an unparalleled number of bodyguards at any given moment, their weapons ever at the ready to fend off any would-be assassins.

Umlara, however, did not have nearly as many guards of her own—a fact of which many were well aware. Instead of usurping the monarchs themselves, some unscrupulous minds lurking behind the shadows plotted to hire Wenrys, an axe-wielding hitman, to target their precious daughter instead. On that fateful day, Wenrys made short work of the few armored guards stationed outside the princess’s room, and burst the door open to confront his mark.

However, little did he know that the young elven woman wasn’t completely defenseless. Though no master spellcaster quite yet, Umlara had the royalty’s magic blood in her veins, and used all the spells and incantations she’d been practicing her entire life to bind the attacker’s soul to her heirloom pendant in a last-ditch effort to save her own life. It worked, but with an unforeseen consequence—her assailant was bound to her. Permanently.

Begrudgingly, Wenrys has resigned himself to the fate of being ordered around to do menial (and, at times, not-so-menial) tasks at the whimsy of a princess

he had nothing to do with other than, well, being paid to murder her in cold blood. As for Umlara, she’s found that having a murderous phantom as her right-hand man, ready to kill on command, comes in handy for a future monarch more than one would think.

Umlara is charismatic, banking heavily on Intimidation and Diplomacy to carry her through any social situation and Demoralize enemies in combat. Her eidolon is rough, tough, and can help debuff enemies with Grab and additional Demoralizes in between going to town and beating up foes.

Initial Summoner: Seer Elf Royalty. +0 STR, +3 DEX, +0 CON, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Occultism, Society, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Anger Phantom Eidolon. Medium. Wrathful Berserker. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +0 WIS, +1 CHA. 1d8 trip slashing attack.

1st: Advanced Weaponry (grapple), Otherworldly Magic.

2nd: Alacritous Action, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Tandem Movement.

5th: Elven Instincts, Skill Increase > Athletics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +0 WIS, +2 CHA.

6th: Lasting Coercion, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Constricting Hold.

9th: Otherworldly Acumen (Arcane), Skill Increase > Athletics.

10th: Skilled Partner (Titan Wrestler, Intimidating Prowess, Battle Cry), Terrified Retreat. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +2 CON, +1 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +3 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +3 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Glad-Hand, Grasping Limbs.

13th: Brightness Seeker, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Shameless Request, Resilient Shell.

15th: Ancestral Paragon > Nimble Elf, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +3 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +3 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Forlorn, Skill Increase > Diplomacy. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +3 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA.

18th: Legendary Negotiation, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Athletics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Hobnobber, Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +2 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Beast Eidolon) Linne and her Weird Dog

Raised in a loving rural household, Linne was no stranger to the exciting world she found in the dense woods just behind her family home. Her parents were used to their little girl dragging back her favorite finds from her expeditions: maybe a leaf with an interesting coloration, or a cool-looking rock, or something along the lines of that. However, both her parents had to do a spit take when Linne dragged a strange-looking “dog” twice her size back to their front doorstep and pleaded, “Can we keep him? Please? ” Never mind the fact that this “dog” had a colorful coat unlike any animal that the humble farmer couple had ever seen or heard of before. Or that its constantly-dribbling saliva seemed to dissolve the cobblestones beneath its feet. Or that it seemed to be able to talk. Linne’s parents knew that once she was dead-set on something, she wouldn’t ever, ever give up on it. Sometimes, the pair took pride in their brave little girl. Sometimes, though, they could only sigh deeply at their daughter’s ill-advised obstinacy. This occasion was the latter.

Despite how many times they said no, Linne would always find a way to sneak out of her room at night to visit her new friend in the forest and feed him treats. Over the months, the creature got bigger… and bigger… and bigger still. At a certain point, she couldn’t get him to fit into the front door to their small, halfling-sized living room even if she tried.

Once many years had passed, and Linne was old enough to embark on the open road on her own, she took all of her favorite possessions— and her favorite buddy—with her. As she walked off into the sunrise, one of her parents sighed, remarking… “I’ll miss her, alright. And that damn weird dog, too.”

She might get weird looks whenever she walks through town, but one thing’s for sure: Linne wouldn’t trade her best friend for the world.

This is a relatively straightforward build. Your eidolon is a big, but mobile skirmisher, with the ability to deal acid damage. You both also lean into Intimidation to debuff your enemies.

Initial Summoner: Gutsy Halfling Farmhand. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Farming Lore, Nature, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Beast Eidolon. Medium. Brutal Beast. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 slashing versatile piercing attack.

1st: Energy Heart (acid), Halfling Luck.

2nd: Extend Boost, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Nature.

4th: Natural Medicine, Tandem Movement.

5th: Shared Luck, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Terrifying Resistance, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Nature.

8th: Consult the Spirits, Hulking Size.

9th: Guiding Luck, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

10th: Eidolon’s Wrath (acid), Battle Cry. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +3 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Influence Nature, Towering Size.

13th: Incredible Luck, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

14th: Kip Up, Resilient Shell.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Nature. Summoner ability score: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +3 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Terrified Retreat, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Irrepressible, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +3 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Scare to Death, Trample.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Nimble Crawl. Summoner ability score: -1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Construct Eidolon) Cogsparkle, Scrapyard Summoner

Numeria is a harsh, barren land—but it’s full of treasure if you’re someone who knows just where to look. Cogsparkle, the gnome, is one of those people. Sure, there are tons of warring tribes and barbarians roaming the place, but after the fall of the Technic League—some secret society or whatever who thought they had any say in who was and wasn’t allowed to touch what—many scavengers like Cogsparkle had the newfound liberty to freely search for any of the ancient technological artifacts scattered across the land during the Age of Darkness.

Cogsparkle has a nose for treasure, and one day, she stumbled across her biggest find yet—a remarkably intact robot buried under a thick layer of dirt, which she suspected was a relic of Androffan make. She hastily scooped away the loose soil with her bare hands, and took her tools to pop open the hood and look at the construct’s inner workings, only to find that the internal mechanisms that made the robot tick weren’t nearly as intact as the rest of it.

She wasn’t going to let this perfectly good robot go to waste, though, and Cogsparkle had a trick up her sleeve. Drawing from the little bit of innate First World magic she had flowing through her gnomish veins, she essentially hot-wired the robot with her own life force, sapping her own strength… but, to her own surprise, the robot’s lights started flickering awake. Confused, wondering where in the galaxy it was, not even yet aware that its own “soul” was merely an astral afterimage of the constructs brought to Golarion by the

Androffans in eras past, it pushed itself up out of the dirt, and looked down at its own open metallic hand… and then to the gnome tinker, absolutely beaming.

The construct eidolon is flexible by nature, but this build is based around a mobile, dexterity-based chassis, utilizing finesse and ranged attack. Out of combat, Cogsparkle can craft magical items and readjust her eidolon during downtime.

