I see a lot of games looking for players & GMs mentioning "gestalt." What is that, and why do so many people need it in their game?

Gestalt is something in Pathfinder and D&D 3.5/3.0 where you can play two classes at once in a single character.  For example, if you're a 1st level human rogue/wizard, you take the best BAB of both classes, the best saves of both classes, the higher skill points of either class, combine all class skills, and get the class features of both.  So you could have high skill points, sneak attack, cast spells, find traps, have a familiar, all with a rogue's hit dice.

People seem to like the gestalt because it allows them more options, can more easily match a character to a concept, and/or makes characters sturdier and with longer staying power (as they have more options).
This message was last edited by the user at 13:30, Mon 23 July 2018.

All of that.  D&D 4e had a system for making hybrid classes that was vaguely similar and served largely the same purpose.

The reason you see people asking for it is that, because it places a bit more work on the GM, it's not super-popular among GMs.  Players love it, of course, they only end up dealing with a single character and not having to keep balance over the whole thing ;)

That said... my last big hurrah in PF1e will probably be gestalt.

Thanks!