Gestalt In put

[Hawkson]

Say I Have a Single Class Ranger (Beastmaster) as one side (Side A), & other Side (Side B) is Monk/Fighter/Prestige Class's. Can I use Mammonth rider & add it's levels to one of the beastmaster animals? Can I take Nature Warden (on the B Side that has no spell casting using the ranger caster level to get in) & not gain the caster levels?

I realize that the more animals I have the "less money the Ranger will have" but I play for fun not power. And I know that this is all up to the GM but thought I would ask you all what you think.

Thanks

[Kittenological]

No to both.

[Hawkson]

On the nature warden, Why not? I will have 2nd Level Spell casting as a ranger, if I can add the levels to the non-caster side I will only be screwing myself out of some casting power?

And does anyone know where I can find more "full" rules on Gestalt other than UA from 3.5?

[Finneous Emberstorm]

Creating a gestalt character isn't really about making two single class characters and combining them (though that approach can work) so much as it is designing your character level by level and choosing 2 classes each level.

Every level you look at what you have so far and you can use it all to qualify for either class you take. So yes you can use both classes to qualify for nature warden in your case.

Also you have to look at what each class grants you each level and if they ever grant the same thing you only get the better progression of that thing. In the case of animal companions it can and will vary by DM because different DM's have animal companions stack differently. By RAW (non gestalt) animal companion levels stack only if the animal you have is acceptable to both classes. This can lead to some cases where you end up with 2 low level animals. Some GM's however go the reverse and allow them to stack regardless.
In either case however animal companion is a single class feature, unless your DM rules otherwise, so if you get it from 2 different classes as a gestalt character at the same level it only counts as a single level for determining the power of the animal companion.
So in the specific case of taking a mammoth rider level and a ranger level at the same time, it would only grant one level of animal companion.
On the other hand when you do take levels of mammoth rider it doesn't matter whether its "A side" or "B side" since they all count together for determining what the character has for abilities.