Fun Gestalt Builds for 3,5

[Lorddenorstrus]

Paladin with Battle Blessing would be a good pairing with most of the subsystems, letting you cast as a swift action while leaving your main actions free for everything else. You would have to be a little careful picking your maneuvers (for ToB) or soulmelds (for MoI) so that you won't need to switch stances, reallocate essentia, or use boosts/counters too often in combat, to make sure that your swift action stays free for when you need it.

I actually devised an entire character around this concept. Paladins Battle Blessing - (PrC paladin to give Cleric all the spells) and I made a martial cleric with RKV in Gestalt that was entirely Swift Action based. Specifically... to teach my group to stop forgetting all their swift action stuff. SO I just said the word every other minute and eventually the point got across. Actually ended out being one of the most fun characters I've ever played. If I could get back to being a player for once and not a forever DM...

[RSGA]

A fun way to kinda do the Diamond Dragon PRC but more fun is a gestalt Totemist 20/PsyWarrior X. You need to have the dragonblood subtype to get the Dragon Hide ACF (for flavor) and the all day claws and tail, but it's pretty wide open beyond wanting to take Totemist the whole way. Admittedly, that's because there's not a lot of options for advancing Meldshaping that are both gestalt legal and don't overtake the build in a big way.

Now, the PsyWarrior side is very open. If you both decide to take the Dragon Hide ACF and want to get its utmost benefit, then you probably want to end with that side being PW10/Slayer10 unless you have another heavy armor Psionic Prc you want to fit in its place. Dragon Hide is nothing all that grand, but the main reason would be either cost cutting or because it's flavorful. And one level of manifesting for 10 levels of full BAB and Slayer qualities is practically no loss at all.

Now if you don't mind losing some of that benefit or feel it's a bridge too far for flavor, then you really open up the choices for Psionic Prcs. Meditant is seven kinds of versatile; stat bonuses and extra PP or even fast healing are just the floor. Keeping on theme, there's the weaker but easier to get Crystal Master. It's more on theme and is also versatile, but it loses two manifester levels and more importantly can't change it up like the Meditant can. Still, it's an unusual typed +6 to your saving throws (and AC if not using Dragon Hide, probably) and limited Telepathy which both are good and strong before getting into the other 3 powers. Probably two stat boosts and an immunity because the stat boosts don't have a type.

[Maat Mons]

If two lost manifester levels is one too many, you can just take the first eight levels of Crystal Master. Crystal Master 8 gives you four Embeded Gems for one lost manifester level. Going the last two levels loses you another manifester level and only gives you one more Embeded Gem. As a cost-value proposition, the first eight levels are four times as good as the last two.

I've always felt the strongest pick for an Embeded Gem is Sapphire. It gives continuous Touchsight as long as you're psionically focused. If you take eight levels of Crystal Master, the range becomes 50 feet. 50 feet is pretty good for what is effectively Blindsight, and keeping the power itself active 24/7 would cost a boatload of power points.

Malachite is nice, but I'm usually contemplating Crystal Master on a Psion base, and there's an ACF in Mind's Eye for Telepaths that gives Telepathy with a better range in exchange for the 5th-level bonus feat.

For thematic reasons, I like Blue Zircon. I've always felt that sine elans can, potentially, exist in the Venerable age category for untold eons, they would be well-served to pick up Timeless Body, and Blue Zircon is pretty much the same thing.

It's always struck me as funny that the one Embedded Gem the writers thought was so powerful that it needed to be restricted to only those who took all 10 levels in the class was Azurite. The freedom from needing to eat and drink is scarcely better than what elans get at 1st level. The lack of a need to sleep is of questionable benefit to manifesters, since they need to rest for 8 hours to regain power points even if they don't need to sleep.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

For thematic reasons, I like Blue Zircon. I've always felt that sine elans can, potentially, exist in the Venerable age category for untold eons, they would be well-served to pick up Timeless Body, and Blue Zircon is pretty much the same thing.

Jade, I think you mean. "Jade: The crystal master is immune to aging attacks and doesn't suffer the effects of old age. (Any penalties already incurred stay in effect.) The character still dies of old age. (Level restriction: 4th.)"

[RSGA]

It's always struck me as funny that the one Embedded Gem the writers thought was so powerful that it needed to be restricted to only those who took all 10 levels in the class was Azurite. The freedom from needing to eat and drink is scarcely better than what elans get at 1st level. The lack of a need to sleep is of questionable benefit to manifesters, since they need to rest for 8 hours to regain power points even if they don't need to sleep.

