Partial Gestalt by Tier Variant

[Xerlith]

Okay. In my ventures above and beyond sanity of multiclassing, I had an idea that builds off JaronK's Quick And Dirty Tier equalizing methods.

Here we go.

Basics


Tier
Level Point Cost


1, 2
5


3
3


4, 5
2


6
1



At every level, a character gains 4 Tier Points.

When not possessing any gestalt levels, the character can disregard the costs wholly. They still calculate the cost (So, a Wizard 1 has -1 Tier Points), but are not limited by it.

The character can choose to spend their points to gestalt two or more classes on any given level, as long as the total cost of their class levels doesn't set their Tier Point total as a negative number.

A 20th level character, for instance, has 80 Tier points. That means they can be a Wizard 20. Or a Bard 20//Paladin 10. Or a Paladin 20//Cavalier 20. But also a Fighter20//Wizard 12.

A 1st level character can be a Wizard 1, but that sets their Tier Points at -1, making them unable to gestalt. If the character gains 2nd level, they have a total of 3 Tier Points. They can either continue to take Wizard levels, or decide to take a Gestalt of two levels that don't take more than three points.

Prestige classes

If a level taken in a prestige class would advance spellcasting of a base class, the cost is equal to that of the base class whose abilities are being progressed.

The levels that do not progress spellcasting cost two Tier Points instead.

Levels that progress a base class entirely (e.g. Evangelist level 2 and above) have a cost of the base class in question +1.


Thoughts? Too convoluted? Too much high-tier freedom? I just threw it together and while the underlying math is rather sound, I think the overall rulings can use some work.

[Demidos]

A character has a number of Tier Points equal to character level*4.

A 20th level character, for instance, has 80 Tier points. That means they can be a Wizard 20. Or a Bard 20//Paladin 10. Or a Paladin 20//Cavalier 20. But also a Fighter20//Wizard 12.

A 1st level character can be a Wizard 1, but that sets their Tier Points at 5, making them unable to gestalt, because their Tier Points total is 4. If the character gains 2nd level, they have a total of 8 Tier Points - five of them in use. They can either continue to take Wizard levels, or decide to take a Gestalt of two levels that don't take more than three points.
Now that they're gestalted, though, their Wizard levels count against their Tier Points total - and they must check on every given level if they're eligible to take more.

Thoughts? Too convoluted? Too much high-tier freedom? I just threw it together and while the underlying math is rather sound, I think the overall rulings can use some work.

Well, its definitely interesting. Very very interesting...

Any particular reason you're limiting it to gestalt versus simply making them stick with the available points? Such as, I don't see anything inherently broken in a Spellthief//Aristocrat//CW Samurai (2/1/1). Obviously this is an extremely niche case, but I was just curious if there was some particular reasoning behind it :smallbiggrin:

I was going to include a warning about how partial gestalt isn't always necessary except with system-savvy players, but I'd guess you already know that if you read the tier system.

Cool system though.

[Xerlith]

First of all, thanks for the warm assessment. Kind word? Positive evaluation? Eh, good things about the things in my post. :smallcool:

About tristalt and dunno-how-to-call-it-but-higher-stalt... Well, I'm of no particular opinion about it, actually. I mean, it passed my mind for a while, but I approached it with a subconscious "Meh, not worth writing about".
I certainly see no problem with it. Yeah, it can be used to grab a bunch of feats and save boosts, but I'm not really sure if that's worth it. I mean, a Warrior1//Aristocrat1//Rogue1//CW Samurai 1 has a bonus feat, all good saves and full BAB, so... it's a Fighter1//Monk1, more or less. But weaker - a lot. Why not.

So basically, yeah. that was mostly so I preserved SOME of my SAN score when running through potential builds. I guess. Subconscious mind is strange like that (Am I doing that whole "mad scientist" act properly? My voices tell me yes, but we're not sure).

Aaand yeah, I'm rather used to my players optimizing a fair bit. Mostly because I started it. They caught on quickly, nonetheless. Both a blessing and a curse.

[Xerlith]

Added PrC rules.