Introduction
Between your Eidolon’s tradition and its unique features, your Eidolon largely defines your role within your party. Different attacks and other features might make you an effective Defender or an effective Striker, and access to certain spells or other abilities might give you limited options as a Healer or Support.
The majority of eidolons start as a very simple melee Striker. You’ll choose between two ability score arrays for your Eidolon which will typically include a high-Strength option and a high-Dexterity option. The high-Strength option will do more damage with melee Strikes, while the high-Dexterity option will be better at Stealth, have better Reflex saves, and will often have slightly better AC. The appeal of each option may change as you add feats, so plan ahead to be sure that you’ll remain happy with whatever you pick.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Tradition
Your Eidolon’s tradition does a great deal to determine your role in the party, but remember that you’re not a Sorcerer. Your limited spellcasting means that you’ll never have more than 4 spell slots, which simply isn’t enough to replace a full caster. Think of your spell slots as complementary to your other capabilities, rather than as your primary function.
Size
Your Eidolon’s initial size has very little effect on their capabilities unless you plan to ride
Eidolon Unarmed Strikes
Each eidolon’s entry includes a few suggestion for their primary attack. These are only suggestions. You are still free to pick whatever you want from the 4 options listed.
The primary weapon options closely resemble common one-handed weapons (1d8 damage and Shove for a warhammer, 1d6 with Finesse and Deadly 1d8 for a rapier, etc.), so the decision between the attack options is similar. The secondary attack is basically a short sword, so you always have an Agile option if you don’t want to rely on Forceful or Sweep.
- SoM: The highest base damage, and the trait options are good. Disarm, Shove, and Trip all rely on the Athletics skill, so unless your Eidolon’s Strength is good enough to back up Athletics checks these traits won’t help you.
- SoM: Mathematically better than the 1d6+Deadly option unless your eidolon has more Dexterity than Strength.
- SoM: Forceful and Sweep really only matter if you’re planning to have your Eidolon make repeated Strikes almost every turn. You notably get both traits, so it’s easy to handle either single foes or crowds. Of course, your Eidolon also gets an Agile secondary weapon, which will be more accurate the using Sweep and will deal the same amount of damage, so Sweep is functionally useless here.
- SoM: The expected option for Dexterity-based eidolons. If your Eidolon will have higher Strength than Dexterity, the 1d6+Fatal option is mathematically better.
Eidolons
Angel EidolonSoM
Only uniquely effective in campaigns where enemies with vulnerability to Good damage (fiends, etc.) are going to be common. There is some benefit if you’re going to be traveling the planes, but you likely still need to be able to protect yourself from the planes using spells or items.
: Higher Strength for more damage.
: Higher Dexterity for Stealth and Reflex saves, and higher Charisma for better Face skills, though that will rarely matter since you’re a Charisma-based character.
- Tradition: Divine
- Size: Medium or small.
- : Diplomacy and Religion. Diplomacy is a go-to option for the Summoner, and with a splash of Wisdom you can make Religion worthwhile.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Unless you’re expecting to face consistently evil enemies, this won’t be helpful. In games where you’re facing neutral enemies, the damage often won’t apply. In games where you’re facing things like fiends, the damage will apply and you’ll often trigger damage vulnerabilities.
- : Only situationally useful, and in situations where your party needs this they need to be able to solve these problems other ways in the event that your eidolon unmanifests.
- : Only situationally useful, but this provides soutions to a broad range of challenges which you would otherwise need to solve with your extremely limited spellcasting.
Anger PhantomSoM
The Anger Phantom is a very simple melee Striker. Furious Strike is an easy go-to offensive options, and it’s easy to pair the 2-Action cost with a 2-Action spell so you and your Eidolon are consistently getting a lot out of your action economy.
: Better Strength for more damage.
: Better Dexterity for Stealth and Reflex saves, but worse Wisdom for worse Will saves.
- Tradition: Occult.
- Size: Medium or small.
