[3.5ish] Gestalt Characters game - anyone interested?

[DrPraetor]

Gestalt characters! Remember them?

Here's how it works. For each level you take, you get a combination of the features of two different classes (you get the better of the two options, generally speaking.) This is almost balanced, with the following relatively mild restrictions:
[*] Multiclassing into different spellcasters is still wank, so by fiat you can't do it. You pick a single primary-spellcaster class and you get a level in that for every character level, automatically.
[*] Depending on the spellcasting class you take, you have more or fewer options for which classes you can mix it with. So, for example, the Wizard is better than the Psion, and the Barbarian is better than the Samurai. So, a Wizard/Samurai is sorta-almost-balanced against a Psion/Barbarian. Each spellcasting class has a "pairs with" restriction that limits the non-spellcasting classes you are allowed to take.

We'll start at 3rd level. Here's a table of classes I'm willing to support (these are all from WoTC products for the 3.5 line.)

Primary Spellcasters -

Class	Pairs w/	Aln	HD	F	R	W	SP	Powers
Archivist	BC	**	D6	+	-	+	4	Prepared+: Any Divine, Dark Knowledge
Ardent	ABC	**	D6	-	-	+	2	Psionics, Four Mantles
Beguiler	C	**	D6	-	-	+	6	Any: Beguiler, Light Caster, Trapfinding, Feints
Cleric	BC	**	D8	+	-	+	2	Prepared+: Cleric, Two Domains, Turning / Rebuking
Dread Necro	C	*e	D6	-	-	+	2	Any: Necromantic, Necromancy, Rebuking
Druid	BC	!x	D8	+	-	+	4	Prepared: Druid, Wild Shape
Favored Soul	ABC	**	D8	+	+	+	2	Fixed: Cleric, Energy Resist, Fixed Feat
Healer	ABC	*G	D8	+	-	+	4	Fixed: Healing
Psion	ABC	**	D4	-	-	+	2	Psionics, Two Feats, Psicrystal
Shugenja	ABC	**	D6	-	-	+	4	Fixed: Shugenja, Elemental Crap
Sorcerer	BC	**	D4	-	-	+	2	Fixed: Wizard, Familiar
Spirit Shaman	BC	**	D8	+	-	+	4	Prepared+: Druid, Spirit Fighting
Mystic	ABC	**	D8	+	-	+	2	Fixed: Cleric, Domain
Shadowcaster	ABC	**	D6	+	-	+	2	Special: Shadow Magic
War Mage	BC	**	D6	-	-	+	2	Any: Blasting, Light Caster, Warmage Edge
Wilder	ABC	**	D6	-	-	+	4	Psionics, Surge +2, Elude Touch
Wizard	C	**	D4	-	-	+	2	Prepared+: Wizard, Fixed Feats, Familiar
Wu Jen	BC	c*	D4	-	-	+	2	Prepared: Wu Jen, Initiative, Spell Secret, Element

