Zincorium
2007-09-12, 07:38 AM
This is a topic began in the regular d20 forum and moved here as it represents a homebrewed clarification of what rules people use for the Gestalt variant (Presented here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm)).
While gestalt has become a fairly popular variant, the rules on it that exist at the moment are vague in many instances and can easily be interpreted or misinterpreted in a variety of ways. Thus, this thread.
Anyone may feel free to offer their interpretation of something or suggest a different wording.
Philosophy of Gestalt:
- Heterogeneous: Progressions are entirely separate, prestige classes must be qualified for using only one 'side'. Abilities from opposite sides do not interact.
- Homogeneous: The 'sides' are an abstraction, the character has effectively only one class each level, but that class is the combination of two. Prerequisites can be taken from either side, abilities interact at the DM's discretion.
Note on trends: a lot of campaigns will fall into the middle, this is not an either/or situation.
Low powered trends:
These are for people who feel that while gestalt would be helpful for their campaign, they don't entirely trust the players with their newfound powers or simply want to keep the madness to a minimum. Generally will not affect CR's encountered by more than a point or two.
-Level adjustment and racial hit dice applied to overall character level, effectively taking up both sides. Strongly discourages the use of anything other than ECL zero races (which can be good or bad). It may be better to simply disallow races with these than force the players to use this, as survival of anything with an ECL adjustment of more than three is significantly hampered.
-No prestige classes/highly restricted prestige classes. Some DMs take the 'no dual progression' suggestion in the gestalt rules to mean that any class advancing more than one trait (melee/skills/spellcasting) is off limits. In any case, the rule of only one prestige class is generally upheld.
High powered trends:
Recommended only for DMs who are comfortable with adjucating situations on the fly and prefer a higher level of abilities for the players. Will affect CRs in varied ways and can seriously unbalance play.
-LA and racial HD on only one 'side'. While easily abused with templates, it may make some races with ECL adjustments more playable than in standard campaigns, as the players are left with at least one hit dice per level.
-Prestige classes may be taken on both sides/Dual progression classes allowed with unrelated class on other side. Creates a massive increase in versatility. Adjucated with a bit of common sense (not allowing more than one caster level per character level, for instance) can work fine.
My personal experience, as both DM and player, is that the power level of the campaign can range anywhere along the scale and still work with cooperation. As a DM, I've used all the high-powered variants at once, and was still able to challenge the PCs in a small group (three players) without going over the top.
While gestalt has become a fairly popular variant, the rules on it that exist at the moment are vague in many instances and can easily be interpreted or misinterpreted in a variety of ways. Thus, this thread.
Anyone may feel free to offer their interpretation of something or suggest a different wording.
Philosophy of Gestalt:
- Heterogeneous: Progressions are entirely separate, prestige classes must be qualified for using only one 'side'. Abilities from opposite sides do not interact.
- Homogeneous: The 'sides' are an abstraction, the character has effectively only one class each level, but that class is the combination of two. Prerequisites can be taken from either side, abilities interact at the DM's discretion.
Note on trends: a lot of campaigns will fall into the middle, this is not an either/or situation.
Low powered trends:
These are for people who feel that while gestalt would be helpful for their campaign, they don't entirely trust the players with their newfound powers or simply want to keep the madness to a minimum. Generally will not affect CR's encountered by more than a point or two.
-Level adjustment and racial hit dice applied to overall character level, effectively taking up both sides. Strongly discourages the use of anything other than ECL zero races (which can be good or bad). It may be better to simply disallow races with these than force the players to use this, as survival of anything with an ECL adjustment of more than three is significantly hampered.
-No prestige classes/highly restricted prestige classes. Some DMs take the 'no dual progression' suggestion in the gestalt rules to mean that any class advancing more than one trait (melee/skills/spellcasting) is off limits. In any case, the rule of only one prestige class is generally upheld.
High powered trends:
Recommended only for DMs who are comfortable with adjucating situations on the fly and prefer a higher level of abilities for the players. Will affect CRs in varied ways and can seriously unbalance play.
-LA and racial HD on only one 'side'. While easily abused with templates, it may make some races with ECL adjustments more playable than in standard campaigns, as the players are left with at least one hit dice per level.
-Prestige classes may be taken on both sides/Dual progression classes allowed with unrelated class on other side. Creates a massive increase in versatility. Adjucated with a bit of common sense (not allowing more than one caster level per character level, for instance) can work fine.
My personal experience, as both DM and player, is that the power level of the campaign can range anywhere along the scale and still work with cooperation. As a DM, I've used all the high-powered variants at once, and was still able to challenge the PCs in a small group (three players) without going over the top.