FASA Games, Inc.

For a beastmaster that wants to specialize in having a fighting horde - What are reasonable limits that should be placed upon the creation, composition, and use of the fighting horde.

At low circle it was OK to allow one Animal Companion per circle, of a CR matching the circle. IE: at 3rd circle he could have one CR1 animal, one CR2 animal and one CR3 animal. However now that we are at Journeyman level, I am finding it way overpowered, and every turn it is taking a long time for all the animals to act. And once again, this is his "thing". He is not picking scout or guard animals, which I had kind of assumed would be taking up some of the companion slots. It is all a fighting horde.

I mean a beastmaster with a CR5 beast, plus a CR4 beast, plus a CR3 beast, etc. is about 3 times more powerful than a beastmaster of the "savage fighter" build. So I feel - horrible mistake that I somehow need to fix. What are appropriate limits?

One companion. The others are hiding under a rhubarb leaf.

Fortunately, my PC playing a Beastmaster is my wife. So I asked her to limit it to 1-2 creatures that are combat active. She can have others that have other uses (scouting, tracking, etc.).

I'm presuming they're all varieties of wolves because I can't imagine more than one or two animals willing to deny their own nature to become Pack Predators.

How does the beastmaster care for and feed the animals? How do townsfolk and city guards look on these scary, "feral" monsters? Are they able to go everywhere the beastmaster can?

I would handle it not as 1 per CR but beasts add up to a the current CR.
Circle 8 Adept with 2 CR 4 Beasts will be powerful with all the animal enhancements and curability available to them.
The Beasts will be able to contribute but not outperform.

Utility animals usually don't count for much, unless they have combat use like Disabling Effects.