Gestalt campaign
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the Jester
Legend
At some point I'm going to run a high-magic, gestalt, anything-goes, feat-per-level experimental game. One thing that I thought would be interesting would be to have the party have one class in common- for instance, everyone is a gestalt wizard that goes to the same magical college. That allows for easy explanation of how the pcs know each other....
Herobizkit
Adventurer
One important factor to keep in mind is that Gestalt allows characters to be more flexible and a touch more independent than a regular four-man party might be. Regardless of their individual abilities, however, they are still limited to one major action per round.
Also, keep a close eye on what kind of character each player is trying to run. Three non-combat/RP-focused Gestalt characters will still crumple under regular encounters as they do not have the manpower to absorb the usual numbers of enemies. On the other hand. three well-rounded Gestalts are still approximately as strong as a regular four-man party and can usually handle regular encounters "as written" without too much tweaking.
Keep the game about who the players are and try not to focus too much on what they can do. For the first few adventures, let them go hog-wild and stretch their new Gestalt legs with a few "gimme" combats. Once they realize their abilities and their limitations, you can get back to character/plot development (if you're homebrewing) or on to the next dungeon/area (if you're running modules).
For any more specific advice, feel free to ask. I love Gestalt and couldn't dream of playing D&D without these rules.
(Oh, and watch out for obvious abuses of the privilege -- I'm looking at Paladin/Monk on that one, although I do like the combo *lol*.)
Also, keep a close eye on what kind of character each player is trying to run. Three non-combat/RP-focused Gestalt characters will still crumple under regular encounters as they do not have the manpower to absorb the usual numbers of enemies. On the other hand. three well-rounded Gestalts are still approximately as strong as a regular four-man party and can usually handle regular encounters "as written" without too much tweaking.
Keep the game about who the players are and try not to focus too much on what they can do. For the first few adventures, let them go hog-wild and stretch their new Gestalt legs with a few "gimme" combats. Once they realize their abilities and their limitations, you can get back to character/plot development (if you're homebrewing) or on to the next dungeon/area (if you're running modules).
For any more specific advice, feel free to ask. I love Gestalt and couldn't dream of playing D&D without these rules.
(Oh, and watch out for obvious abuses of the privilege -- I'm looking at Paladin/Monk on that one, although I do like the combo *lol*.)
blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
We modified the gestalt rules a bit for the game I'm playing in. You pick both sides of your gestalt progression at first level, and they're stickied there for the rest of the campaign. Prestige classes are available, but when you take a level in them they are as regular non-gestalt levels. (ie you could be a Ftr||Rog 6/Invisible Blade 1 at 7th level.)
Thanee
First Post
blargney the second said:
That's exactly what I did as well.
It works really well for what I used it for (making characters more versatile, but not that much more powerful).
I would generally recommend to drastically restrict multiclassing when using Gestalt, unless you want extremely powerful characters. And I would highly recommend to not allow LA to only take up one side of the Gestalt.
Bye
Thanee
Wik
First Post
The gestalt rules make me sad.
When they came out, I wasn't really in a regular D&D game. When I did start running games for smaller groups, none of us even THOUGHT of using the rules. Then I got a regular, 4 person group together... and THEN I saw just how cool those rules are. But I'm terrified of running a gestalt game with 4 players. I mean, yikes.
I'm hoping one of my players gets hit by a bus...
When they came out, I wasn't really in a regular D&D game. When I did start running games for smaller groups, none of us even THOUGHT of using the rules. Then I got a regular, 4 person group together... and THEN I saw just how cool those rules are. But I'm terrified of running a gestalt game with 4 players. I mean, yikes.
I'm hoping one of my players gets hit by a bus...
EyeontheMountain
First Post
I have been running gestalt with my two freidns in our face-to-face for years, and it has really saved our game. BeforeI had to play my own character (I usually DM) and also NPC a fourth character jsut to have the basic of a group.
Now with a total of six 'classes' spread out amongst three characters, we can over the four bases, and have a lot of variety to boot.
We just started a new campaign this week based on fighters who had trained and grown up together, going through Shattered Gates of S--something. In the party we now have
Swashbuckler/scout--He wanted to try out Spring Attack and such, so he wentthe light route
Ranger/Cloistered cleric--Skill monkey, and wanted to play a cleric.
Dwarven Defender/Transmuter--Going for the Runecaster so I can cast spells in heavy armor. This guy is a real tank (He's my guy)
We use LA on one side, because we play loose and noone has ever taken a real high LA.
As for prestige clases, they only take up one sideo fthe build, but you cannot take two prestige classes at the same time. It works pretty well, and of course all multiclass prestige classes such as Arcane Trickster, Ultimate Magus and such are banned.
Also we use frational saves, without the +2 you get every time you multiclass. It works much better for us, as the saves got insane the first itme we played gestault. With higher abilities and class features, our saves are usually great anyway.
It is a great system for a small group. Even for a larger group I think it is fun, but I have to balance the creatures. I generally give enemies a straight +2 luck bonus on everything, saves, hit rolls dmage rolls and such, plus an extra 50% hit points or so to help balance the party's fighting abilities. Then I don't have to fiddle with the CR much.