Class	Grade	Aln	HD	F	R	W	SP	Powers
Barbarian	A	c*	D12	+	-	-	4	Rage, Uncanny Dodge, Speed
Duskblade	B	**	D8	+	-	+	2	Fixed-: Duskblade, Medium Caster, Magic Sword
Fighter	B	**	D10	+	-	-	2	Feats
Hexblade	C	*e	D10	-	-	+	2	Light Caster, Mettle, Feat, Magic Resist, Hex, MinMag
Knight	B	L*	D12	-	-	+	2	Armored Mobility, Defenses, Fixed Feats
Paladin	B	LG	D10	+	-	-	2	Grace, Lay on Hands, Smite, Mount, MinMag
Ranger	B	**	D8	+	+	-	6	Fixed Feats, Favored Enemies, MinMag
Samurai	C	L*	D10	+	-	-	2	Staredown, Quick Draw, Daisho, Smite
Soulborn	C	xx	D10	+	-	-	2	Minor Incarnum
Swashbuckler	C	**	D10	+	-	-	4	Grace, Dodge, Weapon Finesse, Insightful Strike
Aristocrat	B	**	D8	-	-	+	4	Wealth*
Artificer	B	**	D6	-	-	+	4	Any-: Infusions, Item Creation, Craft Reserve**
Bard	A	c*	D6	-	+	+	6	Fixed-: Bardic, Bardic Music, Light Caster
Binder	B	**	D8	+	-	+	2	One Vestige, Two Abilities, Bonus Feat
Divine Mind	B	**	D10	+	-	+	2	Aura, Two Mantles, Minor Psionics
Dragon Shaman	B	!n	D10	+	-	+	2	Aura, Dragon Stuff, Lay on Hands, Breath Weapon
Expert	C	**	D6	-	-	+	6	Choice of skills
Incarnate	B	!X	D6	+	-	+	2	Incarnum Stuff
Lurk	B	**	D6	-	+	+	4	Sneak Attack--, Augment, Minor Psionics
Marshal	B	**	D8	+	-	+	4	Aura, Grant Move
Monk	B	L*	D8	+	+	+	4	Monk Stuff, Fixed Feats, Speed, Evasion
Ninja	B	**	D6	-	+	-	6	Sudden Strike, Trapfinding, Poison, Ki Dodge, Invis.
Noble	A	**	D8	-	+	+	4	Inspirational, Favors, Wealth*
Psychic War	B	**	D8	+	-	-	2	Bonus Feats, Psionics
Rogue	A	**	D6	-	+	-	8	Sneak Attack, Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, Trapfinding
Scout	A	**	D8	-	+	-	8	Skirmish, Trapfinding, Evasion, Fast, Uncanny Dodge
Soulknife	C	**	D10	-	+	+	4	Soul Knife +1/+1
Spellthief	A	**	D6	-	-	+	6	Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Magic Stealing, MinMag
Totemist	B	**	D8	+	+	-	4	Incarnum Stuff
Truenamer	A	**	D6	-	-	+	2	True Name Magic
Warlock	C	!p	D6	-	-	+	2	Eldritch Blast, Invocations

G = Good
e = not Good
E = Evil
g = not Evil
l = not Chaotic
c = not Lawful
L = Lawful
C = Chaotic
x = not Neutral
* = Any
!p = Any evil or any chaotic
!x = At least one neutral component
!X = Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Lawful Neutral or Chaotic Neutral
!n = Not true neutral

[Endovior]

Wait... you're listing Cleric and Druid as 'AB' classes, with the limited casters? Instead of a 'C' class, like the Wizard? If so, I don't even understand what criteria you're using.

[Kaelik]

Wait... you're listing Cleric and Druid as 'AB' classes, with the limited casters? Instead of a 'C' class, like the Wizard? If so, I don't even understand what criteria you're using.

To be fair, even if he confined them to C classes, it would still be stupid, because some of the C classes are much better than the A classes.

I mean, I know Monk is good as the other side of gestalt, but let's be serious here.

As a Druid, are you even going to complain that you have to be a Druid//Warlock or Druid//Soulborn instead of a Druid//Monk or Druid//Barbarian or Druid//Bard?

[Prak]

I'd be interested in playing, I suppose, since I've wanted to play a gestalt Soulknife/Warlock for a while. How would you deal with the C/C combo? Especially if I wanted to play a Thri Kreen (ECL 4, which sucks and is stupid)

break down of the Thri Kreen stats
overall +2 ability scores (good str, dex, and wis, bad int and charisma)
Monstrous humanoids
40' speed
darkvision
immune to magic sleep
+3 natural armour
4 arms
claws and bite, and a dex/paralysis poison
high racial bonus to jump, moderate racial bonus to hide in sandy or arid settings
two 3/day and two 1/day psi likes
2 HD (I'd be perfectly happy dropping them)
A specific bonus feat.

[DrPraetor]

... why exactly do you want to be a Thri-Kreen Soul Knife/Warlock? Know what, I don't care why, sure. You can be a Soul Knife/Warlock and get whatever the hell Thri-Kreen get. I'm willing to call that fair.

Wait... you're listing Cleric and Druid as 'AB' classes, with the limited casters? Instead of a 'C' class, like the Wizard? If so, I don't even understand what criteria you're using.

