race and template help and some other stuff

[geekintheground]

my dm is giving me 13 levels of race and templates to gestalt with class levels. i have my class levels all chosen from another build i was working on: monk2/psywar3/swordsage1/psywar+7, with tashalatora. was going for a dex based counter attack, unarmed build using robilar's gambit and karmic strike and the decicive strike ACF. feat layout is as follows:
Shaky: monastic training
Bestial Instinct: earth sense
1st: combat reflexes
Monk: IUS
martial Monk: robilar's gambit
martial Monk: Karmic Strike
3rd: tashalatora
Psywar bonus: psicrystal affinity
Psywar bonus: Earth Power
6th: Shadow Blade
psywar bonus: ?
9th: Snap Kick
psywar bonus: ?
12th: ?


originally i was going to use athasian human for extra PP and powers known, but if i get all this free room for RHD and LA i was wondering what else i could do. so my question for the playground is: what are some cool things i can do here? not only for race stuff, but i still havent decided what to take for those open feats. thanks all, youre the best!

edit: also powers known. im gonna be picking up vigor, bestow power, share pain and eventually share pain, forced and empathic transfer hostile but other than that i'm open to suggestions\

[Red Fel]

my dm is giving me 13 levels of race and templates to gestalt with class levels.

If you're only able to choose race and templates for these gestalt levels, there are some choice options for you.

First, instead of an Athasian Human, consider a creature with the Phrenic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/phrenicCreature.htm) template. If psychic hoodoo is your thing, Phrenic is what you want. For a mere +2 LA, you gain per-day PLAs as you level, a bonus power point and the Psionic subtype, scaling PR, and bonuses to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Want more? If you take something that has HD, consider the Feral template from Savage Species. Ordinarily, Feral is a mixed bag, adding movement speed increase, natural armor, and claw attacks, but it really shines for a creature possessing racial HD. If you have 1 RHD, a Feral creature gains Improved Grab, 60 foot Darkvision, and Fast Healing 2; if you have at least 4 RHD, you also get Pounce, and your Fast Healing increases to 3; if you have at least 8 RHD, you also get Rend, your Darkvision expands to 90 feet, and your Fast Healing increases to 4. There's another tier at 12 RHD, but between that and the +1 LA for the template, you've already hit your 13 levels.

Another option is to consider Dragons. This handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?303204-The-Truest-of-the-True-A-Handbook-to-non-Kobold-Dragons-%28WIP%29) lays out the LA and RHD requirements for various Dragons. If you want cheap, a Wyrmling Mercury Dragon has only 3 RHD and +2 LA; at Very Young, that increases to a mere 6 and +3. For a Tiny (or Small) Dragon that has 200' perfect flight and access to Sovereign Archetypes, that's pretty great. Similarly, a Steel Dragon has 4 RHD and +2 LA, Small size, and Alternate Form plus Sorcerer casting right out of the gate.

Another Dragon option, given your levels to burn, would be Gem Dragons, which are inherently psionic. A Wyrmling Amethyst Dragon is Small, with 6 RHD and +4 LA, eating up most of your levels, but it gets great saves, a breath weapon, force resistance, and innate powers of planar travel. A Wyrmling Crystal Dragon has 5 RHD and +5 LA, netting you a breath weapon, cold immunity, and again planar travel. And so on. This will further leave you with, on average, three additional levels to template. And with at least 5 RHD apiece, that Feral template starts to look pretty good, doesn't it?

[MisterKaws]

Half-fey half-troll half-celestial half-dragon plus some base race here, maybe kalashtar for ectoplasmic fist shard.

Don't make me calculate the stats, it's a nightmare. Just get it that you have tons of stuff, plus so many SLAs you can just say you're a cleric and nobody would be suspicious.

[ExLibrisMortis]

You can get some extra base attack by gestalting with an outsider, dragon or monstrous humanoid. Fun ECL 10-13 outsiders to play include bralani eladrin (11), red slaadi (13), hound archon (11), succubus (12), bearded devil (12) and djinni (13). Pretty much all of these are half LA, half RHD, so it'll get you only about 1-2 base attack, but it's still something.

[geekintheground]

i really like misterkaws's idea. sounds just bloated enough to always have something fun to do :D thanks guys! (nothing final, keep suggestions coming!)

[ZamielVanWeber]

If your DM allows Savage Progressions Astral Deva, Ghaele Eladrin, and Trumpet Archon are pretty fun choices.

A lammasu is ECL 12, gets some cleric casting, some cool ex abilities, flight, and magic circle against evil as an SU. If you want to cheese this up a little, a tauric athasian human lammasu is ECL 12, gets all the benefits of lammasu except for mental scores, all the benefits of athasian human, and you can assign those floating +2's to any mental ability scores you want.

[MisterKaws]

Actually, put half-fiend instead of half-troll, though you'll need a really good background on why the hell did this thing happen, maybe a succubus was targeted with sanctify the wicked or something.