If you are wondering who the heck are they, they are my Summoner and Eidolon in the Ennie Award Winning Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition that is run by +Cam Mcloughlin. I have done quite a few posts on them in the past so feel free to poke about the archives for them. We made it to level 7 last night after essentially going through the entirety of Foxglove Manor and realising that we probably can’t get rid of all the haunts. But such is life. So why am I talking about levelling up and not the game itself? Well, it is because when I levelled them up last night after the game I came across some discoveries that I previously did not know about a Summoner and their Eidolon. Apologies for the truly poor artwork in this post but I did some sketching this morning and you will see why I am a writer and not an illustrator.
Anyhow, I was excited to get them levelled up last night (I had no idea we were going to level last night but we did so I got to go to the grand old 7th level with Coltyn last night. I went through the motions, Coltyn got 3 hit points (bringing him to an awe inspiring 33) and Grellyk (Grell) got maximum (10 giving him a max of 62) and I turned to load up some new spells, I got an extra 1st level spell and invested in Shield so when I send Grellyk in to combat he will get a +4 shield bonus to his AC (meaning it will be 27!) and I also cracked into the 3rd level spells which I was impressed with. I got two of them and it was a hard choice but I decided on Restore Eidolon and Evolution Surge. Of these choices I was a little annoyed at Evolution Surge which allows me to grant Grell four evolution points on a temporary basis for one evolution but all four point evolutions need the summoner to be at least 8th level so I am wasting an evolution point when I cast it at least until next level.
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| Sorry about my crap artwork! Coltyn the halfling summoner… |
I then went to Feats. I had been under the impression that I had selected all the summoner feats that I could to this level. But last night I found out I was wrong. Terribly wrong. In fact I had missed the most important feat that I could have been taking on two previous feat choice occasions. At fifth level I took Craft Wands as I decided that I would turn into a crafter of items for the party. Last night I thought was a done deal to take Craft Wondorous Items but I decided to wander through the other offerings before making a final decision. As I was scrolling through my available feats (I use Hero Lab software) I considered Combat Casting but discarded it as I am rarely in combat. I then saw Defending Eidolon but ignored it as one of the first things I do in combat is cast Unfetter so Grellyk is not held back by me. I then found Expanded Arcana and that appealed to me a lot. I had decided probably that I would take this over Craft Wondrous Item as I am always moaning about being a useless spellcaster. In fact I almost packed the search in then.
About a half page later my mouth dropped open in shock. There in the Feat list was Extra Evolution. I had searched through the books at length hoping against hope there was a way to increase the number of evolution points for your Eidolon and found nothing. Apparently that is because I am useless at book searching for in Ultimate Magic this feat was introduced. It allows an extra evolution point to the evolution pool. Does not sound like much but you can take the Feat once at 1st, then at 5th, then at 10th, 15th and 20th! That is a grand total of 5 extra points!!! If you are a summoner, do not miss this opportunity! I know now what my Feat will be at the next two feat levels! 9th and 11th will both be taking this feat and Grell will grow with this knowledge!
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| And Grell, the multicoloured useless freak. Well, that is what Coltyn calls him anyway! |
Once this was done, skills sorted and a hero point added I turned to Grellyk. I had to fix up his evolutions and reconfigure him in a manner that was what I wanted. Coming in to this level I had thought I would give him an overhaul, remove his wings and give him magical flight as wings take up space and are no good indoors most of the time while magic flight is. But I also had not planned on having an extra evolution point to play with so things changed as soon as I looked at the sheet. The first thing that struck me in the face was the fact that I had been spending a round casting Lesser evolution surge on Grell in combat to give him energy attacks (adds a d6 damage to natural attacks of an energy type) which costs two evolution points! He has the maximum allowable attacks (4) per round in the form of a bite, two claws and a slam attack (he has four arms and a set of wings!) so that evolution allows a possible 4d6 extra in damage a round. Really, when I looked at it it was a no brainer. Add it permanently, free myself of one round of casting (or in more likelihood now cast evolution surge and add web attacks)! So I did just that and now Grell is exceptionally nasty!
So, there you have it. Totally loving the summoner (well the summoner is OK but his Eidolon is awesome) in this adventure path. It is full of story and the class is full of fun. I think I am pulling off the light and shade of the two characters quite well. Grellyk is the simple but deadly cute Eidolon while Coltyn is a little darker and all about himself. The two have very distinct personalities and modus operandi that make them very unique in a game. So much so that some of the other players are very fond of one and a bit uncertain of the other! Anyhow, I just thought I would share my levelling up discoveries and wish you all a good day. Until next time, keep rolling!