Opinions on Gesalt Characters?

[Slaved]

If you're DMing a group of gestalts, don't bother throwing a single monster at the party - the PCs'll shred it lickety split. Always have at least a secondary threat in the encounter, and ideally more!

This advice is not unique to gestalt, it still holds true even for nongestalt characters!

 

[wolfpunk]

At what level?

Sorry, at 12th level. Pretty much a one trick pony, the most powerful version being. Using claws of the beast (maxed out pp), improved natural attack, greater psionic fist, greater powerful charge, expansion twice, psicrystal containment, skirmish damage and psionic lion's charge. Damage was 25d6 for each claw on a non-critical.

For hard to hit creatures switch out greater psionic fist for unavoidable strike, less damage but more likely to hit.

 

[Voadam]

Yeah, that's one of the other reasons I tend to use "stuff under discussion + core" - unfamiliarity.

Oh, and something I forgot to put on my earlier list:

6) Avoid overlapping abilities.
It's a bad idea to have a Fighter/Barbarian. You don't gain much vs. either. Both have full BAB, both have a good Fort save with poor Ref and Will saves, both have high HD. You end up with a literate Barbarian with bonus feats (and heavy armor / Tower Shield proficiency, but that doesn't exactly help). You're liable to be better off with a Barbarian/cleric or Barbarian/druid - the spells are liable to fill in for the feats very well (Divine Favor, for instance, keeps pace very well with the fighter feats that increase your to-hit/damage; Flame Strike can sub for Whirlwind Attack - at range, even - and so on), add some extra flexibility (healing, utility spells), and save on equipment (Magic Vestments and Greater Magic Weapon last all day fairly readily) - and you get a good Will save out of it, too.

I disagree. A barbarian with the maxed out feat chains of a fighter is a rocking warrior. He will likely have more standard D&D weaknesses than most gestalts but fighter getalts well with every class IMO.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I *heart* gestalt!

- For small parties.

- For theme parties.

- For durable parties.

- For flexible, high-skilled parties.

Cheers, -- N

What about tea parties? Garden parties? Birthday parties?


But seriously, the biggest difference I see between Gestalt and ordinary D&D is the durability of the players. Regular monsters at the party's CR will get shredded very quickly.

/repeating myself for emphasis, I guess. :\

 

[Nifft]

What about tea parties? Garden parties? Birthday parties?

Those go better with cake!

But seriously, the biggest difference I see between Gestalt and ordinary D&D is the durability of the players.

(Insert joke about confusion between survival of players vs. characters.)

Anyway... yes. Durability. IMHO, it's a good thing.

Cheers, -- N

 

[TarionzCousin]

(Insert joke about confusion between survival of players vs. characters.)

Doesn't "TPK" mean "Total Player Kill"?

/currently looking for new players....

 

[Jack Simth]

I disagree. A barbarian with the maxed out feat chains of a fighter is a rocking warrior. He will likely have more standard D&D weaknesses than most gestalts but fighter getalts well with every class IMO.

Stop and stat out a Barbarian/cleric (using buff spells, Quickened, extended or whatever as appropriet to the duration) vs. a Barbarian/fighter sometime, at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th, Core other than Gestalt, and see what you can come up with. You might just be surprised.

 

[Angel of Adventure]

Thanks to everyone who's replied thus far. I'm directing my PCs to this thread for tips, as we are all new to Gestalt and there are some great tips and debates here.

Special thanks to Jack Smith . . . I passed your 1st thread onto the PCs.

Extra thanks to Thanee . . . I would have had to end the game abruptly if we started and I was spelling it incorrectly. In general, I have a 'can't spell it, can't play it' rule.

 

[Fieari]

I had a group of sub-powergamers... by which I mean, that they wanted to be powergamers, but sucked at it. I mean REALLY sucked at it, and were constantly dying. They couldn't play to the strengths they given themselves, and were constantly running afoul of their own weaknesses, and died way too often against easy and moderate challenges.

So we tried gestalt, and it worked wonderfully. They could function as a normal party for the first time.

Your situation, of course, may very well vary.

 

[Thanee]

Extra thanks to Thanee . . . I would have had to end the game abruptly if we started and I was spelling it incorrectly. In general, I have a 'can't spell it, can't play it' rule.

Heh. Just thought you might want to know that you were spelling it wrong all the time (because it didn't seem to be just a typo).

Bye
Thanee