| GM_Alex |
I had an idea the other day for a way to make characters that were interesting, strong, and diverse - much more so than the normal rules allow - without making them stupidly overpowered, narrative-stealing, walking deus ex monsters. This is intended to sit comfortably between normal characters, and the aforementioned Gestalt and Mythic builds, and I’m calling this system Lesstalt (forgive me if this has already been done and I’m just ignorant of it).
Players choose two classes to advance simultaneously, like Gestalt, but there is a primary class and a secondary class (similar to the Variant Multiclass rules from Unchained). You advance in your primary class at each level, and at every even level, your secondary class advances as well. For even levels, you choose the better progression of either class as you do with Gestalt. However, you use the Fractional Base Bonuses rule from Unchained to determine the progression of BAB and Base Saves. So, if you’re playing as a Wizard (primary) and Rogue (secondary), your odd-numbered levels will always be that of a Wizard (+1/2 BAB, +2/6 Fort, +2/6 Ref, +3/6 Will, 1d6HD, and 2+Int skill ranks). On even-numbered levels, however, you gain +3/4 BAB, +2/6 Fort, +3/6 Ref, +3/6 Will, 1d8HD, and 8+Int skill ranks. Your secondary class is therefore only 1/2 your primary class, and you gain the class abilities of the secondary class at this rate. The bonus +2 to a high base save applies for your secondary class only if it doesn’t apply to the same save from your primary class. You treat all class skills from both classes as class skills from level 2 on.
So a level 10 Wizard (primary) Rogue (secondary) would have BAB 6 1/4 (rounded down to 6, Fort 3 2/6 (rounded down to 3), Ref 5 1/6 (rounded down to 5), Will 7 3/6 (rounded down to 7), 5d6+5d8 plus Conx10 hp, and 50 plus Intx10 skill ranks. You also have the full spells/day, Arcane school powers, and bonus feats of a level 10 Wizard, plus the Sneak Attack, Rogue Talents, and various other class abilities of a level 5 Rogue (math can get a little clumsy when calculating everything at once instead of 1 level at a time, so forgive me if I miscalculated anything, but I double-checked and it should all be correct)
This feels like a really strong progression that gives players a lot of room to make very interesting and diverse characters, but keeps them more grounded and easier to challenge and corral for the GM. Not a ground-breaking idea, but it’s something I thought of and hadn’t ever heard of before, so I thought I’d share it here. Any thoughts would be appreciated!