Littlest (er... Biggest) Pet Shop

[Extra Anchovies]

I'm looking to make a character who has as many mechanically-enforced (e.g. druid animal companion, rather than purchased/rebuked/charmed) minions as possible, and the ability to fight alongside them. So far, I'm thinking Druid 5/Beastmaster 1/Beast Heart Adept 1, and then finish out the build by alternating Beastmaster and BHA for a final build of Druid 5/Beastmaster 8/Beast Heart Adept 7. This alone leaves me with a level 16 druid AC, a level 13 druid AC, a level 10 druid AC, and a level 7 BHA companion (enough for a Chuul or Destrachan!). Dragon Cohort adds another minion, as does Wild Cohort. That's a total of six allies, before summoning, purchasing, and magical control. On top of that, I have 13d8+7d10 HD, base saves of +12/+9/+10, and BAB of +18. Tack on the deadly hunter UA variant and I get +Wis+1 to AC when unarmored, fast movement, favored enemy (Arcanists, thank you CM), and Track. Spellcasting is kinda left by the wayside, but whatever. I'll have a pet dragon, a pet chuul, and (more than) a few animal friends. Yeah, I give one up by not maxing out beastmaster, but it'd be at -9 and getting a Chuul is more fun anyways.

Some questions, though:

-If I took Natural Bond once, would it apply to all of my druid animal companions?
-Are there any other prestige classes worth a one-level dip for a minion?
-What other feats do you suggest, either for improving my companions or for fighting effectively with them?
-Any other ACFs I should take? Maybe see if I can convince the DM to let me swap one of the lower-level druid companions for an Urban Companion (Cityscape ACF)?

[Diovid]

A note about the Beastmaster's additional companions. They are not based on your effective druid level but based on your beastmaster level, which is a shame.

Natural Bond only applies to your first companion, not the others.

In general though, having a lot of minions is not that great (they slow down combat and if they're weak they can't actually contribute anyway).

Something you could consider though is something like: Shifter Ranger 4 / Barbarian 1 / Beastmaster 10 / Animal Lord 3 / x 2 with the 1st and 4th Shifter Ranger substitution levels (Races of Eberron) and the Shifter Savagery, Extra Rage, Shared Fury and Natural Bond feats. Your second, third and fourth animal companion might not be very strong normally but when you shift and rage they become a lot stronger.

Edit: perhaps ranger 4 / barbarian 1 / beastmaster 10 / legacy champion 4 / x 1 would be more optimal.

[torrasque666]

To clarify, you can apply natural bond to one of the companions, and not the Monstrous Companion of the BHA(as it specifies Effective Druid Level, which the BHA doesn't use).


Natural Bond

( Complete Adventurer, p. 111)

[General]

Your bond with your animal companion is exceptionally strong.
Prerequisite

Animal companion,
Benefit

Add three to your effective druid level for the purpose of determining the bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities, and other bonuses that your animal companion receives (see page 36 of the Player's Handbook). This bonus can never make your effective druid level exceed your character level.

If a character has multiple animal companions, the bonus granted by this feat applies to one of them.

Emphasis mine.

[KingAtomsk]

Druid 10 / Vermin Lord 10

Summon swarms of locusts and then form a Hivemind with them.

[ranagrande]

I would go with something like a Lawful Good Female Half Moon-Elf Martial Rogue 2/Ranger 1/Fighter 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Samurai 1/Sorcerer 1/Necromancer 1/Aglarondan Griffin Rider 1/Ashworm Dragoon 1/Beast Heart Adept 1/Beastmaster 1/Beloved of Valerian 1/Knight of the Flying Hunt 1/Knight of the Iron Glacier 1/Knight of the Raven 1/Moonsea Sentinel 1/Skylord 1.

They're all fairly low level, but you get an animal companion, an ashworm, a dire hawk, a familiar, a flying mount, a griffin, a monstrous companion, a pegasus, a psichrystal, a raven harrier, a skeletal minion, a unicorn, and a war megaloceros.

You might still be able to get some of those cohort feats in too.

[Phelix-Mu]

I'm looking to make a character who has as many mechanically-enforced (e.g. druid animal companion, rather than purchased/rebuked/charmed) minions as possible, and the ability to fight alongside them. So far, I'm thinking Druid 5/Beastmaster 1/Beast Heart Adept 1, and then finish out the build by alternating Beastmaster and BHA for a final build of Druid 5/Beastmaster 8/Beast Heart Adept 7. This alone leaves me with a level 16 druid AC, a level 13 druid AC, a level 10 druid AC, and a level 7 BHA companion (enough for a Chuul or Destrachan!). Dragon Cohort adds another minion, as does Wild Cohort. That's a total of six allies, before summoning, purchasing, and magical control. On top of that, I have 13d8+7d10 HD, base saves of +12/+9/+10, and BAB of +18. Tack on the deadly hunter UA variant and I get +Wis+1 to AC when unarmored, fast movement, favored enemy (Arcanists, thank you CM), and Track. Spellcasting is kinda left by the wayside, but whatever. I'll have a pet dragon, a pet chuul, and (more than) a few animal friends. Yeah, I give one up by not maxing out beastmaster, but it'd be at -9 and getting a Chuul is more fun anyways.

Some questions, though:

-If I took Natural Bond once, would it apply to all of my druid animal companions?
-Are there any other prestige classes worth a one-level dip for a minion?
-What other feats do you suggest, either for improving my companions or for fighting effectively with them?
-Any other ACFs I should take? Maybe see if I can convince the DM to let me swap one of the lower-level druid companions for an Urban Companion (Cityscape ACF)?

Ironically, this all would work better with familiars than ACs.

Extra Familiar is a feat with no pre-reqs other than Familiar class feature that is from Dragon Magazine. If you can get this on a full BAB chassis, such as hexblade (check the official unofficial fix) with a decent HD, then you get a bunch of pretty dangerous animals. THe main obstacle is increasing their damage, then, which is more a matter of magical gear and buffs than the animal's natural attacks (as most animals are very weak without buffs). Proper application of heroics, the spells to improve familiars, and share spells (cloud of knives for the win), can result in a pretty dangerous bunch.

Even with hexblade, you could get one Improved Familiar (something tanky), and then six or so normal familiars by 20th. That's a pretty big crowd.