Initial Summoner: Sensate Gnome Tinker. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +2 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Arcana, Crafting, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Construct Lore, Engineering Lore, Occultism, Society, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Construct Eidolon. Medium. Scout Construct. +2 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, +1 INT, +0 WIS, -1 CHA. 1d6 finesse deadly d8 attack.

1st: Gnome Obsession (Construct), Glider Form.

2nd: Extend Boost, Alchemical Crafting.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Crafting.

4th: Magical Crafting, Tandem Movement.

5th: Eclectic Obsession, Skill Increase > Arcana. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +3 INT, +0 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +3 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +1 WIS, -1 CHA.

6th: Cat Fall, Ranged Combatant.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Reconfigured Evolution > Eidolon’s Wrath (sonic), Skill Increase > Crafting.

8th: Inventor, Alacritous Action.

9th: Vivacious Conduit, Skill Increase > Arcana.

10th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Impeccable Crafter, Trained in Deception. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +4 INT, +0 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5 DEX, +4↑ CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, -1 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Nimble Crawl, Flexible Transmogrification > default Vibration Sense.

13th: Life Leap, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

14th: Kip Up, Airborne Form.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Crafting. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +4↑ INT, +0 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5↑ DEX, +5 CON, +2 INT, +3 WIS, -1 CHA.

16th: Craft Anything, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Theoretical Acumen, Ultimate Reconfiguration > Resilient Shell, Skill Increase > Arcana. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +6↑ DEX, +5 CON, +2 INT, +3 WIS, -1 CHA.

18th: Unified Theory, True Transmogrification.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Legendary Professional. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +5 INT, +0 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +7 DEX, +5 CON, +3 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

(Demon Eidolon) Damakos, Ex-Cultist

Damakos has only known zealotry for all his life. What choice did he really have? As a tiefling, even his two mundane human parents rejected him at birth, not wishing to bring the curse of demonic blood into their own home. The only ones who took pity on him was a sect of cultists worshipping Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters, as directed by the cult’s profane edicts. There, Damakos was given his name, and under Lamashtu’s guidance, he was taught to bring out the innate power of his fiendish blood and become a powerful spellcaster in his own right. When the cult presented him with a ritual to bind his soul to a powerful flame demon, found amongst some recovered ancient Thassilonian relics, Damakos didn’t hesitate for a second.

Fast forward a decade or two, and the sect of Lamashtu worshipers started to lose power in the region. It wasn’t dismantled by any heroic adventurers, nor was it torn apart by any divine invention, or anything of the sort, but rather… the cult fell apart to completely mundane circumstances. Simply put… making blood sacrifices to the Mother of Monsters didn’t exactly pay the bills, and it’s relatively difficult for demon cults to find any charitable benefactors to fund their activities. One by one, the cult’s membership started to dwindle—not from dying violent deaths, but because they ended up escaping to neighboring towns and cities to pursue humbler, better-paying jobs, like “farmer” or “pastry chef.” Damakos and his pact demon were amongst the last to go. Hitting the road with his buddy, with his few remaining worldly possessions in tow,

Damakos started to wonder if the cultist life was really all it was cracked up to be.

His pact demon, on the other hand, was caught in a rather awkward position. When forging that unholy contract that inextricably bound Damakos’s soul to the Abyss for all eternity in exchange for a right-hand demon, that said pact demon was somewhat wagering on Damakos engaging in all sorts of evil, destructive, and cult-ish activities for the rest of his life. It was somewhat awkward, then, now having to follow that very same tiefling, a newfound worshiper of Nocticula, the Redeemer Queen, into a life of relatively morally-neutral adventuring.

Oh well. Hopefully it’s only a couple dozen years left to go until he dies, and then I’m home free…

Damakos bolsters his eidolon using Extend Boost, heavily investing into Religion in order to reliably make the checks. Once boosted, he can zap enemies using his innate electric arc, or use his high CHA to Demoralize foes. Out of combat, he can sway others using a fiendish silver tongue (though he isn’t very good at lying).

His eidolon is a simple bruiser, bolstered by Damakos’s Extend Boost. It also invests heavily into CHA and skill feats to make the most out of Intimidation.

Initial Summoner: Tiefling Human Cultist. +0 STR, +2 DEX, +1 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Lamashtu Lore, Occultism, and Religion.

Initial Eidolon: Demon Eidolon. Medium. Wrecker Demon. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, -1 WIS, +1 CHA. 1d8 piercing versatile slashing trip attack.

1st: Glider Form, Arcane Tattoos ( _electric arc_ ).

2nd: Extend Boost, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Tandem Movement.

5th: Fiendish Resistance, Skill Increase > Religion. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, -1 WIS, +2 CHA.

6th: Lasting Coercion, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Skilled Partner (Intimidating Prowess, Terrifying Resistance, Battle Cry).

9th: Fiendish Wings, Skill Increase > Religion.

10th: Protective Bond, Sacred Defense. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +3 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

+1th: Terrified Retreat, Flexible Transmogrification > Eidolon’s Wrath (spirit).

13th: Fiend’s Door, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Battle Prayer, Airborne Form.

15th: Ancestral Paragon > Nimble Hooves, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Relentless Wings, Skill Increase > Religion. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA.

18th: Divine Guidance, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Negotiation, Trained in Stealth. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Devotion Phantom Eidolon) Jimmy and his Phantasmal Phather

Jimmy was just a simple member of the self-appointed “town watch”—never meeting the physical requirements necessary to be part of his town’s actual guard, despite his best efforts. Through his constant failures, though, his supportive father always had his back. When Jimmy’s father passed away in a freak gardening accident, Jimmy mourned for a day, feeling terrible that his own father passed away before he could ever see his son succeed. That night, collapsed into bed, he pressed his face into his hands and lamented, “I’m such a failure.” He had the fright of a lifetime when the phantasmal figure of his own

father appeared out of the closet at that very moment and interjected “Hi, such a failure, I’m Dad!”

Some calming down and explaining later, Jimmy’s father managed to convince his son that he could use his ghostly powers to help out his son with anything he needed to do. Jimmy, of course, was hesitant, but eventually gave into his father’s insistence. Empowered by his father’s newfound spectral influence, Jimmy’s town watch duties quickly turned to adventuring, and that adventuring soon turned to heroism. His father couldn’t be prouder.

Additionally, Jimmy has become completely inured to his father yelling out “phan-tastic!” whenever he succeeds at menial tasks.

Jimmy and his dad stick close together in battle to ensure that Dutiful Retaliation (and, eventually, Devotion Aura) can be triggered. Jimmy’s dad is a DEX-based switch hitter, harassing enemies from medium range with his ranged unarmed attack and switching to deadly punches once they enter melee range or threaten his son.

Initial Summoner: Versatile Human Guard. +0 STR, +3 DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Warfare Lore, Medicine, Occultism, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Devotion Phantom. Medium. Swift Protector. +2 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d6 bludgeoning finesse deadly d8 attack.

1st: Energy Heart (void), Versatile Human > Toughness, Adapted Cantrip ( _scatter scree_ ).

