Running a gestalt (dm advise)

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

Can anyone give me tips and pointers because if our next game is gonna be under 3 ppl i might run it as a gestalt.

Do i run the monsters amd baddies 3 cr ahead of the party? Things like that.

[Shining Wrath]

A gestalt is not equivalent to two characters because of the action economy.

An interesting approach (used in current game I'm in) is to allow gestalt of low-tier classes but not high tier classes. A gestalt Wizard - Druid is absurdly powerful. A Warlock - Warblade is quite a bit more manageable.

For your purposes, this would mean you'd set things up as though all the characters were Tier 1 and Tier 2. Some people will argue that a gestalt of two Tier 3's is still not Tier 2, but they are getting VERY flexible even if they don't have the "nuke this encounter" capability.

[Kamin_Majere]

Under 3 people... like a group of 2?

If so have them feel free to Gestalt until their heart is content. Unless they are insane and are using TO builds then you really have nothing to worry about. Normal challenge rating for the party will work perfectly fine with 2 characters and probably will work fine with 3 characters. You run into action economy hurting you more so than anything else. A group of 2 characters might be the upper crust of 3rd level power, but with only one action each compared to say a group of 4 or 5 gnolls they end up still taking the hits they would with out the gestalt and with a normal 4 person party (and in some cases more)

Basically see how it plays out though and if they use gestalt to gain power and cover weaknesses instead of insane optimization then you wont have any problems. At most you can add in one or more of the creatures and have action economy end up their biggest weakness to keep them from feeling like they are walking through encounters

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

Should i gestalt enemies? Like a cleric//fighter for a church guard

[Shining Wrath]

Should i gestalt enemies? Like a cleric//fighter for a church guard

My DM runs things that way - every "important" NPC is created using the same rules we used.

[Asteron]

Should i gestalt enemies? Like a cleric//fighter for a church guard

I'm running a gestalt campaign now, and I only gestalt the bosses and I never give them too many minions. It adds some challenge to the fight without turning the action economy against the party.

[dascarletm]

In gestalt games I run, I have some tiers of enemies


For a warrior archetype

T1(Da Biggest): Character creation method of the PCs. (Warblade//Barbarian for example)
T2 (Da Nobz):PC class levels, of equal caliber to the player's classes. (Warblade)
T3 (Da Boyz): PC class levels, of lower caliber to the player's classes (Fighter)
T4 (Scrawny Gitz): NPC Classes (Warrior)

[Andreaz]

The game balance doesn't change much if you're not combining two caster classes or PrCs of similar purpose. It's still one dude doing one or two things at a time.
The main gain is accessing some combinations a bit earlier, more fuel to keep going and probably somewhat better saves.

Thus there's not much to suggest that wouldn't apply to normal games in the first place. Make longer days! More encounters, err to the powerful side when comparing to standard challenges, but only a little bit.
On a far more general level, I'd limit teleports to line of sight.

[Gorr_the_Gastly]

Thanks for all the advise. See i have played in gestalt small parties were we just walked through 90% of encounterswith no trouble and while fun for a bit got boring.

I tend to fond obscure items and combos and the others play brutes or gishes.

[Shining Wrath]

The game balance doesn't change much if you're not combining two caster classes or PrCs of similar purpose. It's still one dude doing one or two things at a time.
The main gain is accessing some combinations a bit earlier, more fuel to keep going and probably somewhat better saves.

Thus there's not much to suggest that wouldn't apply to normal games in the first place. Make longer days! More encounters, err to the powerful side when comparing to standard challenges, but only a little bit.
On a far more general level, I'd limit teleports to line of sight.

Don't discount the hit dice - a well designed gestalt will usually have at least one class with D10 or better, which can take away the main drawback of rogue-type classes.