3.P Tiered Gestalt Rules

This page describes rules for our original Tiered Gestalt character creation system.  The system integrates the Gestalt Rules from D&D 3.5's Unearthed Arcana with the Tier System for Classes originally by JaronK on the BrilliantGameologist's forum.  The intent is to allow more options for players to express character concepts as they realize their fantasy within the game.  More specifically, we want to strike a balance between power and build flexibility, such that traditionally non-viable or impossible builds become playable while reigning in some of the strongest options that reduce build diversity.

Years ago I was tempted to "fix" D&D 3.5 by applying thousands of small house rules and homebrew changes.  As these grew to be unmanageable, I took a step back and realized that I needed to reduce complexity to return the game to a playable state.  So I searched for the fewest changes that would bring the game to where I wanted it to be as both a player and as a GM.  Tiered Gestalt was my answer.  Unfortunately, I fear that tiered gestalt has simply made the game too unmanageably complex again, especially as I've had to introduce more house rules, so this solution may only really work for experienced players.  These rules continue to be a work in progress, but for those that can handle them, they're a ton of fun.

The basic idea is that players may create characters as a combination of two or more classes at each level.  Unlike in Gestalt, players don't select any two classes freely but must purchase access to classes by spending Character Points (CPs), which they earn each level.  The cost of each class level in CPs is set by that class's tier, such that tier 1 classes cost significantly more than tier 2 or lower tier classes.  For example, you could play a Wizard that gestalts with a Fighter for the first few levels, an Oracle that gestalts with a Paladin for its full progression, or even a mixture of three or more lower-tier classes like Bard, Ranger, or Rogue.  The end result should be a well-rounded character, capable of contributing to nearly any encounter, which realizes your character concept and fantasy.

The number of CPs you earn each level, and the cost of classes by tier and level are given below:

So at first level, a character would first gain 3 CPs, and then spend 1 CP each for access to their first level in up to 3 classes (you can choose to save your points for later levels too).  At second level, the character would gain another 6 CPs, spending 2 each for access to the second level of their classes, assuming that those classes are tier 5 or above.  By the time the character reaches eighth level, they'd gain 24 CPs (for 141 CPs total) and get access to their next levels in, say, a tier 2.5 class for 12 CPs, a tier 3 class for 8 CPs, and a tier 4 class for 4 CPs.  This assumes that they've been leveling these classes from 1 to 8, we'll get into the multiclassing rules later.  For a more complete walkthrough of the CP-based leveling process, see the Character Creation Tutorial.

Each class has been assigned to its own base tier.  This determines the cost of taking levels in that class according to the chart above.  The following lists all the official base classes in Pathfinder and their base tier.

The following lists the third-party base classes available for Pathfinder (that we've reviewed):

For completeness sake (and for players who prefer the 3.5 version of classes), there's also a table of base classes and base tiers in D&D 3.5:

Note that this game will use the Pathfinder classes and rules by default.  So players should reference the Pathfinder table when building characters with classes that also appear in D&D 3.5.  However, players unfamiliar with Pathfinder or that prefer D&D 3.5 classes can still use those versions.  We just don't want players picking underpriced classes for powergaming purposes.

That's all you need to know to get a basic sense for the system.  I usually help new players make their characters, so don't worry if this seems like a lot to take in.  Feedback on the system has been overwhelmingly positive, so it's worth the effort, I promise.  That said, I've answered some frequently asked questions below to help smooth out the process: