Looking for "second Halves" in 2 specific Gestalt Characters

[GrayDeath]

Hi you all!

We (the Main GM and myself) need your help to help our players finish very specific Concepts for a short, dangerous midLevel Adventure.


The Players, lets call them Adam and Bob, have already decided on one half of their Gestalts each, and have professed a GENERAL direction for the other half.

Preface: We are starting at Level 10 and probably gonna be done at Level 12.
D&D 3.5 except Dragon magazine is on the table, some PF might be allowed or not.
Cheese/questionable RAW Readings and early entry is frowned upon, but otherwise higher OP is encouraged.
The Group is largely neutral, Evil is allowed but not encouraged.
The World is Eberron but with some Extraplanar Incursions since the End of the Great War.

ALso the DM ruled that the second half may not consist of more classes than 2 base and one Prestige or vice versa OR a Monster and up to one fitting class (if it only contains Monster HD he is going to be more leniant with LA).


Adam wants to paly a Dragon Fire Adept. he just loves the fluff and ease of the class. He knows (because we told him so^^) that its not a strong class, but he also does not want to gestalt it with something too complex (eg no prepared Casters of any kind, and no Sorcerer cause he always palys them^^).



Bob wants to play a Monk, and wopuld prefer his second half to be a Monster of some sort (yes, we told him thats not really going to be great^^), but aside from it combining well with the Monk he has stated no preferences.
The DM will allow anything with Racial HD up to 10, if necessary reducing the LA to allow him to start there, but the total of HD + LA cant be higher than 14 and he will gain the last HD, including SKillpts, of the Monster once he reaches the appropiate Level.


So, under those Limitations, what would you suggest, and why?

[Gnaeus]

How about monk 10//marrulurk (totemist or ToB class 6). Is that monster enough? Marrulurk>rogue levels for gestalt, and you get to be ninja Anubis. The marrulurk stats +2, +6, +4, -0, +6, +4 will really help the MAD monk.

Alternately or together, how about gravetouched ghoul, for a 2 level monsterish template with nice bonuses

[BowStreetRunner]

Adam wants to paly a Dragon Fire Adept. he just loves the fluff and ease of the class. He knows (because we told him so^^) that its not a strong class, but he also does not want to gestalt it with something too complex (eg no prepared Casters of any kind, and no Sorcerer cause he always palys them^^).
I would honestly go with a Crusader build focused around spiked chain AoO tripping. During his turns he focuses on his breath weapon and then during everyone else's turn maintains control with the reach of the chain. It adds to DFA well without competing for standard actions.

[PhantasyPen]

Mayhaps gestalt the DFA with a Bard or Warmage? Those are both Charisma-based and spontaneous casters. Or maybe double-down on the Dragon thing and pick Dragon Shaman? I will always vote for Dragon Shaman, particularly if the DM is willing to expand the totem dragon list.

As for the monk, hmm, all I can think of is Psychic Warrior, which is not a monster class. :(

[zlefin]

do you know how much more lenient he'd be with LA if one side is just monster? like would he be using the level fo the LA rework project?

hmmm, too bad hte group is heavy on the neutral, as paladin dips are useful for some of the stuff like this. esp if the DFA goes cha focused. is the DFA going to go cha focus, or mostly choose invocations without saves and eschew cha?

how does the DM (and chars) feel about template stacking?

[Telonius]

For the Monk, have you considered one of the Half-races (fiend, celestial, or fey)? All three of them give a Fly speed, SLAs, and bonuses to things that Monks care about. It will give some room for actual class levels on that side of the gestalt.

[GrayDeath]

Mayhaps gestalt the DFA with a Bard or Warmage? Those are both Charisma-based and spontaneous casters. Or maybe double-down on the Dragon thing and pick Dragon Shaman? I will always vote for Dragon Shaman, particularly if the DM is willing to expand the totem dragon list.



Hmmm, Double Dragon? He might like that, lets see, I`lls ee himjm on the weekend and will collect options until then.



do you know how much more lenient he'd be with LA if one side is just monster? like would he be using the level fo the LA rework project?


If its only Monster he`ll likely, unless its a under LAèd one already, halve the LA round down. I dont know the project you mention, do you have a link?



hmmm, too bad hte group is heavy on the neutral, as paladin dips are useful for some of the stuff like this. esp if the DFA goes cha focused. is the DFA going to go cha focus, or mostly choose invocations without saves and eschew cha?

how does the DM (and chars) feel about template stacking?

He has not yet decided and will likely make it depend on the other side as well, but if Iw as to guess I`d say not too much on the CHA dependant side.



For the Monk, have you considered one of the Half-races (fiend, celestial, or fey)? All three of them give a Fly speed, SLAs, and bonuses to things that Monks care about. It will give some room for actual class levels on that side of the gestalt.

He wants more Mosnter, as we usually dont get to play one, so the normal "easy" Races are not really an Option.


@ Template Stacking: He frowns upon it, so lets assume no more than one additional Template, at most 2, onto the monster.

[zlefin]

the LA reassignment project link is
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?518086-The-LA-assignment-archive&p=21798987

ok, reviewing the various other specs;

for the monk: half-dragon troll is always a decent choice for this kind of setup; choosing one of the half-dragon types that gets you fire immunity. that lets him brawl without worrying as much about dying due to the troll regen; and wiht fire immunity he only has to worry about acid. getting an energy resistance ring for acid would prevent most small sources from hurting him; so he'd just have to worry about high damage acid spells and save or die spells.

as to the DFA; for a monstrous choice a Unicorn/paladin would be amusing. some slot issues, especially no hands; but since you'll mostly be doing breath weapon attacks it should be manageable. unicorn has very nice base stats; the paladin is a simple add to boost saves. marshal serves a similar purpose and would also be fine.