Sorry, those should be "BC" classes.

To be fair, even if he confined them to C classes, it would still be stupid, because some of the C classes are much better than the A classes.... Warlock or Soulborn ~= Monk Barbarian Bard

Soulborn are distinctly inferior to Fighters. I'd rather have Fighter bonus feats - even on someone who is primarily a caster - than some minor incarnum. Incarnum just aren't that good. So Soulborn are "C".
Warlocks have D6 HD, in exchange for which they get abilities which are almost-never better than spellcasting. Druid/Warlocks can, I suppose, turn into a bear and then shoot energy bolts at people - as a bear! While that's not completely worthless, I'd hardly call it broken.

Monks are mediocre gestalts. Yes, they get some good bonuses - but compare to the other "B"s - Paladins, Rangers (and I guess Totemists if you think Incarna are good?) are all pretty much better, with better-or-equal saves and either better BAB or superior misc. powers.

[DrPraetor]

Okay, follow-up rules.

Non-spellcasters can be a C/C gestalt and be ECL +2 (from book of monstrous what's-it's).
Spellcasters can be an ABC/C gestalt and be ECL +1.

Actual HD are negotiable. Let's see, we might have an:
Archivist/Soulknife - actually, this is kind of cool. You are a priestly loremaster, and you have a mind-knife for, you know, no reason. That works.

Beguiler/Swashbuckler - doesn't have good R saves. Otherwise, covers the bases well. Has a lot of schtick value.

Dread Necro/Soulborn - He's a necromancer and he also collects souls or something, so it's not like he even needs to have two schticks. Again, reflex saves are not great.

Favored Soul/Barbarian - Is probably going to end up buffing himself and then charging people? He's got all good saves, a huge pile of HP, and then Barbarian special abilities aren't useless.

Psion/Monk - I think Wis powers the defensive Psi categories. So this guy is like the Wizard/Monk builds that people sometimes do but he gets theoretically-full-casting because you're supposed to pretend that Psions are good. His BAB is mediocre but that's only -1 to hit, it's not that big a deal.

Sorcerer/Ranger - Is probably going archery, maybe gets arrows of spell storing and then uses spells that work with that? Again, has all good saves so that's nice.

Mystic/Rogue - Again, going for Save and SP synergy. Mystics are pretty poor, but Rogues are actually pretty good, and there are a bunch of cleric spells that can make you better at slinking around and stabbing people.

War Mage/Fighter - A lot of schtick but probably an inferior combo. Maybe go spring attack fighter and try to abuse short range spells or something?

Wizard/Samurai - You're a wizard it doesn't matter what you match it with. You might as well have a Katana.

Wizard/

[Endovior]

Looking over the list... thinking I'd like to do some melee combat, at these early levels where it's actually viable, so I'll go Duskblade//Something. Probably Duskblade//Cleric, because Clerics are awesome, and Arcane Channelling works on 'any touch spell you know', not 'any arcane touch spell'. This opens the door to smiting the crap out of people with Divine Metacheesed touch-range badness, which sounds okay to me. Nontrivial MAD-ness arises, but it hardly matters, since Duskblades are extremely marginal casters anyway.

EDIT: That said, I need more info before I can start making a character. First things first would be basic stuff like ability score generation method.

[Prak]

Warlock/Soulknife Thri Kreen mostly just has conceptual value, I'm not pretending it's by any means good.

[DrPraetor]

Use one of the following stat arrays (the sum of the signed-squares of the bonuses is always equal and the four extreme stats are always odd):
[*] 17, 17, 16, 8, 7, 5
[*] 17, 17, 14, 12, 9, 5
[*] 17, 15, 14, 12, 11, 7
[*] 15, 15, 14, 12, 11, 11

Also - we'd need to figure out if people can actually play. I'm fine playing on IRC but that java thing with the virtual tabletop does seem to work - albeit it's buggy.

The setting is basically standard D&D, except that there are alternate Prime Material Planes where the various near-human races are the majority (and humans are a weird minority living in enclaves.) The game takes place on the majority-human Prime Material. So there are majority-orc countries and such but they are rare, and every country has a sizeable human minority at least.

