Post/Author/DateTime	Post
From Beyond 11-25-05, 12:47 AM	what the hell is gestalt or sumthin its been buggin me
TheChilliGod 11-25-05, 12:54 AM	'tis a variant character from the book "Unearthed Arcana." Basically, you pick two classes when you make your character, you gain abilities and class skills from both classes at the same level, you snag the best of the two classes with regard to saves, hit dice, BAB and skill ranks, AND at the end of it your character level is the same as the level of both your classes. (So a gestalt barbarian lvl 2|rogue lvl 2 would be a lvl 2 character) And when you level up, you get to snag a level's worth of class abilities from both classes at the same time. It's like two for the price of one, see?
DigitalMage 11-25-05, 05:45 AM	Out of interest, is this even supposed to be balanced? It seems to me that if you are trying to break out of the class system like this, then you may as well forget classes altogether and go for a points buy creation and advancement system.
nordyboy 11-25-05, 10:21 AM	Out of interest, is this even supposed to be balanced? It seems to me that if you are trying to break out of the class system like this, then you may as well forget classes altogether and go for a points buy creation and advancement system. Well, in a normal game, it wouldn't be balanced. However, in a Gestalt game, it would be. The system is designed to create more powerful characters. Also, how is this abandoning the class system? It's basically "speed multiclassing". It actually uses the classes more than a standard game.
Milandros 11-26-05, 04:34 PM	It's an extreme variant of the rules. Unearthed Arcana is *not* - and I mean ******NOT****** intended to be official options available to all players, it's a set of some variants, some sensible, some extreme and some plain broken that DMs can play with. Basically it's a WotC-designers-had-a-chance-to-mess-around book. Gestalt characters are one option, next to the option for simplified characters (only a couple of different classes like warrior and magic-user) and many more. It is most definitely not intended to be mixed with regular D&D, just as the wound points/vitality rule is not meant to be mixed with regular hit points or the spell point variants aren't meant to be mixed with regular Vancian magic. Gestalt characters are suggested as an option for games with only one or two players, so they can between them have some fighting ability, some magic, some stealth, etc with only one or two characters. I don't use it; I don't know anyone personally who does; I've seen it used by some people on the boards occasionally, usually at fairly high level, often in a "problem because the characters are too tough" post. I think some DMs don't realise that every part of UA is purely, totally and completely optional.
DigitalMage 11-28-05, 08:27 AM	Also, how is this abandoning the class system? It's basically "speed multiclassing". It actually uses the classes more than a standard game. Its not completely abandoning it by any means, but it is doing away with niche protection to some degree and is allowing more flexibility than the straight classes by themselves. Points buy systems take that to the extreme; no intrinisc niche protection and the flexibility to have any set of skills and abilities.
Tyler Do'Urden 11-28-05, 10:14 AM	Gestalt is not a player variant, it's a campaign variant. The text is very clear that in order to maintain verisimilitude, if one character in the world is gestalt, every character in the world must be gestalt. Gestalt is designed specifically for very small groups, say two players and a DM, where you don't have enough characters to fill all of the conventional roles (mage, priest, tank, rogue). Gestalt allows a small party to have access to all of the abilities and powers a full party would without having to deal with a DMPC. In a spitting match, nobody spits like Gestalt.