2nd: Ranged Combatant (Jimmy’s dad takes off his shoe and chucks it at someone), Cat Fall.

3rd: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

4th: Glad-Hand, Tandem Movement.

5th: Clever Improviser, Skill Increase > Acrobatics, trained in Society. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +2 CON, +2 INT, +0 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +3 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Nimble Crawl, Extend Boost.

7th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

8th: Kip Up, Lifelink Surge.

9th: Incredible Improvisation, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

10th: Protective Bond, Shameless Request. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +3 CON, +3 INT, +0 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Occultism.

12th: Oddity Identification, Summoner’s Call.

13th: Bounce Back, Skill Increase > Occultism.

14th: Consult the Spirits, Resilient Shell.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Diplomacy, Trained in Crafting. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +4 INT, +0 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5↑ DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +1 CHA.

16th: Legendary Negotiation, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Heroic Presence, Skill Increase > Occultism. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +6↑ DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +1 CHA.

18th: Disturbing Knowledge, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Assured Identification. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +5↑ DEX, +4 CON, +4 INT, +1 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +7 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

(Dragon Eidolon) Faulstrax, the Undoer (and Kigg!)

Some kobolds revere dragons. Some kobolds believe they are dragons. Kigg is a strange mix of both. Born into a kobold warren that took shelter by squatting in a complex system of tunnels and abandoned basements underneath a human city, Kigg always knew he was either destined for greatness, or destined to serve greatness—one of the two. Even amongst his own kind, he was always the odd one out, being quick to shout to those who merely looked at him for too long were “disrespecting a future draconic scion.” His plans for the future were often dismissed by his peers as being full of nothing but hot air, and at times, they laughed behind his back at his odd fantasies.

However… in the end, it was Kigg who got the last laugh. Gathering pretty much every single odd curio, knick-knack, and magical artifact he could find, no

matter how small, he quickly amassed a small hoard, and chanted a ritual he invented himself before bed every night, hoping to unlock his own latent draconic power. One day, however, he awoke to find a small dragon— not a kobold, but a real dragon! —curled up lazily atop his stash of treasure. He shouted in cheer, and the dragon snorted, annoyed that their nice nap had been so rudely interrupted. Immediately, Kigg christened that dragon as “Faulstrax, the Undoer,” and appointed himself as Faulstrax’s chosen herald.

Faulstrax (not objecting to this new name, but not really caring for it, either) had interests that didn’t exactly line up with Kigg’s fanaticism. Really, manifesting from the latent energies of the Astral Plane is exhausting , and all they really want is a fresh meal or two and a nice, long, nap. However, the draconic eidolon doesn’t really have a choice in the matter whenever Kigg feels like going out on a romp around town to preach about the power of “Faulstrax, the Undoer!” ...Sigh.

Kigg rides atop Faulstrax’s back into battle using Steed Form, with both summoner and eidolon brandishing potent breath weapons with individual cooldowns. As the build progresses into higher levels, Faulstrax will start to threaten a lot of space with Eidolon’s Opportunity, Hulking Size, and Towering Size, and can even keep up with airborne enemies using Airborne Form. Both kobold and dragon are capable of utilizing Demoralize—though, perhaps counterintuitively, the smaller one is much better at it.

Initial Summoner: Dragonscaled (Red) Kobold Eidolon Contact. +0 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Dragon Lore, Medicine, Nature, and Religion.

Initial Eidolon: Dragon Eidolon. Medium. Marauding Dragon. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 piercing trip attack.

1st: Kobold Breath, Energy Heart (fire, secondary unarmed attack).

2nd: Steed Form, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Glider Form.

5th: Kobold Lore, Skill Increase > Acrobatics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Nimble Crawl, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Hulking Size.

9th: Dragon’s Breath, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

10th: Skilled Partner (Intimidating Prowess, Terrifying Resistance, Battle Cry), Kip Up. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Athletics.

12th: Terrified Retreat, Towering Size.

13th: Dracomancer ( _charm, resist energy_ ), Skill Increase > Athletics.

14th: Lasting Coercion, Airborne Form.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Dragonblood Paragon (Dracomancer), Skill Increase > Acrobatics. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Cat Fall, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Athletics.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Group Coercion, Trained in, uh, I dunno, Performance? Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Elemental [Air] Eidolon) Ong, Cloud-Rider

This build makes for one of the most highly mobile striker eidolons out there, abusing boosts to Leap and Long Jump to zip across the battlefield in straight lines. With Steed Form, our halfling summoner, Ong, can be brought along for the ride. Investments in Acrobatics also allows you to zip past enemies, and Stealth can allow you to sneak past them.

Feel free to swap out your Summoner’s Athletics skill feats if something else is more appealing to you and you feel you can more reliably stay atop your Eidolon with Steed Form.

Initial Summoner: Sylph Halfling Farmhand. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Diplomacy, Farming Lore, Nature, Stealth, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Air) Eidolon. Medium. Primordial Elemental. +4 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 trip attack.

1st: Halfling Luck, Glider Form.

2nd: Steed Form, Slippery Prey.

3rd: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Athletics.

4th: Skilled Partner (Quick Jump, Powerful Leap. Take Wall Jump at 7th level), Powerful Leap

5th: Shared Luck, Skill Increase > Acrobatics. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Nimble Crawl.

7th: Toughness, Skill Increase > Athletics.

8th: Eidolon’s Wrath (sonic), Steady Balance.

9th: Irrepressible, Skill Increase > Stealth.

10th: Protective Bond, Quiet Allies. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Flexible Transmogrification > default to Alacritous Action, Kip Up.

13th: Incredible Luck, Skill Increase > Stealth.

14th: Airborne Form, Swift Sneak.

15th: Ancestral Paragon > Wind Tempered. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5↑

CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

16th: Spell-Repelling Form, Cloud Jump.

17th: Shadow Self, Skill Increase > Stealth. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

18th: True Transmogrification, Legendary Sneak.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Cat Fall. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

(Elemental [Earth] Eidolon) Dmir of D’Earth

This build believes that the best offense is a good defense. Investing heavily in Wisdom allows you to use the Nature skill to use Extend Boost on Reinforce Eidolon, keeping your earth elemental sturdy, durable, and immovable. It also allows you to reliably use Battle Medicine to keep yourself, your eidolon, and your allies healed and healthy both inside and out of combat. At 17th level, Elemental Maelstrom allows you to make countless d6 fatal d10 strikes around the battlefield at full MAP and 15-foot reach, shredding your enemies to pieces.

Initial Summoner: Oread Human Field Medic. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Warfare Lore, Medicine, Nature, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Earth) Eidolon. Medium. Primordial Elemental. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d6 fatal d10 attack.

1st: Natural Ambition > Extend Boost, Advanced Weaponry (Grapple).

2nd: Reinforce Eidolon, Godless Healing.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Medicine.

4th: Tandem Movement, Continual Recovery.

5th: Noble Resolve, Skill Increase > Nature. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Ward Medic.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Medicine.

8th: Hulking Size, Paragon Battle Medicine.

