Gestalt campaign general advice

[Theroc]

Okay, I didn't know what to title this, but I am bouncing ideas around and figured I'd pick some brains here.

Okay, group of friends decide to play D&D to hang out, and finally play D&D since most of us never get to despite wanting to.

DM has allowed just about anything printed by Wizards 3.x, and The Evolutionist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240717) for play(I requested it because I love the class.

My original idea was an Evolutionist|Totemist, but the party composition is making me wonder if I should tweak the concept slightly.

Here's the chargen I can remember:
Attributes: 4d6b3, two sets, pick the better, arrange to taste(within each set), or 30 point buy.
Sources: 3.X, anything (He's okayed me playing a Half-Minotaur Evolutionist Totemist, so as long as I don't go hogwild superop and kill everythingforever, he'll be lenient with odd stuff)
HP: Max at 1st level, roll each level after
Restriction: No Fiend-related stuff or evil stuff, one of the players has very strong objections, so we're avoiding evil outsiders pretty much alltogether.
We get a free +1 LA to play with.

Note: I'm the most familiar with the ruleset in question, so I want to try to keep in line with my party and fill a needed role.

The party thus far:
Crusader|Knight (He plans to be the Tank/controller who keeps people generally unable to fight other people as much as possible and help keep people up a bit)
Paladin|Sorcerer (Couldn't decide between an arcane caster concept and a Paladin, so he's going for a dragon-flavored Paladin who augments the pursuit of justice with the arcane might in his veins)
A rogue|Something(This player isn't entirely sure yet
Probable Duskblade|Warblade
Potential Wizard (The player has never seen 3.X before, so... I'm trying to encourage them to sorcerer or a simpler class, since his brother was telling me he just wants to use magic for everything, but I don't want him to drown in spellchoices)
And me. Potential Evolutionist|Totemist, but thinking about switching up the Totemist end. Seems Arcane casting is covered heavy, frontliners is decent as well.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or should I just roll with Evo|Totemist?

[Kaje]

Totemist or incarnate works very well in gestalt, both having passive features. As does binder, which I cannot recommend highly enough, though that may upset your easily-offended friend.

[Theroc]

Mostly I was wondering if one would feel there was 'room' for another 'frontliner' in the party. An Evolutionist|Totemist would be a pretty potent frontline character, but between the Crusader|Knight, Sorcadin and DuskWarblade, I wasn't sure if it wasn't redundant.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would go Evolutionist/egoist. Take full orc half giant or half Minotaur. Go the giant and take expanded knowledge for expansion. At low levels you are big and get bigger. Get a natural attack and boot it's reach. Boost strength and int with your mutations.

Be a back row fighter reaching over everyone to strike with impunity. Take combat reflexes and act as a massive umbrella allowing allies to move freely and foes to be stopped and tripped. Have ether you or the rogue take the ToB stance that lets him flank from any angle and suddenly you are his best friend. Anything you threaten is sneak attack fodder.

There is a collar is Arms and Equipment Guide that lets you be a small creature when you wish without losing that awesome strength.

[Theroc]

I would go Evolutionist/egoist. Take full orc half giant or half Minotaur. Go the giant and take expanded knowledge for expansion. At low levels you are big and get bigger. Get a natural attack and boot it's reach. Boost strength and int with your mutations.

Be a back row fighter reaching over everyone to strike with impunity. Take combat reflexes and act as a massive umbrella allowing allies to move freely and foes to be stopped and tripped. Have ether you or the rogue take the ToB stance that lets him flank from any angle and suddenly you are his best friend. Anything you threaten is sneak attack fodder.

There is a collar is Arms and Equipment Guide that lets you be a small creature when you wish without losing that awesome strength.

I'm unsure if I'll need expansion, given that I plan to be Half-Minotaur, which would already make me large-sized, then I can also take Teratomorphs through evolutionist for further permanent size increases. Getting beyond huge would likely cause issues. That and I probably should have noted I'd rather not use Psionics because I'm not very familiar with it. The reach is a nice thing to note, getting a larger reach could let me attack over allies. Had not thought of that.

[Fouredged Sword]

Fighter is an option, at least for two levels. Bab and feats are always nice. Druid is also fun. Druidic Avenger ACF is a great way to be a barbarian+.

May I ask if you have a particular set of Totemist melds in mind. I ask because Totemist is great as a two level dip for the totem meld slot then on to other things. If you want grallion arms, you can then go into something full bab or something to provide more utility.

Evolutionist seems to be a great class, but it also seems to be a passive one like totemist. I would prefer to match that to a more active class rather than another passive class.

I could see Druid or Cleric as a high contender. You lack a utility caster, and druids make great restorers (you will need a means of healing stuff that doesn't come back naturally, it will really suck the first time you get ability damage or some such)

Factotum could be a very interesting idea. You can boost your int with Evolutionist and then add int to everything with factotum.

