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Greetings, fellow morsels.
As you may or may not be aware I am rather fond of multiclassing, and the multitude of options that it allows for character advancement.
However, every multiclass character suffers from a rather significant stigma: They can never reach the potential that a "pure" class can reach, because they are always behind. And woe betide those that desire more than two classes, for when they have reached the power level of a tenth-level pc, the rest of their party are gods amongst men, spinning the planet with their own hands.
I am here to correct this issue, and to introduce a new type of multiclassing, one in which each level you take is twice as significant as it was before, and the path your character takes as you level up is defined not by someone's idea of what the proper path should be, but by the needs and history of your character.
This, is the Half-Gestalt Alternate Character Advancement.
And I shall explain with a simple example.
we start with a lowly peasant girl (with what is surely a DELICIOUS BRAIN). Her name is Elhadia. she is lawful neutral.
She decides that her first level shall be taken as a wizard. she becomes a necromancer, and gains the powers associated with the class, including the power to command undead.
very early in her adventure she becomes associated with several noteworthy knights who disapprove of her power over the undead and the stigmas associated with it. rather than continue her studies as she SHOULD, she decides to become a PALADIN. (bah!)
At second level, Elhadia gains Aura of Good because this is a feature of the paladin class itself, but instead of getting detect evil and smite evil 1/day, she gains divine grace, and lay on hands, powers that a paladin receives at second level. should she choose to take her 4th level in paladin, she'll eventually gain the smite evil power. she'll have it at twice per day like a paladin that level would have, but until then she won't have it.
At level 2, she has access to some necromancer powers and some paladin powers, but she will cast as though she were caster level 1.
Should she resume her studies AS A GOOD STUDENT SHOULD, at level 3 she will have the spells that a wizard receives at level 3 including the first access to second level spells. at this point she'll have 3 cantrips, 1 1st level spell, 1 second level spell, plus bonuses from high intelligence, and any level she doesn't take from the paladin class contains bonuses she can NEVER RECEIVE.
This means that each level, every single player in your playgroup will be looking at gaining the same relative power based on their class or class combination. Noone will ever be forced to take a 1st level power when the rest of the group is gawking over their godlike abilities.
It also makes the path of your character's progression so much more dramatic.
There are a few rules to follow when playing with the option.
1. each class has innate abilities that are attached to the class and not to just the first level in that class. here are a few examples:
barbarians get fast movement as a class feature, not as a level 1 only power. any player that gets a level in barbarian has fast movement. the number of rounds worth of rage you get is based off level, each level gives you 2 rounds worth so that is not a level 1 only ability.
paladins have an aura of good. this is attached to the class, not to level 1.
Rangers get track as their "class bonus." a character that wasn't raised to be a ranger doesn't get wild empathy, and they have to wait to get favored enemy when it pops up in class progression.
rogues get 1d6 worth of sneak attack damage as part of the class, meaning every rogue is a bit sneaky and getting caught off guard by any rogue is dangerous. but only rogues trained young can spot magical traps.
for all spellcasters that get level 1 spells at first level, one of those spell slots is a part of the class. this is because grabbing a level of sorcerer at level 2 would be embarrassing if you got a bunch of spell slots for level 1 spells but couldn't cast anything through them but cantrips. that means that if you get your first level of wizard at level 7, you get a level 4 spell slot and two level 1 spell slots, and no level 2 or 3 slots. (one level 1 slot is granted at level 7, one comes from the class itself)
Clerics are a serious problem. each odd level gained bestows immense power to the cleric in the form of new spell levels, domain powers, and channeling energy. (yes, seriously). On top of that their domains and aura are class features not level 1 only abilities. I recommend banning them from your game. Oracles are cooler anyways.
Druids gain nature bond as a class feature not a level 1 only power so taking any level in druid gives you access to this.
fighters gain proficiency in all martial weapons or less and all armor and shields as a class feature. their level 1 bonus feat is level 1 only.
Monks absolutely HATE this system. A lawful character that displays monkish tendencies that takes a few levels in monk on the path to sorcererhood or rogueland becomes immensely powerful. I recommend going down the list and setting restrictions on certain powers like this: diamond body should require a certain number of monk levels. Fast movement is given at each 3rd monk level but should be considered seperate powers (meaning if you get your first level of monk at level 9 you only gain +10 speed, not +30)
and the new classes:
alchemist: alchemy, brew potion, and mutagen are class features but bomb 1d6 and throw anything are level 1 only. alchemists that want the throw anything feat have to purchase it if they didn't start alchemist at level 1.
cavalier gets mount and order as class features, but challenge is a level 1 feature and tactician is at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. (see below for more on these kinds of powers)
inquisitor: stern gaze and domains are class features.
oracle: mystery and curse are class features, they can't be skipped.
summoner: eidolon and life link are attached to the class not to level 1. eidolon abilities however are skipped over completely except for link. starting the path of a summoner past level one denies your eidolon darkvision and the ability to share spells.
witch: the familiar and the patron are class features that can't be skipped.
SPECIAL NOTES:
each time a player takes a level in a casting class, his caster level is set to his class level. meaning that a level 8 barbarian that takes a level in sorcerer gains one new second level, third level, and 4th level spell from the level in the class, one 1st level spell from the class itself, bloodline power and spell from the level gained, save bonuses, and his or her caster level is caster level 9. the number of spells castable per day is equal to what a sorcerer would have at level 9, but with only 1 spell of each spell level, this character's casting options are definitely not equal to those of a pure caster.
for class abilities such as the eidolon, the character gains evolution pool points equal to those that a summoner would have at that level but cannot re-spend them until gaining a level in summoner again. Also the eidolon will not increase in level, evolutions, or relative power until the player gains another level in summoner. meaning that a character might take a level in sumoner at level 3, then 7, then 10, then thirteen, then nineteen, and his eidolon would be a level 3 eidolon, then stay that way until it became a level 7, then 10, then thirteen, then nineteen eidolon, and if the summoner didn't take level 20 as a summoner they will never have a level 20 version of an eidolon.
Now before you start testing this system out you're definitely going to haev to talk to your dm about your character, your class, and the crazy options you are going to try out.
The characters created in this system are going to be crazy and unique, and run the risk of being far more broken than anything else out there (especially that damn cleric!) but even if you chose to take cleric and sorcerer and alternate between the two classes you'd be missing out on spells, and your character certainly wouldn't be comparable to a pure cleric (not to mention you'd be skimping nearly every bloodline ability)
You also might run into scenarios where you have to choose between a spell you want or a class ability you think you need. That's the kind of scenario I'd like to create. One where you have reasons to try out different builds of the same character.
I'm going to put together some character builds using this system that should really test the limits of the pathfinder campaign setting, including taking that necromancer paladin and creating a guild of similar minded folk, as well as the sorcerous monks idea and some unholy witch/summoner and ranger/rogue hybrids to really test the waters.
I encourage you all to post your suggestions to the system and to try as hard as you can to break it wide open.