9th: Earthsense, Skill Increase > Nature.

10th: Lifelink Surge, Advanced First Aid. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

12th: Grasping Limbs, Risky Surgery.

13th: One With Earth, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

14th: Resilient Shell, Battle Cry.

15th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Medicine. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

16th: Ever-Vigilant Senses, Legendary Medic.

17th: Heroic Presence, Skill Increase > Nature. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

18th: Spell-Repelling Form, Too Angry to Die.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Intimidation.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Scare to Death, Trained in Deception. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +5↑ WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

(Elemental [Fire] Eidolon) Shuh, the Very Very Sneaky

Both you and your eidolon will stay a few steps away from your foes—your eidolon with Ranged Combatant, and your summoner with Stealth investment. Utilize spells and items to create better opportunities to hide and control the battlefield.

Initial Summoner: Naari Goblin Hired Killer. +0 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Underworld Lore, Nature, Stealth, Survival and Thievery.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Fire) Eidolon. Medium. Adaptable Elemental. +1 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA.

1st: Very Sneaky, Advanced Weaponry (Versatile B, P, or S).

2nd: Ranged Combatant (Fire for thematics or Cold for damage type versatility), Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Fleet, Skill Increase > Stealth.

4th: Tandem Movement, Quiet Allies.

5th: Firesight, Skill Increase > Acrobatics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +2 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Cat Fall.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

8th: Skilled Partner, Kip Up.

9th: Efreeti Magic, Skill Increase > Stealth.

10th: Transpose, Swift Sneak. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +3 STR, +5 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

12th: Flexible Transmogrification > default to Alacritous Action, Foil Senses.

13th: Very, Very Sneaky, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

14th: Spell-Repelling Form, Battle Cry.

15th: Toughness, Skill Increase > Stealth. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Ever-Vigilant Senses, Legendary Sneak.

17th: Reckless Abandon, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +6↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Resilient Shell, Scare to Death.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Terrified Retreat, Trained in Deception. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +7 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Elemental [Metal] Eidolon) Wulfral Ironcaller, Scion of Steel

At 1st level, your Eidolon is a Striker with a versatile amount of damage types, having a primary attack that can deal four different damage types at will: electricity, bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. Elemental Burst and Eidolon’s Wrath makes your eidolon adept at AoE damage, and increases to Size alongside Eidolon’s Opportunity means it’ll be able to command a large amount of the battlefield as well. At 17th level, Elemental Maelstrom allows you to make countless d6 fatal d10 strikes around the battlefield at full MAP and 15-foot reach, shredding your enemies to pieces.

Initial Summoner: Talos Dwarf Laborer. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Labor Lore, Nature, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Metal) Eidolon. Medium. Primordial Elemental. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d6 fatal d10 attack.

1st: Dwarven Doughtiness, Energy Heart (Electricity).

2nd: Alacritous Action, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Tandem Movement, Terrifying Resistance.

5th: Conductor’s Redirection, Skill Increase > Athletics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Assurance (Athletics).

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Hulking Size, Battle Cry.

9th: Mountain’s Stoutness, Skill Increase > Athletics.

10th: Eidolon’s Wrath (Electricity), Terrified Retreat. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Towering Size, Bon Mot.

13th: Planar Sidestep, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Resilient Shell, Too Angry to Die.

15th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Trample, Scare to Death.

17th: Metallic Skin, Skill Increase > Athletics. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Ever-Vigilant Senses, Cloud Jump.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Legendary Negotiation, Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +5↑ CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Elemental [Water] Eidolon) Aqir, of Depth’s Grasp

This build is purpose-built for an aquatic campaign, taking many options that revolve heavily on taking advantage of watery battlefields for eidolon and summoner alike. With the eidolon’s investment in trip and grapple, it’s easy to shut down the movement of enemies who think they can command the waters better than you.

Initial Summoner: Murkeyed Azarketi Concordance Scout (Water). +0 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Plane of Water Lore, Nature, Stealth, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Water) Elemental. Medium. Primordial Elemental. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 trip attack.

1st: Surface Skimmer, Advanced Weaponry (Grapple).

2nd: Amphibious Form, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Tandem Movement, Terrifying Resistance.

5th: Aquatic Conversationalist, Skill Increase > Athletics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Bon Mot.

7th: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Hulking Size, Battle Cry.

9th: Water Dancer, Skill Increase > Athletics.

10th: Weighty Impact, Terrified Retreat. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +1 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Grasping Limbs, Skeptic’s Defense.

13th: Aquatic Adaptation, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Towering Size, Shameless Request.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

16th: Ever-Vigilant Senses, Scare to Death.

17th: Underwater Volcano, Skill Increase > Athletics. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

18th: Resilient Shell, Cloud Jump.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Negotiation, Trained in Deception. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +3 CHA.

(Elemental [Wood] Eidolon) Arbalesha Oakpoint of Wondrous Wood

Recovering HP out of combat with your eidolon’s Elemental Core ability, you’ll command the battlefield in combat with trips, grapples, Demoralization, and taking up more and more space as you level up. Overall, a fairly “generic” build.

Initial Summoner: Ardande Gnome Pilgrim. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Shumunue Lore, Nature, Religion, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Elemental (Wood) Eidolon. Medium. Primordial Elemental. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 bludgeoning trip attack.

1st: Ambersoul, Advanced Weaponry (Grapple).

2nd: Reinforce Eidolon, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Tandem Movement, Terrifying Resistance.

5th: Treespeech, Skill Increase > Diplomacy. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Eidolon’s Opportunity, Glad-Hand.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Hulking Size, Battle Cry.

9th: Noble Resolve, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

10th: Weighty Impact, Terrified Retreat. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Athletics.

12th: Grasping Limbs, Too Angry to Die.

13th: Wooden Mantle, Skill Increase > Athletics.

14th: Towering Size, Shameless Request.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

16th: Ever-Vigilant Senses, Scare to Death.

17th: Wood Ward, Skill Increase > Diplomacy. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

18th: True Transmogrification, Legendary Negotiation.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Athletics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Cloud Jump, Trained in Acrobatics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +2 CHA.

(Fey Eidolon) Yan-Fei, Kitsune Trickster

Gotta be honest, I don’t have a cool backstory for this one. I just saw the Gumiho stat block on Archives of Nethys and thought it would be cool if a kitsune had it as an eidolon.

Though many of these listed builds utilize Intimidation (since I’m kinda biased towards it,) Yan-Fei’s eidolon is perhaps the most innately skilled at it, starting off with a whopping +3 CHA. Other than that, though, the eidolon makes for a rather respectable switch hitter. What’s perhaps most impressive about the build is how many spells per day it has to offer in total—between the summoner’s standard spell slots, the fey eidolon’s innate spellcasting, and the extra spells conferred by Kitsune ancestry feats and the two Star Orb master abilities. If you want more spellcasting in your life, this is the way to go.

