Gestald monsters

[Faerron]

Dear forum readers,

As the name of the topic suggests I would like to get some imput of players/DM's more experienced than myself about this subject. First some background: I was in the way of planning a campaing for some friends of mine when halfway through the idea of a gestald campaign was mentioned. This interested me, for I was planning a campaign where magic would be rather commen but still keep them at a low level (3 to start). Other than that, I enjoy coming up with interresting villains, fights and traps so this would give me a lot more to play with.

So my question would be the following: What are your thoughts on a gestald monster (as enemy) with class levels as well as monster hitdice (one in each track, respectively). Would it be unballanced? Would it be pointless? Should I restrict to baseclasses? Should I not bother at all?

Any idea's and discussion is greatly appreciated :)

[Godskook]

1.As a DM, anything and everything you modify about the game rules *WILL* change the balance. You need to get used to eyeballing things a little.

2.Gestalt is quite powerful, and a gestalt Ogre wizard 4 will be unusually durable for a wizard(compared to non-gestalted human wizards), but will actually be frail compared to a regular ogre wizard 4, who benefits from having an additional 4 HD and such.

3.Ignore the 'rules' in UA, and come up with your own or ask here. Mine is basically that 'quadratic' class progressions must stay on one track and that fast-casters are either banned(Ur-Priest, Beholder Mage) or heavily moderated(Sublime Chord). Outside that, most anything is allowed.

(Quadratic refers mostly to any progression that gains new 'levels' of abilities as it progresses, like Initiator, Caster, or Manifester.)

[sonofzeal]

While it might occasionally produce cool results, you'd often be better off with simply having more enemies. An Ogre//Wizard gestalt generally won't be as fun an encounter as an Ogre and a Wizard together, as it's likely to get mobbed on action economy and can only be in one place at a time. A two-monster team has a lot more tactical flexibility, offsets the PC's action economy advantage, and provides more variety.

Important NPCs can be gestalt, but I wouldn't use it for most fights, even in a gestalt campaign.

[Faerron]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. And the spelling error.
Also a good point about the actions, have to really think if gestalt is right for what I want to do afterall. I was really looking along the lines of boosting the more common animals (bears, wolfs etc) to the point they are actually a treat without generating a army. Giving a bear barbarian levels, a wolf rogue levels or having owls with sorcerer levels seemed like a fun thing to do inside a high-magical campaign, as it effects the local wildlife etc. What would be your thoughts on that kind of idea? and would it work with gestalt, you think?