I'm currently running an evil Gestalt campaign, and the PC's have caused enough of a ruckus that warrants having a party of good Gestalts to come after them. This will be a challenge encounter and hopefully they survive long enough to be a nuisance for the next several levels with multiple encounters.
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The 7 PC's lvl 11 party:
Synthesis Summmoner / Psion (Telepath) - Think Venom from Spiderman, but with Psionics
Centaur Cavalier / Druid - Chargy McChargerson who can kill almost anything in 1 hit and has Wild Shape and Druid spells
Seducer Witch / Bard - Ultimate Support Char, great buffs/debuffs & Crowd Control
Gravewalker Witch / JujuOracle - Necromancer with a massive zombie army that is tough as nails
Gun Chemist / Spy - Master Infiltrator who hits like a truck
Slayer / Psion (Nomad) - Tracker/Hunter with lots of Teleporty tricks
Unchained Rogue / Shifter - Basically an Owl with a Bow who specializes in sneaking up on targets and unleashing hell
.
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The 7 NPC's lvl 11 Anti-party (This is just what I'm thinking for now, I can be talked out of or into anything at this point):
Paladin / Sorcerer - Aura of Justice + Fireballs
Psychic Warrior / Cleric - Guards the casters and uses Reach Spell to cast ranged cure spells
Slayer / Vampire Hunter - Tracker and massive melee presence
Heavens Oracle / Illusion Sorc - (knockout specialist w/ Color Spray & Awesome Display from Heavens)
Student Psionic Wilder / Gunslinger - The scary damage guy
Wizard / Unchained Rogue - The sneaky utility guy
Samurai / Magus - Also a scary damage guy
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Anywho, I have an idea how to build all these guys, but I'd like to see how you guys would build one of these guys for maximum challenge to the PC's. If you think one of these Gestalt combos should be replaced with your Gestalt combo, then lemme know ;) I'd appreciate any advice at all as to how you would build these guys ;)
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Okay, a few questions about the party (it's always fun to have villains bring about their own downfall):
What are their team dynamics? Is there an obvious leader? Is there constant infighting?
What sort of tactics to they use when fighting? Do they work like a well-oiled machine, or is it more 'every man for themselves'? What do they do if an encounter turns south? Are they overconfident, or do they approach every encounter as though it could turn deadly?
It's easy to build a totally broken Gestalt build, it's more fun (and more challenging) to build a group that is the perfect foil for your 'heroes' and exploits their weaknesses, forcing them to adapt to survive.
Another question: how lethal should this be? I'm guessing you don't want a total TPK, but do you want potentially one kill? Two? All but one survivor?
My 2 copper. And most of this is going to be basic.
14 classes + archetypes + prestige classes if taken ... can be a lot to remember.
So, try and go for flavor while keeping things mechanically as simple as possible. Going for lots of buffs? Prebuild Buff sheets With and Without buffs.
My proposed party consists of some of the following:
Helpful Half Pint Hero's
7 Halflings, with the helpful trait: Aid Another @+4 base.
Primarily using this power to make the aid anothers immediate actions.... Whoops, +12 AC just because.
Pld/Vit - Shuffles healing around like a potentially unkillable wall.
(Erastil)Rng-(Divine)Arcane Archer / Cleric (Undead bane Artillery - Cure Crit wounds, flaming, Undead bane arrows?)
Psion (Nomad) / uMonk? Chases your Slayer for a hectic teleport war.
Bard (Telepath) / Wilder - Major buffs, with a side of tac-nukes.
Other fun ideas:
Aegis / uRogue - Full BAB Sneak attack, and able to self buff with customization points.
PsiWar (interceptor/Glad)/ Fighter? (Reach/trip/lockdown build?)
Dread / Oracle
Witch / Tactition
Not having played gestalt overly much, I do know that the rules vary for it quite a bit between tables. Is multiclassing allowed on either side? Say Paladin/Sorcerer//Slayer? Or is the variant mutliclass system available as well?
I ask because designing a formidable opponent that can cause havoc against an evil party would be much more enjoyable for me if I can use all of those materials. Off the top of my head, getting Evasion and Stalwart seem to be the most important thing to do, so that the evil party can't lock you down with spell/sp/su effects.
Something like Druid7/Ranger4//Inquisitor11 VMC Rogue that focuses on Celestial Wildshaping would be quite a foe for them to combat against. The amount of static damage the character could start stacking on their attacks (the more attacks, the better) would start getting worrisome quite rapidly.