[Prak]

Allowed material? Thri Kreen's dietary habits mean that they pretty much automatically qualify for Feast Unknown, so long as they have a caster level, and I'd be interested in taking that.

[DrPraetor]

Allowed material? Thri Kreen's dietary habits mean that they pretty much automatically qualify for Feast Unknown, so long as they have a caster level, and I'd be interested in taking that.

Feats in the tomes are in principle okay, as long as they are D&D-"style" (giving fixed benefits right when you take them) rather than later Tome-"style" (giving a whole progression at once). I actually much-prefer Tome-style but only a fraction of the possible feats have been revamped that way.

That said, feats in homebrew, Pathfinder etc. will need to be cleared individually.

I'll give provisional approval for that particular feat BUT, along with the feats in BovD, we'll need to make sure that the party is okay with some people being evil. That feat is pretty evil.

[Prak]

Ok, cool. I'm kind of rethinking this whole idea because, well, soulknife is heart breaking, but generally ok. However, Eldritch Blast can only be used once per round, because it's a standard, not an attack action. So the idea of a thri kreen who wields two mind blades and fires pairs of eldritch blasts, which I've had for, literally, years, and wanted to play, doesn't fucking work. So... yeah, I'm working on it.

Basically the character concept is a thri kreen hired killer (not necessarily Assassin class, though I'd be looking at taking that later, and possibly just an Insectile something instead of a thri kreen, though thri kreen is better...), who's main schtick is created weapons, which secured areas can't check for, and leave nothing in the way of evidence.

Of course, the entire idea could be thrown out the window if people don't want an evil party member.

Edit: There's also the whole Dreamscarred Press book of Mind Blade feats designed to make it easier to get a mind blade with the feat Form Mind Blade, and then improve it with more feats.

[Kaelik]

To be fair, even if he confined them to C classes, it would still be stupid, because some of the C classes are much better than the A classes.... Warlock or Soulborn ~= Monk Barbarian Bard

Soulborn are distinctly inferior to Fighters. I'd rather have Fighter bonus feats - even on someone who is primarily a caster - than some minor incarnum. Incarnum just aren't that good. So Soulborn are "C".
Warlocks have D6 HD, in exchange for which they get abilities which are almost-never better than spellcasting. Druid/Warlocks can, I suppose, turn into a bear and then shoot energy bolts at people - as a bear! While that's not completely worthless, I'd hardly call it broken.

Monks are mediocre gestalts. Yes, they get some good bonuses - but compare to the other "B"s - Paladins, Rangers (and I guess Totemists if you think Incarna are good?) are all pretty much better, with better-or-equal saves and either better BAB or superior misc. powers.

And you are wrong. I would rather have incarnum than fighter bonus feats. Warlocks get stuff that is not as good as spellcasting. But since you can't be a Druid//Cleric, being a Druid/Warlock who takes some of the good invocations that don't have saves is just being a better spellcaster than a Druid. It doesn't matter that being a Druid you get better Charmed Animals than the undead you get from being a Warlock, because you get both. And the undead you get from being a Warlock are still better than being a slightly better fighter when you are already a Druid. And you can have Black Tentacles at will, just because. Yes, it's not better than being a Druid, but that's okay, because it's better than being a Samurai (or a Monk).

Same for see in darkness, all the other cool niche features of being a Warlock.

For the same reason, Totemist and Soulborn are either as good or better than Monks for the other side. It's not that the things they bring are particularly great as a class, it's that they have a lot of stuff which adds onto the Druid Chassis well. Totemists bring teleports, and absurd bonuses to your best skills that stack with everything else you could have, and sense Druids don't have, and add to natural attack damage, and give you more natural attacks. IE, all the things Druids already do, they make you do better, and they give you some utility where you don't have it. Compare that to Bard or Paladin, where you get basically nothing over Druid.

