The makings of a "Beast master" character?

[SangoProduction]

Does anyone know of any good "beast master" style classes out there (as in those dedicated to raising beasts, not just something that's sorta kinda just hanging on the side of a bunch of powerful spells, like the Druid)? Homebrew from GitP is fine.

There is like the 3.0 Beastmaster class (I think) which basically could get a swarm of really weak animal companions, but not much in the way of actually helping them function (outside of an int bonus, maybe, not sure).

Are there any notable abilities (regardless of the class they may be from), including spells, which work well for beast masters?

[NerdHut]

Ranger or Druid prestiging into Animal Lord (Complete Adventurer) is a relatively solid "beast master" style character. It lets you crank up handle animal, and you get special powers with a specific animal group, like Wolf or Horse.

I've been playing a Druid/Animal Lord (wolflord, and homebrewed for half-casting progression for the PrC) in a campaign for a few sessions, and it's been rather flavorful and fun.

[ZamielVanWeber]

The Beast Heart Adept from Dungeons cape may work. You get several magical beasts that scale to your PrC levels with various amounts of effectiveness.

[Diovid]

You could always go for a build such as Ranger 5 / Beastmaster 10 / Legacy Champion (advancing Beastmaster) 5

Beastmaster (or at least the one I'm referring to here) is from Complete Adventurer. The problem is that only Beastmaster's primary companion uses its effective druid level, while the other companions use its beastmaster level.

I'm personally a fan of builds similar to:

Barbarian x / Ranger y / Beastmaster 1 / Animal Lord 10 with at least the feat Natural Bond but probably also Extra Rage and Shared Fury.

Ranger Variants that might be useful: Champion of the Wild, 1st and 4th Shifter substitution levels, 4th Fangshield substitution level, 4th Gnome substitution level, maybe Favored Environment.

Barbarian Variants that might be useful (depends on the type of animal you choose for Animal Lord).

For a Wolf Lord Barbarian acfs like Spiritual Wolf Totem and Trapkiller are appropriate.

For a Cat Lord the Barbarian acf Spiritual Lion Totem makes sense.

For a an Ape Lord: Ape Totem and City-Brawler (If going Ape Lord you could consider going with something like Barbarian 5 / Beastmaster 1 / Fist of the Forest 3 / Animal Lord 10).

And so on.