Gestalt-ish character

[Theodoxus]

Anyone read the The Outcast (Dark Sun: Tribe of One)? It featured a main character that had multiple personalities, each of which had a different skill set / player class.

I was thinking of doing something similar, only with just two personalities, perhaps a twin that absorbed the other in the womb, but retained a completely unique identity.

Basic premise would be 1 character, 2 separate classes and personalities. A vHuman male Life Cleric and a vHuman female Conjuration Wizard.

I was thinking the trigger switch would be an Int Save when in Cleric mode and a Cha Save when in Wizard mode anytime they take damage with a DC = 5 + damage. Hit Points would be 7 (average between 6 and 8) + Con, + 4 or 5 per level, alternating by level). Spell Slots would be a single set used by both classes. Proficiencies, skills and feats would be unique to each personality - which will be fun when the chain mail wearing cleric gets knocked into the no armor prof wizard who then complains about having to doff the armor before being able to cast spells. (and vice versa when the cleric realizes he's essentially naked in the middle of combat).

Also, they would automatically be the other personality when they wake up from a long rest. Just to give the party a little bit of consistency.

Would you allow such a creature to play alongside standard characters?

[Nidgit]

Any time you take damage? Absolutely not.

You're likely to be hit pretty often, and a DC of 5+damage in saves you're not proficient in means you'll be changing multiple times per round in some instances. Aside from just being obnoxiously interrupting combat, it means you've got about a 50% chance of being utterly useless while fighting. It takes a minimum of 1 minute to doff armor, which means the Wizard's best option would be to just punch themselves in the face and hope to change back. That becomes a spotlight-grabbing burden on everyone else in the party.

There are definitely better ways to implement multiple personalities or variable skill sets. Eladrin are a good starting point, and Spirits Bard or Phant Rogue may have some useful ideas for you too. Beyond that, there are definitely some play-tested homebrews out there too.

[JNAProductions]

Anyone read the The Outcast (Dark Sun: Tribe of One)? It featured a main character that had multiple personalities, each of which had a different skill set / player class.

I was thinking of doing something similar, only with just two personalities, perhaps a twin that absorbed the other in the womb, but retained a completely unique identity.

Basic premise would be 1 character, 2 separate classes and personalities. A vHuman male Life Cleric and a vHuman female Conjuration Wizard.

I was thinking the trigger switch would be an Int Save when in Cleric mode and a Cha Save when in Wizard mode anytime they take damage with a DC = 5 + damage. Hit Points would be 7 (average between 6 and 8) + Con, + 4 or 5 per level, alternating by level). Spell Slots would be a single set used by both classes. Proficiencies, skills and feats would be unique to each personality - which will be fun when the chain mail wearing cleric gets knocked into the no armor prof wizard who then complains about having to doff the armor before being able to cast spells. (and vice versa when the cleric realizes he's essentially naked in the middle of combat).

Also, they would automatically be the other personality when they wake up from a long rest. Just to give the party a little bit of consistency.

Would you allow such a creature to play alongside standard characters?

In general, no. It doesn't seem OP-rather, it seems like it'd be too easy to be useless, as in your armor example.

It also seems a little "Different for the sake of being different". I could see a cool campaign built with this for all the players in mind, but just dropping it into a more normal campaign... No thanks.

[CTurbo]

I've long thought about doing something similar to this. I feel like the physical stats between the 2 personalities would need to be the same if not really similar considering it's the same body, but the mental stats could vary greatly which would/could still be really fun.

I agree with the above about the armor thing. This character would be useless a lot of the time which is bad for the party. I definitely recommend skipping the armor proficiency issue.

How does the character having 2 different genders in one body work?

Are they aware that they are 2 characters sharing the same body or do they think they just suffer from long term blackouts?

Would the Cleric personality know to keep the Wizard personalities spellbook?


I think it would be best to go with to classes that share a common armor so you don't run into issues.

I've considered doing this with a Monk/Sorcerer so I could just go without armor completely and Sorcerers don't ever need any material components with the groups I play with so no need to keep up with that stuff while in the Monk persona. All stats would stay the same except Wis and Cha would swap between the two.

[Greywander]

This is definitely something you should talk to your table about, as this could be quite disruptive. As long as your table buys in, though, it should be fine, just don't spring this on them by surprise.

I agree with the others that this doesn't seem like it would work very well as written. I'd try to frame it as both a benefit and a penalty, e.g. allowing you to voluntarily switch personalities when it suits you, but also forcing switches under some conditions without the ability to switch back for a while. Perhaps you can always switch freely, but certain triggers make one personality or the other inaccessible, forcing a switch if you are that personality currently.

For triggers, I'd go for a mix of roleplay and combat triggers. For example, maybe one personality really likes cake, so if you see a cake then the other personality is disabled until the cake is out of view. Or maybe one personality is afraid of spiders, and disables themselves when you see one. Some combat triggers might be taking damage of a certain type or failing a certain type of saving throw. This takes the randomness out, making the forced switches more reliable, while also not slowing the game down with extra dice rolls. You might have the DM create the triggers so that they're a mystery to you, too.