Monks are mediocre gestalts. Yes, they get some good bonuses - but compare to the other "B"s - Paladins, Rangers (and I guess Totemists if you think Incarna are good?) are all pretty much better, with better-or-equal saves and either better BAB or superior misc. powers.

The key mistake you just made is the word "other." You ranked Monks as an A. That's my point, Monks are not better on the other side of a Druid gestalt than any of your Bs or Cs, so it doesn't actually matter whether or not Druids get access to your coveted A class Monks, because they can do just as well if not better with the B and C Totemist/Soulborn/Warlock.

[Endovior]

Okay... so I was briefly considering using Divine Metamagic with one of the number-embiggening sorts of metamagic, to do heinous damage in melee. Then I came to my senses, and remembered that Divine Metamagic is for Persistent Spells (given that you can't have enough turning to use the feat more then once or twice a day anyway, barring extensive cheese), so I'm doing that instead. I also remembered that Illumians have 'Divine Metamagic, but not limited to one type of metamagic' as a racial ability, so I'm going to do that, too. 3rd level IS pretty low for pulling off the Persist Spell combo, since four feats are required. Flaws are suggested for this, but they're an especially cheesy optional rule, and I suspect that you won't allow them (although if you do, by all means, sign me up!). Being an Illumian saves a feat, but also costs one (in that you can't be Human), so no help there. Fortunately, two of the relevant feats can be gained from domains, so I'll have to take either the Planning or Undeath domain. Hell, I might just take both and be a Cleric of Vecna. Either way, I'll easily be able to afford a Persisted buff per day, and won't be able to do more without a few very specific magic items (and since I'm doing this as an Illumian instead of with Divine Metamagic, the maximum number of times I get is two, so the 'large pile of nightsticks' cheese is off the table). I could be especially clever, and use Extended Persistent spells instead; thus getting two days of goodness out of the deal... but given that that particular sequence requires that I legitimately use Extend Spell, and since there aren't too many 1st-level spells worth having all day, it's not that big a deal yet. Still worth doing if given the opportunity to plan ahead, though (prior to a dungeon crawl, for instance).

As for the Duskblade side, the Duskblade's Handbook pointed out that the smart way to use Arcane Channelling is to make trip attacks, not regular attacks; that way, you're making touch attacks again, instead of having to deal with AC. Ideally, you'll want to use a Guisarme for this, to add Reach into the mix as well. Sticking the 'fall over' debuff on your foe is icing on the cake; the real point of all this effort is using magic touch attacks at a bit of range. Improved Trip would give you an extra kick at the can afterwards, and as such is almost worth taking. Even if I take both domains, though, a 3rd level character does not get enough feats to support it, so I will probably just use regular trip attacks. (Note: if Flaws do wind up being allowed, I'm going to spend them on Improved Trip, and on freeing up a domain slot)

Party-composition-wise; just so we're clear, I'm going to be an evil cleric, which means no spontaneous healing for you. Prak's also evil, so we're clearly partners in crime or something. If there are convenient (read: LA+0) ways to be undead on the table, I'm interested, and would suggest that the party simply does that in general, if it's not irreconcilably incompatible with your character concept. Since Tome of Necromancy is not automatically off the table, as I would've expected, any of the presented undead types would be awesome to have. Since third level is too early for Vampirism, I'd strongly consider teaming up with Prak directly and going Ghoul. That said, if that's not an option, I'd like to nab Moil Wrought, and heal from Negative instead of Positive just because.

[Prak]

Pst- scythes can trip. If you're going to be a cleric of vecna, go all the way. Also, as Nerull's portfolio includes murder, he should give planning too, I'd go with that and just use a skull festooned scythe as your holy symbol.

I think the idea of our characters being partners in assassination shenanigans is an awesome idea, and would benefit from at least three of the four undead templates in BoNecromancy. Your cleric would benefit from being a vampire simply for the Vampire Paragon levels that let you cast metamagic with blood points.

Also, I second flaws, because apparently our characters will be french delicacies* so why the fuck not. That or just upping the number of feats we get with a house rule.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get my character concept to actually work, in regards to fighting with two mind blades (taken care of at fifth level, or with mind blade feats instead of the soul knife class) and firing multiple eldritch blasts (it's a standard, not an attack action, so it stupidly cannot be fired more than once a round.)

