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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1576239" data-attributes="member: 5171">To be honest, I think your ECL system is a bit cumbersome.  The gestalt system seems to break down pretty quickly unless everyone in the group is using it, and using it well.  If one guy is doing Fighter|Wizard, that's wonderful, but if someone else is doing Paladin|Fighter, he's not getting a ton out of it -- a few extra bonus feats, sure, but not nearly as much as the Wizard fellow.I'd recommend ditching the ECL and just getting people to have more complementary gestalting ideas.  I mean, if the paladin|xxxx was just going to be a paladin, and doesn't want to cast spells, you can tell him to think of it as a more flexible version of the same character:paladin|rogue: He's still a paladin.  He just has a lot more ranks in Spot and Listen and Diplomacy, and in light armor he might be able to dive out of the way of a fireball.  He doesn't have to use his sneak attacks except when flanking monsters (ie, don't use them in duels, honorable combat, etc).paladin|monk: He's a paladin, and his faith and belief have given him enough martial ability to be a formidable threat even without a weapon in his hand.  He probably doesn't use his monk skills often, since he'll usually have armor on, but if he needs to, he can hold his own with unarmed martial training.paladin|ranger: Flavor-text the ranger abilities as advanced training and true dedication against the forces of evil (ie, favored enemies).Heck, a paladin|fighter is actually not that bad, if built correctly -- he has a ton of fighter feats.  Only weakness'd be if he wasn't built to take advantage of his extreme combat flexibility -- he should have one area of greatness (say, sword and board) and a lot of areas of goodness (archery, two-weaponing, mobile combat, etc).The one thing that could be unbalancing in your campaign is the relatively high point-buy levels.  Gestalt characters are usually held in check by point-buy restrictions -- a paladin|monk is powerful, sure, but not too powerful, since he can't afford a dump-stat (Strength to hit/damage, Dex to dodge, Wis to dodge and for paladin spells, Int for skills, Con for damage absorption, Charisma for saves).  By the same token, a Ranger|Wizard, often a great Gestalt character because of his archery/spellcasting mix, has to put a lot more into Int than an ordinary ranger might.  By giving people 36 points to work with, you're giving them the chance to overcome that drawback -- which means that the paladin|fighter, who might have worked fine under 25 point-buy, will be a little better (a paladin|fighter is pretty much a fighter with a decent Wis and Cha, so giving more points just lets you up everythign a bit), but the monk/sorcerer will be a ton better, since the extra points let him be a good monk and a good sorcerer).The important thing, of course, is that your players are enjoying themselves.  If you've got that, everything else is good.</blockquote>

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