Initial Summoner: Dark Fields Kitsune Charlatan. 10 STR, +3 DEX, +1 CON, 10 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Underworld Lore, Nature, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Fey Eidolon. Medium. Trickster Fey. +1 STR, +4 DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, -1 WIS, +3 CHA. 1d6 finesse deadly d8 attack.

1st: Expanded Senses, Kitsune Spell Familiarity.

2nd: Ranged Combatant, Bon Mot.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Tandem Movement.

5th: Kitsune Spell Mysteries, Skill Increase > Deception. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +2 STR, +4↑ DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA.

6th: Confabulator, Skilled Partner (Intimidating Glare, Terrifying Resistance. Take Battle Cry at 7th level. Retrain Intimidating Glare to Intimidating Prowess at +0th level.)

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

9th: Star Orb (Innate Surge, Spell Battery), Skill Increase > Deception.

10th: Protective Bond, Slippery Secrets. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +3 STR, +5 DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +4↑ CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Terrified Retreat, Flexible Transmogrification > default to Eidolon’s Wrath (fire).

13th: Kitsune Spell Expertise, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

14th: Kip Up, Share Eidolon Magic.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5↑ DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, +5 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Spell-Repelling Form.

17th: Rampaging Form, Skill Increase > Deception. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +6↑ DEX, +1 CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, +5 CHA.

18th: Reveal Machinations, Magical Master.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Nimble Crawl. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +5↑ DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +7 DEX, +2 CON, +2 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA.

(Plant Eidolon) Pine Root and the Grandfather Tree

Perhaps unimaginatively named, Pine Root was one of the leshys raised amongst the druids of the Verduran Forest. When the druids that gave them life embarked on a journey far, far away from Avistan to seek “a long-forgotten truth,” it was left to Pine Root and the rest of the leshys of their neck of the woods to act as the custodians of the Grandfather Tree, an ancient arboreal spirit inhabiting the vessel of a deceptively small oak tree very soundly rooted where few mortals tread. This was the duty that Pine Root had been training for since the day that they were introduced to this world, as each and every one of the custodian leshys had their life force linked to the Tree himself.

However, when strange creatures beyond worldly description started assailing the Grandfather Tree and the forest itself, it fell to the leshys to act as stalwart guardians and fend off the mysterious menace. In their first skirmish, the leshys were victorious in battle, bending bark and root to impale and vanquish their foes. However, the creatures just kept coming… and coming… and coming. It wasn’t long until there was only Pine Root and the Tree left.

Pine Root was conflicted. It had been years since the druids left them to their task, and yet, they had shown no signs of returning. They wanted to go out and follow their trail, and figure out what had happened to them, and the truth they were seeking… but doing so would leave the Grandfather Tree alone, undefended. At the same time, Pine Root knew that if they were to have to fight another battle against those creatures again, both they and the Tree would surely fall.

The Grandfather Tree made Pine Root’s decision for them. He pulled his own roots out of the ground, stretching his legs out for the first time in centuries to follow right behind the small leshy.

Oh. Okay. Well, then.

The Grandfather Tree leans heavily into the plant eidolon’s strong points, making for a potent defender with his size, reach, and grappling ability, while the summoner, Pine Root, leans more into a supporter/healer role.

Initial Summoner: Root Leshy Wildwood Local. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +2 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Diplomacy, Forest Lore, Medicine, Nature, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Plant Eidolon. Medium. Guardian Plant. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 bludgeoning trip attack.

1st: Leshy Superstition, Advanced Weaponry (grapple).

2nd: Extend Boost, Battle Medicine.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Athletics.

4th: Godless Healing, Tandem Movement.

5th: Speak with Kindred, Skill Increase > Nature. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Forager, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Nature.

8th: Consult the Spirits, Hulking Size.

9th: Lucky Keepsake, Skill Increase > Athletics.

10th: Constricting Hold, Influence Nature. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Medicine.

12th: Continual Recovery, Towering Size.

13th: Bark and Tendril, Skill Increase > Medicine.

14th: Ward Medic, Grasping Limbs.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Nature. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +5 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

16th: Advanced First Aid, Trample.

17th: Regrowth, Skill Increase > Athletics. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

18th: Robust Recovery, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Medicine.

20th: Twin Eidolon, Legendary Medic, trained in Stealth. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

(Psychopomp Eidolon) Allimura, Vampire Slayer

The daughter of a vampire lord father and a human mother, Allimura never knew a single moment of peace growing up. Living in their father’s large, remote manor, her days of her upbringing were filled with an overwhelming amount of biting words, shame, and other punishments from her own father, who scorned her for her “impure” mortal blood, yet, perhaps paradoxically, expected her to step up to the plate and follow in his own footsteps.

Allimura absolutely hated her father. She spent the few peaceful moments she had looking out the window at the forest beyond her father’s manor, looking back fondly on the days when her mother was still there. So, on the day that a winged, scythe-wielding creature crashed through that glass window and slew her father in one fell blow, Allimura was ecstatic. Not so much, however, when that creature raised its bloodied scythe back up, and turned to face the girl herself.

Allimura suddenly realized that she knew exactly what this creature was. It was a vanth, guardian of the Boneyard and slayer of those who sought to pervert the natural flow of souls—including, but not limited to, undead vampires like her father. With her father’s blood still flowing in her veins, Allimura was a target, too. For a vanth to be this far from the Boneyard—and alone, at that—was certainly no normal circumstance. The wave of emotions, from unabated joy one moment to sheer terror the next, overwhelmed her. When she shouted, pleading for her life… the vanth, fortunately, stayed its blade.

It sized up the dhampir standing before it. The blood of a vampire flowed through her veins, yes, but she had a mortal soul of her own, too—a soul that had yet to live its life. It was only Pharasma’s place to judge, and yet… perhaps uncharacteristically for a vanth, the psychopomp was… conflicted. It flew back out through the window, returning to the Boneyard. A mere day later, when Allimura was wondering wherever else she could go with her newfound freedom, the vanth returned, speaking in a gravelly voice.

“You may yet live, but you must undo your forefathers’ legacy.”

Anyways, basically the story of how Allimura started going out and slaying her whole family tree of vampires with a bird skeleton from another plane.

Initial Summoner: Dhampir Human Bounty Hunter. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Legal Lore, Religion, and Survival.

Initial Eidolon: Psychopomp Eidolon. Medium. Soul Guardian. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, -1 CHA. 1d8 slashing trip attack.

1st: Glider Form, Adapted Cantrip ( _electric arc_ ).

2nd: Extend Boost, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Tandem Movement.

5th: Clever Improviser, Skill Increase > Religion. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Group Coercion, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Alacritous Action.

9th: Night Magic, Skill Increase > Religion.

10th: Eidolon’s Wrath (vitality), Terrified Retreat. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +1 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Sacred Defense, Link Focus.

13th: Form of the Bat, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

14th: Kip Up, Airborne Form.

15th: Incredible Investiture. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +2 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Symphony of Blood, Skill Increase > Religion. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +2 CHA.