- : Intimidation and Occultism. inimidation is great, but Occultism may be a difficult choice unless you invest in Intelligence at the expense of survivability.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Depending on the state of your Striking Runes at any point in your career, this may be more effective than making two Strikes with the same 2 Actions.
- : This saves you the action cost to cast Boost Eidolon for a full minute, but the -2 penalty to AC can become a problem quickly, especially against numerous enemies.
- : If your party doesn’t have any static resistances (which is unikely by this level), this is a great offensive option. If your party does have resistances, you may need to suppress this until it’s actually needed.
BeastSoM
The Beast Eidolon is a melee Striker, plain and simple get it into melee quickly so it can get to fighting.
: More Strength, more damage.
: I’m assuming it means “fleet” as in “fast”, not “fleet” as in “several ships”, but it’s also no faster than other eidolons, so we can’t be sure. Higher Dexterity is better for Stealth and Reflex saves, though.
- Tradition: Primal.
- Size: Medium.
- : Intimidation and Nature. Intimidation is good, and you can make Nature work with a bit of Wisdom.
- : Low-Light Vision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : A great way to get into melee or to move to a new target, but you may not always get the attack bonus in tight quarters.
- : Frightened is a really good debuff, and making multiple enemies Frightened at once typically requires a spell. This is easy to use and effective at any level. But it’s still only Frightened 1, so it won’t last long.
- : Excellent, especially if you have been taking evolution feats to make your eidolon larger and to give it better reach.
ConstructSoM
The Construct Eidolon is appealing for two reasons: You get two extra Evolution feats, and you can retrain those feats much more easily than you can for most class feats. This makes your eidolon even more customizable than other eidolons, and even if you never retrain the extra feats, you can still get a ton of power out of two additional class feats.
While it doesn’t have any specific, clear role, the Construct Eidolon’s durability and extra customizability make it a great choice if you’re starting out as a summoner and haven’t decided where you want your build to go.
:Better Strength so it’s sightly better at damage output.
: Better Stealth and Reflex saves.
- Tradition: Arcane.
- Size: Medium.
- : Arcana and Crafting. Two Intelligence-based skills.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Helpful, but still only situationally useful.
- : An extra class feat is really nice. The ability to retrain it so easily makes it easier to take situational evolution feats because you can retrain them when you expect a situation that would make them useful.
- : Another extra class feat, and a very high-level one at that. You can retrain this feat, too, so the applications are similar to Reconfigured Evolution
DemonSoM
The Demon Eidolon is only appealing in a party where your enemies are almost exclusively good-aligned. Demonic Strikes and Blasphemous Decree are basically non-functional if your enemies are neutral or evil. Visions of Sin does give you a small benefit for targeting neutral enemies, but that simply isn’t enough to make the Demon broadly useful.
: High Strength for better damage.
: More durable than the Wrecker Demon due to better saves and AC, better at Stealth, and better at social skills (though that’s unlikely to matter since you’re a Charisma-based character).
- Tradition: Divine.
- Size: Medium or small.
- : Inimidation and Religion. Intimidation is good and you can make Religion work with a little bit of Wisdom.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Unless you’re expecting to face consistently good-aligned enemies, this won’t be helpful. In games where you’re facing neutral enemies or evil enemies, the damage often won’t apply. In games where you’re facing things like celestials, the damage will apply and you’ll often trigger damage vulnerabilities.
- : In encounters where your party outnumbers your enemies, or in encounters with one big enmy and several weak enemies, this can put your party at a huge adbvantage in the action economy. Preventing the target from taking Reactions also means that your allies can safely move away from the target, potentially giving you an even larger action economy advantage by forcing enemies to spend their reduced number of actions to get back into position to attack.
- : A really good AOE damage spell, provided that you’re facing good-aligned enemies.
Devotion PhantomSoM
The Devotion Phantom Eidolon is primarily a simple melee attacker, but Dutiful Retaliation and Devotion Aura encourage you to take damage, so if you go this route be sure to boost your Constitution and look for feats like Toughness which will further increase your hit points.
: Slightly more damage thans to higher Strength.