Looking over Evolutionist in more detail I have to agree with you that more than huge may be overkill. Infact, large itself may be plenty. Get the Tentacle x2 and extend reach to 25ft.

An incarnum class mixed with Azure Form will let you pull a spell out of nowhere from a rather large list (not restoration though, you may want to pick up a batch of scrolls of it or the rogue to UMD).

[Theroc]

Fighter is an option, at least for two levels. Bab and feats are always nice. Druid is also fun. Druidic Avenger ACF is a great way to be a barbarian+.

May I ask if you have a particular set of Totemist melds in mind. I ask because Totemist is great as a two level dip for the totem meld slot then on to other things. If you want grallion arms, you can then go into something full bab or something to provide more utility.

Evolutionist seems to be a great class, but it also seems to be a passive one like totemist. I would prefer to match that to a more active class rather than another passive class.

I could see Druid or Cleric as a high contender. You lack a utility caster, and druids make great restorers (you will need a means of healing stuff that doesn't come back naturally, it will really suck the first time you get ability damage or some such)

Factotum could be a very interesting idea. You can boost your int with Evolutionist and then add int to everything with factotum.

Looking over Evolutionist in more detail I have to agree with you that more than huge may be overkill. Infact, large itself may be plenty. Get the Tentacle x2 and extend reach to 25ft.

An incarnum class mixed with Azure Form will let you pull a spell out of nowhere from a rather large list (not restoration though, you may want to pick up a batch of scrolls of it or the rogue to UMD).

Well, UMD can be made a class skill with evolutionist, and doesn't the Paladin get restore spells? Lesser Restoration as early as level 4.

My plan for Evolutionist/Totemist is a grappling. Lots of Grappling. If the party winds up needing something else, I can change soulmelds to help fill the gap.

We also have another player joining the party whose class combinations haven't been touched on... just learned today at our first preliminary meeting, so we have plenty of people. Might see if the new player would like a druid or cleric.

So, my stat rolls were good. If I didn't misapply the Half-Minotaur template (I heard there was a debate about whether it modifies strength for the size change or not, I was under the impression it does, so if the DM has an issue that might change[Our first session was without DM guidance outside the character creation guidelines, and I'm most familiar with the rules]) my stats are
Str: 28
Dex: 14
Con: 22
Int: 13
Wis: 12
Cha: 15

Base rolls were:
16
16
16
15
15
12

I am probably just going to go with the totemist at this point since the group doesn't seem worried (The 'Wizard' decided to go with Warlock|Sorcerer, so we have plenty of potential UMD candidates.)

[Theroc]

Posting here again as I have been considering Druid and Cleric more, I usually am not fond of the Divine Casters because I prefer being blasty(but that's covered SO HEAVILY it'd be silly to go blasty spellcaster too), and because I am not fond of the different restrictions of the class (And I am afraid of being CoDzilla in a game where I'm most familiar with the ruleset... and Wildshape/Polymorph gives me a headache, which sucks since I LOVE shapechanging.)

Major downside of Druid would be that Wildshaping doesn't jive well with Evolutionist, reason being most mutations don't mean jack when you're not in your normal form, and that Wildshape seemed unwieldy and complicated for layman's use. I suppose if I specialized in a certain shape it would be less problematic.

Also considered doing changeling as the base race and doing Barbarian/Warshaper/Frenzied Berserker, but that is very frontliner(But having huge sized horns sounds hilarious and a 15' reach for a pouncing charge makes it even funnier.)

Current party:
Fire Genasi Crusader|Knight (Going for a Sir Kay feel from Arthurian Legend, intends to be primary tank and force all the enemies to attack him)
Draconic (Lesser)Aasimar Sorcadin taking Draconic Heritage(Gold Dragon)
Draconic Silvanesti Elf Duskblade|Warblade(DM said any race can be lifted from settings, the stats being fine, but setting will change, so he's playing an arrogant elf who the party will not let open his mouth (8 charisma and the Conceited Flaw from danddwiki(-3 or for to bluff diplomacy and something else)
Draconic (Lesser)Aasimar Warlock|Dread Necromancer (I talked with this player more and he favored more spammability and liked the idea of the Necromancy stuff coupled with Warlock)
Some Rogue-type, I think the DM or one of the other players who knows that player said something about bird-spirit or something, no idea.
A player who hasn't decided on race, but is thinkin' Druid|Something for class, either Psychic Warrior or Swordsage probably.
and Me. Base Race undecided (Defaulting human unless I go for warshaper or something)Half-Minotaur Evolutionist|Something, considering Cleric.

As a note: I helped most of the players come up with their concepts and gave my advice on making their concepts strong mechanically... so, with all the casters I'm slightly less worried about optimization, but I don't wanna make anyone feel useless in our group.

Any additional advice?

[Theroc]

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