hey guys!! I just want to know who out there loves to GM gestalt style games? I have run a bunch and I love it! It gives the chance for player to feel badass and gives a special challenge to GM to give them meaningful challenges and adventures. who else?
I'm running a Gestalt campaign right now ;) It's different, that's for sure, but yes I do enjoy it :)
The thing is... I've ran them but never played in one. I have 3 ideas that I would LOVE to play.
unarmored swordsman (Swashbuckler/Monk), awesome necromancer (Warpriest/DreadNecromancer), amazing crafter (Artificer/magus)... now if only i could find a GM willing to do a gestalt game... lol
If you want to play the ultimate Necromancer, take a look at Juju Oracle/Gravewalker Witch. And then right around lvl 7ish, go Agent of the Grave5 PrC in place of Juju Oracle. Get Extend Spell (for Command Undead juggling), Spell Perfection (Animate Dead), and Undead Master feat.
And then make your GM call you Khaleesi, because your army is easily going to be 300-400HD+ by lvl 20 while you're casting 9th lvl Oracle and Witch spells. Redonk
The way i had worked out my warpriest dread necro combo i had iver 1000hd following me lol. It was kind of rediculas and i never would expect a GM to even try to attempt that in a campaign. I mean he would be a great villian but as PC... what would even do with that other than never give corpses to the player lol
Keep in mind, some of that HD was from Leadership :). Also the type of flavor of necromancer was aimed at being a general and worthy warrior. Arthas from World of Warcraft was used as inspiration.
https://youtu.be/BCr7y4SLhck
I also have all the math taken care of in another post that i did about this guy.
Like i said... i don't know any GMs that would be willing to GM that...
Other than that. Who else has a gestalt game going? What are some your players combos?
Almost all of the games at my table are gestalt. We only have 4 people total, so we use it to cover our bases and add spice to our characters. I have a UC Monk//Investigator who has been a real treat to use, and I'm going to be playing a real oddball. Combo of Spheres of Might and Spheres of Power archetypes on a archaeologist bard and the investigator class. Real unique powerhouse and all the versatility I could ever want.
Damn!!! And i thought my necromancer idea wad OP lol sounds awesome. For my monk/swashbukler idea i was going to use an archetype from Legendary games, and make him an iajutsu adept and then take scaled fist for the monk, so all i really need for stats is dex and cha. But the fun doesn't stop there... if i ever get to play this guy i want to give this guy a negative con and wis. Make him naive and and weak as all hell (want to give him asthma) to make him interesting.
I've always wanted to play a Gestalt game, but my table has problems enough remembering everything they have with one normal character and one guy builds almost purposely bad characters.
I've always wanted to play a Gestalt game, but my table has problems enough remembering everything they have with one normal character and one guy builds almost purposely bad characters.
I would love to run one for you. but right now i dont have fantasy grounds or i would totally invite you lol maybe in the future.
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I'm playing a gnome nature oracle|overwhelming soul hydrokineticist in a Ruins of Azlant game here on the boards. It's probably not super-optimal (overwhelming soul is generally a poor archetype), but the character seems effective enough.
I'm playing a gnome nature oracle|overwhelming soul hydrokineticist in a Ruins of Azlant game here on the boards. It's probably not super-optimal (overwhelming soul is generally a poor archetype), but the character seems effective enough.
Sounds interesting! Gestalt isn't always about optimization and min maxing, it's about flavor and interesting combos.
True unless you want to do fighter wizard... lol
My own procrastination tendencies always hurts my attempts to GM, especially GM-ing Gestalt campaigns (thus, they never really last long), but I've never been able to play in a Gestalt campaign (Got SOOOO many ideas for characters...)
You and me both buddy.. So many good combos for flavour (Canadian) and straight up badassery.
I kinda want to make a Colonel Mustang fire kinetisist/elemental sorc lol
I ran Age of Worms with gestalt characters - initially because we thought we were going to have a small group, although it did not turn out that way. I have played a couple of short term minim-campaigns but sadly never a full longe term campaign in it. If I was to run or play Pathfinder with a 3 or 2 person group, I would definitely use/suggest gestalt again.
I also have this idea bouncing around in my head for solo games with four-class gestalt and some other tweaks, but nothing has come of that yet.
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glass.
I love to be your guinea pig for that!! So for a 4 class gestalt what kind of character would you be looking to see i can try and make one...
A four-class gestalt? Sounds like fun. And super complicated. I want to make one now though. Ooh, maybe a Gunslinger/Inquisitor/Paladin/Rogue.
Hm, I wonder if the Hunter's class features would cover both animal companions if you used it in a gestalt with Cavalier.
Admittedly I had an idea for... I wouldn't say two whole Gestalt Settings but seeing as some of the Default Characters I had in mind for it were gestalts I think I can safely say that it's a gestalt setting.
Though on gestalt, I think if I run one I'd generally put up some simple rules (Mostly because i've heard that when players get the chance, they WILL break the game)...
1: Don't combine full casters with full fighters without a really good reason, This applies doubly in Spheres. In vanilla you at least had the problem of needing to overcome not having any armor for arcane casters, but with Spheres I fear that someone will go Sentinel/Incanter or something and warp reality whilst also being nigh unkillable. Also combining two full casters is.. It's not something that I'm going to have a fit about but it's going to garner some suspicion, since I'd assume that full wizard full cleric is probably among the things that break games.
