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OK, so I am being peer pressured into playing an arcane caster in a new game, good news is it is gestalt so a whole second class becomes viable.
My thought was to go white-haired witch, which usually seems totally useless but becomes more appealing when gestalted.
Long story short - with full WHW on one side, what is the best balancer? Monk or Lore Warden Fighter? You end up tripping, grappling, etc a lot so seems like the CMB needs some help.
Right now I am leaning towards Monk first 3 levels so I can start with maneuver training, and then I can switch over to Lore Warden. We start at level 3.
Does that make sense? Any suggestions for alternatives?
I've got no input for this one, but I'm very interested in what responses you get. I really wish WHW was as effective as it is flavorful.
Iffin you're gonna go with the flow, roll yourself up a half-orc, then gish a barbarian with the Scarred Witch doctor archetype (In Advanced Races Guide, under orc.)Your spellcasting is based off constitution, and hexes are usable during a rage.
But foreal brother, play what ya wanna play. It's your time bein spent at the table, not theirs. Your say carries an equal weight.
Well, with fighter you could go the route of arcane armor training and wear light armor (mithral would still be appreciated). Plus, that is full BAB, which can help the attack you use to initiate grappling. It would also give you enough bonus feats to actually get an effective melee build and arcane armor training without putting things off.
If you are going monk to avoid armor issues, then you need to reconsider. Monk's AC boosts are more bandaids, and you would have to make yourself very MAD in order to take advantage of wisdom. Now, that is not to say that monks can't be extremely helpful. They provide you with 2 more skill points per level, they have a good reflex save (the one blind spot with the witch/fighter; some consider anything less than perfect saves on a gestalt a problem), and of course it is the only class that can give you more than 1-2 attacks with your hair at a time.
The feral combat training route would allow you to flurry with your hair, which can be very powerful considering the fact that it uses your Int score for damage. Feral combat training requires 2 prerequisite feats: Improved Unarmed Strike and weapon focus. While monk takes care of IUS, you might want to consider at least two levels of fighter to take care of the weapon focus and FCT itself (monk1/ fighter 2 should take care of all of all the feats, and net you room for power attack from fighter, combat reflexes from monk, and leave your 1-2 starting feats untouched). This move also has the advantage of give you your IUS damage dice from monk as the damage dice for the hair. Overall, it makes you a force to reckon with damage wise.
A good archetype for this build would be the sohei. From what I've heard, the policy on them has recently changed, and they can flurry in light armor. This provides both defense, and it allows you to synergize Feral Combat training with a very useful armor property: Brawling. That property provides a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls (untyped, so it seems to stack with everything), and it also gives the +2 to CMB for grappling checks. Excellent synergy with your role as a reach and grappling master.
I'd do Tetori (or regular Monk as a back up), with Feral Combat Training, so I could full-attack with my hair.
Ranger for all good saves, divine casing, a boat load of skills, d10 hd, a companion, and full bab. Then just take the natural combat style feats to augment your hair.
Mix that in with scarred witch doctor and watch out.
First step is to sit down and hammer out with your GM how the WHW works, because what's on the page is a mess.