Partial Gestalt

[SirNibbles]

Has anyone ever participated in a game which allowed for gestalt characters, but not at every level? For example, you can be gestalt for levels 1 and 2 but normal for the rest, or perhaps every 5 levels you get a gestalt level.

If so, how has that worked for you?

[lylsyly]

In the group I play/part time DM in, we gestalt the 3 levels of racial paragon for free (we start at 3rd level). Gives beginning characters a bit of boost (best of HD, best of skills, ect). Of course we also do things like 10+1d8 for ability scores, max HP for first three levels, ect.

We also never surprise 10 drunk orcs around the campfire, we usually get surprised by a warband, lol.

As long as you are not overpowering things, why not?

Even thematically, suppose you are running a wilderness campaign and all the PCs are from the area, why not let them gestalt 2-3 levels of Ranger to simulate the skills they learned BEFORE they started adventuring.

Of course, it's all about balance too. Are you going to make encounters harder to compensate a bit?

just my 2 coppers
YMMV

[Shinn]

I usually gestalt only for the races-based classes, such as the Racial Paragons or the Templates.
Otherwise, I also use a special kind of spell (usually sold as potions or scrolls) allowing a greater "special form", based on a semi-Gestalt system :

For example, let's say you have John Doe, a basic Fighter 5 : if he feels in a really dangerous situation, he sips his potion, and POOF ! You have now John Doe the Undying, a Fighter 5//Barbarian 4 with the Advanced Template.

Here's the spell details if you want :
Spell Level - Sorc/Wiz 4 (Transmutation School)
Components - V, S, M, 10 XP
Casting Time - 1 full-round action
Range - Self
Duration - Five minutes
Effect - Gives you up to five levels of Gestalt ; at Caster Level 16, you get up to ten levels of Gestalt.
Special : You can have only one gestalt-progression by spell of that kind : for example, you can't use the spell for having five levels of Wizard, then use it again to get five levels of Paladin : usually, this spell is therefore "tailored" for each user, which forces any spellcaster to research the spell or to use another one's version, with sometimes unespected results.

[lylsyly]

that's .... hmmm .... kinda overpowered, don't you think? Gain 5 Levels with a potion? I could actually see 1 or maybe 2, but 5 or 10?

[Godskook]

Has anyone ever participated in a game which allowed for gestalt characters, but not at every level? For example, you can be gestalt for levels 1 and 2 but normal for the rest, or perhaps every 5 levels you get a gestalt level.

If so, how has that worked for you?

I run a game with progressive-gestalt E6, and I think it works exceedingly well.

[mabriss lethe]

I've run and played in a partial tier based gestalt, and it worked really well.

-T1 and 2 classes cannot gestalt
-T3 and 4 classes can freely gestalt with NPC classes
-T5 and 6 can freely gestalt with any NPC class or other T5-6 class

[Shinn]

that's .... hmmm .... kinda overpowered, don't you think? Gain 5 Levels with a potion? I could actually see 1 or maybe 2, but 5 or 10?
Yes, that's heavily-powered, I know, but as I said, it's "balanced" by the fact that you have to pay a good chunk of your treasure and downtime (4000 GP and four weeks) for gaining it (no, I don't let any spellcaster gain it as a regular spell) for only one combination.
So it's 4k and four weeks per PC and per combination : if you have five players in your group, it'll use five months of downtime... Assuming they want only one combination : if the Barbarian want a "special form" as a Barbarian//Ranger and as a Barbarian//Druid, you double the price ans the downtime.

Sure, 4k GP is nothing for an adventurer, but if you want to use it as a potion, you have either to do it yourself (feat tax), or to give the spell formula to an alchemist (and pay an extra tip for an unknown spell).
If you want it freely, you can surely loot the body and spellbook of another enemy who used it, but it may not be what you wanted ("Monk again ? Oh, dang, I have like three Monk spells, and I only want a Warlock one ! These ones won't be useful for our group !")

Besides, when you can cast that spell, you're usually level 7 to 8, so 5 levels of Gestalt is helpful, but not as much as a real Gestalt would be.