*composed almost entirely of cheese.

[Endovior]

Pfft. Cool as the idea is, the mechanics just aren't there. Scythes are essentially identical to a Guisarme with 1 point more crit modifier, but no reach; this is an awful tradeoff. Since this is a Gestalt game with rules-literate folks, I'm not interested in self-nerfing for 'flavor', the way I would if playing with grognards. That said, a War Scythe (a regular scythe, but with the blade mounted parallel to the shaft, instead of perpendicular) was historically a polearm that had reach... but since D&D doesn't support lots of narrow distinctions between umpteen flavors of polearm, a War Scythe is mechanically a Guisarme. I'd totally go for the aesthetics of a Scythe and the stats of a Guisarme, so if that's not a particular point of concern, then yeah; I'm wielding a (War) Scythe.

As for your concept... yeah, it does seem to be invalid on the face of it. Eldritch Blast, even when used with Hideous Blow, remains a standard action, and not an attack action, which hoses you completely. The only actual way to do more then one Eldritch Blast in melee is with the Eldritch Glaive, and with that you only get your BaB's worth of attacks (plus any potential AoO's you have coming), and it's a full-round action even with one. Your only option, if you must have the concept, is to beg for a DM-pity custom invocation. Not a great place to be, but since the synergy you were looking for does not actually exist, that's all there is for it.

EDIT: And yeah, Vampires are awesome, for many reasons. It'd totally be worthwhile to just be Moil Wrought and not undead, and have as a character goal 'become awesome enough to survive becoming a vampire', since that's seriously just two levels, which means there's a reasonable chance the campaign will actually last that long.

[Prak]

Or... yeah, you could totally go with a guisarme and say it's a scythe. That works.

Actually, I'd just ask for DM fiat "Eldritch Blast is an Attack Action like it should be so that warlocks aren't hosed by rogues with flasks."

On another note though, I'm currently compiling a list of "multi-armed bugman races" and comparing them in excel. The SS Thri Kreen is pretty superior to the XPH one, between no Int penalty, and being only LA 1 if you don't care about psi likes (I don't). It'd be hilarious to then add Lolth Touched on top, which boosts Str and Con at +6 each, and gives a small boost to hide and move silent.

So far the absolute most absurd is Akatsukai, from OA, which gives "1d4+1" qualities, from a list that includes +5 NA, up to 8 arms, +10 hide in dark conditions, and even crazier shit. It has no LA, but increases CR based on character level, not at all at ChLv 3-, +1 at ChLv 4-7, and +2 at ChLv 8+.

Actually, yeah, a Lolth Touched Thri kreen is pretty much as awesome as I'll get without going into crazy land (akutsukai) or hacking monsters (taking spells off of aranea or drider, neither of which has more than two arms, mind you)

So, Praetor, I don't suppose I could go Lolth Touched SS style Thri Kreen for:
Monstrous human
40' speed
+3 nat armour
Darkvision 60'
4 arms
4 claws and a bite
1/day poison
+30 jump, +4 hide (w/ add'l +4 in arid/sand), +4 move silent
Deflect Arrows
Immune to fear and magic sleep
Gythkas and Chatkchas are martial weapons
+8 str, +4 dex, +8 con, +2 wis, -4 cha

on a Soulknife//Warlock mind you, hopefully with a "Eldritch blasts are attack actions" house rule, but, well, if it's a "lolth touched thri kreen *or* multi-blast" choice well, I'd rather the race thing. [/wishful thinking]

edit the third: I guess really it comes down to how crazy you're willing to let us get. With the "C//C can have up to +2LA, technically, I could do Savage Species version non-psionic thri kreen with lolth touched and sword wraith, and have truly absurd numbers (sword wraith giving a further +2 hide and move silent). I like games where we can get crazy like that, and Endovior's character is shaping up to be a war scythe wielding Vecna Priest with Persistant Divine Metamagic cheese. I've literally had the idea of a soul knife and eldritch blast using thri kreen hired killer in my head, who can leap across crowded rooms and murderate politicians with attacks of hardened magical badassery in my head for oh... 5 or 6 years now. I have never gotten a chance to play him, because he requires gestalt to be anywhere near decent.

