UA: GESTALT Characters..anybody try this yet?

[scourger]

where is the Gestalt option?

Is the gestalt characters option in Unearthed Arcana from WOTC? I don't own that book (or the confusingly similarly titled Arcana Unearthed by Monte Cook), but I am intrigued by this thread. I've got a small alternate group of two regular players. I would like to kick off a D&D campaign for them but have been stalled by the idea that they won't have the requisite four class combination: fighter, cleric, rogue & wizard. How does the gestalt option work?

 

[Camarath]

Is the gestalt characters option in Unearthed Arcana from WOTC? I don't own that book (or the confusingly similarly titled Arcana Unearthed by Monte Cook), but I am intrigued by this thread. I've got a small alternate group of two regular players. I would like to kick off a D&D campaign for them but have been stalled by the idea that they won't have the requisite four class combination: fighter, cleric, rogue & wizard. How does the gestalt option work?

Yes it is from WotC. Basicly you take the best of both classes. You gain all of the class features and class skills of both classes and the better of the two classes' BAB, Fort Save, Ref Save, Will Save, HD, and Skill Points.

 

[Emirikol]

Yes it is from WotC. Basicly you take the best of both classes. You gain all of the class features and class skills of both classes and the better of the two classes' BAB, Fort Save, Ref Save, Will Save, HD, and Skill Points.

The reason I kinda like it is that I don't like running high level games and I also despise high PC hit points. Since players are happier with more options, this is just the way to give it to them. Combine this with a couple other class books: Mini-handbook, Psionics, Oriental, Nyambe and a few classes from Dragon and it could get interesting really fast.

jh

 

[scourger]

Thanks, Camarath. Has anyone used this option to give a party of 2 the power of a party of 4 (for instance)?

 

[Numion]

Could one get +19 BAB for wizard / sorcerer combo, if one took fighter and wizard for first level, then sorcerer and wizard from then on? Because they both get +1 BAB at even levels .. together that means +1 BAB every level.

 

[DaveMage]

Could one get +19 BAB for wizard / sorcerer combo, if one took fighter and wizard for first level, then sorcerer and wizard from then on? Because they both get +1 BAB at even levels .. together that means +1 BAB every level.

No, I don't think it works quite that way (unless, of course, you want it to). At any given level you look at what the best class BAB would be, and that is your BAB. So if you were a fighter/wizard at first level, and then a sorcerer/wizard for 4 levels (for a level 5 character), you would still only have a +2 BAB, since the best of a level 1 fighter, level 4 sorcerer and level 5 wizard is +2 BAB.

 

[mmu1]

Thanks, Camarath. Has anyone used this option to give a party of 2 the power of a party of 4 (for instance)?

Gestalt chaarcters aren't nearly as much of a power issue as they are a versatility issue.

Yes, the power boost is considerable, but you stll only have as many HP as a single-classed character, and unless you have amazing stats, you only get to fully take advantage of the best of one class. I doubt 2 gestalt characters would be a match for 3 ordinary characters with equivalent abilities and gear - and never for 4. (In particular if one of the normal characters was a spellcaster that could allow his companions to engage the gestalts, while he hung back and buffed his friends/harassed enemies with spells.)

 

[scourger]

Well reasoned, mmu1. I may try it and see what happens. The other option that I considered was to let each player run 2 characters, but that is less appealing. I will likely restrict the gestalt combinations to only 1 spellcaster in the gestalt, and I may ban multiclassing. In this way, it starts to sound like the demihuman multiclassing of old...

 

[HellHound]

In the game where I play the Ghestalt character (Cleric/Sorcerer), it is a solo game. I have managed to survive the Wizard's Amulet and Crucible of Freya. It was close more than once. But I managed. Naturally, the progression is much faster sinc I'm the only one collecting the XPs .

I would SO have picked up the Mystic Theurge class with that gestalt, suddenly freeing up one of your two gestalt classes at each character level for some rogue levels for the skills and sneak attack.

 

[Halivar]

So if you were a fighter/wizard at first level, and then a sorcerer/wizard for 4 levels (for a level 5 character), you would still only have a +2 BAB, since the best of a level 1 fighter, level 4 sorcerer and level 5 wizard is +2 BAB.

I don't agree. The wording goes like this:

Base Attack Bonus: Choose the better progression from the two classes.

This states the better progression is taken, not the better BAB. Taking only the best BAB of all the classes we have ever gestalted with (yeah, I verbed that noun; I'll do it again, too) effectively erases advancement in all but one class. Rather, at each level, we should progress as the better of the two classes we are currently gestalting with.

Fractional bonuses make figuring this out easy. I'll wager we were supposed to use fractional bonuses (and it just so happens that that particular rule is presented on p. 73, right smack dab in the middle of the gestalt character section) for all base bonus progressions. By that reasoning, we have 1 level at which the Ftr progression (+1 BAB) is the better progression, and 4 levels where the Sor/Wiz progression (+.5 BAB) is our only option. That gives us a total BAB of +3. All 5 levels have contributed to the character's total BAB, whereas in your logic the first level Ftr is thrown away entirely (or rather, retroactively changed to using the Wiz's BAB instead of the Ftr's).

Just my $0.02.