: Better at stealth and slightly more durable thanks to better AC and better Reflex saves.
- Tradition: Occult.
- Size: Medium or small.
- : Medicine and Occultism. Medicine is helpful but may be difficult to invest in due to your low dependency on Wisdom, and Occultism is Intelligence-based so it’s difficult for the Summoner to be good at both.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : A very easy way to get an extra Strike outside of your turn. This may be good enough to justify letting your AC languish a bit, but look for ways to reduce the damage you take, such as the spell Shield, the Shield Block feat, or damage resistance of some kind.
- : A good bonus against a broad range of effects which can often take creatures out of a fight.
- : Great protection for your allies, but it will eat into your hit points quickly. Be sure to take Toughness, boost your Constitution, and plan to heal yourself often.
DragonSoM
The best eidolon for handling multiple enemies, the Dragon Eidolon’s Breath Weapon provides an easy and rechargeable way to handle crowds. It’s easy, effective, and requires little investment to remain effective.
: Simple and effective.
: Better at stealth and slightly better AC than the Marauding dragon, but the difference in Strength makes a major difference in damage output unless you’re planning to rely entirely on Dragon Breath and spells.
- Tradition: Arcane.
- Size: Medium.
- : Arcana and Intimidation. Intimidation is good, but Arcana is Intelligence-based, which is hard for the Summoner.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard
- : The 30-foot cone is a good AOE, and while the damage isn’t spectacular it’s good enough to be worthwhile and the scaling is good. Piercing damage is likely your best bet.
- : Three Strikes for 2 Actions. Simple, effective, and consistently useful.
- : You’ll likely only be able to do this once per encounter, but it’s good enough that you should probably use it every encounter.
FeySoM
They Fey Eidolon is focused on spellcasting. Either version of the Eidolon will suffice, but their ability scores may impact which skills work well for your Eidolon. While the Fey Eidolon doesn’t get much that other Eidolons couldn’t get, three additional class feats (goods ones, too) is undeniably effective. Your Eidolon will eventually end up with more non-cantrip spells than you get as the Summoner, dramatically improving your total spellcasting capacity.
: Strength doens’t matter much since your Eidolon can rely on spells in combat rather than Strikes.
: Lean hard into Charisma. This would be nice if you needed your Eidolon to serve as a Face, but the Summoner’s Key Ability Score is Charisma, so that’s your job. Eidolons use your spell DC and attack modifier, too, so the Charisma does nearly nothing to help you.
- Tradition: Primal.
- Size: Small or Medium.
- : Deception and Nature. Deception is a helpful Face skill but won’t help you beyond that capacity. Nature is helpful, and you can make it work with a bit of Wisdom.
- : Low-light vision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Adding more enchantment and illusion spells expands your options considerably, and there are many powerful options to choose from. Your Eidolon also gets Magical Understudy, giving it two cantrips. I strongly recommend Gouging Claw as a cantrip because its damage will outpace your Eidolon’s unarmed strikes and it doesn’t require you to invest in handwraps.
- : Your Eidolon gets one 1st-level spell and one 2nd-level spell when you first take Magical Adept, and since you can upgrade the spells at every even level you can upgrade the 1st-level spell to another 2nd-level spell at 8th level, which gives you a slight edge over other Magical Adept users until you take Magical Master at 17th level.
- : Contingency is geally good, but by this level you have likely upgraded your eidolon’s spells from Magical Adept to 6th and 7th-level spells, so you literally can’t use this with anything except cantrips, provided that your Eidolon’s two cantrips from Fey Gift Spells and Magical Understudy qualify. But in one more level you can take Magical Master, and then you’ll have four Contingency-friendly non-cantrip spells and everything will be awesome.
PlantSoM
The Plant Eidolon is very simple martial option. Tendril Strike gives it some extra reach, giving it a splash of area control until you get Field of Roots at high levels, at which point your Eidolon’s primary function becomes attempting to immobilize enemies in melee.