[DrPraetor]

Eh-hem.
[*] By fiat: Eldritch blast is an attack action instead of a standard action, that uses a free hand, go for it. You can stab twice and shoot two zots each turn.
[*] You can call a Guisarme a "War Scythe". I won't guarantee that you'll find enchanted "War Scythes" lying around so you make have to use the Amber Pilum of Hypnos (which is a Longspear) or something, depending on what you find.
[*] You can use the undead races from Book of Necromancy, or you can take Tomb Tainted Soul. Undead-themed party is fine by me, especially as it seems to be just the 2 of you. I'm going to use the various undead rules from Tome of Necromancy anyway (I'd also be open to some of the stuff from Book of Fiends, and I might use some of the misc. rules from the other Tomes.)

The monk was meant to be a B. I considered making it A and that ended up in the table somehow, oops. The things that are actually "A" are b/c:
[*] Barbarians get a *lot* more HP than other options, srsly, and cool powers to boot. Being a Barbarian would stack uncomfortably well with being a Druid.
[*] Bards get bardic performance which you can generally use while doing other things. This doesn't stack with being a Druid but certainly stacks with being a Cleric or Spirit Shaman.
[*] The L5R-flavored Noble gets Henchman and stuff earlier, and is definitely worth an "A".
[*] Scouts and Rogues get the best mix n'match of powers in the game. Scout is not so synergistic with Druid (although boy Rogue would be) but is more banned for the other AB classes like Cleric.
[*] The spell thief and the true namer are "A"s because... well, really I should've just not included them at all since I don't want to deal with them.

Warlocks aren't competely worthless with the various stuff that they do. They still get dreadful HP and Saves and in a Gestalt game that's a much bigger deal than "gets some more spells, gets some more powers, not completely useless!".

[Kaelik]

[*] Barbarians get a *lot* more HP than other options, srsly, and cool powers to boot. Being a Barbarian would stack uncomfortably well with being a Druid.

Barbarians get 1 more HP than the C class Soulborn per level. And unlike the Soulborn, all their "cool powers" are incompatible with being a Druid, because Rage is terrible for spellcasters.

A Druid//Soulborn is objectively superior to a Druid//Barbarian

Warlocks aren't competely worthless with the various stuff that they do. They still get dreadful HP and Saves and in a Gestalt game that's a much bigger deal than "gets some more spells, gets some more powers, not completely useless!".

No, getting bad saves or HP is totally fine when your other side gives you good HP and saves.

The only classes that can offer a Druid anything in the way of saves or HP are good Ref classes (There are 8 total) and d12 or d10 HD classes, which offer two or one HP per level, and there are only 2 and 9 of those, most of which offer nothing in the way or class features.

You A-C rankings are just JaronK tiers. Any class in any heading could easily be in any other ranking and fit in, because each ranking includes classes that do nothing to help at all, and classes that provide actual cool shit.

[DrPraetor]

[*] Barbarians get a *lot* more HP than other options, srsly, and cool powers to boot. Being a Barbarian would stack uncomfortably well with being a Druid.

Barbarians get 1 more HP than the C class Soulborn per level. And unlike the Soulborn, all their "cool powers" are incompatible with being a Druid, because Rage is terrible for spellcasters.

Druids can't cast spells in animal form either, but they can Rage. They also retain the movement bonuses and Uncanny Dodge. I'm just not that impressed with Incarnum, especially the very limited numbers Soulborn actually get.

You A-C rankings are just JaronK tiers. Any class in any heading could easily be in any other ranking and fit in, because each ranking includes classes that do nothing to help at all, and classes that provide actual cool shit.

Given that you are already a full spellcaster, I think you are grossly undervaluing +4 hp (at 3rd level you'll have about 26 base with a D10 hit dice, so that's +15% to your total) or a bonus to Ref saves, not to mention various defensive powers like Uncanny Dodge, or some of the defensive feats (like Expertise!) which Fighters can take.