I've had a somewhat similar idea, where it's two characters in one body. The difference is that both characters are conscious and aware at the same time, and both take turns in combat. They might even have entirely separate stats, though it would make sense to share an HP pool. Not sure how I'd want to run this, maybe as two different players each playing one character instead of one player playing both characters.

[Throne12]

This might sound harsh. But I would add that your are Permanently Vulnerable to psychic damage because each personality is taking damage, and your brain is already taxed with the 2 identity's and spells.

On another note when you switch identity's you should be spending time to reading you spellbound or praying to remember spells.

[Jervis]

Anyone read the The Outcast (Dark Sun: Tribe of One)? It featured a main character that had multiple personalities, each of which had a different skill set / player class.

I was thinking of doing something similar, only with just two personalities, perhaps a twin that absorbed the other in the womb, but retained a completely unique identity.

Basic premise would be 1 character, 2 separate classes and personalities. A vHuman male Life Cleric and a vHuman female Conjuration Wizard.

I was thinking the trigger switch would be an Int Save when in Cleric mode and a Cha Save when in Wizard mode anytime they take damage with a DC = 5 + damage. Hit Points would be 7 (average between 6 and 8) + Con, + 4 or 5 per level, alternating by level). Spell Slots would be a single set used by both classes. Proficiencies, skills and feats would be unique to each personality - which will be fun when the chain mail wearing cleric gets knocked into the no armor prof wizard who then complains about having to doff the armor before being able to cast spells. (and vice versa when the cleric realizes he's essentially naked in the middle of combat).

Also, they would automatically be the other personality when they wake up from a long rest. Just to give the party a little bit of consistency.

Would you allow such a creature to play alongside standard characters?

Uhhhhh... Being able to swap between two prepared casters, the two with the best spell lists mind you, sounds like trouble. You can just have a barbarian GWM you whenever you run into something you need another spell for.

[Theodoxus]

Well, the DM squashed the idea, so... back to the drawing board.

I'm now thinking about this character concept: The Artificial Nuclear Wizard

vHuman w/ Fey Touched feat to get Bless (a table request for level 1)
Artificer 2 -> Hexblade 1 -> Wizard (Evoker) X

This brings a modicum of healing, the essential Bless and decent ranged options at 1st level, and infusions (Repeating shot for the ranged rogue and Enhanced Arcane Focus for my non-MM targeting spells).

Because of Artificer, Hexblade is really only bringing Hexblade's Curse to the table, and is +4 to +6 damage starting at 14th level (10th Wiz) really worth the cost in delayed Wizard spells? Thoughts?

I'm ok with the massive 2 to 3 level delay in starting Wizard (and if I drop Warlock completely, I might grab Art 3 for Artillerist for the THP...) as this character is primarily support/utility. Though I think it'll be hilarious when the lowly 'Bless and Heal monkey' nukes the everliving crap out of the big bad ;)

I'm thinking of grabbing Healer, War Caster, Alert and Res: Wis as the feats. (Stats gen is rolled, using 3d8s, no attribute starting over 20. I got a 19 Int (+1 for Fey Touched, for a starting 20 - no need for stat increases... - 18 Dex, 16 Con as well - the DM is nuts ;)

[Nidgit]

You should double-check with your DM on their interpretation of the Evoker's bonus damage ability first. Some DMs only allow the bonus damage to be applied once.

[Jervis]

Well, the DM squashed the idea, so... back to the drawing board.

I'm now thinking about this character concept: The Artificial Nuclear Wizard

vHuman w/ Fey Touched feat to get Bless (a table request for level 1)
Artificer 2 -> Hexblade 1 -> Wizard (Evoker) X

This brings a modicum of healing, the essential Bless and decent ranged options at 1st level, and infusions (Repeating shot for the ranged rogue and Enhanced Arcane Focus for my non-MM targeting spells).

Because of Artificer, Hexblade is really only bringing Hexblade's Curse to the table, and is +4 to +6 damage starting at 14th level (10th Wiz) really worth the cost in delayed Wizard spells? Thoughts?

I'm ok with the massive 2 to 3 level delay in starting Wizard (and if I drop Warlock completely, I might grab Art 3 for Artillerist for the THP...) as this character is primarily support/utility. Though I think it'll be hilarious when the lowly 'Bless and Heal monkey' nukes the everliving crap out of the big bad ;)

I'm thinking of grabbing Healer, War Caster, Alert and Res: Wis as the feats. (Stats gen is rolled, using 3d8s, no attribute starting over 20. I got a 19 Int (+1 for Fey Touched, for a starting 20 - no need for stat increases... - 18 Dex, 16 Con as well - the DM is nuts ;)

Really Daolock is the better option if you just want damage. Still I don’t think it’s worth a dip on its own.

[Greywander]

Really Daolock is the better option if you just want damage. Still I don’t think it’s worth a dip on its own.

Genielock doesn't work for the Nuclear Wizard. Genie's Wrath doesn't interact with Magic Missile.

I'm not a big fan of Hexblade, in part because it feels cheesy, and in part because I tend to prefer always-on or infinite use features, like Genie's Wrath, but the Nuclear Wizard really does need Hexblade's Curse to get the most bang for its buck.