Not at all. As GM, you can simply increase challenges to compensate.
Gestalt rules can be pretty fun to use.
This can be dealt with in a few ways
Forbid the use of chain challenge- this allows a cavalier to challenge a new opponent for free (not spending his daily challenges) when his target dies and a new one is in range. Obviously, with...what? 4 characters? That means that pretty much every enemy that isn't 100' away is going to get curbstomped with a ton of challenges every time. Overall, with that many cavaliers, there are enough challenges to go around without chain challenge. And everyone gets a turn being Mr. Big Damn Curb Stomper.
Increase the number of enemies, and decrease their general level. This is another tactics to deal with the number of challenges going around. Numbers means that their large amount of a limited resource isn't going to be enough to cover every enemy. Weakening them is to cover for the increase in enemies.
When you do want a BBEG- Give them +100 hp, and maybe some DR. Because it is an obvious target, so everyone is going to get the ton of extra damage. Extra hp and DR reduces that problem, and also encourages the party to save some of their challenges since they DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO FIGHT THAT WITHOUT THE EXTRA BOOST. Maybe have a story reason for this- they are blessed by some evil god that empowers them with its twisted protection.
Done well, this means that they will easily cut through the mooks, and then have a nice time grinding down the important opponent. And that is fine.
Also- boost fort based DCs, and try to avoid ones that can hit the entire party (unless it is a minor debuff). Normal games usually have a mix of good saves, so they can be far more middling, and expect at least a couple of people to make the save. With everyone having great fort, that means that to affect anyone, you need a high DC, ...but that means that the save can take out EVERYONE. Which can lead to a TPK if it is the save that stops them from being paralyzed by a group of ghouls. This is one of the bigger dangers of gestalt, in my opinion, since people often have perfect saves.
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The biggest issue is that this means everybody will have a mount. Are you prepared to make horses a constant presence in your campaign? Do all the taverns have stables? Are the quests taking place in areas that horses can access?
Are your players familiar with the rules for A] animal companions, and B] mounted combat? If not, are they prepared to learn them? I'd ask your players how they feel about this before giving them a mandatory mount.
If everyone is okay with it, then yeah, go right ahead.
Frankly, it sounds awesome.
Games with themes like this can be super fun. Gestalt can make them VERY powerful though, so start slow and don't be afraid to basically ignore the CR system.
:D
The biggest issue is that this means everybody will have a mount. Are you prepared to make horses a constant presence in your campaign? Do all the taverns have stables? Are the quests taking place in areas that horses can access?
Are your players familiar with the rules for A] animal companions, and B] mounted combat? If not, are they prepared to learn them? I'd ask your players how they feel about this before giving them a mandatory mount.
If everyone is okay with it, then yeah, go right ahead.
No, there are actually a lot of options that get rid of mounts
A. Daring Champion. Even if they aren't a dex character, it is an interesting archetype. The scaling AC boost is enough to forgo heavy armor (great if they gestalt light armor users like bards; you can still use a mithral breast plate by the way, so you only need a little scaling), and the 1weapon/1 handed thing is designed to make you on par with 2 handers (so you can sword and board all you want for more AC...but if you go strength, you can 2hand when enemies are immune to precision damage).
B. sword saint samurai. If you decide to allow samurai (to spice things up).
C. Huntmaster. Still has an animal companion, but not a mount (both options are small enough to go in doors). Since they share in your challenge, they can be quite damaging, actually. Castellans also trade mounts out and get an animal companion (more ranger-ish in style though).
So overall, it wouldn't be unusual for at least one of the players to go without a proper mount.
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Why are so many people resistant to the idea of mounts?
If EVERYONE in the party has one, the GM may just tailor the game to that.
A group of Knights roaming around, righting wrongs and slaying evil dragons sounds AWESOME.
Cavalier/Paladin! :D
While I like the idea the idea of having a theme for a game is a good idea, I think this is over restrictive. You don’t have to be a cavalier to be a knight. Other martial classes make equally good knights. Paladins especially make good knights. One very famous knight was probably a ranger. I am speaking of Sir Robin of Locksley, otherwise known as Robin Hood.
If you want to run a gestalt game just stipulate that one class has to be a martial class. A paladin/cavalier is going to be a lot weaker than say a cavalier/bard. There is too much overlap so the paladin gets the short end of the stick.
We played Kingmaker for a couple chapters, and the cavalier's horse was never a problem.
We played Kingmaker for a couple chapters, and the cavalier's horse was never a problem.
'the' horse.
