TSED
2011-11-06, 08:26 PM
Hey. I plan on running a fairly long campaign in about 2 months, and I'm going with gestalt for the players. I've run gestalt before, and basically everyone has a lot more fun because they have a lot more options.
The thing is, my "old" gestalt game was a parody of D&D (they were superheroes for hire in Sigil...) and I never actually tried to make the fights challenging. They would either be a puzzle fight, an "I don't actually know how you'll deal with this but it's not dangerous so, given the theoretically infinite time you have, you'll find a way eventually" scenario, or a fight they were intended to rofflestomp quickly enough to not pose a threat.
I understand that I can't just increase CRs for a "real" challenging encounter, because suddenly you're looking at ACs, saves, and attack bonuses (and damage dealt) too high for the lower levels to deal with, even if they have a LOT more power than expected. Just putting forth regular CRs, though, won't stop them at all - especially since I plan on giving them a very high point buy and even Mutants & Masterminds power points on occasion (bhaalspawn game).
I've been thinking that I will continuously give them level-appropriate CRs that have unfair and unaccounted for advantages in things like terrain, action advantages (20 level 1 crusaders + 1 CR9 whatever = a lot harder than 1 CR11 whatever), environmental hazards, etc. etc. Or, when other bhaalspawn are involved, it can just be a fair fight with the similarly elevated level of power. And the occasional "sure, just steamroll these" encounters could be fine, too.
I just thought I'd ask other people who presumably have experience in this issue on other ways to deal with gestalt parties and CRs. The players aren't really optimizers, and I often help them optimize while they're building their characters, so I tend to have a *very* good idea of what they're mechanically capable of - but not so much what the encounters I'm pitting against them are mechanically capable of. I just happen to have a lot more experience with PC power than monster power.
TLDR: gestalts. How you CR?!
The thing is, my "old" gestalt game was a parody of D&D (they were superheroes for hire in Sigil...) and I never actually tried to make the fights challenging. They would either be a puzzle fight, an "I don't actually know how you'll deal with this but it's not dangerous so, given the theoretically infinite time you have, you'll find a way eventually" scenario, or a fight they were intended to rofflestomp quickly enough to not pose a threat.
I understand that I can't just increase CRs for a "real" challenging encounter, because suddenly you're looking at ACs, saves, and attack bonuses (and damage dealt) too high for the lower levels to deal with, even if they have a LOT more power than expected. Just putting forth regular CRs, though, won't stop them at all - especially since I plan on giving them a very high point buy and even Mutants & Masterminds power points on occasion (bhaalspawn game).
I've been thinking that I will continuously give them level-appropriate CRs that have unfair and unaccounted for advantages in things like terrain, action advantages (20 level 1 crusaders + 1 CR9 whatever = a lot harder than 1 CR11 whatever), environmental hazards, etc. etc. Or, when other bhaalspawn are involved, it can just be a fair fight with the similarly elevated level of power. And the occasional "sure, just steamroll these" encounters could be fine, too.
I just thought I'd ask other people who presumably have experience in this issue on other ways to deal with gestalt parties and CRs. The players aren't really optimizers, and I often help them optimize while they're building their characters, so I tend to have a *very* good idea of what they're mechanically capable of - but not so much what the encounters I'm pitting against them are mechanically capable of. I just happen to have a lot more experience with PC power than monster power.
TLDR: gestalts. How you CR?!