The grid is obviously far from perfect - you are of course correct that Druids and Clerics while roughly equivalent as classes have significantly different interests when it comes to Synergy. And we have differing opinions about how useful Incarna actually are.

My *actual* concern is that Wizards are so much better than everyone else that everyone will just be Wizard/whatever is allowed, because it doesn't matter much.

[Prak]

Ok, cool, thanks Praetor.

[Kaelik]

Druids can't cast spells in animal form either, but they can Rage.

Oh... You are an idiot. That explains a lot.

[Prak]

Yeah, the optimal routine for a druid//barbarian would be persistant buff through any of a number of tricks, wild shape and rage as they charge in, and tear shit up as a raging bear with bull's strength and shit. They can also grab natural spell and have flaming bear claws because they cast produce flame after wildshaping, but even if you house rule away natural spell, druid//barbarians will just buff before going into combat.

[Endovior]

[*] You can call a Guisarme a "War Scythe". I won't guarantee that you'll find enchanted "War Scythes" lying around so you make have to use the Amber Pilum of Hypnos (which is a Longspear) or something, depending on what you find.

While flavor in this case isn't a huge deal, something that IS a huge deal is the 'tripping weapon' tag. Once you've taken the Improved Trip feat, you don't ever want to use any weapon that can't be used to make Trip attacks; and only a small handful of weapons can actually do this. There are lots of weapons with this tag, but under D20 core, the only martial weapon that can both trip, and do so at range, is the Guisarme. This is kind of silly, since tripping was a major point of having polearms, period. Any given polearm-type weapon that happens to be able to trip might be a Bec-De-Corbin, a Bill Hook, a Lucerne Hammer, or one of the more obscure combination weapons like a Glaive-Guisarme or Voulge-Guisarme. The common factor is that any weapon that has an end that hooks around a bit can be used to snag an enemy and pull him; typically off his horse, but off his feet works too. Indeed, the 'XXX-Guisarme' distinction pretty much just means 'that exact same weapon, but add a hook to it'. So ultimately, no; I don't actually care about the specific form of whatever weapon I happen to find; so long as I can see a blacksmith during downtime to mount a hook on the thing, I'm good.

[*] You can use the undead races from Book of Necromancy, or you can take Tomb Tainted Soul. Undead-themed party is fine by me, especially as it seems to be just the 2 of you. I'm going to use the various undead rules from Tome of Necromancy anyway (I'd also be open to some of the stuff from Book of Fiends, and I might use some of the misc. rules from the other Tomes.)

Uh... wat?

So I could either be undead period, and be awesome and get a template and everything, or get screwed over completely and have to spend one of my precious feats on an essentially neutral tradeoff? That I would then proceed to lose the use of forever in a couple of levels because I'll be transforming into some kind of undead anyway? That specific issue is exactly the reason why Frank added 'Moil Wrought' as one of the backgrounds in Races of War; because healing with Negative Energy instead of Positive really is an essentially neutral tradeoff that's basically just a question of declaring which team you're on. Now, if you don't like backgrounds, but are willing to grant access to undead templates, then that's puzzling, but it would leave the options pretty clear. Like I said, though; being a Vampire is obviously the best long-term option; it's just not an option at this level. So what I'd really prefer is to start Moil Wrought, and then become a Vampire later. But if that's not an option for whatever reason, I'll just go Ghoul, and then not take the paragon levels.

Druids can't cast spells in animal form either, but they can Rage

[DrPraetor]

Well, "Tomb Tainted Soul" could become "Life Tainted Soul" when you become undead, but okay. In general I don't like Backgrounds but in this case I'll allow it.

Oh, right, I almost forgot! I don't believe in the Natural Spell feat. Good catch Kaelik. It's been so long that I'd forgotten it even existed. I still don't think that a few Incarna are better than HP, Movement and Uncanny Dodge but it's a moot point.

I reserve the right to not believe in other stuff which completely upends various class features ("armored caster" being a personal favorite) but most of that is outside the WoTC publication list.