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XagencyX
2007-04-15, 02:08 AM
Ok, so I'm designing a gestalt character. I'm going with archer as the basic idea behind it, with skirmishing abilities. We're starting at level seven, so I was planning on taking one side of the progression as pure Scout, and then mixing up a bit on the other side of the progression. Here's my problem. For the first level or two, I want to go Fighter, for the HP and attack progression, and feats to dump into ranged combat. However, if I later take a class that has an attack progression that's lower than both the Fighter and Scout, Wizard for instance, do I just ignore that side of the attack progression? It's got me a bit confused, and any help would be wonderful. Thanks in advance.

Allow me to Clarify.

Lvl Fighter Wizard Scout
attack attack attack

1 1 0 0
2 2 1 1
3 3 1 2
4 4 2 3
5 5 2 3
6 6/1 3 4
7 7/2 3 5



Now, obviously if at level 1, the Fighter BAB is better than the Scout BAB, then I take the Fighter.

Lvl BAB

1 1

Now, if at level 2, I take Fighter again, I'll take the better BAB.

Lvl BAB

2 2

Here comes the problem. If at level 3, I take Wizard/Scout, then my attack progression gets confusing, as both the Scout and Wizard's attack bonus are lower than the attack bonus that I already have. This gets even worse if I take Fighter levels longer. How do I interpret this?

Hamster_Ninja
2007-04-15, 02:14 AM
You would use the better progression, so if you had Fighter//Wizard you would have a +1 BAB/Level and D10 Hit die, and if you had Fighter 6/Wizard 2//Scout 8, you would use the fighter progression until level 7, then take the Scout BAB/HD and so on.

Edit: Atleast I assume so.

Jack Mann
2007-04-15, 02:17 AM
You take the highest progression each level. Each time you take a new level, you take the best aspect of each class you're taking that level. So, if you take fighter//scout first level, you would have a BAB increase of +1. If you took wizard//scout the next level, you would have a BAB increase of +0.75 (there's a reason they put the fractional saves and BAB right by gestalt, folks), for a total of 1.75, rounded down to 1. If you went wizard//archivist the next level, you would get a BAB increase of +0.5, for a total of 2.25, rounded down to 2.

Tellah
2007-04-15, 02:19 AM
Yeah, you just take the best BAB of the two. I try in general to take one side with poor BAB and great abilities, and the other with full BAB. A dip into psion, for instance, would allow you to take Psionic Shot (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicFeats.html#psionic-shot), Precognition, Offensive (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicPowersGtoP.html#precognition-offensive), Prescience, Offensive (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicPowersGtoP.html#prescience-offensive), and Skate (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicPowersQtoW.html#skate), which would synergize quite nicely with a Scout build.

XagencyX
2007-04-15, 02:20 AM
Awesome. Thanks very much guys. I think I've got it now, and I just noticed the Fractional BAB side note, heh.

JaronK
2007-04-15, 02:51 AM
Yes, there's a reason it's there. You should always use fractional BAB in Gestalt. Weird things can happen otherwise.

JaronK

Douglas
2007-04-15, 03:25 AM
"Weird things" like the Fighter 1/Wizard 19//Sorcerer 20 with +20 BAB at level 20 despite having 19 levels where both sides of the gestalt have the worst BAB progression.

technomancer
2007-04-15, 04:41 AM
My group always ran it where you tallied up both sides separatly and used the better of the two. In the Fighter1Wizard19//Sorcerer 20 example, the BaB would be +10//+10, take the better of the two, which is +10. It's just easier that way.

Latronis
2007-04-15, 05:10 AM
The fighter is the better progression so +2 by fighter and +1 by wizard the better progression is the +2

JaronK
2007-04-15, 08:05 AM
My group always ran it where you tallied up both sides separatly and used the better of the two. In the Fighter1Wizard19//Sorcerer 20 example, the BaB would be +10//+10, take the better of the two, which is +10. It's just easier that way.

That's how it works with Fractional BAB, but that's not the default rule. You chose the better BAB at each level, not as a whole. Thus, at level 1, you gain +1 BAB, because fighter BAB just went up by 1. At level 2, you gain +1 BAB because Sorcerer BAB just went up by 1. Continue to BAB +20.

The "total up on the best side" thing is actually just another way to figure out Fractional BAB, for the most part.

So yeah, your group is just doing a slightly harder to figure out (if you do a lot of multiclassing) fractional BAB system.

JaronK

SMDVogrin
2007-04-15, 04:23 PM
That's how it works with Fractional BAB, but that's not the default rule. You chose the better BAB at each level, not as a whole. Thus, at level 1, you gain +1 BAB, because fighter BAB just went up by 1. At level 2, you gain +1 BAB because Sorcerer BAB just went up by 1. Continue to BAB +20.

The "total up on the best side" thing is actually just another way to figure out Fractional BAB, for the most part.

So yeah, your group is just doing a slightly harder to figure out (if you do a lot of multiclassing) fractional BAB system.

JaronK

Actually, that's NOT how it works, even not using Fractional BAB/Saves. The rules say that you use the best _progression_, not that you advance if one of your classes advance. So your Fighter/Wizard//Sorcerer would have one level of full BAB progression, and 19 levels of 1/2 BAB progression. This works just like it does for class features like sneak attack (if you have two classes that get sneak attack, you advance at the rate of the faster, you don't get sneak attack dice on any level that one of the classes increases theirs)

Fractional BAB/Saves just makes the paperwork easier.

The_Snark
2007-04-15, 04:28 PM
Yeah, the standard is that you only take the best progression. Fractional BAB, as I understand it, lets you get more out of multiclassing, especially in gestalt; in gestalt, it also makes these things much easier to figure out.