18th: Divine Guidance, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

20th: Eternal Boost, Nimble Crawl, Trained in Athletics. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +5↑ WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +3 CHA.

(Undead Eidolon) Xelim, Bonecarved

This build capitalizes on the undead eidolon’s small niche as a slightly more durable frontliner to lean into a DEX-based skirmisher playstyle, maximizing Acrobatics and mobility whenever possible. The survivability options granted to you by the undead eidolon’s abilities will make your eidolon more survivable when weaving through and dipping behind enemy lines, preying on vulnerable targets and creating flanking opportunities for your allies. The focus on Dexterity also allows the eidolon to function as an effective switch hitter with Ranged Combatant. This ranged unarmed attack is also compatible with Drain Life, as it is not limited to melee Strikes.

Initial Summoner: Sturdy Skeleton Bandit. +0 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Desert (or any Terrain) Lore, Religion, and Stealth.

Initial Eidolon: Undead Eidolon. Medium. Undead Stalker. +2 STR, +4 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 slashing trip attack.

1st: Glider Form; As In Life, So In Death > Adopted Ancestry (Human).

2nd: Ranged Combatant, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

4th: Cat Fall, Tandem Movement.

5th: Arcane Tattoos ( _electric arc,_ flavored as carved bones instead of tattoos), Skill Increase > Religion. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +3 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Terrifying Resistance, Eidolon’s Opportunity.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

8th: Kip Up, Skilled Partner (Cat Fall, Intimidating Prowess / Nimble Crawl, Kip Up).

9th: Skeletal Resistance, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

10th: Alacritous Action, Battle Cry. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

12th: Terrified Retreat, Flexible Transmogrification > default to Eidolon’s Wrath (void).

13th: Rejuvenation Token (or other), Skill Increase > Stealth.

14th: Swift Sneak, Airborne Form.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Acrobatics. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +5↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Nimble Crawl, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Necromantic Heir, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +6↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Scare to Death, Resilient Shell.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Stealth.

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Sneak, Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4 STR, +7 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Master Summoner Build) Zandivar, Cunning Conjurer

This is a build that utilizes the Master Summoner line of feats. Zandivar is carried around battle by his trusty corgi steed. With Fast Movement, he can move 80 feet with only one Command action, commanding his summoned creatures alongside him just as effortlessly.

The eidolon itself is a rather standard STR build that’s able to tag-team with any summons Zandivar conjures up.

Initial Summoner: Melixie Sprite Academy Dropout. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +2 INT, +0 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Arcana, Crafting, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Academia Lore, Occultism, and Society.

Initial Eidolon: Construct Eidolon. Medium. Warrior Construct. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +1 INT, +0 WIS, -1 CHA. 1d8 bludgeoning versatile piercing attack.

1st: Corgi Mount (Scent, Fast Movement), Glider Form.

2nd: Extend Boost, Intimidating Glare.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Arcana.

4th: Specialty Crafting, Alacritous Action.

5th: Animal Speaker, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +3 INT, +0 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +0 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Terrifying Resistance, Master Summoner.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Reconfigured Evolution > Eidolon’s Opportunity, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Boost Summons.

9th: Fey Magic, Skill Increase > Arcana.

10th: Hulking Size, Terrified Retreat, Trained in Thievery. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +4 INT, +0 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA.

11th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Glad-Hand, Towering Size.

13th: Invisible Trickster, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Shameless Request, Airborne Form.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +4↑ INT, +0 WIS, +5↑

CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +2 INT, +2 WIS, +2 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Effortless Concentration.

17th: Fey Skin, Ultimate Reconfiguration > Ever-Vigilant Senses, Skill Increase > Arcana. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +2 INT, +2 WIS, +2 CHA.

18th: Unified Theory, Spell-Repelling Form.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Legendary Summoner, Legendary Negotiation, Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +5 INT, +0 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +3 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA.

(Melee Summoner Build w/ Sentinel) Steelbeard and the Dead

Man’s Landlubbing Kraken

This is a build that takes advantage of Tandem Strike. Steelbeard uses Unconventional Weaponry to snag scaling proficiency with the gill hook, an impressive 1d10 weapon with the grapple trait, and invests in the Sentinel archetype in order to bolster his AC despite his very low DEX.

The Dead Man’s Landlubbing Kraken quickly becomes very big with a lot of reach. Though this isn’t necessary for Dutiful Retaliation, this is very nice for being able to target a lot of different squares with Tandem Strike without the need to reposition too often.

Both summoner and eidolon are rather impressive at Athletics actions, allowing them to serve as a dynamic tag-team wrestling duo.

Initial Summoner: Versatile Human Sailor. +3 STR, +0 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +2 CHA. Trained in Athletics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Sailing Lore, Medicine, and Occultism.

Initial Eidolon: Devotion Phantom Eidolon. Medium. Stalwart Guardian. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 bludgeoning trip attack.

1st: Advanced Weaponry (grapple), Versatile Heritage > Armor Proficiency, Unconventional Weaponry (gill hook).

2nd: Sentinel Dedication, Titan Wrestler.

3rd: Armor Proficiency, Skill Increase > Athletics.

4th: Powerful Leap, Tandem Movement.

5th: General Training > Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Summoner ability scores: +4 STR, +0 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +3 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Armor Specialist, Tandem Strike.

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Athletics.

8th: Intimidating Prowess, Hulking Size.

9th: Clever Improviser, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

10th: Constricting Hold, Battle Cry. Summoner ability scores: +4↑ STR, +0 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +0 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Quick Swim, Grasping Limbs.

13th: Bounce Back, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Terrified Retreat, Towering Size.

15th: Diehard, Skill Increase > Athletics. Summoner ability scores: +5 STR, +0 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Shameless Request, Ever-Vigilant Senses.

17th: Heroic Presence, Skill Increase > Intimidation. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +1 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Scare to Death, Resilient Shell.

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Negotiation, Trained in Performance. Summoner ability scores: +5↑ STR, +1 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT , +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +1 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA.

Free Archetype Builds

(Beastmaster + Familiar Master + Master Summoner Build)

Memedesu, Master of the Menagerie

This is super stupid build and I definitely do not recommend you play it in any campaign at all unless you know what you’re doing and your fellow players are already inured to you playing really, really stupid builds like this one. New players: stay far, far away from this build.

Basically, this build is designed to be “optimal,” if by “optimal,” you mean “have the biggest amount of separate tokens on the battlefield at a single time.” At level 20, you’ll have your Summoner, your Eidolon, your Familiar, two Animal Companions, and up to two summoned creatures if you take two turns of setup. It’s reliant on Act Together, Effortless Concentration, Lead The Pack, and the Independent familiar ability.

First turn, summon a creature. Second turn, use Effortless Concentration to sustain and summon a second creature. From your third turn onwards, you can have this routine:

Act Together to have your eidolon Strike and your summoner Command your animal companions, giving them one Strike each. Use your free-action sustain for your first summoned creature, then use an action to sustain the second one. Because your familiar has Independent, they can take an action of their own. For your last action, you can do whatever. That’s a total of 9 actions in your turn _without_ Quickened.

