Someone explain Gesalt to me?

[Titanium Fox]

Okay, so I see this a lot, and I get the basics, that you get two level progressions side by side per level up. However, google doesn't seem to be helping me much.

How does the level progression work? Do I literally just level up twice every experience level gained? (EX: Add two levels of Fighter?) Can you put the same class on both sides? (EX: Fighter 10 / Fighter 10 = Fighter 20) Can you multiclass beyond the two sides of the equation? (EX: Fighter 10 - Rogue 10 / Cleric 20)?

...Actually, a better question to ask would probably be what book this comes from. XD

[OracleofSilence]

no. you choose two classes, get the class features from both, the best skill progression, the class skills from both, and the best HD and Saves in each category.

and it must be TWO classes, even if it Archivist/Cleric or Sorcerer/Wizard

[DogbertLinc]

Gestalt if from unearthed Arcana, and I do believe it's srd content.

[Amnestic]

The Gestalt rules are from Unearthed Arcana, the SRD entry you can find here. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm)

Heh, swordsage'd, but I brought a link. Windication!

[boj0]

You get the best of both worlds every level.

For example a Wizard 10||Warblade 10 has 10d12 Hit Dice, 4+Int skill points per level, Good Fort and Will saves (AFB so I'm not sure about Ref) a familiar, spells as a 10th level Wizard, stances and maneuvers as a 10th level Warblade, weapon aptitude/the battle X line from Warblade, a few bonus feats from both classes.
In short, you cover a Wizard's low HP, skills, and non-Will saves, and the Warblade gets Phenomenal Cosmic PowerTM

[Yora]

Has there ever been any explaination why the system has been named Gestalt? It doesn't make any sense, as the german word simply means shape, guise, or appearance, neither has anything to do with gestalt characters.

[Ozymandias]

Has there ever been any explaination why the system has been named Gestalt? It doesn't make any sense, as the german word simply means shape, guise, or appearance, neither has anything to do with gestalt characters.

It's probably from gestalt psychology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology) which is the only context in which laypeople are likely to recognize the word. To oversimplify gestalt psychology - the brain does a lot of things, and they all work together.

[Amnestic]

Has there ever been any explaination why the system has been named Gestalt? It doesn't make any sense, as the german word simply means shape, guise, or appearance, neither has anything to do with gestalt characters.

"It is used in English to refer to a concept of 'wholeness'." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt)

Yes, I'm quoting wikipedia, sue me :P I can only assume that a gestalt character could be seen as more 'whole' than one who is not, as they tend to cover more bases.

Dunno if we ever got a real answer. "Dual-Class" might make more sense, though they already used that name in 2e (which amusingly is closer to what 3e Multiclassing is, and 2e multiclassing seems to be closer to Gestalt).

[Yora]

"It is used in English to refer to a concept of 'wholeness'." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt)
Not that this makes any more sense. (Wholeness works in german as wel, but then it has to be whole Gestalt or entire Gestalt. They dropped the important part and kept the redundant one.)

[Telonius]

I think it gets lumped in because of a famous quote from Kurt Koffka, a Gestalt psychologist: "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."* This is basically what D&D Gestalt is supposed to be about. It's taking the best parts of both things and making something better than either one of them would be alone.

* - also translated as "other than the sum of the parts," but I can't seem track down the original quote in German.

[Yora]

Das Ganze ist mehr als die Summe seiner Teile. The best translation of mehr als would be "more than just".
Adding more parts to improve the wholeness of the subject is exactly what this quote is not about, or rather the opposite of it. But that's getting really far away from the topic.

[Rogue Shadows]

Because Gestalt sounds cool. That's why.

Seriously I don't think it goes any deeper than that.