Gestalt Advice

[JimmyNids]

Our campaign is a modified gestalt campaign

Modified in that you can only take 1 class on either side, no 50 class gestalts going crazy with +20 saves or 20d6 sneak attack

That said, I was looking at the classes from Occult Adventures and Path of War and would like to use either an occult class(not Kineticist or Mesmerist as Kineticist is too easily broken and Mesmerist is a bit of an arguing point in my group presently) or Warder/Warlord from the PoW book

What I am having trouble with is finding a nice fit that I like when combining them. Psychic is nice and it's INT matches Warder, but then theres the MAD issue of being locked into STR for combat with Warder, needing WIS or CHA for Phrenic Pool, etc.

I was looking at Warder and its very flavorful(we modified the full round counter to only giving you 1 extra use of your counter without expending the manuever as otherwise it makes the entire party nearly invincible at level 13 and 100% invincible at level 17 using the Iron Tortoise counters from 7th and 9th) but I can't decide what to throw with it. I feel like Paladin is nice but then you add in MAD again. Ranger would be excellent with their defense area ability except they run Combat Expertise off INT so MAD again taking away from combat strength.

Warlord is nice and Paladin would fit with it but I rather hate playing "Marshal" type roles and doing nothing other than Bard buffing. Warlord/Psychic could be fun but again MAD

It seems like none of the Occult Classes or the PoW classes can gestalt well without generating MAD unless your silly and send a Psychic/Wizard(which I detest because theres no real synergy and your action economy is miserable - hate split 9th level caster gestalts) or something similar

Anyone have any thoughts on my idiotic rant here?

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

Hmm I'm curious as to the tension over the Mesmerist now >.> lol

If you're looking for INT Casting and STR for combat on the occult side go with a Occultist who takes Abjuration + Transmutation as your first focuses, Lead Blades is a really great buff. Don't fall into the Enlarge person + Lead Blade + Haste + Legacy Weapon trap though, it takes to long to set up, at higher levels you can quicken something so its more viable and have an enchanted weapon + Extended Lead blades then you can actually use the combo which is good. When you get chance take divination and suddenly you've got some pretty nice utility too.

Plus you can in theory eventually get to contingency + heal, which is pretty nifty.

I don't know anything really about path of war but if you're looking for Psychic casting based off int with STR then I'd say Occultist is a great bet.

[Olaf the Holy]

Paladin//Warlord spends very little time being a "marshal". It's generally bad use of actions anyway.

[avr]

If you're looking at the occult classes the mental abilities used (barring archetypes) are

Medium, Mesmerist: Cha
Psychic, Occultist: Int (psychics also generally use another mental ability of choice)
Spiritualist: Wis

For the PoW classes it's

Warlord: Cha
Warder: Int
Stalker: Wis

How to mix and match these in a gestalt should be obvious. In particular a Stalker | Ectoplasmatist Spiritualist seems like it could be fun and use the action economy well. Or a Magus | Warder on the same principle.

[Weirdo]

Did you want one of each or just one of either?

Occultist works very well with martials that don't need Wis or Cha - I like Occultist//Slayer. Full BAB, perfect saves, good combat bonuses (studied target, some slayer talents, transmuation and abjuration implements), and good utility (6+Int skills on a character with high Int, other implements & talents).

Occultist also works pretty well with Int-based full casters. The evocation, conjuration, and necromancy implements give passive bonuses to spells cast from other classes, and of course the defensive and utility abilities are still nice here.

My favourite Medium gestalt is with Paladin. Champion and Guardian both have good combat buffs, and the other spirits all add useful utility (though archmage's ASF is a pain if you're using the paladin's heavy armour). The 4+Int skills and base 4 level spellcasting means you have better utility than a paladin even with a combat spirit. Medium//Bloodrager is also pretty good, though it doesn't necessarily have a high enough Cha to make use of the spellcasting spirits like a Medium//Paladin should.

I'm not too familiar with Spiritualist, but Ectoplasmatist gives you light or one-handed reach weapons, which means you can combine it with TWF, Shield Bashing, or einhander style. Fractured Mind archetype lets you use Cha instead of Wis.