This is a horse for everyone, and it is going to have the scaling that makes it a valid combatant. It is perfectly valid to have a bunch of horses whose only job is to flank with you.
The biggest issue is that this means everybody will have a mount.
Honestly, I feel this is the greatest asset. Some people relying on mounts, while everyone else lacks any, is a pain more than a boon, in my opinion. Having everyone in the same situation is easier to handle.
As others have said, though, I'd suggest opening it to all mounted classes.
Yeah, all the Teamwork Feats, Tactician, and mounts, is going to lead to lots of force multiplying.
Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun. Post a campaign journal BrotherBen, if you're of the mind.
Hunter/Cavalier gestalt... LOTS of teamwork feats. :D
What you really need to fear is a Cavalier (Daring Champion)/Monk, with the Order of the Eastern Star archetype. 3 good saves, full BAB, a reasonable number of skill points, and a boatload of damage. The killer is that you have Flurry of Blows, Challenge, and Precise Strike at level 3, which means a full attack with twice the number of attacks, with 2x your level to damage. Maybe a Weapon Adept or Sohei monk for extra kicks. Otherwise, you could pick up feats that turn your fist into a piercing weapon and pick up Pummeling Style, and laugh at any sort of DR in existence.
Eh, you can get by without any archetypes, since you have martial weapon proficiency. There is, at the very least, a monk dagger thing in that category, which can cover piercing damage.
But sohei would probably be the easiest to pull off. They can grab light armor so you don't need to turtle up early on. That makes them 'easy' to use at level 1. Not necessarily best defense later, but they are 'easy' to handle and effective from the get go. Even if you go with unarmed strike, they are still great with that light armor, due to brawling property.
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Thanks for all the interest and input.
I have a specific setting in mind (Arthurian Dark Fantasy) and there are several other rules alterations I'll be implementing to run it. (Altered alignment, E6(?) Race/Class/Source Restrictions, New deities, Rich parents for free? Custom monsters) I was even considering a homebrew system but modifying pathfinder is a lot less work.
Rather than mounts, I was more interested in characters having class abilities that were tied to a code of conduct. Which means paladin would also be an option. I had initially considered giving all the players VMC cavalier abilities without the loss of feats instead but it felt like a case of too little too late.
Why are so many people resistant to the idea of mounts?
If EVERYONE in the party has one, the GM may just tailor the game to that.
A group of Knights roaming around, righting wrongs and slaying evil dragons sounds AWESOME.
Cavalier/Paladin! :D
It reminds me of the RPG Pendragon, which is awesome.
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Forbid the use of chain challenge- this allows a cavalier to challenge a new opponent for free (not spending his daily challenges) when his target dies and a new one is in range.
I got really excited when I started reading this feat that I didn't know about until I got to this line "You can chain together a number of challenges beyond the first equal to your Charisma bonus (minimum 1).". (also it's an immediate action which explains why it's useful). If it was only a free action like you said then it wouldn't matter if all four of them had as only the active cavalier could use the free action to signify the next opponent.
Forbid the use of chain challenge- this allows a cavalier to challenge a new opponent for free (not spending his daily challenges) when his target dies and a new one is in range.I got really excited when I started reading this feat that I didn't know about until I got to this line "You can chain together a number of challenges beyond the first equal to your Charisma bonus (minimum 1).". (also it's an immediate action which explains why it's useful). If it was only a free action like you said then it wouldn't matter if all four of them had as only the active cavalier could use the free action to signify the next opponent.
There is a limit based on cha... but this is a gestalt game. It is EASY to make all the characters into CHA casters- bards, oracles, paladins, mesmerists, blood rage, skald, summoner, elritch schion magus... all of those have good reasons to grab cha, and they all can use armor. And some of those can be considered near perfect gestalts with cavalier (bard and mesmerist both provide perfect saves, 6 skill points, and nice buff/debuff mechanics)
With just a basic 14 CHA, this means that they can link up 3 challenges in a row. 4 characters. 12 enemies facing a large boost in damage. That sounds like trouncing an entire encounter most of the time.
As for regular nongestalt cavaliers...yes, slightly less amazing, but it does sound like a good excuse to grab a couple paladin levels so you get better saves. Or maybe archaeologist bard, since you can get a large benefit for 18 rounds/day from just a dip if you do it right. I tend to favor a slight dip in cavaliers, since their tactician ability is slightly out of synch with one of the best teamwork feats (coordinated charge, or 'lets allow everyone to get something like a pseudo pounce' with tactician on), so taking a level or two out of the way is actually to their benefit.