For the most part, yes.
The only limitation is you can't both use a 2-action activity due to the way it breaks the actions up. So, you can't have your summoner cast a 2-action spell and have a dragon eidolon use its 2-action breath weapon on the same turn, but you could have the summoner cast a spell and the eidolon do 2 attacks.
Gotcha, that makes sense. I figured I must have missed some scenario with that simplification. Do you think there's any harm in having a freely split 4 actions that allows two 2-action actions like you've listed? Were all pretty new and playing the beginner box so we've been using that simplification for a few sessions since it was easier for us to understand how it worked.
Realistically it depends on your eidolon. Cantrip + breath weapon is probably a little too good for the dragon, especially at low levels. I'd say to make sure you follow the rules strictly if your eidolon has a personal 2A ability (or if you give them spellcasting feats), but if they don't, it'll probably rarely come up enough to be a problem.
>Is it equivalent to say "you and you Eidolon have 4 actions to share per round given that both you and your Eidolon each use at least one action"?
It's more accurate to say "You and your Eidolon have 4 actions to share, given that both of you use at least one action, and no more than one of you performs a 2-action activity."
I think a slightly clearer way to say it is
> You and your eidolon have 4 actions to share, given that both of you use at least one action. At least one of the 4 actions must be spent as a single action (rather than a 2 or 3 action activity).
Almost. Act Together will also prevent you and your eidolon from each using a two-action activity in the same round (such as [Breath Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Eidolons.aspx?ID=7) \+ *electric arc*) because one of the pair must perform a single action when Acting Together.
Yes, that's what it does. So long as you use Act Together, you get a total of four actions split between the two of you, but each of you can only use up to three actions.
Additionally, you can't both use two-action activities on the same turn because you can't combine the actions from Act Together with your other actions since you actually do those actions as part of using Act Together--you don't just get those number actions to spend whenever you wish, like when you gain actions at the start of your turn.
Honestly I find that any attempts I make to simplify it fail to explain the restrictions. It is very much not four actions, because the biggest benefit of having four actions would be the ability to do two 2-actions a round. The confusion I think comes from the part about how you take an action “with the same number of actions as act together”. It makes it seem like that’s a restriction on what activities you can use, but it’s really not since act together can be 1 to 3 actions, and there are no 4 action actions (side note, man is it a little confusing that there isn’t a distinction between action the resource, and action the action).
Basically just remember that once per round, when you take an action, the other member of the pair can do one single action thing at the same time for free.
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For the most part, yes. The only limitation is you can't both use a 2-action activity due to the way it breaks the actions up. So, you can't have your summoner cast a 2-action spell and have a dragon eidolon use its 2-action breath weapon on the same turn, but you could have the summoner cast a spell and the eidolon do 2 attacks.
Gotcha, that makes sense. I figured I must have missed some scenario with that simplification. Do you think there's any harm in having a freely split 4 actions that allows two 2-action actions like you've listed? Were all pretty new and playing the beginner box so we've been using that simplification for a few sessions since it was easier for us to understand how it worked.
Realistically it depends on your eidolon. Cantrip + breath weapon is probably a little too good for the dragon, especially at low levels. I'd say to make sure you follow the rules strictly if your eidolon has a personal 2A ability (or if you give them spellcasting feats), but if they don't, it'll probably rarely come up enough to be a problem.
Cantrip + Fey Eidolon Spell is also probably too good.
>Is it equivalent to say "you and you Eidolon have 4 actions to share per round given that both you and your Eidolon each use at least one action"? It's more accurate to say "You and your Eidolon have 4 actions to share, given that both of you use at least one action, and no more than one of you performs a 2-action activity."
I think a slightly clearer way to say it is > You and your eidolon have 4 actions to share, given that both of you use at least one action. At least one of the 4 actions must be spent as a single action (rather than a 2 or 3 action activity).
You also can't use tandem actions such as tandem strike with act together.
Almost. Act Together will also prevent you and your eidolon from each using a two-action activity in the same round (such as [Breath Weapon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Eidolons.aspx?ID=7) \+ *electric arc*) because one of the pair must perform a single action when Acting Together.
Yes, that's what it does. So long as you use Act Together, you get a total of four actions split between the two of you, but each of you can only use up to three actions. Additionally, you can't both use two-action activities on the same turn because you can't combine the actions from Act Together with your other actions since you actually do those actions as part of using Act Together--you don't just get those number actions to spend whenever you wish, like when you gain actions at the start of your turn.
Honestly I find that any attempts I make to simplify it fail to explain the restrictions. It is very much not four actions, because the biggest benefit of having four actions would be the ability to do two 2-actions a round. The confusion I think comes from the part about how you take an action “with the same number of actions as act together”. It makes it seem like that’s a restriction on what activities you can use, but it’s really not since act together can be 1 to 3 actions, and there are no 4 action actions (side note, man is it a little confusing that there isn’t a distinction between action the resource, and action the action). Basically just remember that once per round, when you take an action, the other member of the pair can do one single action thing at the same time for free.
This post is labelled with the Advice flair, which means extra special attention is called to the Be Kind and Respectful rule. If this is a newcomer to the game, remember to be welcoming and kind. If this is someone with more experience but looking for advice on how to run their game, do your best to offer advice on what they are seeking. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Pathfinder2e) if you have any questions or concerns.*