Is it good? I dunno. You try it and tell me.

Initial Summoner: Fey-Touched Gnome Eidolon Contact. -1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, +0 INT, +2 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Beast Lore, Nature, and Religion.

Initial Eidolon: Beast Eidolon. Medium. Brutal Beast. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 piercing trip attack.

1st: Animal Accomplice (Independent, Flier), Expanded Senses.

2nd: Extend Boost, Intimidating Glare, Beastmaster Dedication (Bird).

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

4th: Terrifying Resistance, Tandem Movement, Mature Beastmaster Companion.

5th: Energized Font, Skill Increase > Nature. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, +0 INT, +3 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON , -1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA.

6th: Lasting Coercion, Master Summoner, Additional Companion (Wolf).

7th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Intimidation.

8th: Battle Cry, Eidolon’s Opportunity, Incredible Beastmaster’s Companion (Nimble for both companions).

9th: First World Adept, Skill Increase > Nature.

10th: Hulking Size, Terrified Retreat, Familiar Master Dedication (Enhanced Familiar (Speech, Skilled (Intimidation))). Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +2 CHA.

11th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Bon Mot, Towering Size, Incredible Familiar (Manual Dexterity, Spellcasting).

13th: Vivacious Conduit, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

14th: Shameless Request, Boost Summons, Specialized Beastmaster Companion (Daredevil for both companions).

15th: Incredible Investiture. Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +4↑ DEX, +4↑ CON, +0 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4 DEX, +5↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA.

16th: Scare to Death, Effortless Concentration, Lead the Pack.

17th: Homeward Bound, Skill Increase > Nature. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4 DEX, +5↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +3 CHA.

18th: Influence Nature, Ever-Vigilant Senses, Specialized Beastmaster Companion (Ambusher for both companions).

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

20th: Legendary Summoner, Legendary Negotiation, Specialized Beastmaster Companion (Bully for both companions).

Summoner ability scores: -1 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +4 CHA.

(Blessed One + Medic Build) Dr. Olive Branch, The Hallowed

This is just a build based around supplying as much healing as possible, taking Free Archetype feats in Blessed One and Medic to heal with both _lay on hands_ and Battle Medicine.

Both you and your Eidolon can Battle Medicine, with separate cooldowns for each one. I wish Battle Medicine was affected by reach instead of just “adjacent,” so the size-increasing feats aren’t really necessary for the whole healing bit. I just like reach.

Initial Summoner: Aasimar Leshy Field Medic. +0 STR, +1 DEX, +2 CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +4 CHA. Trained in Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Warfare Lore, Medicine, and Religion.

Initial Eidolon: Angel Eidolon. Medium. Angelic Avenger. +4 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +1 WIS, +0 CHA. 1d8 slashing trip attack.

1st: Halo, Glider Form.

2nd: Extend Boost, Continual Recovery, Medic Dedication.

3rd: Toughness, Skill Increase > Religion.

4th: Continual Recovery, Tandem Movement, Blessed Sacrifice.

5th: Healer’s Halo, Skill Increase > Diplomacy. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +2 DEX, +3 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +4↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +4↑ STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +2 WIS, +0 CHA.

6th: Ward Medic, Eidolon’s Opportunity, Blessed One Dedication.

7th: Fleet, Skill Increase > Medicine.

8th: Skilled Partner (Battle Medicine, Continual Recovery, Ward Medic), Advanced First Aid, Mercy.

9th: Bark and Tendril, Skill Increase > Religion.

10th: Eidolon’s Wrath (good), Paragon Battle Medicine, Greater Mercy. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +3 DEX, +4 CON, -1 INT, +4↑ WIS, +5 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +3 WIS, +0 CHA.

11th: Incredible Initiative, Skill Increase > Diplomacy.

12th: Holistic Care, Protective Bond, Resilient Touch.

13th: Aasimar’s Mercy, Skill Increase > Acrobatics.

14th: Glad-Hand, Airborne Form, Amplifying Touch.

15th: Incredible Investiture, Skill Increase > Medicine. Summoner ability scores: +0 STR, +4 DEX, +4↑ CON, -1 INT, +5 WIS, +5↑ CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +5↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

16th: Legendary Medic, Ever-Vigilant Senses, Resuscitate.

17th: Regrowth, Skill Increase > Religion. Eidolon ability scores: +6↑ STR, +4↑ DEX, +5 CON, -1 INT, +4 WIS, +0 CHA.

18th: Divine Guidance, Spell-Repelling Form, Affliction Mercy

19th: Canny Acumen (Perception), Skill Increase > Diplomacy

20th: Eternal Boost, Legendary Negotiation, Rejuvenating Touch. (Retrain Extend Boost to Alacritous Action.) Summoner ability scores: +1 STR, +4 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +5 WIS, +6 CHA. Eidolon ability scores: +7 STR, +5 DEX, +5 CON, +0 INT, +4 WIS, +1 CHA.

Changelog

(If you have any comments, please leave them on the discussion thread!)

5/29/2025: Minor edits. Guide is still not up to date with all new content.

● Updated description for Deception to mention Feinting. ● Updated description for Incredible Initiative to mention other non-stacking circumstance bonuses. ● Corrected Efreet to Naari. ● Updated rating for remastered Reinforced Chassis feat (Automaton). ● Updated Astral Blink to remastered spell name. ● Updated Kobold’s Wyrmling Flight rating from blue to green. ● Updated description for Fully Flighted (Strix). ● Added mention of greater energy property runes to Energy Heart description. ● Combined Ganzi and Aphorite with Nephilim.

9/23/2024: Added a clarification on Eidolon item use.

9/16/2024:

● Corrected an error in the traditions for heroism. ● Added TXCG ancestries. WIP. ● Updated entries for some Player Core 2 ancestries. ● Added text about cantrips & speeds in the ancestry section intro.

7/24/2024: Added the “Notes for GMs” section and “We Have Errata at Home” sections.

7/11/2024: Added some spell ratings.

6/11/2024:

● Updated ancestry portion with Awakened Animal and Surki ancestries. ● Updated Strix and Sprite entries with errata. ● Added ratings for Albatross Curse and Dispel Magic spells.

6/10/2024: Updated ancestry portion with Athamaru and Minotaur ancestries.

6/8/2024: Updated ancestry portion with Merfolk and Centaur ancestries. Also changed Alacritous Action’s rating to green.

5/22/2024: Added “Buff Who?” write-up to the Rhythm of Combat section. Todo: update entries with new errata.

3/24/2024: Added some new write-ups to the Rhythm of Combat section.

2/26/2024: Added a link to the Legacy edition of the guide, as the previous version history dropdown did not actually work.

1/23/2024: Updated Air Elemental eidolon entry based on feedback.

1/18/2024: Updated entry for Naari feat Blazing Aura to fix an incorrect rules interpretation based on feedback.

