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Thread: Gestalt

  1. #1

    Gestalt

    Has anyone here ever played in or GM'd for a Gestalt campaign? It's very power-gamey, but then I have friends who are like that.

    I have mulled trying to introduce the idea or a starter campaign and see how it goes and wanted to see if any of my fellow bretheren had any tips or anecdotes about it.

    My thought would be to have Gestalt characters actually be an offshoot of human, but be their own race. (Sort of like x-men mutants are to regular folks, wherein the party are all Gestalt, or at least some of them anyway....)

    What have you to say on this idea my comrades?
    It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll;
    I am the Master of my Fate, I am the Captain of my Soul.

  2. #2

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    If some characters are going to be gestalt they all should be. Or allow the others to play something with LA+ lots or the are 2x the level of the gestalt characters.

    Having said that, no I've never played or ran for gestalt characters.

    Good luck!

    rv

  3. #3
    mr_h's Avatar
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    The D&D campaign I'm in (as a player) actually uses Gestalt characters. THe reason we choose gestalt is because there are only 3 PCs and we worried that we might miss out on some fun if we only had three character classes or what not.

    We have a Human Fighter/Cleric, a Half Elf Druid/Ranger, and a Halfling Sorceror/Rogue. So far this group has worked out very well in that we have the 'core classes' all built into three folks. When combat comes around, we're set, but the adventure can still have things requiring special skills (IE, an adventure won't come to a halt cause the PC's can't get through that locked door).

    It does also add a bit of variety to the characters leveling up. In the case of the Halfling, does he take the feats/skills to help his Sorceror more, or does he try and go for the Rogue aspect, or a middle road approach?

    I asked our DM for some tidbits and his first comment was: "They're hard to create encounters for". Gestalt has more power then straight characters of equal levels, so you have to toss in a bit extra. But then as they raise levels, you need to remember that they're still one character (IE, 3 PCs with 6 classes will still have trouble with overwhelming numbers that 6 PCs with 6 classes might not have as many problems with.).

    The DM said that it was a learning experience, you're gonna screw up at some point, either making it too weak or too strong. Fudging as you go along helps.

    We're at level 5 right now I believe. Gestalt is great fun if you have a small group, but if you have a lot of players, you might not want to do it, could probably become too much.
    DM: For reference sake, when a bad guys dies, I'll turn their token over. So an upside down 'A' or 'B' means it's a corpse.
    PC 1: So if we kill a 'M' is it reincarnated as a 'W'?
    PC 2: That damn 'O' just won't die!

  4. #4
    I think gestalt characters are quite useful with low player count. And sometimes, why not let the players have their extra edge? It is true though, even though 3 characters have 6 character class abilities, they can only use one ability per round. All gestalt does is increase your available options, it does not multiply your ability to do more than one thing per round.

    But I concede, I have not had the chance to try it out directly, yet.

  5. #5
    I'm currently running a campaign that uses the BECMI rules for player characters becoming deities (https://www.dmsguild.com/product/17166/). One of the paths involves the PC living 5 lives as different races and classes, then living a final life as a gestalt of all of the others. The character started as a pixie ranger, became a dragonborn paladin, and is now a kalashtar bard/rogue. Going to be a very interesting final life whatever the next two are.

  6. #6
    Wow, sounds cool! Keep us informed on how it goes. Although I am wondering how to implement such things onto a character sheet. Perhaps it could be an option specific to GMs who wish to run such a campaign?

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Goldwood View Post
    Wow, sounds cool! Keep us informed on how it goes. Although I am wondering how to implement such things onto a character sheet. Perhaps it could be an option specific to GMs who wish to run such a campaign?
    I plan on making a custom race, custom background, and custom class with elements of each created in conjunction with the player. Beautiful thing about FG is you can do this sort of thing easily.

  8. #8
    For the moment, being a newbie, doing this sort of thing is not easy when I am unsure how you go about doing it.

    Any pointers would be appreciated.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Goldwood View Post
    For the moment, being a newbie, doing this sort of thing is not easy when I am unsure how you go about doing it.

    Any pointers would be appreciated.
    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...tutorial-Races

    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...video-tutorial

    https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...Creation-Video

    Those videos will cover it for you.

  10. #10
    Thanks, this will help out a lot. I hadn't even considered race creation as a possibility. So cool!

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