Gestalt characters?

[xochael]

My group consists of 4 people with a rotating GM position. My turn to GM is approaching and I'd like to run the others through the SCAP, but with only 3 PCs, I'm somewhat wary of the situation.

Most of the threads here indicate this adventure works best with 6 PCs, and while I could simply ask them to create two characters each, I know the outcome: They won't do it (and I wouldn't hold it against them). They like to really develop their character, and running a second character would take too much focus and time away from their first one.

So, I would like opinions as to whether or not 3 gestalt PCs would be a viable alternative.

[Dryder]

I have only two players in my game and allowed them to play Gestalt characters. One did it, and it went out fine. However - for the deadly SCAP, you have to keep in mind, that, even if they use those Gestalt pcs, they still have only 3 actions/turn. This is one of the big drawbacks. 6 characters have 6 actions against the enemy every turn and if one is stopped somehow, there are still enough others to make the day.

2 Gestalt pcs might look pretty able, but still, there are only 2 actions/turn and of one got hold by an enemy mage, things start going bad!

Otherwise, Gestalt's are fine.

[Fatespinner]

As long as you make sure that the characters are able to cover all of the proverbial party 'bases' you should be okay. Consider something to give them a hit point advantage to make up for the small party size (gestalt or not) like allowing them to roll 2 hit dice and take the better one at each level up or just giving them max hit points every level (I recommend the 2 dice, personally, because max HP gets to be pretty ridiculous eventually).

If you've got three players, I would recommend a monk/wizard, a barbarian/cleric, and a fighter/rogue. That way your cleric has a ton of hit points, your arcane caster has a lot of AC and high saves, and your rogue has lots of extra combat feats to maximize his ability to get around the battlefield (not to mention d10 hit dice).

[Fang]

I started running SCAP with three gestalt characters, a fighter/rogue, monk/wizard, and psion/cleric, then a few sessions in we were joined by a barbarian/sorcerer. It's working out okay--I thought it might be too easy with four of them, but as mentioned above, they only have four actions per round rather than six. The ragamoffyn in Jzadirune and the nasty ambush I set up for them in the Malachite Fortress (the idiots killed the guards in the elevator and then LEFT FOR THE NIGHT!) were touch and go.

Good luck with it!

--Fang

[xochael]

Thank you all for the replies. It's still awhile before I'll be GMing; I'll post how things turn out when we get started.

[Aremedis]

When our group played through th SCAP, we played as gestalt characters. With the 4 of us, we rotated DMs each chapter. We destroyed the first half of the AP, we were pretty cheesy though. We used the Savage Progression levels for a couple of our characters I had a half-celestial bard/swashbuckler/aerial avenger, and one of the other guys had a weretiger rogue. Our cheesiness came more from the savage progression + gestalt combo, than anything else. So my suggestion is if you're going to go gestalt, stick with CORE races. Heck next gestalt game I run it will be just CORE races and classes, no PRCs.