I already feel sorry for my players.

[The Shaman]

Allow me to field this one.

It's because gestalt is the new black amongst the Mind-Is-Bigger crowd.

Before it was epic, now it's gestalt. Or if you really like, epic gestalt. There're always those who like to slap together whatever conglomeration of parts and say "Look at how impressive my Big Thing is! Be suitably awed by its awesomeness and hugeitude! I'm so rad."

So for these folks, gestalt is just another way to add a couple of inches.

The thing it, this is the internet. Nobody really inherrently cares how big someone's thing is, because without something to back it up they're just numbers on a page. Numbers on a page arn't impressive, and frankly never will be.

*shrug*

Between this and "*ahem* divine focus," Sejs is officially the new Jesus of Cool.

 

[Kelleris]

Allow me to field this one.

It's because gestalt is the new black amongst the Mind-Is-Bigger crowd.

Before it was epic, now it's gestalt. Or if you really like, epic gestalt. There're always those who like to slap together whatever conglomeration of parts and say "Look at how impressive my Big Thing is! Be suitably awed by its awesomeness and hugeitude! I'm so rad."

Hey, that might actually be a great idea! When you hit level 20, you start over again "rewriting" your lower levels as gestalt. With the addition of some choice epic feats, that might be a much more interesting system than the current epic rules. Hmm...

 

[LostSoul]

I think it's cool. If your party is 17-18th level (it should be an EL 21-22 encounter, right?) they should have quite a workout.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Hey, that might actually be a great idea! When you hit level 20, you start over again "rewriting" your lower levels as gestalt. With the addition of some choice epic feats, that might be a much more interesting system than the current epic rules. Hmm...

*blink*

Wow, that's actually pretty nice. Aside from the fact that most low-level abilities are irrelevant by high levels (I'm a 20th level fighter! NOW WITH MAGIC MISSLE! What's that? SR? Nevermind)....a good seed of an idea that can be teased into a system, though.

It's because gestalt is the new black amongst the Mind-Is-Bigger crowd.

Eh, I can't really dislike gestalt. It's fun for some, and, as long as the DM's aware of it, it's no thing.

You could also say that like saying nerfing Charisma is the new black among the "I-ROLE-play" crowd. Yes, it's true, some people have fun seeing big numbers and some people have fun improving around a basement table. Neither are really that impressive.

This is D&D, after all. NOTHING we do is THAT impressive.

 

[Kelleris]

*blink*

Wow, that's actually pretty nice. Aside from the fact that most low-level abilities are irrelevant by high levels (I'm a 20th level fighter! NOW WITH MAGIC MISSLE! What's that? SR? Nevermind)....a good seed of an idea that can be teased into a system, though.

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what to do about that. I mean, at the very least you're going to improve saves and/or base attack bonus, but what's the point of gaining levels if you don't also get kewl powerz? An interesting solution would be to have the ol' XP counter reset as well, so you zoom through the lower-level rewrites until it slows down again around mid-levels. Magic missile not so much, but 7th-level wizardry on top of 20 levels of fighter would at least make the character more interesting. I know I could find something useful to do with that...

Maybe I should start a thread in House Rules? (Apologies to the OP for the sidetrack, by the way.)

 

[Abstraction]

...This is D&D, after all. NOTHING we do is THAT impressive.

But, but... I killed Orcus in 1 round and Tiamat is my familiar!

 

[Shemeska]

Allow me to field this one.

It's because gestalt is the new black amongst the Mind-Is-Bigger crowd.

Before it was epic, now it's gestalt. Or if you really like, epic gestalt. There're always those who like to slap together whatever conglomeration of parts and say "Look at how impressive my Big Thing is! Be suitably awed by its awesomeness and hugeitude! I'm so rad."

So for these folks, gestalt is just another way to add a couple of inches.

The thing it, this is the internet. Nobody really inherrently cares how big someone's thing is, because without something to back it up they're just numbers on a page. Numbers on a page arn't impressive, and frankly never will be.

*shrug*

I second that 'Jesus of Cool' nomination

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Sejs
It's because gestalt is the new black amongst the Mind-Is-Bigger crowd.

Before it was epic, now it's gestalt. Or if you really like, epic gestalt. There're always those who like to slap together whatever conglomeration of parts and say "Look at how impressive my Big Thing is! Be suitably awed by its awesomeness and hugeitude! I'm so rad."

So for these folks, gestalt is just another way to add a couple of inches.

So you're trying to say everyone does it because it's all about power? So I'm in the minority if I like it because I think it's just plain neat and fun [and NOT because it gives me power ] ? Oy. I guess we live in a world where people believe power is everything. Not to say that I can never get trapped in the power mindset, but some of my most fun characters have been my weakest ones, and those weren't gestalt either.


Wow, and I never realized my question would so completely derail the thread into a completely different subject than the OP except for the mere mention of gestalt...

 

[Kelleris]

Wow, and I never realized my question would so completely derail the thread into a completely different subject than the OP except for the mere mention of gestalt...

At least you CAN derail a thread. I have a brainstorm about epic-level use of gestalt and I can't muster more than a single partially OT post. I bow before your chaos-making skills, Dog_Moon.

Besides, the first couple of posts were a little snarky to the OP, so this is probably an improvement, all things considered.

(FWIW, I also like gestalt, at least conceptually. Would have been much easier to use if they'd figured out an LA for being gestalt, though, to make DM planning easier.)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(just learned what Gelstalt is, and almost flipped his lid. Buy one, get two classes!)