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NobleSavage
2008-08-31, 07:44 PM
So here's the deal, I'm playing in a to-be-high-powered gestalt campaign where players pretty much run independently from each other and are encouraged to build organizations and guilds and such. Leadership is pretty much expected. Anyway, I'm planning on forming an underground faction dealing in espionage/mercenaries/possibly assassination. I'm planning on forming three branches: Mercenaries(Melee/nonCasters) Spies, and Casters (Probably more blaster-ey in nature, but some general magics, too). To head up each of the arms I'm going to need a strong NPC; here's where y'all come in. What do I choose?

My personal character is an Archivist/Warblade, the Merc Captain will be a Crusader/Ranger, leaving the spymaster and the caster. My cohort (and therefore higher level compatriot) will be the spymaster, probably a Changeling. The classes I've been throwing around are Diviner/Unseen Seer, Beguiler, Warmage, and Spellthief. How do I combine these? I was looking at doing a Wizard//Spellthief, but it seems silly, as he wouldn't need to 'borrow' spells as his other half is wizard. And while the Warmage//Beguiler is nice, there's a distinct lack of teleportation ability. So currently I'm looking at a Changeling Diviner/Unseen Seer//Beguiler spymaster, and a Warmage//Spellthief. What do you guys think? Any other nasty combos I should be looking at for my lieutenants?

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-31, 07:46 PM
Beguiler//Psion or Erudite with the Spells to Power Variant.

Factotum and Binders are interesting.

Just dip Spellthief with the Master Spelltheif feat with a Beguiler or other arcanist caster.

NobleSavage
2008-08-31, 07:53 PM
But what role do you see them filling particularly well?

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-31, 08:22 PM
But what role do you see them filling particularly well?

17 PP Miracles for Spell Duplication. Cherry picking other spells and powers to taste. Religious Prophet or Mystic for an obscure Demi-Power perhaps designed by you to fit the concept or a Slumbering Demi-Power still not quite Dead and Stirring on the Astral Plane. Lost Empires of Faerun had the Servant of the Fallen feat for clergy of Ancient Dieties without a clerical hierarchy. Personally I like tweaking the Ur-Priest PRC to Cultmaster of the Fallen and swapping out the required feats for Servant of the Fallen feat. Religious organizations can have Holy Slayer and Assassin branches.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-08-31, 08:30 PM
Changeling Rogue -1, Factotum - 19// X- 5 to personal taste, Chameleon or Ur Priest - 10, Master Spy -5 for various alias (Each is treated as Mindblanked outside of a Demi-Power or greater so can actually have a BBEG who also acts as a flunky occassionally).

4 HD Unbodied, Telepath -16//+4 LA Unbodied, +2 LA Half Fey Template Dragon Shaman -1, Chameleon or Ur Priest - 10, X- 3 to personal taste possibly a UA/SRD major Bloodline.

Ends up as a Telepath - 20 because of the Unbodied Telepath Special with No Multiclassing penalties due to race if that is enforced. I like Dragon Shaman for the Fast Healing Aura with a little time out the BBEG is always at 50%+ Hit Points.

Chronos
2008-08-31, 08:46 PM
Unseen Seer is a great class, but make sure you clear it with the DM. That might be considered one of those dual-progression classes which is strongly discouraged in gestalt. Beguiler, on the other hand, gives you a lot of the same capabilites, and it's solid without PrCs, which makes it easier to stick with the only-one-PrC-at-a-time rule which is also strongly encouraged in gestalt.

For your other side, wizard is probably your best bet, both for power and for having a single casting stat. Warmage wouldn't be quite as optimized, but would on the other hand mean a lot less bookkeeping: Every round, just grab whatever spell you want, from the warmage's or beguiler's list, without having to worry about preparation or books or spells known. This would give you two primary stats, but warmages do get some benefit from Int, and beguilers can benefit from Cha (especially in social-heavy campaigns), so there's still synergy. In either of those cases, you probably want to put any PrCs you take on the non-beguiler side, and don't worry about skills when picking them, because beguiler already has that pretty well covered.

Jack_Simth
2008-08-31, 08:57 PM
If I wanted to make the ultimate spy, able to replace just about anyone convincingly, that'd be, oh....

Psion (Egoist)-X//Bard-5/Chameleon-X

Psion gives full manifesting; the Egoist discipline is for picking up shapeshifting-type powers for imitating Druids. Bard gives some Bardic Music and decent spell points; Chameleon gives basically everything else you'll want to pretend to be someone else. The Chameleon is, after all, about the ultimate spy class.

You can, of course, replace Psion(Egoist) with Beguiler - that works very well too, especially if your campaign doesn't have Psionics.