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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson_Manticore" data-source="post: 2120725" data-attributes="member: 4750">I’ve played in a 3-player gestalt game for about a year, and it has worked out really well.&nbsp; It gives players more freedom to play a class that they want to play without leaving any gaping holes in the group dynamic.&nbsp; For example, I almost always play a cleric in my group, mostly because no one else will ever play one.&nbsp; In a gestalt game, I can still fill the role of the cleric, but I can also pick another class that I want to try at the same time.I agree that gestalt characters are not really more powerful than standard ones, they just have more options and flexibility.&nbsp; Yes, I understand that more flexibility equals more power in D&amp;D, but the amount of things you can do in a single round is still limited.&nbsp; Yes your sorcerer/wizard may be able to cast 6 fireballs per day instead of 3 or 4, but all that means is that he can remain effective in more battles per day – it doesn’t make him much more effective in any single encounter.As was already mentioned, gestalt allows for more unusual multi-class character concepts while negating the usual sub-optimal character problems.&nbsp; You have to be careful with prestige classes though, especially those that are specifically designed to fill in the gap for normally sub-optimal multi-classing choices (ala Mystic Theurge and many PrCs in Complete Adventurer).&nbsp; Often it is best to disallow these.Gestalt characters can also very easily loose focus if a lot of multiclassing is going on.&nbsp; One idea that we used is to force the players to stick with the same two classes for the first 20 levels.&nbsp; Of course you can do variations on this, like making the PC stick with the same two classes for 10 levels or 5 levels at a time or something, or making them keep one class through all levels while the second class can change.&nbsp; For an interesting twist you could even say that one of the classes must always be the race’s favored class.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson_Manticore, post: 2120725, member: 4750"] I’ve played in a 3-player gestalt game for about a year, and it has worked out really well. It gives players more freedom to play a class that they want to play without leaving any gaping holes in the group dynamic. For example, I almost always play a cleric in my group, mostly because no one else will ever play one. In a gestalt game, I can still fill the role of the cleric, but I can also pick another class that I want to try at the same time. I agree that gestalt characters are not really more powerful than standard ones, they just have more options and flexibility. Yes, I understand that more flexibility equals more power in D&D, but the amount of things you can do in a single round is still limited. Yes your sorcerer/wizard may be able to cast 6 fireballs per day instead of 3 or 4, but all that means is that he can remain effective in more battles per day – it doesn’t make him much more effective in any single encounter. As was already mentioned, gestalt allows for more unusual multi-class character concepts while negating the usual sub-optimal character problems. You have to be careful with prestige classes though, especially those that are specifically designed to fill in the gap for normally sub-optimal multi-classing choices (ala Mystic Theurge and many PrCs in Complete Adventurer). Often it is best to disallow these. Gestalt characters can also very easily loose focus if a lot of multiclassing is going on. One idea that we used is to force the players to stick with the same two classes for the first 20 levels. Of course you can do variations on this, like making the PC stick with the same two classes for 10 levels or 5 levels at a time or something, or making them keep one class through all levels while the second class can change. For an interesting twist you could even say that one of the classes must always be the race’s favored class. [/QUOTE]

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