Pathfinder Gestalt

[Sir_Chivalry]

If I'm playing in a Pathfinder gestalt, do the various class archetypes count as separate classes?

Could you combine two fighter archetypes which don't share any similar class features, say Two-Handed Fighter and Titan Fighter (which I'll admit do share the Bonus Feat feature)?

[Eldonauran]

Gestalt is really more of a house rule and normal rules don't really have to apply. However, the class remains the same regardless of the archetypes applied to it. You can always combine two archetypes as long as they don't change the same class features, even in the normal rules. But running two fighter classes, one on each side of the gestalt, might not be worth the effort.

[HouseRules]

The general rule is that players cannot multi-class into variants of the same class unless that variant has a different name (such as Erudite vs Psion are differently named). Gestalt is considered a special rule to multi-class, so some game masters would not allow multi-class into variants of the same class. Note that archetypes are to an extent, variants of the same class.

We usually say that if it is not allowed, then the class is front loaded. That's why if the same feature is replaced, then both archetype cannot apply is part of the general rule. Like D&D 3E and 3.5E, Pathfinder keeps the classes front loaded. Pathfinder's favored class reduces the impact of front loaded classes, but does not fully eliminate them.

Gestalt into the same class is usually weaker than Gestalt into a new class. Of course, all the character happens to be is slightly more flexible. A Fighter 1//Fighter 1 have two archetypes of fighter, so the character is comparable to Fighter 3 in flexibility, but still a Fighter 1 in endurance (how long the character last in an encounter) and performance (how effective the character offense in an encounter).

What you might get is

"Low Tier 1//Low Tier 1" becomes "High Tier 1"
"High Tier 2//High Tier 2" becomes "Low Tier 1"
"Low Tier 2//Low Tier 2" becomes "High Tier 2"
"Low Tier 3//Low Tier 3" becomes "High Tier 3"
"Low Tier 4//Low Tier 4" becomes "High Tier 4"
"Low Tier 5//Low Tier 5" becomes "High Tier 5"

by bringing different archetypes together.

Edit: "What You Might Get" is an upper-bound to those combinations. If they are separate class, then it is guaranteed.

[Thealtruistorc]

I actually wrote up some Pathfinder Gestalt rules a while back (in the book Adepts of the Inward Eye from TPK games). I didn't mention anything about archetypes or how they interacted with it, but in all honesty I don't see why it would be particularly problematic or dangerous. Going fighter//fighter would mean twice the bonus feats, which doesn't strike me as especially over- or underpowered.

[Peat]

Ask your GM as there's no hard and fast specific 1st party rules for PF Gestalt. I'd rule that they count as the same class still myself, but I can't imagine your particular example doing anything hideous so why not?

[Krazzman]

In a reading that you can actually do a fighter//Fighter... you would gain nothing good from it.

You would be a fighter with only the bonus feats of one fighter since the Bonus Feat class feature doesn't stack ubless they gove access to two dofferer lists. The stuff you get from combining fighter with another class is far better in all cases.

[AlienFromBeyond]

If I'm playing in a Pathfinder gestalt, do the various class archetypes count as separate classes?
Archetypes are not classes, they are archetypes. Your class would still be Fighter, and just like you can't multi-class levels of Fighter with one archetype with other levels of Fighter with a different archetype, so too can you not have Fighter on both sides of your gestalt at the same level even if they're using a different set of archetypes. Your GM could rule otherwise of course, but as written in the original gestalt rules it would not be allowed, but on top of that it wouldn't be very good. Remember, when you have similar/the same class feature on both sides of the gestalt you use the best progression, you don't combine them together.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

If I'm playing in a Pathfinder gestalt, do the various class archetypes count as separate classes?

Could you combine two fighter archetypes which don't share any similar class features, say Two-Handed Fighter and Titan Fighter (which I'll admit do share the Bonus Feat feature)?

Not typically, but a variant of gestalt that allowed one archetype that conflicts with your others might be a fun, more restrained experience. Have a “gestalt archetype” that doesn’t lose anything, just gains it.

[Ualaa]

Going by the Unearthed Arcana (3.0) you need two different classes. Going gestalt Fighter/Fighter is absolutely pointless, as they have exactly the same features, so you gain absolutely nothing over a straight Fighter.

As to archetypes, you cannot give up a feature that has already been given up or modified by another archetype.
So if your first Fighter were to give up say their bonus feat at first level, then any other archetype that modifies or gives up that feature is barred.
But another archetype that changes or removes a different feature is still fair game.

Gestalt is a house rule, unless you're playing 3.0 edition of the game, in which case it is an optional rule.
If you want to use Fighter(Two-Handed Fighter) with Fighter(Tower Shield specialist), that would be up to your DM/GM.
In my game, I'd say the Fighter class already has whatever, so cannot take whatever.
But you can play differently in your own game.