FlurryofBlunders’ Guide to the PF2e Summoner
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Color Grading System
- Summoner/Eidolon Proficiency Progression
- Class Features
- Your Eidolon
- Eidolon Types
- Proficiencies
- Eidolon Ability Scores
- The Eidolon's Statites and Arrays
- Skills & Skill Eidolons
- Ancestries
- Backgrounds
- Class Feats
- Multiclass Archetypes
- Items & Gear
- Spells & Cantrips
- Rhythm of Combat
- Notes for GMs & Errata
- Changelog
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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.
Table of Contents (anchors)
- Introduction {#introduction}
- Color Grading System {#color-grading-system}
- Summoner/Eidolon Proficiency Progression {#summonereidolon-proficiency-progression}
- Class Features {#class-features}
- Eidolon Overview {#your-eidolon}
- Eidolon Types {#eidolon-types}
- Proficiencies {#proficiencies}
- Eidolon Ability Scores {#eidolon-ability-scores}
- The Eidolon’s Stat Arrays {#the-eidolons-statites-and-arrays}
- Skills & Skill Eidolons {#skills--skill-eidolons}
- Ancestries {#ancestries}
- Backgrounds {#backgrounds}
- Class Feats {#class-feats}
- Multiclass Archetypes {#multiclass-archetypes}
- Items & Gear {#items--gear}
- Spells & Cantrips {#spells--cantrips}
- Rhythm of Combat {#rhythm-of-combat}
- Notes for GMs & Errata {#notes-for-gms-errata}
- Changelog {#changelog}
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Note: This is a distilled, updated compendium of rules, options, and builds for PF2e Summoners, reflecting remaster changes, various archetypes, and expanded eidolon interactions. The guide emphasizes the dual nature of the Summoner and eidolon on the battlefield, action economy optimization, and adaptability across many creature types and playstyles.