Forced Gestalt, opinions?

[Dragothien]

Paladin/Artificer... or Paladin/Alchemist...?

Please bear with me...

I am currently playing a half-orc paladin of Gruumsh (ECL 6, Pal of Slaughter 5/ Barbarian with pounce and whirling frenzy variants 1)

Upon the conclusion of a boss fight tonight, to spare you a lengthy explanation, our DM says:

"Boom. Your inner selves ( we are playing 'new' characters with the souls of 'old' characters trapped inside them) - have now awakened. As of this level, your inner self can communicate with and begin to teach your outer self. You are henceforth gestalt, for every level you gain on your new characters, you also gain one level of your old characters primary class..."

Now..my 'inner self" (old character) was an epic level Artificer with multi classes, played primarily as a bowificer. The DM has made it clear that we have to gestalt the class that primarily defined those old characters, which in this instance for me was artificer. I have somewhat of an exception to this however, as my Artificer was heavily role played as an alchemist with an interest in technology, and at the time the actual alchemist class did not exist so I went artificer and had a lot of success with it.

So... I'm trying to figure out which path to take now for the gestalt and would love to get some feedback.

Admittedly neither sync perfectly well, but there is at least some synergy with the charisma and the buffing between Artificer and Paladin.

I also can't help but wonder if as a Paladin/Alchemist.. i could swift buff as a pally and use mutagens/extracts to then jump in with smite and rage for a potentially really cool melee approach.

But each class combination does also present potential problems.
-Bombs aren't too great, would require some strategy or feat investment to make sure I'm not spending the whole battle buffing my slef, I don't have as much int as would be preferred for an artificer just yet...etc..

Well I'm sorry to ramble on, but please do give any advice or thoughts you have to share. I know this isn't overly optimized but these two classes are my only choices and I have to pick one, so thanks in advance!

[Dragothien]

Oh, just a thought to add, interestingly enough I already have unintentionally become Jekyll & Hyde via role play.

Outer self: Chaotic Evil paladin of Gruumsh
Inner self: Neutral Good Scientist

[Noneoyabizzness]

Beguiler. it is the only true answer

your current self is a hammer or perhaps a chainsaw of a god. if you are going to continue to be evil perhaps your inner half might lead you to be the person who acts more the scapel excising some threats under a veil of simplicity and unnoticed magics. manipulate those to think they aremaniuplating you into doing the things you want done

[Gnaeus]

So... I'm trying to figure out which path to take now for the gestalt and would love to get some feedback.

Admittedly neither sync perfectly well, but there is at least some synergy with the charisma and the buffing between Artificer and Paladin.

I also can't help but wonder if as a Paladin/Alchemist.. i could swift buff as a pally and use mutagens/extracts to then jump in with smite and rage for a potentially really cool melee approach.

But each class combination does also present potential problems.
-Bombs aren't too great, would require some strategy or feat investment to make sure I'm not spending the whole battle buffing my slef, I don't have as much int as would be preferred for an artificer just yet...etc!

Artificer is obviously more powerful than Alchemist. No surprises there.

For maximum synergy with evil paladin, tho, Alchemist has a lot to offer. There is a trait in one of the PF products (Chelliax maybe?) that lets you drink a potion (or presumably an infusion) as a move action if you start with it in your hand. Then there is the delay potion feat in 3.5 (CM I think) which lets you drink a potion before a combat and activate its effects as a swift.

But don't forget about poison use. You can apply poison to your weapon as a move action, and with Sticky Poison that dose can serve for multiple hits, each hit raising the save DC by 2.

Then put a wand of a buff on the alchemist list (HASTE) in a wand chamber in your sword. So in 2 rounds of buffing, you could get:
R1: Swift (Paladin Buff), Move (Apply Poison), Standard (Haste from wand)
R2: Swift (Potion you drank earlier), Move (Potion in your hand), Standard (Throw a bomb)
R3 chargepounce. If the enemy hasn't closed with you already.

[Swooper]

I've never heard of the Alchemist class. What book is it from?

[Dragothien]

Thanks for the sugges
tions so far guys. Btw, alchemist is from pathfinder advanced players guide.