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View Full Version : DM Help Need some input. 3.5 D&D



Metahuman1
2017-03-20, 01:09 AM
I'm going to be running a monster gestalt game starting in a few weeks. (Assuming nothing insane happens IRL which, hey, isn't impossible.).


I've got 3 players for certain, and up too 4 other people who might or might not be joining. I'm actually expecting one of them as likely, one could legitimately go either way, and I'll be legitimately shocked if the other two can pull off the scheduling for when were going to be playing. So, 4-5 man party at the outside.

Game is going to be built on the idea of claiming land on what amounts to a newly accessible continent and trying to build up a civilization. Starting at level 2, Gestalt, one side must eat some LA or Racial hit dice as something that would normally be considered a monster. Stats are roll 4d6 take best three reroll 1's. Standard WBL, and I'll be throwing in some extra cash they can spend on building the place up but not on there personal gear. House rule that you get 2 extra maxed out skill tracks that must be taken on profession and/or craft skills for helping to try to actually build something up.

One player wants to run a Gnoll. He's a first time player, and after some discussion will be playing a druid using a variant to have all spontaneous spell casting, similar to a Warmage, in order to simplify spell casting for him. He'll also be using druidic avenger and I'll let him take a couple of Barbarian AFC's off that to help him out. Other side is Swordsage at my suggestion, and his gnoll HD. I waved the LA 1 since I think Gnoll is a bit over priced with those race HD for what you actually get.

Second player has a Drider who's broken with Drow tradition's (I'm not going to enforce alignment restrictions.). She's a somewhat inexperienced player and wants to focus on support. She's going with cleric casting progression on her Drider hit dice side, and Bard as her other class and a focus more on the bard casting then cleric casting. I've also worked out with her to do a variant on the multy headed template form savage species, were she takes 2 extra race hit dice and get's an extra pair of arms cause she wanted that cause spider. She's only played in a couple of campaigns previously, and only 1 that wasn't core + a setting book, so she's fairly new to the system still. I waved the LA cause 8 aberration HD seemed like punishment enough.

The third player wants to do a warrior/leader of men whom can also do politics, and while he can fight from the front can use a little stealth in a pinch. I suggested and he took a liking to beguiler. When he's done with Monster HD, he, at my suggestions that White Raven, Diamond Mind and maybe a bit of Iron Heart would fit what he's describing, is interested in filling out the remaining levels with Warblade.

He wasn't sure what kind of creature he wanted to play, so I told him to start by glancing through the monster manual and see if anything caught his eye. He did. What caught his eye was the Leonal. So, I looked at it, and I am going to have to break up it's progression more then the others since, frankly, it's significantly more powerful.

So, I'm trying to work out when access to most of the ability's should be granted, and I would appreciate some input.

So far the only thing I've worked out is that the SLA's except the Roar and maybe Polymorph should be stuck at about the levels the spells would come online at. Since, while good, most of them aren't utterly overwhelming.

Metahuman1
2017-03-21, 03:41 AM
Made a couple of adjustments to clarify things.

Shadowquad
2017-03-21, 06:50 AM
If you wave the LA for the Drider, it gets strictly better than a straight cleric, because its 6 HD gives it casting as a 6th level cleric (which stacks with additional cleric levels) and it has a huge bunch of bonuses (at least +4 in all stats). I know gestalt is supposed to be powerful, especially monster gestalt, but it seems a bit too much to me.

Regarding the Leonal, it has no listed LA, so it's not supposed to be played as is. However, I'd give it Pounce at first or second HD, and Improved grab not much later. The Roar ability should clearly be the capstone, and the at will SLAs like fireball and wall of force (seriously, at will WoF is ridiculously powerful !) should come online late (with a x/day progression before the PC gets them at will). In all cases, the caster level shouldn't be a fixed 10 like the SRD says, but should instead be tied to the PC's HD.

The lay on hand ability should start as a (CON bonus*RHD) per day, and finish at ((CON bonus+5)*RHD) per day, to mimic the full-HP-per-day aspect.

The defensive abilities are especially tricky to balance, because of their (lack of) granularity. You may have to homebrew increasing energy resistance to electricity and bonuses to saves against petrification, leading to immunity. Spell resistance should be something like 15+HD, which is quite impressive. You should also homebrew an increasing immunity to spells, culminating at spells of 3rd level, to emulate the lesser globe of invulnerability effect.
All in all, I think I'd give the Leonal something between +4 and +6 LA, given its power.

Stealth Marmot
2017-03-21, 07:09 AM
Did you just make a 3.5 version of the board game SmallWorld?

Metahuman1
2017-03-21, 07:16 AM
Did you just make a 3.5 version of the board game SmallWorld?

I, don't know. I've never played SmallWorld.

Stealth Marmot
2017-03-21, 07:22 AM
You should. it's awesome. it's like if if someone took a bunch of fantasy cliches and Risk and put it in a blender and hit puree.