Creating a gestalt DMPC

[Traitoreous]

Hey guys, I'll be starting Expedition to the castle Ravenloft "soon" with two players. It will be a gestalt campaign starting at level six. The players characters will be a Ranger 6// Fighter 6 and Dwarf Paragon 3/ Fighter 3// Rogue 6. There will be a DMPC helping them on their journey and quite probably becoming a new BBEG for the next campaign. So what would you recommend? I thought a full-caster would be great to buff them, without just nuking all foes from their way. I also thought about using some obscure templates, because its easy with gestalt. The templates are not required though, if you come up with a good idea instead. Cheesy ideas are also okay. If you have role-playing ideas I'll accept them too.

[Inevitability]

If you want a gestalt buffer, I suggest picking a strong caster in one side (wizard, cleric) and a class that mostly grants passive benefits on the other (marshall, dragon shaman). Or hell, just go wizard//cleric and enjoy twice the spells to spend on your allies.

[EisenKreutzer]

Just make sure this character is all about making the PCs shine and look awesome.
Don't build him as a star, build him as a workhorse that lets the other players be stars.

[Ualaa]

I would go with two aspects to the build.

First be an effective healer.
Keep the others alive as long as possible.

Second be an effective buffer.
Make the players more effective at what they do, so they remain the stars of the show.



I might go with something like a Bard | Cleric.
Your character can melee to provide a flank, while in armor, but the focus is not on the melee, so lack of full base attack is not a huge hindrance to the build.

The cleric has a D8 hit die, 3/4 BAB, good Fort & Will saves, and 4 skills per level.
The bard improves this with a good Reflex save and additional skill points.
In gestalt, an ideal build is D10/D12 for full BAB, three good saves, lots of skill points, with an active side and a passive side.
The biggest thing from the Cleric is their spells and the biggest from the Bard is their spells or ability to inspire courage/competence etc, so not an ideal build for a player.
If you were concerned with contributing as much as possible, going Cleric | Ranger would provide full BAB, D10 HD, three good saves, six skills per level, and bonus feats for either Sword & Board or Archery support to the group.

I haven't played 3.x in a while, so am not sure if their version of the Bard is as good as the Pathfinder version can be at support.

The main consideration will be make them better at what they do, without having knowledge skills to provide direction... let them make the choices.

[Lormador]

Warning: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft spoilers in this post.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is my favorite adventure of all time, and I have run it many, many times. So here we go.

First: do not make the DMPC a cleric, or anyone else with turning. There is so much undead in this campaign that a turn character is problematic, and if it's a DMPC, many encounters will be solved by him simply using Turn Undead.

Second: do not make the character a Vistani, or give them experience with Vistani. This will remove much of the fun and mystery of the Madame Eva encounter, which is really one of the high points of the adventure.

Third: Including a DMPC will damage the horror atmosphere of this adventure. DMPCs often come across as having all the right answers, and it's hard to not to RP as though this knowledge does not exist. From the perspective of running this adventure, I suggest not including one at all, but if you have larger campaign plans then this is fine.

Most especially, figuring out the fortune telling reading will be a lot easier for you than for the players, but getting this wrong once or twice is one of the things that gives the adventure its soul.

If you really want to include a DMPC, consider using one that will be especially weak against undead, and therefore very unlikely to steal the spotlight from the players. This will also not hamper him when used against the party in the future! Something like a Beguiler, and keep the other half of the build hidden for future use.

Fourth: you are likely to run into a large party quickly. The characters will probably rescue Ashlynn in the first game or two. She may join the party (though I had her remain with Ireena as guard while the PCs adventured). Then you've got two NPCs in the party, which is pointless and annoying.

As an aside, look for an ACF switching out Ashlynn's immunity to fear. In the module as written, there's nothing to stop Ashlynn from walking right through the mists that shroud the realm! She could bind up Ireena, put her on a cart, and walk away at any time. The players may figure this out, and if they do the whole game departs to crazy town.

If you haven't figured out which of Strahd's goals you should use for this game, I heartily recommend Descent into Madness. This gives the PCs a possible way to conclude the adventure other than dying. Freeing Strahd from his madness might win his favor enough to let them leave with their lives, so long as they hand over Ireena. It also gives you a plausible reason not to whack the PCs mercilessly with a powerful vampire lord. Played correctly, Strahd can easily kill parties.

I made stats for Strahd that focus on his wizard casting and play him as a Necromancer, whereas the book stats have him a bizarre gish that doesn't really function.

Fifth, your group is going to have a hard time dealing with the escalating night attacks. Observe the table that gives the daily/nightly encounters. You add the number of days the party has spent in Barovia to the roll, and at the top of the list are some nasty things (such as Strahd himself!). They don't have anyone able to cast Rope Trick or Hide Campsite. They might go days without getting a good night's rest, and they won't find items for sale that can help them in the town. Wand of Cure Light Wounds is above Barovia's GP limit.

Good luck!

[lylsyly]

I would go with two aspects to the build.

First be an effective healer.
Keep the others alive as long as possible.

Second be an effective buffer.
Make the players more effective at what they do, so they remain the stars of the show.

Definitely this


Warning: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft spoilers in this post.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is my favorite adventure of all time, and I have run it many, many times. So here we go.

First: do not make the DMPC a cleric, or anyone else with turning. There is so much undead in this campaign that a turn character is problematic, and if it's a DMPC, many encounters will be solved by him simply using Turn Undead.
Good luck!

I ran the old version many times and have played the 3rd Ed. version once and I totally agree with this. However, there are ACFs for cleric that remove Turn Undead so a cleric/bard, favored soul/bard, or healer/bard can both heal and buff.

I will also say this; If you let these players go with these class combinations you may be doing them a disservice, they need Turn Undead in there somewhere!

Maybe get each of them to add 1 level of Cleric on 1 side of their build and bump their CHA a bit?

just my 2 coppers
YMMV

[Traitoreous]

Thanks. Your comments helped a lot.

[Falcon X]

For an NPC gestalt, I like the idea of a Candle Caster (Tome and Blood).
It's thematic, a guy that carries around a bunch of candles to cast spells out of. A bonus is that since he is an NPC, you can give him unlimited resources. What if he has a bunch of candles that have blast spells braided with teleportation spells, or some other interesting combination.
Makes a wicked villain.

[edit] removed link.

[Inevitability]

For an NPC gestalt, I like the idea of a Candle Caster.
It's thematic, a guy that carries around a bunch of candles to cast spells out of. A bonus is that since he is an NPC, you can give him unlimited resources. What if he has a bunch of candles that have blast spells braided with teleportation spells, or some other interesting combination.
Makes a wicked villain.

Quick heads up: linking to that site is against the forum rules.

[Falcon X]

Quick heads up: linking to that site is against the forum rules.
Really? I know it is illegal to link directly to book pdfs, but I didn't think linking to a site like that was. I've been doing it for ages.
Thanks! I'll go re-read the policies so I can be sure I don't tread any more lines.

[edit] Yeah, that's pretty straight-forward: "Posting Copyrighted Content
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