Source
r/Pathfinder_RPG•
AliceHeartII

Eidolon being slain and Summon Eidolon question.

So I'm curious what happens when an Unchained Summoner's Eidolon is slain and the Unchained Summoner then casts Summon Eidolon, as RAW gets a little hazy here. From my perspective I have three options.

  • 1 - I can be extremely generous and say casting Summon Eidolon brings back the Eidolon at half HP if it was slain in combat and jutted back to its home plane. I'm honestly not sure where this possibility comes from save from some suggestions I read while sifting through forums. Yes I'm aware that if an Eidolon is slain after 24 hours it can be resummoned and it comes back at half hit points, but this process explicitly takes 24 hours.
  • 2 - Allow Summon Eidolon to work, but it summons the Eidolon in whatever state it was left. If the Eidolon is "slain", or at negative hit points equal to at least her CON score, it comes back just like that. However, Eidolons don't really die, so even at -CON hit points, you could heal it up and pick it back up. Then it could be resummoned as normal using the 1 minute ritual since it's no longer slain.
  • 3 - I can be a total bitch and say that Summon Eidolon fails entirely because of RAW wording. Specifically: "If the eidolon is sent back to its home plane due to death, it cannot be summoned again until the following day.", and the clause from Summon Eidolon states that: "This spell allows you to summon your eidolon even if it has been returned to its home plane due to damage." Not quite the same thing, as it'd also fail if the Eidolon dies from a plethora of effects that aren't straight up damage.

Of course, I don't like #3, and I can't find evidence to support #1, so right now I'm leaning towards #2. So the question is: What actually happens? Is my RAI of RAW correct? Would #2 be the best choice? And of course, the most important part of the question, whether I'm right or wrong, why?

Posted Sep 21, 2015, 4:26 PM UTC

39
BlackHumor•

I'm pretty sure it's 1 by RAW. The Eidolon "dying" is actually "being returned to the home plane due to damage", and Summon Eidolon's description specifically says it can summon the Eidolon anyway.

As for why half health, it's a property of the Eidolon that if it comes back after "dying" it comes back at half health. Your opinion 2 would have it poof again immediately.

It doesn't actually have health when it's returned to its home plane due to damage, only a timer. The spell lets you ignore that timer.

11
iammercy•

Exactly correct.

3
pyrogamer168•

Hate to say it OP but you should read the entry better, Summon Eidolon covers slain eidolons. u/BlackHumor nailed it on the head

2
Halitrad•

Summon Eidolon states that you can summon your eidolon even if it's been returned due to damage. An eidolon that returns to its home plane due to going unconscious or dying doesn't count as it was returned through death, which is why the eidolon's entry says it can't be resummoned for 24 hours even though Summon Eidolon says it can be resummoned if it's been returned due to damage.

That's how it looks to me, anyway. I'm not quite sure myself - I can't think of any situation where damage would force a summoned eidolon to return to its home plane, but the distinction of damage-versus-death is probably important here.

3
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
iammercy•

Dying or unconscious does not send the Eidolon back to it's own plane due to damage.

1
gameronice•

As someone who played a lot of Summoner, you can spam Summon Eidolon as often as you can, it sais so in the spell itself, although only 1 eidolon at a time, obviously, and it even benefits from Augment Summoning. Neat right? Unfair right? No really, as there are a few limitations everyone forgets, when summoned via summon eidolon - the eidolon is a summoned creature and can be affected by all the nasty summons-trumping spells, even dispel magic, protection from <insert alignment> and hijacking control of summons.

3
iammercy•

1 is the correct answer. The spell clearly overrides the general case when it says "This spell allows you to summon your eidolon even if it has been returned to its home plane due to damage.". Should they have clarified that being sent home due to damage is death? Sure.. but since that is what being sent home due to damage means, it's not absolutely necessary.

3
holyplankton•

3 is the correct answer here. The wording is right there: "If the eidolon is sent back to its home plane due to death, it cannot be summoner again until the following day." It doesn't say "unless the summoner casts Summon Eidolon" It says "cannot be summoned.

As the GM you obviously have the option to alter that as you will, but Summoners get the Summon Monster abilities for a reason.

-6
BlackHumor•

But the description of Summon Eidolon specifically says that it's an exception to that rule.

6