Symbiat / UC Monk Gestalt - Too Tank-y?

[Lazaryus]

I'm DM-ing a campaign an was considering throwing a human symbiat/unchained monk at the party when they hit 3rd level as 3rd level. Would the two AC Bonuses be too much or is it just fine?

[blashimov]

If they don't have mage armor and nutty stats, no probably not. But it depends *A LOT* on whether your party is optimized, gestalt, is this a solo encounter, etc etc. For a hard fight, an AC over 23 is probably too much to be fun.

[Azten]

It depends on the Spheres they take, but it should be fine. It's going to want a lot of Attributes though. Four at minimum(Dex for melee/range, Con, Int, and Cha). Unless the enemy doesn't use the NPC creation ability scores it should work out.

[Lazaryus]

Thanks! Is it reasonable to assume that a gestalt level is roughly equivalent to a level and a half for a non-gestalt character?

[Dasrak]

Stacking AC is pretty easy to do at low levels, and 23 isn't unusual by the 3rd. It's high, and most creatures will struggle to hit you, and in that sense it will challenge your GM. A newer GM might struggle to handle that, but an experienced one should be able to adapt.

[avr]

Lazaryus wrote:

Thanks! Is it reasonable to assume that a gestalt level is roughly equivalent to a level and a half for a non-gestalt character?

No. Differences in optimisation become extreme in gestalt. Take a look at the numbers and compare it to what you'd consider a normal monster of the CR.

[GM Rednal]

At 3rd level, 19 AC is a good, viable number, while 24 is basically min-maxed and hitting diminishing returns. ...Of course, those numbers are for PLAYERS, not NPC enemies. Any given gestalt character is probably 1-2 CR ahead (at least), so let's say the enemy is something like a CR 5 opponent. At CR 5, a good armor class for an enemy is 18.

So... yeah, I'd say it's too high. Maybe up it to 20 if you want him to be a little tougher, but not all the way.