My normal guess would that they felt that some combination of just being able to sit around for 8 hours (since the rules give that out for not needing to sleep, though I'm very roughly paraphrasing), one of the other powers, and being able to keep that focus all night allowed something Real Strong. Again, the normal guess would be something to do with the limited telepathy and Mindsight, but that doesn't require focus.

So my actual guesses are that they felt that keeping one of the focus needing powers was too good if you could keep it on all night at +5 gems worth of power (so 6 gems total) or that it's a hold over of some combo back in the 3.0 version, probably its interactions with the old Psionic Combat system.

[Particle_Man]

Incarnate//warlock, perhaps? I think there are some warlock invocations specific to incarnum builds and the ranged bonus to hit from incarnate avatar helps the warlock blast. You would have to be CN or NE though (unless you go for the enlightened spirit prestige class on the warlock side). If you go NE then the necrocarnate prestige class is an option.

This would not be a powerful build but might be a fun one.

[Harrow]

For a long time, I've wanted to try Incarnate//Crusader.

Incarnates get to choose from a ton of tanky abilities at level 1. Some pretty substantial DR/Magic (long before it becomes irrelevant), miss chance against non-adjacent foes, retributive fire damage, various energy resistances, spell resistance, ability damage reduction, healing amplification, bonus hit points, a soulspark familiar (basically just another body for enemies to have to target, long before AoEs become a major threat, and one that you can heal for free out of combat), and I'm wouldn't be surprised to learn there's at least one other effect I'm missing. All of those options... on a d6 hp-per-HD, Wizard BAB chassis with medium armor and simple weapons.

Crusader brings to the table d10 hp-per-HD, full BAB, heavy armor, martial weapons, some spammable healing, a delayed damage pool + attack bonuses for being damaged, and a no-save attack penalty against your allies for anything you threaten.

You can choose any of the options I've listed from level 1. Crusader also gives access to Stone Bones, which gives DR/adamantine 5 for a round and qualifies you for feat Stone Power. At level 2, Incarnates can start raising zombies at the cost of hit point damage that can't be healed until the zombie dies. Stone Power, however, gives you temporary hit points, which are damaged first and can be replaced. I suggest starting out with a donkey zombie, then moving on to a mule zombie at level 3 and a cow zombie (using the bison stats) at level 5.

Not sure how these classes scale into the late game. I'm pretty sure Incarnates give up a bunch of magic item slots, but get interesting effects out of them. They also get access to a scaling bonus to UMD (and can use it untrained, but, if you're planning on going this route, I'd suggest taking cross-class ranks anyway). Because UMD DCs are so high, it's not very useful at low levels, but once you can pump it up a bit, I'm sure you could get by on the Crusader chassis and WBLmancy and UMD.

[loky1109]

Hm... Shadowcaster//Shadowcaster? I think it's good fix. )))

[RSGA]

Not sure how these classes scale into the late game. I'm pretty sure Incarnates give up a bunch of magic item slots, but get interesting effects out of them. They also get access to a scaling bonus to UMD (and can use it untrained, but, if you're planning on going this route, I'd suggest taking cross-class ranks anyway). Because UMD DCs are so high, it's not very useful at low levels, but once you can pump it up a bit, I'm sure you could get by on the Crusader chassis and WBLmancy and UMD.

There's two ways around giving up item slots for bonding soulmelds. The most accessible is the feat that lets you do that, choosing one chakra per Split Chakra feat. You can even bind both soulmeld and magic item to the chakra at the same time, but that's a bit of a waste of a limited resource. The slightly less accessible is to make the item both an Incarnum Focus and whatever other effects you want it to have. You get added essentia cap and it can by default be active in the same slot as a bound soulmeld.

Plus it's bind effect is one of the ones that's probably worth spending an extra bind on.

[Shpadoinkle]

Fighter/incarnate pretty much fixes the problems of both. Incarnate's poor HD and 1/2 BAB get boosted to d10s and full BAB, while fighter gets abilities that aren't just "I hit/shoot/trip/charge it again." Or if you want you can lean into that and become REALLY GOOD at "I hit/shoot/trip/charge it again," several soulmelds enhance stuff like Strength checks or attack rolls.

Fighter/totemist might be better if you're focusing on being a combat monster (almost literally, in this case.) Sphinx Claws for instance do 1d8 + STR + essentia damage, and since they're considered natural weapons you only get a -2 for dual-wielding them. Or if you're focusing on melee, you can shape Manticore belt and bind it to your Totem chakra to give yourself a decent ranged attack that scales with your level, and you can use it without having to draw a different weapon. Full BAB and d10 HD aren't huge boosts over the totemist's d8s and 3/4 BAB, but the bonus feats add some significant versatility.