2: Generally class combinations need clearing. Again mostly because I just want to double check and make sure that it's not something that seems TOTALLY broken
3: I generally didn't actually know someone could take Prestige Classes from Gestalts. I assumed they'd basically be giving up their gestalt combo class.
And as to those two "Gestalt Settings" I mentioned...
1: Edyre. Kinda like Eberron but pre-eberron if that makes sense. Arcane technology is only just starting to get properly researched and the world is covered in new scientific and magical discoveries. Also this primarily would use Spheres.
2: Basically Smash Bros as a Pathfinder campaign. With the Elevator pitch basically being "Create what you think would be Video Game Characters in an alternate universe" I was thinking of giving my players access to Gestalt, Spheres, and to an extent even the Race Builder (So they can make their knockoff pokemon or other strange creature of choice for nonhumanoid characters). Sadly that campaign kinda died before it started because I got nervous realizing.. Well 2 things. 1 I so far am not a huge fan of Play by Post, and the idea that it can take days to months to get through the equivalent of a session. 2: I realized that I was making basically the singular most ambitious campaign to ever exist, and probably one that is SO rife for abuse that I thought "Maybe I should do something simpler first", but then all my attempts at it kinda died.. woe is me.
I’m currently running a gestalt game in Iron Gods for a few friends and they love it. I’m also playing a gestalt Soulknife/Psion using the Pyschic Armory archetype. I love having my dozen or so spectral blades floating around me. We are in Strange Aeons. We also have a lightning ninja Druid/ninja and a kineticists/summoner. I would make gestalt my homebrew style for every game. The customization is fantastic. We also use Roll20 which makes the numbers game smoother. I love my attack macros.
It's not exactly Gestalt, but my home multiclassing rules are based on the Gestalt rules-- fixed-progression X-sided Gestalt with a scaling level penalty based on your class combo.
Still trying to get the scaling balanced properly.
I ran a gestalt-style campaign using house rules a few years ago, but had to stop because family problems came up that consumed all my personal time. Really regret not fully playtesting the house rules. I had a whole system worked out to replace classes & levels entirely with direct XP costs for advancements, perks, and class features.
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I haven't been in a gestalt game yet but I definitely want to try sometime. My current list of characters I'd want to try are U.Rogue/Mesmerist, Kineticist/Cavalier, Bloodrager/Alchemist, and Oracle/Witch->Mystic Theurge.
I might convert the current campaign I'm running to a gestalt. I only have three players and I'm hoping to throw bigger challenges at them.
I’ve always thought a draconic sorcerer/scaled fist monk would be a fun combo
Congruent themes in a character that would make sense, could have a really fun personality based around the idea he is the next step in the evolution of dragons.
Charisma to Ac, full BAB, full arcane casting, D10 hit die, fully capable unarmed fighter. All good saves
Fully planning on going for a full blast build with Steadfast personality + noble scion.
I think he’d be fun and useful at all levels.
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I haven't been in a gestalt game yet but I definitely want to try sometime. My current list of characters I'd want to try are U.Rogue/Mesmerist, Kineticist/Cavalier, Bloodrager/Alchemist, and Oracle/Witch->Mystic Theurge.Mystic Theurge (or any other "advance two classes" PrC) is not allowed in gestalt.
Also, with the possible exception of the first one (I do not know much about Mesmerists), all those combinations seem to be about as MAD as it is possible to get. Do you have some archetypes in mind to switch the stats around?
It looks like I am going to be GMing again the nest time we do a gestalt weekend session, so it will be a while before I get to play in one, but I would rather like to try a Warblade*//Wizard.
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glass.(* D&D 3.5 class from The Book of Nine Swords - we do "3.P" for these kinds of games.)
Oh, i didn't realize that. I was going to have one side be Witch with the other side Oracle into Theurge. Oh well.
My ideas aren't super MAD. My Bloodrager/Alchemist idea has just a 14 Int and 12 Cha, for example.
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The Gestalt Rules have this to say on Prestige Classes.
The high-powered nature of the gestalt character variant gives you more room to create unique prestige classes. First, you can create narrowly specialized prestige classes, and they’ll still be compelling choices for PCs because the characters can simultaneously advance in a regular class while taking levels in the prestige class. Players won’t feel shoehorned into a very specific prestige class if they have another class they’re also advancing in. Second, you can create truly outrageous prestige classes-but add the additional cost that such classes take up both class choices for gestalt characters. For example, a prestige class that offered a d12 Hit Die, +1/level base attack bonus, two good saves, full spellcasting, and a host of class features would be completely unbalanced in a standard game. But if it takes up both “class slots” for a gestalt characters, it’s no more powerful than taking a level in the barbarian/wizard gestalt.
I'm running several on the boards here -- it's my baseline character creation model, along with a lot of other house rules and optional rules I love like Wounds and Vigor.
I think there are too many options in Pathfinder not to do it -- it's such a shame to have 100s of options and only be able to pick one or two. It's the same reason I give a metric ton of extra feats in my campaigns.