# gestalt
An organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. Anyone that is familar with d&d 3.5 might know about a rule varraint call "gestalt" a high-powered campaign variant, characters essentially take two classes at every level, choosing the best aspects of each. with any over lapping features taking the best from the best of the two such as hit dice, attack progression and, saves.

## why gestalt?
Gestalt campaigns are high-power campaigns that don't rely on magic items or levels. A party of 2 in a gestalt campaign is the equivlaint of a paty of 3 or 4 and thus allow a smaller group to have all the roles they need in an adventure. So you can run a module meant for a party of 4 with only two or three people.


### basics
If you have never read the gestalt rules stop right here and read the rules [here](http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm) it will save you a lot of headache going forward but, I will give you some of the key points.

**Characters:** Chracters in a gestalt campaign are writen as class//class or class|class inorder to keep the two lines sperate.

**Classes:** You are not allowed to have two of the same class on oppisite sides. No Wizard//Wizard or Fighter//Fighter 

**Balance:** Its impossible to keep gestalt campaigns inline with normal modules. Example: a Fighter 5//Sorcerer 5 is going to cast a twinned linked haste on itself then action surge for two attacks and attack twice with its haste then bonus action quicken a green-flame blade. Next turn take the attack action to hit twice, use the two haste action to hit two more times. Two turns 9 attacks at the cost of 3rd level slot, 5 sorcerer points, and an action surge. You need to keep that in mind whenever running a gestalt campaign. 

**Limiting:** Some classes, class combos or, subclasses you might need to ban because they are too appleaing as choices. If a Fighter/Warlock is good a Fighter//Warlock is great.

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>##### the warlock problem
> The warlock is a great choice for any class. A Fighter//Warlock will enjoy being a short rest master with a host of spells, invocation, (if you are allowing ua's) smiting for 10d8 with every attack. A Sorcerer//Warlock will enjoy the extra free spells from invocations that can be used with metamagic, the short rest slots, the ability to use the sorcerer slots with the lower level warlock spells and, the ability to cast eldritch blast as a bonus action (a normal Sorcerer/Warlock can do this too but, its a good side note that the sorcerer has to lose in order to gain this where here it does not). The Bard//Warlock gets most of the same befits as the Sorcerer plus the Lore Bard and Pact of the Tome can really diverify its spell casting toolbelt to even rival the wizard. But I thnk you get my point Warlock is something that is extremely appealing to take with any class and something you might want to outright ban from play. Some players might be angry saying that it is their favorite class but, trust me you will have powerful enough characters without it.
>


### Other things to keep in mind
Gestalt campaigns are meant for a few players if you have a four man team you don't need to run a gestalt campaign you have all you need right there. There is no need to gestalt as all the typical rolls can be filled. (Support/healing, face, damage, frontline) so here is some things you might want to have in the back of you mind when playing.

**Action Economy:** The Fighter//Sorcerer has over came the action economy with a use of spells and its action surge. A costly two turns that they might be saved for a final boss or a hard encounted of some kind but, the players are still limited by the one action, one bouns action, one reaction rule. So while a fighter//cleric can attack and heal, they still must follow the rules of the game.

**Magic Items:** With all that a player can do with their turn giving them a magic item that needs an action or bonus action to use is going to be sold or ignored. They already have a huge toolbelt that can be accessed using all their actions.

**Homebrews:** there are a lot of good homebrews out there. Subclasses, full classes, races, you name it. I wouldn't allow any of them. even if they are balanced. There is a fine line here that needs to be kept in place because one step can lead to a super powerful character. Just keep it vanilla.







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# Rules for Gestalt 

### Ability Scores
In order for the player to take the two classes they must meet the mulitclassing requrment for both. So a Fighter//Wizard must have 13 Strength or Dexterity and 13 Intelligence.

### Hit Dice
You take the larger of the two hit dice. A Fitgher//Wizard will take the d10 not the d6 as its hit die.

### Saving Throws
You take the three out four Saving Throw Profemcies. So a Fighter//Wizard would take three out of Strength, Constitution, Intellignece or, Wisdom. If the classes share both the same saving throws they choose one out of the remaining. A Fighter//Barabain would have Strength and Constitution and one other out of Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom or, Charisma.

### Skills
You will take the larger amount of skill choices from a combined pool of both classes. Fighter//Rouge would take Four skills from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Investigation, Perception, Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Survival.

##### Multiclassing Prerequisites
>| Class | Ability Score Minimum |
>|:-----------:|:--------|
>|Barbarian|Strength 13|
>|Bard|Charisma 13|
>|Cleric|Wisdom 13|
>|Druid|Wisdom 13|
>|Fighter|Strength 13 or Dexterity 13|
>|Monk|Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13|
>|Paladin|Strength 13 and Charisma 13|
>|Ranger|Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13|
>|Rogue|Dexterity 13|
>|Sorcerer|Charisma 13|
>|Warlock|Charisma 13|
>|Wizard|Intelligence 13|

<div class='wide'>

### Ability Score Improvment
Ability Score Improvment would be based off **character level** and be at 4, 8, 12, 16, 19. Any extra Ability Score Improvment would apply well. A Fighter 10//Rouge 10 would get the two normal ASI's at 4 & 8 and at 6 would get an extra ASI for being a Fighter and at 10 for being a Rouge. A Rogue 10//Fighter 6/Paladin 4 would get two ASI at 4 and 8, two extra for Fighter 6 and Rouge 10 but wouldn't recive one for being a 4th level Paladin.

</div>
## Class Features

If the features are not addtional take the highest. (Extra attack, Unarmored Defense) If they are addtional (Channel Divinity, Spellcasting) use the following rules.


### Channel Divinity
Channel Divinity is done perside. A Paladin 6//Cleric 6 will have a use Channel Divinity from the Paladin and two uses of the Clerics thus giving you three uses. However a Fighter 6// Paladin 3/Cleric 3 only has one use of Channel Divinity that it can use on ether the Paladin's or the Cleric's.

### Spellcasting
Spellcasting is done perside. A Sorcerer 5//Bard 5 would be a full caster on both sides and have 8 first level slots, 6 second level slots and, 4 third level slots. A Paladin 2/Bard 3//Sorcerer 5 is a half cast of 2 full caster of 3 on one side and a full caster on the other giving them 8 first level slots, 6 second level slots and, 2 third level slots

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### Multiclassing

The number of classes the player cannot exceed their profency bonus. This includes the two classes the player starts with. A Fighter 4//Warlock 4 has a profency bonus of 2 thus is legal, while Fighter 4//Warlock 2/Bard 2 is not.

> ##### Spellcasters
> As you can see, the amount of spells a player can cast perday can get up there. A Sorcerer//Bard gets 2 ninth level slots. Which can and will be very powerful. To that end you may want to limit a player to only one full caster. That way you can still have your full range of spells but still not a super caster. Another sugestion you might want to do is the spell point variant in the DMG. Again you count your spellcasting level from both sides and then combind at the end. So you'd get a **TON** of points but you are limited to only 1 high level slot per long rest. A full caster on both sides you might want to allow 2 or 3 high level spells.