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Many eidolon evolutions have minimum summoner level requirements.

For example, Alignment Smite, Energy Attack and Flight say "the summoner must be at least 5th level before selecting this evolution", Immunity, Poison and Tremorsense say "the summoner must be at least 7th level before selecting this evolution" and so on.

Is there a way (a feat or something else) that allows a multiclass character with low summoner level (but higher character level) to take such evolutions?

For other classes I've seen feats that "increase your effective XXX level by YYY" (Boon Companion, only for the purposes of animal companion properties) or class features that do similar things (spells per day for Arcane Trickster, Diverse Training for Eldritch Knight, etc.) but didn't see any direct or indirect way to do this for summoner's eidolon evolutions.

Is there a way to do something like that?

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3 Answers 3

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The feats that increase your effective level for class abilities, such as Boon Companion, all have a clause that says "...to a maximum effective XXX level equal to your character level." A single-class character can't use them to exceed their actual class level. These feats are solely meant to take a little of the sting out of multiclassing while still allowing you to Do Your Thing.

There is no such feat for summoners published in Paizo products, though there may be one in a third-party product. The summoner is already a very strong class, and while adding it wouldn't break the game, adding one is not necessarily a great idea. Since eidolons are the bulk of the power behind the class, at feat like that would allow a character to take 4 levels in any other class with very little downside.

If absolutely had your heart set on a feat like this (and you could talk your GM into it), you could do something like this:

Boosted Eidolon

Benefit: The evolutions you can select for your eidolon are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective summoner level equal to your character level. If you have more than one eidolon, choose one to receive this benefit. If you replace the eidolon that has received this benefit, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It might make more sense to just have a feat that increases your effective summoner level for the purposes of your eidolon (like Boon Companion does for druid level and animal companions) rather than letting you take higher level evolutions. Eidolons are stronger than animal companions, so maybe have it increase your effective summoner level by 2 or 3 instead of by 4. \$\endgroup\$
    – Oblivious Sage ♦
    Mar 1, 2017 at 22:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the answer. We're playing mostly without 3rd party stuff, but if there were such 3rd part feat we could talk about. Crafting this feat on my own (while it may be reasonable on it's own) will be harder to convince. If nobody will show an existing 3rd part feat to do that, I think I'll accept this answer. (I also think I was pretty clear in saying "low summoner level (but higher character level)" == some of the character levels are in another class == multiclass character which is like the other feats I mentioned. I've edited the question to emphasize that.) \$\endgroup\$
    – Foo
    Mar 1, 2017 at 22:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ The edit has emphasized that, yes. I tried to answer broadly enough to also cover others who might find this question in the future. \$\endgroup\$
    – Karelzarath
    Mar 1, 2017 at 22:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ObliviousSage: This demonstrates why inventing this feat by ourselves is problematic - there are all kinds of balance considerations. One can hope that an existing 3rd party feat was more or less well-thought, though Paizo seem to have enough mishaps, so assuming 3rd parties did a good job might be giving them too much credit. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Foo
    Mar 1, 2017 at 22:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ObliviousSage: I thought of that, but allowing a full increase of effective eidolon level like that gives the feat too much power, even with only limiting it to 2 levels. There's a reason why no feat increases effective spellcasting level, rogue sneak attack dice, or a cleric's channel energy ability: granting core class abilities (or wholesale improvements to them) is poor design and badly imbalanced. Familiars and animal companions are not the focus of their classes nor are they particularly powerful, so boosting them at the cost of a feat is reasonable. But this is entering chat territory. \$\endgroup\$
    – Karelzarath
    Mar 1, 2017 at 23:02
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From Paizo: NO

Paizo has (thankfully) not provided any such feat or ability.

The Eidolon's abilities are determined by your class level (the table detailing their abilities says "class level" in both the APG and Unchained). So the advice for "full-classing" as summoner is a sound one as it ensures you can get the best and most power out of your eidolon.

However, I could see a point where a multi-classed Summoner of sufficient level could take an ability based on his current total character level. A Summoner 2/Something 5 could give his eidolon "Immunity" which requires.

The summoner must be at least 7th level before selecting this evolution.

I would expect table variation on this ruling. Personally, I would NOT allow it, but ask your GM.

Sources: APG and Unchained

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The evolution requirements reference character level, not summoner level.

There is a difference in how a character option is presented when it requires levels of a specific class, or just character levels. If a feature requires levels of a specific class, it looks like this:

Prerequisite(s): Barbarian 6, intimidating glare

If it requires character levels, it looks like this:

The [character] must be at least 5th level before selecting this [feature].

The first comes from the Barbarian feature Battle Roar, which specifically requires Barbarian levels. The second comes from Alignment Smite, a summoner evolution. Note the precise phrasing here: It does not say "You have to be a level 5 Summoner", it says "You have to be a Summoner, and level 5". If you are a Summoner, and at least 5th level, then you meet the prerequisites for Alignment Smite.

Thus, you don't need to have any kind of special feat to improve your effective Summoner level for meeting evolution prerequisites, because those features don't care about your Summoner level in the first place.

It's still important for a Summoner to remain single-class, however. This only applies to what evolutions you have access to, not the hit dice of you eidolon, or how many evolution points it has. A Summoner 1/Fighter 4 might be allowed to choose a 5th level evolution, but their eidolon still only has a +1 BAB.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ That's a reasonable interpretation and for a moment when I read it I thought it might be the "correct' interpretation, but anywhere I look I see people saying thing along the lines of: summoners should multiclass because "all of your Eidolon's abilities, not to mention your Summon Monster ability, key off your class level, not your character level" (example). \$\endgroup\$
    – Foo
    Mar 1, 2017 at 23:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ Maybe they mean "all the stuff in the Table: Eidolon Base Statistics table" including how many evolution points you get, but not constraining which evolutions you can pick. I agree that the phrasing is different enough from "level X class-name" which is standard to deduce it has a different meaning. I'll refer this to my GM. \$\endgroup\$
    – Foo
    Mar 1, 2017 at 23:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ I disagree with the premise of this answer. Eidolon requirements are phrased differently because they do not have a 'Prerequisite' notation, they have a sentence within the evolution rules. I read 'the summoner must be 7th level' as intending 7 summoner levels (as OP read it) \$\endgroup\$
    – Ifusaso
    Mar 2, 2017 at 14:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm in agreement with the rest of the comments- assume abilities key off of and require class level, because things always specify when they're keyed off of character level- see kineticists' burn: "...a kineticist takes 1 point of nonlethal damage per character level." \$\endgroup\$
    – Delioth
    Mar 2, 2017 at 18:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ Oracle revelations with a level requirement only state the level you need, too. Still it seems clear that the intend is to only count class levels. " You must be at least 7th level to select this revelation". \$\endgroup\$
    – Umbranus
    Mar 3, 2017 at 8:34

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