Now with a total of six 'classes' spread out amongst three characters, we can over the four bases, and have a lot of variety to boot.
We just started a new campaign this week based on fighters who had trained and grown up together, going through Shattered Gates of S--something. In the party we now have
Swashbuckler/scout--He wanted to try out Spring Attack and such, so he wentthe light route
Ranger/Cloistered cleric--Skill monkey, and wanted to play a cleric.
Dwarven Defender/Transmuter--Going for the Runecaster so I can cast spells in heavy armor. This guy is a real tank (He's my guy)
We use LA on one side, because we play loose and noone has ever taken a real high LA.
As for prestige clases, they only take up one sideo fthe build, but you cannot take two prestige classes at the same time. It works pretty well, and of course all multiclass prestige classes such as Arcane Trickster, Ultimate Magus and such are banned.
Also we use frational saves, without the +2 you get every time you multiclass. It works much better for us, as the saves got insane the first itme we played gestault. With higher abilities and class features, our saves are usually great anyway.
It is a great system for a small group. Even for a larger group I think it is fun, but I have to balance the creatures. I generally give enemies a straight +2 luck bonus on everything, saves, hit rolls dmage rolls and such, plus an extra 50% hit points or so to help balance the party's fighting abilities. Then I don't have to fiddle with the CR much.
Well... let me tell you a bit about results of todays session.
But first, about restrictions. I am not a big fan of multiclassing or mixing prestige classes to draw some ridiculously strong combinations, so you can imagine how sceptic i was about gestalt characters. I completely banned multiclassing (because i don't even know how to calculate xp penalty and when does it apply on a gestalt character) and restricted prestige classes to one per character. Of course, every prestige class has to be revised by me in advance and given a green light, because some are obviously incompatible with gestalt characters. I gave players 4th level or equivalent as starting point, while strongly discouraging LA (max +2) and pointing out that LA is not a good choice in gestalt campaign (some just dont listen). They also got 5000gp starting gold and 5d6 for ability scores.
So, I took a module "Eye of the sun" and used it for few ideas, but after some time my imagination just picked up the pace and I set up a somewhat different twist to the story. Party consists of Human/Cleric-Warmage, Wood Elf/Cleric-Fighter and Air Genasi/Figher-Rogue. Strong rain took PCs off guard, completely unprepared - and even though they were in the jungle at that point, and somewhat shielded from the rain, they insisted on finding a shelter. I ask for Survival check and Air Genasi/Figher-Rogue gets 25. Great, i say, after some time you find a small cave, entrance about 10 feet wide (mind you, "jungle" they were in is located somewhat south of Waterdeep and its called Trollbark Forest
). Time for first encounter... after wandering inside the cave, PCs are soon confronted (and chased back outside) by a... troll! Fight lasted no more than a minute, human was down and bleeding but they downed and burned the troll. Healing time! Wands of CLW in action, everyone is up and running in no time. Wandering deeper into the cave, another troll comes along... killing Air Genasi. 
Do you think CR 5 is too much for such party?
But first, about restrictions. I am not a big fan of multiclassing or mixing prestige classes to draw some ridiculously strong combinations, so you can imagine how sceptic i was about gestalt characters. I completely banned multiclassing (because i don't even know how to calculate xp penalty and when does it apply on a gestalt character) and restricted prestige classes to one per character. Of course, every prestige class has to be revised by me in advance and given a green light, because some are obviously incompatible with gestalt characters. I gave players 4th level or equivalent as starting point, while strongly discouraging LA (max +2) and pointing out that LA is not a good choice in gestalt campaign (some just dont listen). They also got 5000gp starting gold and 5d6 for ability scores.
So, I took a module "Eye of the sun" and used it for few ideas, but after some time my imagination just picked up the pace and I set up a somewhat different twist to the story. Party consists of Human/Cleric-Warmage, Wood Elf/Cleric-Fighter and Air Genasi/Figher-Rogue. Strong rain took PCs off guard, completely unprepared - and even though they were in the jungle at that point, and somewhat shielded from the rain, they insisted on finding a shelter. I ask for Survival check and Air Genasi/Figher-Rogue gets 25. Great, i say, after some time you find a small cave, entrance about 10 feet wide (mind you, "jungle" they were in is located somewhat south of Waterdeep and its called Trollbark Forest
). Time for first encounter... after wandering inside the cave, PCs are soon confronted (and chased back outside) by a... troll! Fight lasted no more than a minute, human was down and bleeding but they downed and burned the troll. Healing time! Wands of CLW in action, everyone is up and running in no time. Wandering deeper into the cave, another troll comes along... killing Air Genasi. Do you think CR 5 is too much for such party?
Thanee
First Post
Trolls are obscenely powerful at these levels, and as has been said... Gestalt characters are not that much more powerful than normal characters. 
Give them a +1 for being Gestalt (at a fairly low level, at higher levels this modifier increases a bit), so you have three 5th-level characters. A troll is supposed to be a suitable challenge (and it's more than that!) for four 5th-level characters.
Bye
Thanee
Give them a +1 for being Gestalt (at a fairly low level, at higher levels this modifier increases a bit), so you have three 5th-level characters. A troll is supposed to be a suitable challenge (and it's more than that!) for four 5th-level characters.
Bye
Thanee
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