Gestalt BB, Normal Players

[SchulzR]

I was planning on creating a new campaign, complete with campaign world, in which the Big Bad was a gestalt Fighter/ Sorcerer 14. Players would have to use normal classes. I wanted to do this so that he would be a challenge to defeat even if the players got him alone. Any opinions on this?

Note that Big Bad would start at 14, but once the players caught up he would level at the rate of the party. This is so that they don't manage to kill him before the appropriate time unless they somehow figure out something exceedingly clever.

[DMVerdandi]

1. Have him use summoning spells.
A party is exponentially more dangerous than a single enemy. For every turn he has, they have roughly four. Now if they are pulling some decent damage per round, if not using spells for insta-winning, he is going to be dead meat in a round or so. More enemies for them to fight = A longer and more satisfying encounter.

2. Don't use Sorcerer. Use Spellcaster.
Unless you want use sorcerer specific spells, or want to use sorcerer specific fluff-feats, it's a waste of time. This is a BBEG after all. Spellcaster gets to cast off of Sorcerer,Cleric, and Druid lists. Great variety. And it can choose which score to cast from, and whether it's going to be divine or arcane casting. Plus you can fluff as you wish.
Also, cleric and druid spells give the guy a much higher survival rate on his own, as he can now cure and buff like a champ.

3. Pick up arcane strike or smiting spell.
Being able to charge your weapon with magic is just dope.

4. Pick up UMD, and give him plenty of useful magic items.
He doesn't have to be set to the standard WBL. You can deck him out in magical schwag.
A couple of minor schema/Eternal wands for spells he can't cast, and he's good.

5. Have an escape plan.
Always.

[Spore]

You have successfully killed my doppelganger and you're really in for a world of hurt!

Give him mooks and some overachieving guy has "won" the right to play his role (of being killed). I really like the idea of the party beating down someone with roughly enough HP to count as the BBEG and then they get ambushed by the real deal.

[Vaz]

Don't make him a fighter, or a Sorcerer. Make him a Warblade/Psion.

The Spell to Power Erudite allows access to Psionic versions of spells, a "Mana Point" system, which is limited by the maximum amount of different powers that you can cast in a day, but no maximum number of uses etc.

The Chassis is fantastic as well; D12HD, 4+Int Skills (and Int focused), Good Will and Fort, with Int to Reflex Saves, Int to Critical Hit Confirmation, a Bonus Feat list.

There could be some decent correlation between a Dungeoncrasher Fighter with Sorcerer having polymorphed yourself into something like a War Troll (combine Knockback with Dungeoncrasher Damage, and the ability to Daze). There's no real need to progress Fighter past 6, and Barbarian 2 with Pounce, Rage, Improved Trip etc can do quite well as another bonus. You can then add on Warblade 6 as well if you desire.

Don't have him be a human. Introduce him to shapechanging characters; Doppelgangers, say, or Steel Dragons. Spells which target "Humanoids" like Hold Person etc would be lost...

[chainer1216]

To Answer your actual question, its fine, in fact its a good way to make a BBEG feel more threatening, it makes it more versatile, but not strickly harder to kill, it'll still have the same general AC/HP/Saves as the PCs.

[SchulzR]

...Don't have him be a human. Introduce him to shapechanging characters; Doppelgangers, say, or Steel Dragons. Spells which target "Humanoids" like Hold Person etc would be lost...

In order to fit with the story I've written out for him, he needs to be human. Another race would throw off the flavor I'm going. I will, however, look into the Warblade/ Psion, or possibly Warblade/ Spellcaster

[TheIronGolem]

In order to fit with the story I've written out for him, he needs to be human. Another race would throw off the flavor I'm going. I will, however, look into the Warblade/ Psion, or possibly Warblade/ Spellcaster

Bear in mind that a gestalt character is still just one guy, and has to work within the same action economy as any of the PCs. A smart baddie should remember this and act accordingly. He should only choose to engage the party directly if he has enough backup to keep them from focusing on him, or enough magical shenanigans set up to increase his ability to act relative to the PC's. He should also (barring some major hubris/overconfidence, admittedly a common Big Bad trait) prepare a contingency escape plan for occasions when he gets caught in the open, one that will allow him to retreat somewhere where he has the advantage again. Not only is that smart BBEG design, it's also a major adventure hook, because it means the players have to figure out what the BBEG's escape plan is, how it can be thwarted, and what they need to gather/accomplish to do so - you can spin several lead-up adventures out of all that.

[Ason]

It might be unfair (then again it's a BBEG, so fighting him should be a different experience), but you could also have each half of his gestalt act on a separate initiative order. In this case, you would use the same defenses, skills and hit points for him throughout the fight, but on the sorcerer-half's initiative, the BBEG would only cast spells, while on the fighter-half's turn, he would only use his weapons. This has three advantages: 1) it breaks up the players' action advantage, 2) it encourages you as a DM to utilize both halves of his build, letting each set of his unique abilities shine through and 3) it gives your players an "Oh *bleep*" moment as they realize this guy is faster/more magical/stronger than they anticipated. The downside is that it's definitely not in the rule AFAIK, but you can overrule that with the rule of cool and DM fiat, which I think is acceptable in one-off instances like this.

[RavynsLand]

I'm actually shooting for this in my current campaign (PC's are seventh level currently), using a faction called the Illuminati who only really show up one at a time, are fully kitted out, a little higher-level, gestalted, AND get an extra standard action per round. They're designed to be prepped for and be hero point-burners. I haven't used the first one yet, so can't say how the combat will go. I'll get back to ya then.