Lots of stuff
Yes, that would definitely kill the party, haha. I'm trying to make a survivable party who will clash with the PC's several times over the next few levels, oftentimes having them show up at the worst possible times. This group of PC's are absolute monsters and anything I send at them is like throwing a banana in a blender, and then gets raised into the Necro's army. It's a DM nightmare sometimes, but it's very fun to watch.
Okay, a few questions about the party (it's always fun to have villains bring about their own downfall):
What are their team dynamics? Is there an obvious leader? Is there constant infighting?
What sort of tactics to they use when fighting? Do they work like a well-oiled machine, or is it more 'every man for themselves'? What do they do if an encounter turns south? Are they overconfident, or do they approach every encounter as though it could turn deadly?
It's easy to build a totally broken Gestalt build, it's more fun (and more challenging) to build a group that is the perfect foil for your 'heroes' and exploits their weaknesses, forcing them to adapt to survive.
Another question: how lethal should this be? I'm guessing you don't want a total TPK, but do you want potentially one kill? Two? All but one survivor?
There isn't an obvious leader, everyone kinda has their moments and most decisions they make are discussed like a round table. There isn't very much in-fighting, and the in-fighting that has happened so far has been tame and mostly in jest.
In combat, they've found that their plans usually don't survive past the 1st or 2nd round, so they usually wing it and everything works out, and it is a little bit like a mixture of "well oiled machine" and "every man for themselves". They've had encounters turn south before, and that's when the Witches turn into healers, and they all start fighting a lot more offensively and using things like throwing a Necklace of Fireballs VII and then casting Spark on it (dead things can't cause damage after all).
As far as lethality, I'm not trying to kill them, but I'm not going to pull punches either.
Psion (Nomad) / uMonk? Chases your Slayer for a hectic teleport war.
Love this idea. I also like the Tactician idea too.
Not having played gestalt overly much, I do know that the rules vary for it quite a bit between tables. Is multiclassing allowed on either side? Say Paladin/Sorcerer//Slayer? Or is the variant mutliclass system available as well?
I ask because designing a formidable opponent that can cause havoc against an evil party would be much more enjoyable for me if I can use all of those materials. Off the top of my head, getting Evasion and Stalwart seem to be the most important thing to do, so that the evil party can't lock you down with spell/sp/su effects.
Something like Druid7/Ranger4//Inquisitor11 VMC Rogue that focuses on Celestial Wildshaping would be quite a foe for them to combat against. The amount of static damage the character could start stacking on their attacks (the more attacks, the better) would start getting worrisome quite rapidly.
I think Multi-classing is generally accepted at any table, I haven't been to a table that prevented multiclassing or PrC's, but no matter what there are always certain PrC's that are banned. Like Arcane Trickster, Mystic Theurge, Eldritch Knight, etc. Basically if it combines two classes like Rogue/Wiz, Wiz/Cleric, Fighter/Wiz, then you can generally expect that it's banned in Gestalt.
Okay, so, seven characters.
*casts Wall of Text*
That's a lot, needless to say. However, it also coincides quite nicely with the seven main combat roles: Blaster, Tank/Defender, Healer, Controller, Striker, Support, and Scout/ranged.
To fill these roles, I propose, a Sorcerer//Bloodrager (or summoner), a Paladin//Fighter, a Vitalist//Cleric, a Wizard//Arcanist, a Kineticist//Rogue, a Bard//Mesmerist, and a Warpriest//Occultist.
So, a bit more breakdown:
The sorcerer acts as an extreme damage dealer, crowd control, whatever you want to call it. If you want to, have them specialize in Fireball, and Go crazy with Magic Trick (fireball). You definitely want to go crossblooded here, for maximum damage output, and if you can swing it, the Bloodrager might enable you to get Blood Havock twice, and if you cast while bloodraging, Flumefire Rage can pump your damage even higher. This guy takes care of most of the zombies first, carpet bombing them all invisibly before focusing fire especially hard on the squishier support characters. As an alternative to Bloodrager, you could also go Summoner, to clog up the battlefield with summons and even out the action economy a bit.
The Paladin is the ultimate warrior, wading into melee with a really big sword and dealing massive damage, all the while soaking up offensive spells like there's no tomorrow. Also a prime candidate for all the shut-down spells casters love, like Silence, while they absorb massive amounts of damage. With Advanced Armor/Weapon training, they also get absolutely absurd bonuses to both offense and defense, with the Fighter not so much plugging the few holes the Paladin does have as amplifying combat potential to nightmare levels. What damage they do take can be quickly healed on a swift action, using feats like Fey Foundling to ensure the HP bar never dips down too low.
