Help with high-LA Gestalt

[Zebu]

Greetings, one and all.  Here's my situation.
I'm designing a character for a new Gestalt game (starting level 11), where characters can put racial HD and LA on one side of their Gestalt (but not both).  I'd really like to play some kind of high-LA monster that'd be completely impractical in a normal game.

Problem is, this is going to be really hard.  Here's an example:
Player: So how are we deciding stats?
GM: 50-point buy.  You'll need it, heheheh...
Player: *gulp*

Our first encounter has a high chance of involving pyrohydras, goblin guards with AoO builds, and "rock worms."  Other players are talking about "+40 to hit" and other such things.  So, gentle minmaxers, is there a way to make my dream come true and still be effective at this level of play?

Here are the specifics:
All 3.5 sources allowed, except for "that sexual fantasies book."  3.0 and "homebrew from the internetz" available on request.  Oriental Adventures has already been approved.
11th-level Gestalt
Half of normal starting wealth (so 66,000gp) with no item costing more than 25% of that.
There will be bonus feats.  At least three.
Sharn and "that ability that makes Pun-Pun" are forbidden, but pretty much everything else is go.

Thanks in advance for your help!  As for class...  we already have several pixies, so I'm looking for something more casting-oriented, like a Cloistered Cleric or Favored Soul.  I imagine that the amazing race you come up with will suggest a class, though.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Well, I always pimp 1d4 levels of the ghost savage progression (link in sig) for situations such as this.  Toss some psionic minor creation onto 12 colossal crossbow bolts, and just spamspamspamspamspam.

 Make sure you have RHD, and pick up otherworldly from player's guide to faerun at your third level (since regional feats are able to be taken at third level instead of first if you have RHD), to remove virtually all the weaknesses of the ghost template.

For silliness, consider a ghost4 natural lycanthrope were-murder of crows (ToM, were-template totals to  LA+3,4RHD) with the otherworldly feat.  Base race is anything small or smaller - arguably you could do the same shenanigans with dragonwrought on a kobold instead.

Being able to turn into a swarm of ghostly crows and possess people sounds pretty cool to me.

[vilenatas]

sylph(sorc casting with caster level based upon hd +4 and only la 5) for possible dual casting with cleric or favored soul or druid or whatever you want.  

[Mushroom]

Being able to turn into a swarm of ghostly crows and possess people sounds pretty cool to me.

......God damn I love your concepts sometimes


My suggestion:
Play a phaerimm(casts as a sorc=to character level) from LEoF

[Havok4]

Ghost does sound like a good option.

Another potential option would be a Phrenic, Half-Fey, spell-stitched, necropolitan. With factotum on the other side of the gestalt. Take font of inspiration a bunch of times and spam SLAs with your extra standard actions.

There is also the fun Druid / Planar Shepard// Phrenic/Half Fey/Totemist.

[Zebu]

So many responses! Sweet!  Let's take things in order.

Okay, yes.  The swarm of crow ghosts sounds hilarious.  I hadn't even -thought- of a swarm creature.  But the save for possession is fixed 15+Charisma, unless I'm missing something, which means it wouldn't be going off very often on important targets.  Not that I can't think of a million applications for it anyways, but...  Is there a way to fix that?

As far as the ghost-- I've just dug up Otherworldly, and it looks like that'd take away all of my lovely immunities to negative energy, stat drain, criticals, etc, when it made me an Outsider.  Am I missing something?

As a general note-- please, please mention a book when you name any class not in the SRD.  I can find them through Google, but it feels like a waste of time.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, we have several pixies an a vicious GM.  So odds are a lot of opponents will be able to counter invisibility.  That makes me leery of the Sylph.  Though maybe if I paired it with a Paladin...

For setting reasons, I'll pass on the spell-stitched.  But I do like the idea of playing a psionic druid.  Thing is, I've never dealt with Shepherd or Totemist before.  Can you unpack that build for me a bit more?  To steal a line, "Explain... as you would a child."

[vilenatas]

Sylph wasn't really for the invisibility, but the sorc casting by adding outsider hit dice.  If you go sylph and advanced the "outsider" hit dice you would have 10 sorc caster levels by 11 and you could pair that with favored soul or something to have both cleric and sorc spells.  Get into some prestige paladin after say sacred exorcist or something to get turning and add charisma to saves.  If the dm allows you to continue advancing sylph hit dice beyond 9 by 20 you have 19 effective sorc levels and possibly 20 of another casting class.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

So many responses! Sweet!  Let's take things in order.

Okay, yes.  The swarm of crow ghosts sounds hilarious.  I hadn't even -thought- of a swarm creature.  But the save for possession is fixed 15+Charisma, unless I'm missing something, which means it wouldn't be going off very often on important targets.  Not that I can't think of a million applications for it anyways, but...  Is there a way to fix that?

As far as the ghost-- I've just dug up Otherworldly, and it looks like that'd take away all of my lovely immunities to negative energy, stat drain, criticals, etc, when it made me an Outsider.  Am I missing something?

Well, undead have the sucky feature of being turn/rebukeable, and tons of spells deal extra damage to them, or just specifically screw over undead.  You'll still be nonliving

Which covers a significant fraction of undead immunities.  Plus, if/when you get up to level 15, you become absolutely and completely immune to permanent death until you've achieved your personal goal or "reason for existence", whatever the heck that is.

The DC for malevolence isn't that low, really, since you have two nonabilities while on the material plane, and can afford to points into charisma.  You might be able to shift around templates enough to stick in unseelie fey (dragon mag compendium 222), but I wasn't able to fit in a type change to and from fey (find a template that converts fey to something that can ghost, and you're good).  If you can do that, people within 5' of you take a penalty equal to your cha to their saves.  If you can get the magic-blooded template (dragon 306), that's an easy, free, -2 wis +2 cha.


Realmshelp is a pretty good source for finding where stuff is from if there are issues with references.

[wotmaniac]

Half-minotaur Anthropomophic Baleen Whale of Legend:
- anthropomophic whale = Savage Species = 3 racial HD
- half-minotaur template = drag.mag. = +1 LA
- monster of legend = MM2 = +7 LA

ECL 11.   physical stats = masturbatory and irresponsible


:twocents: