D&D 4E 4e Gestalt- am I missing anything?

[RSKennan]

I'm going to run a solo game for someone, and I wanted to let him play the game as closely to the way it is designed to play out as possible, even though he doesn't have a party. I don't want to run 3 or 4 NPCs so he can have a party (one is fine), and I don't want him playing them either. I'd like to let him focus on playing one character well.

So I'm thinking of a 4e Gestalt, as follows.

Two classes with:
-All armor proficiencies
-The best HP, healing surges and defense bonuses from either.
-All class abilities, so two dailies at first level, etc.
-All trained skills
-All class features.

This is only for a short campaign, so I'm not worried about long term ramifications.

Which roles and classes would be good combos under this system? Keep in mind that I'm almost certainly going to give him an NPC Gestalt ally.

My first thought is that a controller/striker would be cool with a defender/leader backup. What other combinations would work?

 

[renau1g]

I think a defender /controller would be best.

Fighter/Wizard - Thunderwave/Mark = Win....

Striker/Striker combo would be pretty devastating I'm thinking Rogue/Ranger - gain CA and twin strike .... massive damage potential in my mind.

 

[garyh]

I'm thinking fighter/ranger would be good - twin strike to mark to enemies, and the toughness of a defender with the damage of a striker. The other character I'd make a tactical warlord / wizard. That's your healing and battlefield control in one package, and the wizard squishiness is hidden some by the armor and HP/surges of the warlord.

 

[Burne]

I'm going to run a solo game for someone, and I wanted to let him play the game as closely to the way it is designed to play out as possible, even though he doesn't have a party. I don't want to run 3 or 4 NPCs so he can have a party (one is fine), and I don't want him playing them either. I'd like to let him focus on playing one character well.

So I'm thinking of a 4e Gestalt, as follows.

Two classes with:
-All armor proficiencies
-The best HP, healing surges and defense bonuses from either.
-All class abilities, so two dailies at first level, etc.
-All trained skills
-All class features.

This is only for a short campaign, so I'm not worried about long term ramifications.

Which roles and classes would be good combos under this system? Keep in mind that I'm almost certainly going to give him an NPC Gestalt ally.

My first thought is that a controller/striker would be cool with a defender/leader backup. What other combinations would work?

Hello there,

Depending on what sort of challenges you are intending to use in the game, the Gestalt proposed above isn't that much more powerful than a single character. There's only a 5 hitpoint gap between wizards and paladins at 1st level.

Basically, I'd try to make a character that is roughly equivalent to two characters so you can build encounters with 1 elite monsters, or 1 regular/4 minions.

My thoughts,
- Add the hitpoint totals together for the two classes (adding some resist all would do the same thing, but would have strange effects)
- I'd raise the starting point buy to say 32 points.
- Second Wind is a minor action, free for dwarves
- A action point to spend every combat
- +1 to hit, +5 versus saves

Raising tohit/defense/damage effectively counts towards the virtual character since it means less actions to drop an opponent. Making common actions 'cheaper' is the same idea. It's a tough call where that line should be.

You'll also have to tweek some of the other things depending on classes chosen. Example, most of the Warlord powers don't effect the user.
I'd change Marked to -1 to hit instead of -2 to hit targets other than the user, and I'd allow any obvious combination of the class powers despite any book text.

I'd also strongly recommend building your encounters with either something to protect, or a target to reach so there's a reason to move around. With only one player, it will be easy to just have all the monsters pile around the character.

Whatever you do, I'd do a quick test encounter myself with the gestalt character versus a simple encounter and two separate characters against the same encounter.

Hope this helps,
Burne
"Thinking about 4e Gestalt and Multiclassing since 2007"