Gestalt Characters and LA

[Kae'Yoss]

How would you handle level adjustment with Gestalt charakters?

I think that giving a drow character a LA +2 which lets him lose 2 levels in both of his classes seems quite harsh. I thought of halving the level adjustments, so a drow loses 2 levels - one in each class, and you'll get GLA (gestalt level adjustment) +1 for drow.

Any other ideas?

 

[Pbartender]

How would you handle level adjustment with Gestalt charakters?

I think that giving a drow character a LA +2 which lets him lose 2 levels in both of his classes seems quite harsh. I thought of halving the level adjustments, so a drow loses 2 levels - one in each class, and you'll get GLA (gestalt level adjustment) +1 for drow.

Any other ideas?

Something else you could do with Gestalt characters is give the play the option of which levels are taken out of which classes. So, with a +2 LA, he's got three options...

1. Lose one level from both classes.
2. Lose two levels from class A, but none from class B.
3. Lose two levels from class B, but none from class A.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Something else you could do with Gestalt characters is give the play the option of which levels are taken out of which classes. So, with a +2 LA, he's got three options...

1. Lose one level from both classes.
2. Lose two levels from class A, but none from class B.
3. Lose two levels from class B, but none from class A.

This creates a problem:

A gestalt character level 8 that puts his LA on class A will look like that:
A6/B8

The LA will be diminished quite a bit, as he'll have 8HD, BAB, Saves, Skills and Feats for 8 levels. While LA usually lets you lose a lot of HP and Skill points, you get all that (but "only" for one of the classes, which could or could not be the worse choice for it).

 

[Kalanyr]

I'd just allow him to pick a class to gestalt with each gestalt level ie Drow/Fighter and then say Drow/Wizard (I'm assuming here that the player isn't very good at optimising characters, yes I know this combination sucks) which ends up as pretty much a Fighter 1/Wizard 1 in a 2nd level Gestalt campaign where a normal character would be (Fighter/Wizard) 2.

 

[Pax]

For the Gestalt-based arena I'v ebeen building, I've treated Level Adjustment normally. That is to say, it subtracts HIT DICE, which means (yes) that the cost is higher in a Gestalt game than it is in any other.

Making 13th level characters, want to play a half-dragon Fighter-Sorceror? Fine, you're a Fighter(10)-Sorceror(10) with the Half Dragon's benefits.

IMO, it's hit dice that matter most for Level Adjustment.

Of course, I treat racial Hit Dice as merely a "must take levels of this continuously starting at 1st level" class. So for a 13th level game, an Ogre (LA +2, 4HD) could be a [Fighter(7)/HD(4)-Rogue(11)]. IOW, his first four levels are Rogue/RacialHD. The next seven are Rogue/Fighter.

 

[craftyrat]

I would allow - insist - that ECL levels are taken first, before any class levels. So a drow would be:

drow - drow
figher - wizard
etc.

This is more powerful, but if you're using gesalt then that train has already left the station .

The same can be used for racial classes:

minotaur - minotaur
minotaur ecl - minotaur ecl
minotaur - minotaur
minotaur - minotaur

This is more manageable (less powerful) then allowing:

minotaur - fighter
minotaur ecl - fighter
etc.

craftyrat

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The Character in question will be Psionic Mindflayer/Psychic Warrior. I've recreated the Mindflayer Advancement with the new "GLA" (gestalt level adjustment) in mind - it's 12 Levels now, including 4 LA levels


@Pax: Has your system seen action yet? Has it proved to be balanced?

 

[Pax]

Nope, no action yet, so no idea if it's balanced. Right now I'm hungup on maps - the NExus will be using LOTS of stuff rom Unearthed Arcana, including Hex Maps.

However, I'm goingto have to buy soem Hex-grid paper (or print some out), and HAND DRAW the maps, then ask a friend to scan them into the computer, before I can do that.

Right now, I'm waiting for folks to actually build characters; I've got several non-hex maps to use "in the meantime".

 

[reiella]

Eeegh.

I think this really depends on the How And Why for the given LAs...

If I had to suggest something, I'd say follow the guidelines for the CR adjustment for changing the LA [as appropiate].

 

[Will]

The problem is that a gestalt level isn't twice as big as a regular level, but it's more.

I dunno. Maybe I'd multiple LAs by 3/4.