1. Is incarnum as good in gestalt as I think it is? The Incarnate class in particular, it's meldshaping abilities are attractive but the class's skeleton is horrible- bad BAB, bad skills, bad HP etc...
2. Would incarnum classes be well matched by ToB? My player wants a swordsage/incarnate but I thought a warblade/incarnate would be more useful, I honestly don't know if there's any synergy between the books.
3. Another character is a favored soul/paladin, what kind of build would synergize it it rather than overshadow it? Should the Pally take a Crusader dip to compensate?
Now, as far as campaign specifics go- no Ebberon, no Forgotten Realms, everything else is fair game and characters start at level six.
Your help is appreciated!
However, I did have a guy in my gestalt campaign that was a cleric/palidin (obviously, the Favored Soul will make your CHA more useful). The way he worked it was that all of his feats went in to his mounted combat and improving his mount, and then his spells were primarily used for buffs and healing. He also used the non-caster Paladin variant from Complete Champion that gave bonus feats I think he started taking some levels in Cavalier -- I just started calling his character "death-lance". Once he started to get good battlefield-control spells, he'd fire one off, and then charge in for the finish (after a proper buff, of course). I guess that the point is that your Favored Soul should synergize amazingly well with Palidin, and shouldn't really over-shadow unless you let it. Also, if you find a deity that has lance or longsword as his favored weapon, it would make Cavalier easier to get to, because of the Favored Soul bonus weapon feats.
Not sure what direction your campaign is going, but check-out BoED and/or Draconomican.
Like I said, sorry I couldn't help with incarnum or ToB. I hope the other stuff helps, though.
See, the paladin is worried that his ability to tank or be a mêlée threat will be compromised if a Book of Nine swords character is dancing around. He's never read the book, he's just heard rumors, so I suggested a two level crusader dip might bring him up to speed.
Meanwhile the ToB guy thought: "Swordsage+Incarnate=Awesome" And wanted to know if the other ToB classes had better synergy with the incarnate.
Not that it matters, there will also be a gnome Archivist//wizard/ nightmare spinner/ shadowcraft mage. Gotta love gestalt casters, he'll probably wipe the floor with the other two if he plays his cards right...
On an unrelated note, can druids use Martial adept maneuvers while wildshaped?
I don't remember posting this, I am very sorry! It's true though!
it's very similar to a good drink.
As it stands, the best combo I've ever played was a Binder/Warlock. Both classes are awesome in their own right, they honestly seem like two faces of the same class, and the thing was a gal-darn BEAST.
Hellfire warlock + constant Naberius bind = 16d6 hellfire damage with instant Con regen.
Artificer + anything works great too, and an Artificer + Incarnate may possibly be much awesome if your DM is a little fast and loose with the rules on what counts as an ITEM
BTW, the paladin only need be concerned about people taking the tank spotlight if someone plays a Better Paladin, also known as a Crusader. Those things are walking Shermans.
Another reason I keep the fighter, other than nostalgia, is as a dip. Characters could alway use more feats, and the fighter bonus feat list is fairly good. In a gestalt campaign characters are even more feat starved, so the fighter, as a dip, stays in.
I like the drink analogy, I think it should be expounded upon.
In the same sense, think about the posibilities offered by a gestalt game. Yeah, you can make a Trunamer/Spellthief, but the combination leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
(note: when writing that sentance, I came up with about 1 dozen ideas that I thought would suck, but may indeed have some merit. More on that later.)
Numbers don't mean everything, either. If something has good flavor, it doesn't nessecarilly need a lot of punch; just look at the Mojito (Mmmm...minty-rum goodness). Take the Bard/Shadowcaster: Sub-par nearly everything, but damn if that guy can't make his whole living off of the world's best shadow-puppet show!
The best drinks, though, are the ones that combine Flavor, Punch, and Simplicity into one amazing whole; the rum-and-coke, if you will. These are mixes like Shadowcaster/Ninja, Swordsage/warlock, Monk/warlock, Fighter/OA Samurai, Rouge/monk, Fighter/monk, Crusader/Cleric
1. the a warlock with the right invocations needs no stats at all (all are of secondary necessity) and therefore can be paired with ANYTHING (save perhaps a druid, I don't think you can use invocations while wildshaping)
2. Monks would go good in Rouge
3. I at fist thought you meant the CW Samauri, a combo of that and a fighter would be the worst use of gestalt ever, but the OA one is pretty good- though I'm not sure what it brings to the fighter other than a few bonus feats and a magic weapon.
Something you're missing: Swordsage/Warblade: d12 hit die, full BaB 6+int skills, three goods saves, 8 out of 9 schools, and only slightly mad!
2. Monks would go good in Rouge
I do love Kabuki!
More seriously, I would swap it to this:
Unarmed Swordsage//Rogue OR Factotum
The warblade//factotum combo is considered basically gnarly as well...
Sorcerer 4/Geomancer 10/X 6
Taking knowledge devotion (to get knowledge nature), and battle blessing to get the ability to make all your spells swift or normal standard action.
Full bab, good saves, and invincible saves if you take the divine companion feature. And an IL of 18 and thus almost all the crusader goodies.
Paladin 4/Crusader 16//
Sorcerer 4/Geomancer 10/X 6
Taking knowledge devotion (to get knowledge nature), and battle blessing to get the ability to make all your spells swift or normal standard action.
Full bab, good saves, and invincible saves if you take the divine companion feature. And an IL of 18 and thus almost all the crusader goodies.
You left off where you are getting 2nd level divine spells for geomancer
I am sure there is a way but paladin doesn't get them till 8th level .
You also forgot to mention all the other goodies geomancer gets
drifts
ley lines
the ability to apply spell parameters to other spells IE the battle blessing working for all your spells.
other than where you are getting 2nd level divine spells this would be a great build.
You left off where you are getting 2nd level divine spells for geomancer
I am sure there is a way but paladin doesn't get them till 8th level .
You also forgot to mention all the other goodies geomancer gets
drifts
ley lines
the ability to apply spell parameters to other spells IE the battle blessing working for all your spells.
other than where you are getting 2nd level divine spells this would be a great build.
Forgot about 2nd level divine spells. Okay throw in improved sigil krau or sanctum spell and you are good to go.
Note this build is for the paladin who is afraid of being overshadowed. It is almost impossible to overshadow the above build. Have him casting 4 buff spells in 1 round (two of which are level 4 spells so polymorph and one more 4th level buff) at level 10 is kinda hard to overshadow.
Favored Soul20//Paladin10/ Kensai10 OR Favored Soul20//Paladin15/ Kensai 5
I have houseruled that Kaensai gets full BaB.
Archivist20// Illusionist5/nightmare spinner5/ shadowcraft mage5/ Dread Witch5
Houseruled to not let him loose caster levels
And a Warblade//GOod incarnate
his build isn't finished
I am currently trying to convince the Pally to take:
Favored Soull 11/ Fist of Raziel 9// Paladin5/ Kensai 5/ Fist of Raziel 1/ Paladin 9
A better one would be:
Crusader 20// Favored Soul 10/ Contemplative 10
But he wants to be a paladin