Lets get the messy stuff out of the way. Completes,races stone and wild, phb I +II, Spell compendium. Druids will not be able to wildshape. No warforged.
Spells wise there will be no burrowing,flight,levitation, or invisibility.
You will be playing a slave of a house that participates primarily in arenas, the houses will train and equip their slaves. There will be matches against other gladiators, and monsters to put on the show. All houses will offer a base class and you will be buidling gestalt characters based on them.
There will also be a perform skill you can take to raise the crowds and inspire them to cheer for you giving you bonuses to hit and damage. It can also be used in the ring to make attacks look more impressive and/or menacing.
After matches there will be threads available for you to post in as your character as we want roleplaying as much as combat. Under the arena, at your home(where your house keeps you), possibly in the arena when facing off against another player or with them against another threat.
When in a match we will want you to post every other day or at least multiple times a week. What lvl are we going to be you ask? We are going to start out at lvl 7. I will also be looking for a sub dm to double check character builds and help with rulings. Yes you can still play. One person who might be interested in doing some of the monster fights.