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The Courtly Hunter's companion does not stack with other animal companion levels. Thus, you could theoretically have;
Courtly Hunter 16
Cavalier 4
VMC Wizard (or Witch)
Boon Companion feat
Horse Master feat
...and thereby have a 20th level Courtly Companion, 20th level Cavalier Mount, and 20th level Familiar. Each potentially with their own archetype(s).
Take VMC Summoner instead and you could have a nerfed 20th level Eidolon. VMC Druid or VMC Cleric with the Animal Domain would also grant an animal companion, but those would stack with the Cavalier in this example.
Are there any other methods of getting multiple 'pets' all at/near full level?
Cavalier 4 with Horse Master can create multiple combos due to the animals on the Mount list not matching those on some other animal companion lists (say the Falconer Ranger or maybe a Sylvan Sorcerer who selects Big Cat)
Bodyguard and Mounted Combat could be fun here, and the possibilities for Broken Wing Gambit + Paired Opportunists could be pretty good. Toss in a level of Mammoth Rider and one of your animals can be Huge.
Whether or not any of this is a good idea depends on the group of course. Usually one animal companion plus one familiar is already a fairly big "team" for one PC.
If you go summoner you could, in theory, have a 20th lvl eidolon, 20th level pet animal companion from a short list, a 20th level mauler familiar that likely has fast healing and a cohort from leadership.
Your easy way of doing this is to ensure you build your eidolon to gain fast healing and sacrifice so your eidolon can full heal you between battles. In essence you have a bunch of minions who can deal a lot of damage and lock down enemies with crowd control in addition to being able to full heal so long as they do not die.
To make this exceptional absurd, have everyone do this you'll have 5 creatures per player at a certain point, all of them starting each battle at full HP unless the GM has designed battle marathons. If your cohort also has the same pet setup (minus the cohort since most DMs don't let cohorts take leadership), then it can increase to 8 creatures per player. This could result in 20 to 32 creatures for a party of 4 players.
As you can imagine, this would probably result in 2 - 8 hour fights for basic things unless your players all have their crap together.
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Instead of VMC wizard or witch, there is the Eldritch Heritage (Arcane bloodline) feat. This only costs two feats (including the Skill Focus requirement), rather than five for VMC, and the familiar is at character level - 2.
The courtly hunter 16/cavalier 4 with Skill Focus (any one Knowledge skill), Eldritch Heritage (Arcane), Boon Companion (on the courtly companion), Horse Master, and Leadership would have:
A full power courtly companion
A full power mount from a limited list
A familiar as an 18th level sorcerer*
A cohort (at either -2 or -6 to the Leadership Score, depending on whether or not the GM stacks the penalty for each "pet")
You could also add VMC summoner for a weakened eidolon on top of that, for four "pets" and a cohort (possibly at -8 to the Leadership Score); five total secondary characters, all rules legal (outside of PFS, at least). You'd have no other available feats, other than a bonus feat at 1st level from race and/or any from class features, though; a human with the Focused Study alternate racial trait would gain two additional Skill Focus feats (at 8th and 16th) and still have their 1st level feat avaialble.
Alternately, a summoner 20 (VMC druid) with Skill Focus (any one Knowledge skill), Eldritch Heritage (Arcane), and Leadership would have:
A full power eidolon
A full power animal companion
A familiar as an 18th level sorcerer*
A cohort (as above)
*- using a feat on Boon Companion on the familiar for +1 natural armor and +1 Int isn't worth it, IMO
I could see benefits to both the Wizard VMC and Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) for picking up the familiar. If you're going with Eldritch Heritage I suggested trying a Human with Focused Study, which makes your 1st level bonus feat Skill Focus but gives you additional bonus Skill Focus feat at 8th and 16th levels. Use the 1st level Skill Focus to qualify for Eldritch Heritage and it eases the pain of the prereq.
- I haven't used VMC on a PC yet, but VMC as a Diviner Wizard seems like if could be very good for somebody with pets due to Touch of Destiny. As you level it becomes a pretty big bonus which can be applied to most important d20 rolls.
- Sylvan Sorcerers can increase the level of their animal companion with a Robe of Arcane Heritage, potentially allowing a little more multiclassing.
- I think besides making your mount/companion Huge the Mammoth Rider PrC can also transform it into something a Cavalier wouldn't normally qualify for. For instance, at 11th level maybe your warhorse is replaced by an elephant sized pouncing death-cat.
- If you take Leadership on top of all this your DM will almost certainly kick you.
As a side note, the Celestial Servant Aasimar feat is really good if you have multiple pets since it will let you add the Celestial Template to all of them.
