How do I Gestalt?

[Green Smashomancer]

So, I have a few questions about Gestalting. In no particular order:

When you Gestalt, how do you decide which class ability advances first? Do you pick a primary, and secondary?

If yes to the above would a gestalt 4/Fighter 4/Rogue get a bonus feat, sneak attack +2d6, and trap sense +1?

If yes to the previous question, is spell casting delayed similarly?

does this mean that a 20th level gestalt character would have only 1 capstone?

do you start with only one classes first level abilities?

Any responses would be appreciated!

[ShadowcatX]

You don't advance the 2 classes separately.

Take the best of each class's: BAB, Individual Saves, and skill points. Combine skill lists. And take all class features of both classes. Basically think of it as a single super class.

[Vivianne Laflamme]

You take all the abilities from both classes. The only time you have to do something more than that is when two classes have the same ability. The order you take the two classes shouldn't matter. A gestalt character with 20 levels in 2 classes gets both capstones and a 1st level character starts with 1st level abilities from 2 classes.

[Green Smashomancer]

Holy quick responses Batman! I'm not sure why I was under the impression that they advanced separately. It might have been the xp tracker I heard about, but my table doesn't use xp.

[StreamOfTheSky]

If your DM allows multiclassing beyond just two gestalted classes (ie, your Fighter 4 // Rogue 4 goes up a level and decides to become a Fighter 4 / Wizard 1 // Rogue 5), I strongly suggest that for base bave bonuses (each of the three, checked separately) and base attack bonus is measured as a total of each "side" of the gestalt and you use the higher total. For hit points and skill points, handling it on a level-by-level basis is fine. If you do that for BAB and base saves, though, you can get pretty stupid results. For example, this progression:

Fighter 1 // Wizard 1: Ftr 1 provides +1 BAB
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 1 // Wizard 2: Wiz 2 provides +1 BAB
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 2 // Wizard 3: Sorc 2 provides +1 BAB
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 3 // Wizard 4: Wiz 4 provides +1 BAB
Fighter 1 / Sorcerer 4 // Wizard 5: Sorc 4 provides +1 BAB
etc...

That is why I suggest for base saves and base attack, using the total value that's higher. I realize the wording in gestalt is ambiguous and sparse on the matter.