Strong gestalt combos

[Nosta]

I'd like to have a list of ten very strong gestalt combos to keep on hand

also how would you rank a divine meta magic cleric combined with a crusader?

[IcarusWulfe]

Incarnate gestalts with just about anything as it only requires CON (which should always be at least decent) and gives a host of nifty soulmelds.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Factotum//Int-based caster.
Wildshape Ranger/Master of Many Forms//anything
DMM Cleric/anything

As for yours... Quite strong.

[Xuldarinar]

Here are a few;


Shadowcaster 20//Sha'ir 5/Geomancer 10/Spell Sovereign 5

Wizard//Spellthief

(Literally any non-gestalt build)//Generic Warrior 20

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Psionic manifesting classes (especially psion and wilder) gestalt extremely well with anything that doesn't outright dump their three mental stats. Psion is an extremely active class, but it's very strange in that it gestalts well even with other active classes, because it's extremely good at manipulating the action economy. From Linked Power to Synchronicity to Expanded Knowledge (Hustle) to Anticipatory Strike, there are lots of ways to gain extra actions and manipulate actions the way you want. There are also plenty of buffs to be getting on with, many of which last for quite some time, especially at higher levels. Psionics is really feat-hungry, however, so manifesting classes don't do quite as well with other feat-hungry classes.

[Arael666]

wizard/archivist and cleric/druid, with their respective usual prestiges like incantatrix and plannar shepperd. I Don't think you can get more powerfull than that.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

wizard/archivist and cleric/druid, with their respective usual prestiges like incantatrix and plannar shepperd. I Don't think you can get more powerfull than that.Those don't do as well as you make them out to be. A cleric//druid is powerful, no doubt, but it's not that much more powerful than a straight druid, and there's too much overlap for wizard spells with archivist spells to boost your archivist side at all. The biggest thing is that you just don't have enough actions to make use of all your options, wasting most of them (unless you're at very low levels, or you run marathon sessions where your character has to continually go several days without resting).

As I said above, manifesting classes would go much better with any of the above four classes, as you can actually nova harder with the extra actions your psionic classes can give you. There're a lot more new options to explore, as well.

[Grod_The_Giant]

wizard/archivist and cleric/druid, with their respective usual prestiges like incantatrix and plannar shepperd. I Don't think you can get more powerfull than that.
You sort of can. At high levels of optimization, spell lists start to become roughly equivalent (especially when you're talking T1s). So slapping a second caster on the other side of your build doesn't do so much for you-- you can already do most anything with your magic, but now your two sides are competing for actions and not shoring up weak HD, saves, etc.

Take a Wizard//Archivist vs a Wizard//Factotum. The former has more spell access... natively-- the latter can still play with Summon Monster, Planar Binding and suchlike to pick up anything he might be lacking. Meanwhile, the latter has a better BAB, HD, probably the best skills you can possibly get, Int to all kinds of rolls and AC, and extra standard actions. I'd bet on the Wizard//Factotum ten times out of ten.

[AvatarVecna]

Scout 3/Ranger 2/Shiba Protector 1/Ranger X//Barbarian (Spirit Lion Totem/Whirling Frenzy) 1/Generic Warrior 2/Druid (Deadly Hunter) X

Make sure to pick up the Intuitive Attack feat somwhere and you're rocking Wis to AC and damage, double Wis to attacks, and Wis based T1 casting (delayed a good bit, so its not perfect), on top of a pile of favored enemies and pounce on a standard Swift Hunter chassis.

[gorfnab]

Warforged Warblade // Artificer
Bard/ Sublime Chord // Crusader

[Cosi]

You can't really go wrong with something that gets all good saves, at least one full casting progression, and some combination of BAB, HD, and skills that's at least above average. So Cleric // Rogue or Wizard // Swordsage or something similar.

I'd probably go Warblade (maybe Bardblade) // Factotum (melee combat, utility) or Wizard // some good variant of Ranger (arcane casting, whatever utility from Ranger).

One useful trick is to go Caster // Rogue and use Rogue bonus feats for Epic feats like Automatic Quicken. Note that most DMs will probably not okay that particular option.


Take a Wizard//Archivist vs a Wizard//Factotum. The former has more spell access... natively-- the latter can still play with Summon Monster, Planar Binding and suchlike to pick up anything he might be lacking. Meanwhile, the latter has a better BAB, HD, probably the best skills you can possibly get, Int to all kinds of rolls and AC, and extra standard actions. I'd bet on the Wizard//Factotum ten times out of ten.

I don't think that's actually that clear. divine power gives you better BAB than the Factotum, the HD is a one point difference, and the skills are mostly not massively better (especially if you go Cloistered Cleric instead). Beyond that, the big selling point (more actions) isn't really that good in most cases.

In a high OP environment with planar binding and such flying around, getting two or three extra actions doesn't mean anything in the face of minions (be they ice assassins, genies from planar binding, or just dominated dudes) or contingency spam. In a low op environment, you don't care enough about throwing out extra spells (especially given that celerity and Choker forms do exist) to merit the relatively meh chasis.

Going Ranger instead gets the same HD and saves, better BAB, and most of the good skills. Plus whatever Ranger variant you opted for.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I frequently multiclass a lot on one side and very little on the other, since martial types tend to be massively front-loaded and casters tend to want to multiclass very little (if at all). I frequently have no more than three levels in any given martial or skillmonkey class (with dungeoncrasher fighter being a major exception), and the other side tends to be caster (or manifester) 5/PrC1 10/PrC2 5, or something along those lines. I work out my progression ahead of time, and I make sure to maximize my saves, skill points, and hit dice, with BAB being a decent consideration after the fact, since there are several ways to artificially inflate your BAB or ignore it almost completely.

On the plus side, this means you tend to have massive saves, much higher than you could ever get going single-classed, and that's important, since successful saves tend to prevent Very Bad Things from happening to you.

[ben-zayb]

At low levels? Overpowered templates or race with RHD and LA, such as pixie, ghost, lolth-touched, hatchling phaerimm, etc.

[Debatra]

Gestalt is where the (usually pretty bad) Geomancer PrC from Complete Divine really shines.

Try Cloistered Cleric/Other Stuff/Heirophant ≥1*//Sorcerer ≤4**/Geomancer 10/Other stuff 1-6 or 7.

Use Spell Versatility with Cha instead of Wis for Turn/Rebuke.

* Divine Reach is your friend even if it costs you some high-level spell slots. Ask your DM if they'll allow Heirophant to advance spellcasting and consider taking more levels if they do.

** Some PrCs can be entered before 4th-level. There's also Precocious Apprentice. Sorcerer is entirely dead levels; so if you can avoid taking more than one level, do it.

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There's also Rogue//Monk, especially if you play a web-enhanced (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) Desert Kobold with Keen Intellect, Dragon Tail and Carmendine Monk. For a little something extra, start as a nonlawful Rogue//Barbarian for Lion Totem, then become Lawful for at least 11 levels of Monk (the point where you get two extra attacks, and at no penalty). Take Monk 12 if you want Abundant Step, but for a DPR build it generally isn't worth going beyond that point. Remember to trade in one of your Evasions, preferably on the Rogue side so Monk 9 can get Improved Evasion (without having to choose it over a better ability).

In its simplest form; I'd say Rogue X/Other Stuff Y//Barbarian 1/Monk 11-12/Other Stuff 7-8.

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More generally, any two classes that rely heavily on the same one or two stats.