Gestalt GMing tips

[Ruuak]

Hey guys, I have played roleplaying games for about 6 years and have really tried GMing for about a year. My question is any tips for a relative new GM and gestalt campaigns? Right now my gaming group consists of only 3 players and myself. We chose gestalt so that we could cover more bases with fewer players in our sessions. (our preferred group size is 5-6) The Players are currently ECL 8 and have an LA of +2. We have two lycans and one half dragon to make up our party. The current campaign is one which seems quite popular right now... magic is banned by the current ruler and wishes to eliminate it at all costs, part of the campaign was that one of the gestalt classes had to at least have some spellcasting capability, which no one minded, so they are all on the run and trying to kill the emperor at the same time. My issue is that even right now with using the gestalt rules of CR +1 for appropriate encounters they are still ripping through everything. Any Tips to a somewhat new GM? Thanks again and any help with be appreciated.

[Tinalles]

Hmm. Well, gestalt characters are definitely more powerful -- it's pretty easy to design a gestalt character that has a full BAB, three good saves, a good hit die, and casts spells up to level 9. They can be very good at many things.

The place where they DON'T get better is actions. A gestalt character gets EXACTLY as many actions per round as anybody else:

- 1 swift
- 1 move and 1 standard OR a full round action
- as many free actions as they can reasonably squeeze in.

So that's where you hit them: their actions. Difficult terrain that slows their movement down. Spells and poisons that take away actions, or that increase the amount of time it takes to perform an action. Later on, things like AntiMagic fields to deny them their casting abilities (which doesn't actually reduce the number of actions, but cuts their options considerably).

Anything that reduces the the number or variety of things they can do in a single round should make things more challenging for them.

They may be very good at many things, but they can't do all of them all at once.

[DarkArt]

+1 with what Tinalles said.

I also like to get the players's input. Do they enjoy the game, or do they also want the encounters more challenging.

I would be cautious about the anti-magic. If it's the only way to bring on a good challenge your players enjoy, then cool. Some players may feel "nerfed" if one player must pick a spellcasting class only to not be able to use it. (It may also appear contradictory to face an enemy of magic that happens to use magic.)