ninthdark's page

For a real hell of a sneak attack try this:

Rogue/Sorcerer to 4
Rogue/Arcane Trickster until 14th level
Rogue/Assassin until 20th
This nets you the ability to walk through an area unseen and leave a silent-still delayed blast fireball which (not long later) explodes, hitting everyone in the room for 14d6 + 18d6 sneak attack, forcing those hit to make a fort save versus death and take 18 bleed (fire bleed?). One of those targets may have to make TWO saves against death (death attack).
Meanwhile, you've teleported safely home.
So much for that would-be elite squad.

Actually according to the rules in Unearthed Arcana in 3.5 (the only publication of gestalt characters I could find) I quote from the book:

* A gestalt character can't combine two prestige classes at any level, although it's okay to combine a prestige class and a regular class. Prestige classes that are essentially class combinations-such as the arcane trickster, mystic theurge, and eldritch knight- should be prohibited if you're using gestalt classes, because they unduly complicate the game balance of what's already a high-powered variant.

So I probably would not allow the Arcane trickster in a gestalt game. Cheese is fun but too much cheese and it gets old quick.

They need to make a book detailing the gestalt characters like the Unearthed Arcana WotC put out. Or at least Hero Lab should put out an option like that so I can generate and level up my characters using that tool. Either way... come on Paizo... its more money to be made. Make it happen.

i'm currently running a campaign where every character is gestalt with 1 pc class (which they can multiclass) and one npc class (which they can't change). so far its been really interesting but not as hard to balance as full gestalt. but thats off topic.

for good combos:
- barb/lame oracle (in and out of rage with no fatigue after lvl5, so casting is no problem)
- barb/martial artist, with dragon style (lots of charging and high dmg punching, also no fatigue after 5th)
- fighter/master of many styles (you won't miss flurry with full BAB and you'll have plenty of feats to master styles- if you go Unarmed fighter you could have elemental fist and all 3 feats for one elemental style by 6th level)
- ranger/inquisitor (skill monkey with full BAB, all good saves, and tons of feats and special abilities- not to mention a handful of spells)
- any combo that gets a lot of mileage from a single stat: pally plus sorcerer or oracle, or summoner; wizard or witch plus sage sorcerer; cleric plus empyreal sorcerer; etc.

cool combos:
- gunslinger/alchemist (what's better than guns or bombs? guns and bombs!)
- sensei/empyreal sorc (lots of mileage on Wis, and a real yoda type dude)
- pally/draconic sorc (dragon knight- need i say more? ok, great Cha synergy)
- heavens oracle/starsoul sorcerer (i just love the close thematic bond- there's actually a lot of oracle/sorcerer combos i like...)
- pally/bard (the hand and mouth of your god)

weak combos...
there aren't any truly weak combos imho- you always end up better than a regular base class... weakest combos i can think of right now:
- fighter or cavalier/wizard or sorcerer (hard to benefit from armor/shield proficiency and economy of actions often limits benefits)
- rogue/vivasectionist (sneak attacks don't stack)
- gunslinger/zen archer (this may be legitimately bad- very little cross-over due to conflicting weapon requirements!)
- monk of the empty hand/weapon master (you can't take 'improvised weapons' for your weapon of choice, so this is...

Very good points and impressive ideas. Makes for interesting story behind the build. And whats the point if we're not making a good story?

I'm a huge fan of Halfling Paladin/Cavalier. Smite and Challenge stack, the cavalier already gets a great mount so you pick up the Paladin's weapon bond, you get the halflings great bonuses and great charisma to all saves, you get bonus feats and the mounts strength added to your own on a charge, you become the party's best face short of a bard, and you get some decent utility magic. It's an all around sick build. Barring that I'm also a huge fan of any full caster plus any full caster. Forget about extra perks, just the sheer number and diversity of spells is a game winner. I suggest Wiz/Sorc or Wiz/Oracle.

The Paladin/Cavalier is a great combination... and your points are excellent points. However you could be missing out on the potency of your spells when having to split between Intelligence and Charisma. Maybe if you focus on your attack spells with the Sorcerer and using your support spells with the Wizard... I guess it could work. The Cleric/Druid is very potent for a spell caster because they both go off Wisdom plus it helps with your will saves without having to worry about your other mental stats so much. In a forest with a druid at higher levels plus the survivability of a cleric... it can get quite scary. Imagine a forest growing twice its original size in your area and attacking you...

But you are right... a caster/caster can deffinitely be the game changer that saves the party time and time again. Just ask my Witch/Wizard(Wood Elementalist).

Salovs wrote:

Hey all,

I was just sitting at work and my brain was wondering and i started thinking about gestalt characters. I thought of all of the core classes. Then I started to add in all of the Advanced Players guild new classes and wanted to know what everyone's ideas were on the "coolest/best/worst/overpowered" combos there are. I really like the Witch/Rouge

What a lot of people don't seem to realise in applying gestalt rules to Pathfinder is that the core classes don't suck the way they did in 3.5. The gestalt option as a result is considerably more powerful if used in Pathfinder the same way it was in 3.5.

True but as long as you have a good GM and your having fun... it doesn't matter. Making the possibilities and greater versatility makes for a fun game. Most characters I read about in novels are truly gestalt characters and I just want to give my players a chance to feel like the heroes in the novels. (i.e.) Lirial from Daughter of the Drow by Elaine Cunningham is clearly a gestalt character (Wizard/cleric) or Artemis Entreri (Fighter/Rogue). These characters are set apart from the rest of the world. Sometimes we want to play a character that has that potential. Gestalt gives us that potential. Again its always dependent on the skills of the GM.

My lore warden/paladin is pretty fun to play. Heavy armor for the thing you cant trip, and smiting with a double weapon and a mess of two weapon fighting feats...

That sounds like an interesting combination.

I'm currently trying out the Two-weapon warrior/soulknife combination. Weather or not its as effective as the others... I am having a lot of fun with the potential and feel of the character. The possibilities are making the character more like an anime hero.

Best gestalt combinations I've seen yet:
Monk/Inquisitor
Wood Elementalist (ultimate magic)/Witch
Oracle/Sorcerer
Two-weapon warrior/Rogue (the amount of feats you can have)
Ranger/Druid
Ranger/Inquisitor (nasty attack bonus and damage in combo with instant enemy ranger spell (APG)and judgement.
I chose weapon adept monk and inquisitor and he is more like a super hero rather than a D&D fantasy character.