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So, ways of getting various 'pets' at higher than your class level include;
Animal Companion: Animal Ally (limited list) [level - 3], Boon Companion [+4], Eldritch Heritage (Sylvan) [level - 5] + Robe of Arcane Heritage [+4], Horse Master (Mount only) [level], Huntmaster (limited list) [+1], VMC Cleric (Animal domain) [level - 3], VMC Druid [level]
Cohort: None?
Eidolon: VMC Summoner (nerfed) [level]
Familiar: Boon Companion [+4], Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) [level - 2] + Robe of Arcane Heritage [+4], VMC Witch [level], VMC Wizard [level]
Phantom: None?
It is thus possible to have a maxed out 'pet' of each major type via;
Spiritualist 20 = 20th level phantom
Animal Ally + Boon Companion = 20th level animal companion
Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) + Robe of Arcane Heritage = 20th level familiar
VMC Summoner = 20th level eidolon (nerfed)
Leadership = 18th level cohort
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On further reading it turns out that Sylvan isn't a viable choice for Eldritch Heritage per this FAQ.
Also found a few other niche bonuses (Ascendant Recollection and Bonded Mount with Aasimar FCB). Probably more out there, but doesn't seem like anything else which can boost pet level by more than four.
Unfortunately, you are specifically prohibited from having both a phantom and an eidolon active at the same time:
Phantoms are self-involved, even jealous, creatures that do not play well with other summoned companions. A phantom refuses to manifest (either fully or as part of a bonded manifestation; see Bonded Manifestation) in the presence of an eidolon or shadow summoned by the phantom's master. Furthermore, if a phantom is manifested when such a creature is summoned, it immediately retreats into its spiritualist's consciousness, and will not manifest again until the eidolon or shadow is dismissed.
It might merit mention that the Huntmaster Cavalier can get two animal companions instead of 1. You have to split levels between them, but with Boon Companion you can still keep them fully leveled early in your career and have a pretty viable lower level defensive/utility companion even into higher levels. I imagine that being a Bird who constantly flies in the space above you using the Bodyguard feat (aka "Birdyguard")
It might merit mention that the Huntmaster Cavalier can get two animal companions instead of 1. You have to split levels between them, but with Boon Companion you can still keep them fully leveled early in your career and have a pretty viable lower level defensive/utility companion even into higher levels. I imagine that being a Bird who constantly flies in the space above you using the Bodyguard feat (aka "Birdyguard")
I actually think that those companions are pretty terrible all things considered, unless you are a Half-Orc or Orc in which case you can get Beast Rider to get better companions and a +2 you can stack with Boon Companion. Crazy good feat for Huntmaster.
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I actually think that those companions are pretty terrible all things considered, unless you are a Half-Orc or Orc in which case you can get Beast Rider to get better companions and a +2 you can stack with Boon Companion. Crazy good feat for Huntmaster.
Huntmaster companion(s) can only be a bird or dog. Beast Master only applies +2 level to elephant, pteranodon, rhinoceros, stegosaurus, or triceratops. Thus, no way to combine the two.
Also, I'm not sure that Boon Companion would stack with each Huntmaster companion. Alternatively, it might increase the overall level of the Huntmaster's 'Hunting Pack' by 4... which could then be split into the different companions, but only applied once.
Since the Animal Ally list includes dog & bird it could potentially be combined with Huntmaster, though again it isn't clear how that would stack... I'd think Animal Ally would stack with the first dog/bird and any others would be dependent on levels from Huntmaster.
Huntmaster companion(s) can only be a bird or dog. Beast Master only applies +2 level to elephant, pteranodon, rhinoceros, stegosaurus, or triceratops. Thus, no way to combine the two.
Add this creature type to your list of possible animal companions or mounts.
Also, I'm not sure that Boon Companion would stack with each Huntmaster companion.
You may select this feat more than once. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different animal companion or familiar.
Since the Animal Ally list includes dog & bird it could potentially be combined with Huntmaster, though again it isn't clear how that would stack... I'd think Animal Ally would stack with the first dog/bird and any others would be dependent on levels from Huntmaster.
If you later gain an animal companion through another source (such as the Animal domain, divine bond, hunter's bond, mount, or nature bond class features), the effective druid level granted by this feat stacks with that granted by other sources.
The Bird and Dog gained by the Huntmaster don't seem bad to me, especially since they gain some bonus abilities like being able to make Dirty Trick or Trip attempts after a successful hit. The fact that your companions get to share your Challenges could also be helpful. The auto-flanking at 11th level also comes online a little late but could be cool once it is in play.
I'd think Boon Companion should work OK since it says: "Special: You may select this feat more than once. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different animal companion or familiar."