Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Chimera245 01-30-06, 04:53 PM	How would it work if you wanted to use Gestalt rules for Monsters, too? Many Monsters have a number of Hit dice. Plain hit dice are very similar to class levels. They grant more HP, skill points, a feat for every 3, etc. It would be easy to imagine taking both a Monster HD and a Class level, and using the best of each, built as a gestalt character. Especially if you use the Monster Classes rule from Savage Species. But how would that affect a monster's CR? In a Gestalt game, It suggests lowering a Monster's CR by 1, or by 2 if it relies on failed saves to be threatening. Would this put a monster back to the normal CR , or would it increase its power past that? Or would they actually remain less threatening to a gestalt character? And just how do you pronounce "Gestalt"? Is it GUESS-talt or JEST-alt, or am I way off?
zavin 01-31-06, 10:50 AM	I pronoune it "Jes-talt" No idea if it's pronounced the correct way.
Darien_CR 01-31-06, 10:55 AM	Gestalt? It actually has 4 different pronunciations: [gəš,talt], or "guesh-talt" (the "a" as in "stop") [gəs,talt], or "guess-talt" (the "a" as in "stop") [gəš,tכlt], or "guesh-talt" (the "a" as in "course") [gəs,tכlt], or "guess-talt" (the "a" as in "course") In all cases, the stress goes on the second syllable. I personally prefer the third one.
CowMasterTrojan 02-02-06, 10:16 AM	Heres what I do with monsters I make gestalt. Make them as if you were making a monsterious character. The monster levels and the level adjustments count as one half of their actual level. While they are taking monster levels their other class cannot change. Once they have completed all their monster levels and level adjustments, they can take whatever classes they feel neccessary. Because they are made using gestalt, I treat them as a +1 ECL. For example A minotaur would go something like this: level 1-6 Monster Level/Barbarian 7-8 Level Adjustment/Barbarian 9+ Whatever you feel like/ Whatever you feel like Because the minotuar has a class for level 7-8, he still recieves Hit points, BAB, and saves like a character. Thus if he was a 8HD creature he would have 8d12 Hit dice. If you used a gestalt minotuar at 6HD then you would still have to include the +2 level adj, making it ECL 8. (the -1 ECL from monster levels and +1 from gestalt cancel each other out). Make sense? And I pronounce it Guess-talt
Lotus Crane 02-06-06, 10:49 PM	Actually, LA is even more crippling than normal in a gestalt game since those wonderful dual progression levels give so much more. It's really more fair to make a savage progression (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/sp) for a monster, then have that be half of the gestalt for however many levels are necessary. So for example, in a gestalt game, a minotaur barbarian should still have 20 HD/real levels, except that 8 or so of them will grant barbarian-minotaur features, and the other 12 will grant barbarian-fighter or barbarian-whatever features. In a game as high-powered as a gestalt one, there's no reason LA can't be eliminated completely. I've been working on a few others, like a half-dragon fighter/sorcerer (http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=582253), and a half-celestial paladin/healer and half-fiend blackguard/warmage (http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=582258). Please take a look and provide some feedback for me. ^_^
Chimera245 02-07-06, 03:41 PM	This just popped into my head a day or two ago... What about using Gestalt rules for just Monster Hit Dice? It would be a lot of work for the DM to re-write most of the creatures, though... In standard D&D, Monster HD give hit points, good/poor saves, skill points, feats, etc. just like Class levels. If you used Gestalt rules for Monster HD as well, you'd give each monster two hit die types, and take the best parts of each. This would have the side effect of giving each creature in the game two creature types. For example, a Mind Flayer has two arms, two legs, and a head, so you could reasonably say that a Mind Flayer's other HD type is Humanoid. you could change the typical mind flayer from 8 HD of Aberration to 8 HD of Aberration/Humanoid. -d8 HD (same for both) -3/4 BAB (same for both) -Good Will (aberration) and Ref (humanoid) saves. -2+INT skill points (both) -Darkvision 60' (aberration) -Proficient with its natural weapons (aberration) -Proficient with all simple weapons (humanoid) -Proficient with whatever armor it's described as wearing (both) [none, in the case of the Mind Flayer] -Aberration/humanoids eat, sleep, and breathe (both) It would also work well for Templated creatures, since many templates change a creature's type. They could instead add the second type on, Gestalt style. For example, a Half-dragon elf would be a Dragon/humanoid (elf) a 20th level human monk would be Outsider/Humanoid (native,human) an ogre zombie would be an Undead/giant. And the creatures that seem to qualify for two creature types at once can be, and make more sense. Inevitables become Outsider/constructs Many Angels, Demons, and Devils become Outsider/humanoids Many Elementals could become elemental/humanoid, Elemental/Animal, or something like that if they have a fairly recognizable shape, or Elemental/ooze if they're just generally a mass of water or fire or whatever.
sedqon 02-08-06, 05:28 PM	And just how do you pronounce "Gestalt"? Is it GUESS-talt or JEST-alt, or am I way off? Gesh-TALT. i believe its a german word, if that helps.
Nathan the <adjective> 02-09-06, 01:45 PM	Im pretty sure its Guess-Tall
Mist of Shadows 02-11-06, 04:02 AM	I'm a big fan of gestalt dragons :) with some spell casting class or classes
El Mercenario 02-11-06, 08:00 AM	Sedqon is almost right. It is a german word and it´s pronounced like "ge'shtallt". I hope this helps ;) .
Malakai_Demonos 02-14-06, 07:17 PM	If they are the boss monster, than you should definetly give them classes equal to their HD. However, if they are just minion #56, then it is a lot easier just to make them standard but appropriate for a party +1 ECL above your players