1/16/2024:

● Updated undead eidolon listing the wrong rating color for the divine tradition. ● Updated damage calculations for Furious Strike. ● Updated damage calculations in The Rhythm of Combat.

1/14/2024:

● Fixed some minor errors based on feedback. ● Added new section for archetypes that grant you a minion, including table for scaling AC and attack rolls for companions. ● Updated entries for Pushing Attack, Weighty Impact, and Grasping Limbs to account for remaster changes to the Push, Knockdown, and Grab actions. Updated certain builds accordingly. ● Updated more mentions of new damage type names. ● Updated mentions of refocus feats to reflect new rating. ● Updated Magical Understudy feat to account for changes to cantrip damage rolls. ● Updated builds that utilized Link Wellspring (now redundant). ● Updated mentions of Armor Proficiency and Weapon Proficiency general feats to mention new scaling added in Remaster. ● Updated more mentions of metamagic to spellshape.

1/13/2024:

● Added ratings to some notable multiclass focus spells. ● Added rating for longstrider. ● Updated ability scores in example builds to remastered format (e.g. 18 STR -> +4 STR). ● Updated ratings for Link Focus and Link Wellspring to account for remaster changes to refocus. ● Rewrote text to refer to animate dead more definitely as a summoning spell, which it is, because it conjures a creature with the summoned trait. ● Updated entries for Witch, Sorcerer, Bard, and Familiar Master dedications to account for remaster.

1/12/2024:

● Added ratings for Kineticist, Psychic, and Thaumaturge multiclass dedications. ● Updated text for multiclass spellcasting dedications to account for remaster. ● Added rating for Wellspring Mage.

1/11/2024:

● Added builds for all Elemental eidolons. ● Updated rating for disarm trait to account for remaster. ● Updated ratings for 1st rank spells to account for remaster.

● Updated text for Elementalist to account for RoE. ● Added new subcategory for apex items. Added new ratings and updated descriptions for existing ratings.

1/9/2024: Added ratings for more cantrips.

1/8/2024:

● Added a rating for the elemental eidolon (finally!) ● Added ratings for all remaining versatile heritages. ● Partially updated cantrips section to account for remaster. ● Updated mentions of “spell level” to “spell rank.”

1/6/2024: Updated Fey entry to account for the remaster and removal of spell schools.

1/5/2024: Happy New Year!

● Updated ancestry ratings, including Dwarf, Android, Orc, & Shisk to account for alternate ancestry boosts. ● Updated entries for versatile heritages changed in the remaster (Nephilim, Aiuvarin, Dromaar, Efreet). ● Added ratings for Impossible Lands ancestries.

12/29/2023: The remaster is out, and thus begins the journey of properly Remastering this guide.

● Updated mentions of “flat-footed” to “off-guard.” ● Updated mentions of Legacy languages to Remastered languages in eidolon entries (e.g. Abyssal -> Chthonian). ● Updated mentions of stats to the new formatting (e.g. 18 STR -> +4 STR). ● Removed mentions of alignment in eidolon ratings. ● Updated entries to Angel and Demon eidolons to reflect removal of alignment and Secrets of Magic remaster errata. ● Updated Psychopomp eidolon entry to reflect damage type renamings (negative -> void, positive -> vitality). ● Updated Dragon eidolon entry to mention lore changes to dragons in the remaster.

3/14/2023: I’m alive! Woo! Sorry, I was doing a (non-Pathfinder-related) project for, like, eight months, and that ate up a lot of my free time. But it’s done now, and back I return! Still need to pore through the new books more thoroughly, but it’s time to make some edits.

Added some more details on some rare backgrounds of note. Also updated some, but not all, ancestries to account for alternate ancestry boosts.

5/31/2022: Added ratings for some staves.

5/8/2022: Added an undead eidolon build.

4/27/2022: Book of the Dead is officially out! Yay! Added ratings for the Skeleton heritage, the Undead eidolon, and the Reanimator archetype. Full Undead build coming soon-ish. Also added a rating for Irezoko Tattoo.

4/26/2022: Edited some notes about how archetypes will interact with PFS play.

4/25/2022: Edited Sentinel to reflect APG errata.

4/18/2022: Edited some details about ancestries and heritages.

4/12/2022: Cleaned up some things and clarified some things about weapon runes and divine spellcasters. Currently waiting on peeking at the Book of the Dead PDF.

4/10/2022: Added some ratings for some more spells.

3/22/2022: Added more details on the playstyles of the example builds.

3/13/2022: Added some spells.

3/9/2022: Clarified my wording in a few places.

1/19/2022: Added a few lines to the Psychopomp eidolon rating.

1/4/2022: Appended a few paragraphs to the introduction.

1/3/2022: Edited a PFS ruling on Rain of Bolts.

12/23/2021: Edited Summoner Dedication section, and added the “My Weakness Is Fireball” section.

12/21/2021: Some random edits here and there.

11/20/2021: It seems that whenever I’m trying to work on an actual essay for, like, school, I procrastinate by returning to this guide and making small nonconsequential edits in my phrasing to slightly clarify some sentences. I should stop doing that. ...Procrastinating, I mean.

11/8/2021: Updated the localization files Made some small edits in my phrasing to clarify some sections.

10/25/2021: Edited archetypes.

10/14/2021: Edited various sections based on discussion thread feedback.

10/13/2021: Street date for October releases! Updated with some G&G/GB options, including ancestries and class archetypes.

10/9/2021: More spells, more archetypes. Also, some minor edits to a few sections in Feats, Introduction, and Magic Items.

10/8/2021: Added a proficiency chart.

10/7/2021: Writing more spell ratings.

10/6/2021: I am procrastinating on schoolwork. Added to the multiclass archetypes section, and begun on spells.

10/5/2021: Finished the versatile heritages section. Still don’t have October PDFs, boo hoo woe is me. To-do: write out ratings for the rest of the multiclass dedications, spells, and also write ratings for the new ancestries in G&G and GB once I get my hands on them.

10/1/2021: Added some more versatile heritages. Guns & Gears and Great Bazaar PDFs are rolling out, but I’m not a subscriber so I don’t have them yet :(

9/25/2021: Added the Summoner Multiclass Dedication section.

9/15/2021: Added another build.

9/13/2021: Added a new build, and made a few changes to some sections that could use more clarification.

9/11/2021: Added some more archetypes, and updated the Merciless Rend feat.

9/9/2021: (yes, the same day as the release, because I posted this at midnight) Updated with some great feedback from Reddit and the Paizo forums. Also added a small Backgrounds section and two new builds.

9/9/2021: Woo! Release! Still the first draft, with some incomplete sections. I want to add at least a Cantrips section, more details on Ancestries, more Archetypes, as well as some Free Archetype Builds, because everyone and their mom plays with Free

Archetype these days. Also, I should probably make a Tandem Strike and a Master Summoner build. Uh, as separate builds, I mean. I don’t know if it would be advisable to build for both in one character.

9/1/2021: The guide is… still being written, as of me writing this. I will edit this with something that says, “Woo! Release!” once it gets released.