To capitalize on the Plant Eidolon’s strengths, grab an unarmed strike option which has the Shove or Trip traits, choose the Guardian Plant option, and look for feats which will improve your Eidolon’s ability to control an area including Eidolon’s Reaciton and Hulking Size.
: Lots of Strength to back up Athletics checks and provide bonus damage on your Eidolon’s strikes. Pick the 1d8 natural weapon and either the Shove or Trip property, and take advantage of Tendril Strike to knock enemies out of position to attack or knock them prone. Either option will place your party at an advantage.
: Just as effective as the Guardian Plant at attacking and bette at sneaking, but without as much Strength you can’t capitalize on the Plant Eidolon’s abilities as effectively.
- Tradition: Primal.
- Size: Medium.
- : Nature and Survival. Two Wisdom-based skills and Survival is almost never useful in most games.
- : Low-light Vision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Reach allows your Eidolon to attack from outside many enemies’ reach, forcing your enemy to spend an Action to either Step or Stride to get into melee with your Eidolon. However, Tendril Strike only applies when you’re using the Action, so you’ll need to walk your Eidolon into reach of your enemy if you want to make Reactions like Eidolon’s Opportunity until you hit level 7 and add Growing Vines.
- : One of very few options for Eidolons to get reach. Absolutely take Eidolon’s Opportunity to capitalize on this, and strongly consider Hulking Size to increase its reach with its strikes to a total of 15 feet.
- : Note that this applies within your Eidolon’s reach, which is still 5 feet by default since Growing Vines adds the Reach trait to your Eidolon’s strikes rather than increasing its actual reach. This means that the area is just 5 feet beyond your Eidolon’s space unless you took Hulking Size. Against enemies with poor Reflex saves, the guaranteed ongoing damage and the speed penalty can be very impactful, but you really need to work to keep enemies inside the area because the Action cost to trigger this and potentially to uproot your Eidolon is costly. I recommend tripping your enemies becuase it makes it that much harder for your enemies to move out of the area.
PsychopompSoM
The Psychopomp is effective in a campaign where undead, especially incorporeal undead like ghosts, are a prominent enemy. In most campaigns the Psychopomp Eidolon’s noteworthy features won’t be consistently useful.
: More Strength and therefor more damage than the Scribe of the Dead.
: Better at sneaking and slightly better saves than the Soul Guardian.
- Tradition: Divine
- : Medium
- : Intimidation and Religion. Intimidation is good and you can make Religion work with a little bit of Wisdom.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Srandard.
- : Only situationally useful since a very small subset of creatures are impacted. The damage bonus is there purely to trigger vulnerabilities, but it’s really cool that it applies different damage for living vs. undead targets.
- : Easy access to invisibility on a regular basis. This makes it much easier to scout for your party, especially since you can send your Eidolon to do the scouting on their own and resummon them if they die.
- : Very cool, but only situationally useful since this has no benefit against most enemies.
UndeadBotD
The obvious choice for parties with negative healing, but otherwise the Undead Eidolon isn’t especially unique. Drain Life’s ability to make a target Drained can be helpful if you follow it with other effects which target Fortitude saves, but you as the Summoner don’t get enough spells to capitalize on that benefit and it’s not reliable enough that the rest of your party can build around it.
: Better damage than the Undead Stalker.
: Better at sneaking and slightly more durable than the Undead Brute due to slightly higher AC and saves.
- Tradition: Divine
- Size: Medium or Small
- : Intimidation and Religion. Intimidation is good and you can make Religion work with a little bit of Wisdom.
- : Darkvision.
- : 25 feet. Standard.
- : Makes your Eidolon a bit more durable and makes them easy to fit into a party with negative healing.
- : Two points of failure (the attack roll and the saving throw), and the impact scales very slowly. By this level you almost certainly have a Striking rune, which makes using your second Action for another Strike more appealing in most cases. Most likely you will occasionally use this on powerful single enemies to make them Drained so that they’re more susceptible to other effects, but it’s not a go-to attack option even with the offer of temporary hit points.
- : Great insurance, but you also want to try very hard to never need it, and successfully making a feature unnecessary doesn’t make the feature good.
