Would this concept work?

[Frosty]

In a gestalt game, one of my players is thinking of going with a Changeling, and his basic concept is something like this: (Warblade or swordsage)10/Chameleon10 on one side and Factotum all the way on the other. I am not familiar with the Chameleon, so as a DM, what kind of tricks, tactics, and strategies would I expect a character like that to employ? And what kind of role would he fill? Spy? Bat-man lite? First-Aid Kit? competent swordsman?

[Douglas]

Spy? Bat-man lite? First-Aid Kit? competent swordsman?

Any or all of those, depending on what he decides to be that day. Chameleon and Factotum are both extreme versatility focused classes. They tend to be less powerful at any given thing than a build truly focused on it, but they can do virtually anything. It sounds like he's going for the ultimate jack-of-all-trades character, and this is a pretty good way to do that.

[Frosty]

I think he also wants to take a feat called "Wild Cohort" or something like that. He can do anything huh...

[_Puppetmaster_]

Wild cohort gives you an animal ompanion that progresses at about 1/3 of the rate of a druid's. It's in the 2006 archives on the wizards website, under retired articles, under random encounters, under "wild -something"

[Vortling]

You can find the Chameleon prestige class here. If he goes with warblade, he'll have a lot of Int synergy which lends itself to arcane spells. Swordsage is more Wis synergy and lends itself more to divine spells. Depending on what he prepares for spells you can give him different challenges. Either way the factotum side of the concept really allows him plenty of skills and the ability to go nova (expend lots of resources to solve a problem). Hope that helps

[Frosty]

So the character can't really last through many encounters you'd guess?

[Zincorium]

So the character can't really last through many encounters you'd guess?

Combat encounters? Yes. Warblades don't run out of steam 'til the hitpoints are gone. If he takes chameleon in between sets of warblade levels rather than all at the end, and uses combat focus with the chameleon occasionally, he's going to be dishing out some serious hurt.

The factotum side's inspiration points are really the limiting factor, and even then they're not the only thing the factotum has going.

Edit: Swordsage is approximately equal to warblade on the points I'm making here.

[Talic]

For Chameleon... Imagine the skill points of a rogue, and pick 2:

1) Casting up to 6th level arcane spells (any and every arcane class list. Including assassin, warmage, wu jen, bard, etc).

2) Casting up to 6th level divine spells (see above)

3) Combat boosting.

4) Ranger tracking and wild empathy

5) rogue trapfinding.

Add in a feat that they can change every day, and a floating +6 to a stat that they can put anywhere.

[brian c]

Combat encounters? Yes. Warblades don't run out of steam 'til the hitpoints are gone. If he takes chameleon in between sets of warblade levels rather than all at the end, and uses combat focus with the chameleon occasionally, he's going to be dishing out some serious hurt.

The factotum side's inspiration points are really the limiting factor, and even then they're not the only thing the factotum has going.

Edit: Swordsage is approximately equal to warblade on the points I'm making here.

To repeat what Zinc is saying a little bit, this type of character can indeed go through a lot of encounters, mostly because that's what martial classes are best at since everything is based on encounters, not X/day.

However, as I believe Vortling was trying to say, the Factotum and Chameleon classes can "go nova" and expend resources on one encounter to make it go away a lot quicker. Gestalting Warblade//Factotum is very good, not just for the Int synergy but also because you can nova away your Inspiration points and still be able to contribute in other encounters because all your martial maneuvers are still available.

[kamikasei]

However, as I believe Vortling was trying to say, the Factotum and Chameleon classes can "go nova" and expend resources on one encounter to make it go away a lot quicker. Gestalting Warblade//Factotum is very good, not just for the Int synergy but also because you can nova away your Inspiration points and still be able to contribute in other encounters because all your martial maneuvers are still available.

Inspiration points are per-encounter, not per-day (a few of their uses are per-day, but not the combat-relevant ones). A factotum has nearly as much staying power as a warblade, given a large number of combats one after the other rather than one huge marathon one.

[Frosty]

And Font of Inspiration also adds x per encounter?

Overall, would you say this build isn't very optimized? The group has some newbies (to gestalt) so I don't want a *huge* power disparity

[kamikasei]

And Font of Inspiration also adds x per encounter?

Overall, would you say this build isn't very optimized? The group has some newbies (to gestalt) so I don't want a *huge* power disparity

Font of Inspiration goes to your inspiration points total. You get that total at the start of each encounter. It shouldn't be so bad, though, since he'll probably have to spend some feats for the Chameleon prereqs and will probably want to spend a couple improving his Warbladitude.

It doesn't strike me as hugely optimized, but I've no experience with Factotums or Chameleons. From what I gather, since he can do nearly anything, the main issue will be simply getting him to be a team player rather than trying to nova every encounter by blowing all his inspiration points in the first round (factotums nova within the encounter, rather than within the day, since many of their inspiration-using abilities are free actions). It seems like a very solid combination that will cover a lot of weaknesses and allow tremendous flexibility without sucking at it as D&D jacks-of-all-trades often do.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Yes but if you don't enforce the multiclassing experience point penalty instead of Factotum - 20 the player should go Variant Changeling Rogue -1, Factotum -19 for the extra skill points 10 base skill points multiplied by four at first level.

Warblade-5 (Possibly 3 with a 2 level dip into Swordsage), Chameleon -10, X-5 (Really nice for taking advantage of thrown weapon PRCs).

[Frosty]

Do you think a throwing specialist would synergize well?

[sonofzeal]

I think this character is reasonably optimized. At lvl20 he's going to be able to do almost literally ANYTHING, do it well, and keep doing it for as long as he's likely to need it. I don't play gestalt much, but either side of this strikes me as a solidly good character, and they work well together. Watch out for Cunning Brilliance plus Warblade Strikes allowing him to seriously bring down the hurt.

But yeah, Warblade levels become somewhat more valuable the later in the carreer you take them. If he levels Chameleon up earlier before finishing Warblade, that'll help him in the long run by giving him access to higher level maneuvers.

What are the other players going as?

[Frosty]

lvl20 he's going to be able to do almost literally ANYTHING, do it well, and keep doing it for as long as he's likely to need it.
What are the other players going as?

Can he really do all of it well? Obviously not as good as someone dedicated to the role, but good enough huh? And we're starting at level 10, so we're more worried about performance now than later.

As for the others, I haven't approved anyone's character yet but so far the submissions have been:

A Dragonwrought Kobold Druid/Master of Many Forms // Sorcerer named Deekin.
A Troll Barbarian // Fighter named Detritus
A Human Rogue // Monk named (and I kid you not) James McSneaky