That said, they are also well supported by the Vitalist, who, using Unwilling Participant can rope some of the weaker-willed party members (the gun chemist/spy, perhaps?) into a collective, shunting a lot of the damage the Paladin does take onto one of our villains. The cleric side is mainly there for additional arcane support, but with Selective Channel, could also serve to heal a really impressive amount, by healing everyone in a burst and siphoning all that healing onto whoever needs it. They also load up our Paladin with tons and tons of buff spells before the battle, making them basically invincible but also impossible to ignore.
To further make things harder for our lovely party of villains, we have the Wizard, who, in their Study of time, is able to overcome a bit of their inherent squishiness and many, many weaknesses. Fortunately for them, though, it's their job to just shut down and cripple enemy movements. Some might scoff at gestalting two full casters, but those people probably don't have to deal with something like a dozen 5th-level spells being thrown in their face, all at +2 CL and DC, and with any save-or-dies that fail to do anything functionally having never been cast. Oh, and make sure to go School Savant with the arcanist (there's only a few exploits you really need), and pick up the Teleportation conjuration school to be basically impossible to pin down, while on the Wizard side, sticking with Foresight divination to ensure you go first.
The Kineticist//Rogue is a scary thought. Kineticists are fantastic at single-target damage, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Adding Sneak Attack on top of that (make sure to go with Geokineticist to get earth glide, and ignore any Walls of Stone the Wizard throws out, plus for some awesome sneak attacks) means anyone you hit will very likely be dead soon thereafter. They do have a weak Will save, though, but that's nothing a quick Protection from Evil (of which the wizard can supply all day) won't take care of. Really, though, the rogue is secondary. Just adding any other class that can boost the damage output of a Kineticist even further is just terrifying.
The Bard//Mesmerist is basically the party's bard, but different. This one is much more likely to mix it up in melee, with Painful Stare making it a troublesome day for anyone who tries to interfere with their awesome inspiring speeches, and Bold Stare helping the wizard land their spells even more (Pity the poor character who has to effectively make DC 28 Will save against a SoD spell, only to have it cast once more the next round as well). The various Tricks that the mesmerist can implant only help their allies even more (imagine fighting a hasted, mirror imaged, blessed, enlarged, and more, Paladin), and hurt their enemies as well. Fortunately, their damage buffs don't go completely unnoticed in such a caster-heavy party.
The final member of our party is the Inquisitor. The Mothuni Arsenal Chaplain has some of the highest DPR of any archer, thanks to swift action buffing and weapon training, and if you combine that with the Occultist, who, using Trappings of the Warrior can feign having full BAB, giving you an extra attack and extra accuracy. Plus, they also get a weapon-enhancing power, allowing you to get a bow (between Warrior's Spirit and Legacy Weapon) with some truly legendary magical abilities and making a half-dozen attacks a round, allowing you to just decide what needs to die and then just end it.
In summary? The Sorcerer and Wizard fly around invisibly, turning zombies to dust and separating the team members (or taking them out entirely with implausibly high DCs and a seemingly endless number of spell slots), while the Cleric attempts to hit a few targets with their Vitalist powers, to drain health and/or buffing the Paladin, who moves into melee to take pressure off of the Bard, who is busy crippling the will saves of whoever the wizard is targeting. The two of them keep pressure off the squishier casters while the Kineticist burrows throughout the battlefield, popping out of the ground to annihilate a target before hiding again. All the while, the warpriest is machine-gunning down target after target, slowly building momentum as they get in more and more swift-action buffs until the battle is over.
That's pretty sick ;) Might just use all of that :P
Rereading my giant wall of text, I'm mentally kicking myself at how many typos I left in there (and there's a few places where you can see previous drafts of the party leaking through- I refer to the warpriest as an Inquisitor, for example), but thanks! I'm glad you like it. Overall, I built it pretty similar to how I would build an optimum party, but trying to create sort-of mirrors for the villains, with moderate success. I did my best to avoid ever having a complete mirror, but hopefully it's fairly reflective of the party itself.
^^Yeah, actually. That one. I though Aether was an energy Blast for some reason, but nope. It's physical. Enjoy bludgeoning your party with their own teammates.
Spell thief / arcanist
Spell thief to take spell from the enemy
Arcanist to detect caster, counter, dispell, enhance weapons