Or you could go totemist/incarnate for a ridiculous number of soulmelds and essentia. The primary drawback being you can only have a single soulmeld bound to a given chakra, but even given that limitation it gives you a LOT of versatility.

There are a couple soulmelds that enhance spells, but even barring that, gestalting totemist or incarnate with a full caster frees up some spells and grants some utility and combat options that don't use up spell slots. Bonuses to skills, for instance, and there are a couple soulmelds that enhance spells. A cleric/totemist or wizard/totemist with a couple self-buffing spells could be a force to be reckoned with. A couple soulmelds also grant Dimension Door as a spell-like ability, allowing for quick escapes or repositioning.

Soulborn sucks and we don't talk about him. I mean I get it, he's supposed to be to 'ranger' or 'paladin' type who uses incarnum instead of magic, but man, it's too little too late. You'd honestly be better off just taking two levels of incarnate or totemist and putting the rest in fighter. Gestalting doesn't help this at all, you'd be better off gestalting with a fighter if you want to fight, or with an incarnate or totemist if you want to shape soulmelds.

[Maat Mons]

I'm not familiar with vestige binding, but Binder seems like a good thematic fit with psionics. Psionics is associated with the Far Realms, and vestiges come from strange, quasi-existent entities.

How are you working the Tashalatora feat for this game?

[Jervis]

Fighter/incarnate pretty much fixes the problems of both. Incarnate's poor HD and 1/2 BAB get boosted to d10s and full BAB, while fighter gets abilities that aren't just "I hit/shoot/trip/charge it again." Or if you want you can lean into that and become REALLY GOOD at "I hit/shoot/trip/charge it again," several soulmelds enhance stuff like Strength checks or attack rolls.

Fighter/totemist might be better if you're focusing on being a combat monster (almost literally, in this case.) Sphinx Claws for instance do 1d8 + STR + essentia damage, and since they're considered natural weapons you only get a -2 for dual-wielding them. Or if you're focusing on melee, you can shape Manticore belt and bind it to your Totem chakra to give yourself a decent ranged attack that scales with your level, and you can use it without having to draw a different weapon. Full BAB and d10 HD aren't huge boosts over the totemist's d8s and 3/4 BAB, but the bonus feats add some significant versatility.

Or you could go totemist/incarnate for a ridiculous number of soulmelds and essentia. The primary drawback being you can only have a single soulmeld bound to a given chakra, but even given that limitation it gives you a LOT of versatility.

There are a couple soulmelds that enhance spells, but even barring that, gestalting totemist or incarnate with a full caster frees up some spells and grants some utility and combat options that don't use up spell slots. Bonuses to skills, for instance, and there are a couple soulmelds that enhance spells. A cleric/totemist or wizard/totemist with a couple self-buffing spells could be a force to be reckoned with. A couple soulmelds also grant Dimension Door as a spell-like ability, allowing for quick escapes or repositioning.

Soulborn sucks and we don't talk about him. I mean I get it, he's supposed to be to 'ranger' or 'paladin' type who uses incarnum instead of magic, but man, it's too little too late. You'd honestly be better off just taking two levels of incarnate or totemist and putting the rest in fighter. Gestalting doesn't help this at all, you'd be better off gestalting with a fighter if you want to fight, or with an incarnate or totemist if you want to shape soulmelds.

I’m convinced the guy who thought printing soulborn in the same book as Totemist was a good idea must have had a hand in making True Namer.

Hm... Shadowcaster//Shadowcaster? I think it's good fix. )))

I really want to play that as the edgiest OC imaginable. “I WAS BORN IN THE DARK!”

I'm not familiar with vestige binding, but Binder seems like a good thematic fit with psionics. Psionics is associated with the Far Realms, and vestiges come from strange, quasi-existent entities.

How are you working the Tashalatora feat for this game?

That… is a excellent question. I assume it just follows the no double dip rule so you can’t go Monk//Psion at any point and get double Monk scaling. Then again you couldn’t go that for very many levels and stay to the spirit of the rules so, eh. Plus getting double monk levels in a level hardly makes it good.

[liquidformat]

I’m convinced the guy who thought printing soulborn in the same book as Totemist was a good idea must have had a hand in making True Namer.

To Be fair if you turn Soulborn into a 10 level prc it turns it from horrible to very nice. Personally I think this is one of those like swashbuckler and probably soulknife that should have been PRCs...

How are you working the Tashalatora feat for this game?

From my experience in gestalt, class stacking feats and PRCs are banned unless you are in some crazy high op game...