I thought it might be fun to make a character what pairs with another party member, with the goal of trying to keep the other character alive and well.  Perhaps a soft squishy one like a wizard, allowing them to focus more on offensive capabilities.  

What ideas, builds, or combos are out there for a "body guard" concept?  Basically someone who is responsible for ensuring the safety of another person or party member?

The Fighter's "Protection" fighting style could be useful.  So might the Sentinel feat.  A Paladin of the Ancients 7th level Aura of Warding might be helpful.  Certainly a cleric might be helpful in keeping their charge alive.  A tank might be good at warding off some creatures.  What kind of concept, build or combos could you think of for a body guard?

The warding bond spell is practically unrivaled in this regard.

This limits you to cleric or oath of the crown paladin to get the spell. If you choose paladin then you can also take the protection fighting style you mention straight from its own class features. In addition, paladin comes with various auras, other spells, and Lay on Hands. All of these are great for keeping people alive and healthy.

I would say go for the oath of the crown paladin. Bonus points if his god/monarch has assigned him specifically to protect someone, whether it's a deity's chosen divine sorcerer, or a royal family member/court wizard.

Cleric is a good option for keeping people alive, but you'd be more of a pocket-healer, less of an actual protector/bodyguard.

 Paladin is my go-to for being the best guardian; its hard to deny the benefits of that aura, back up healing magic, and protection style works great here.  The paladin also has a host of Detect X spells for finding ambushes or traps.  They also pair really well with the wizard, if you have a two-man group, allowing the wizard to handle things like locked doors and traps with their magic, as well as ranged magic, while the paladin handles melee and healing.  

I might also recommend taking variant human and grabbing the sentinel feat from the get-go. If you choose to wield a polearm, it goes well with the Polearm master feat as well. 

Oath of the crown Is great because it gets warding bond, compelled duel, and a channel divinity that works similarly to compelled duel.

Cavalier Fighter or Ancestral Guardians Barbarian are the best for protecting against attack rolls; Paladins for saving throws.

Cavalier fighters can impose disadvantage just by hitting an enemy with a melee weapon attack and staying within 5 feet of it. This keeps their reaction free to use for Protection FS, Sentinel, or Warding Maneuver at higher levels. At level 10 enemies provoke opportunity attacks even while moving within their reach, and hitting them with an opportunity attack reduces their speed to 0.

Path of the Ancestral Guardian is better than a Cavalier against single enemies, but only while they're raging.

Either one can take the Healer feat to get their ally back up to 1 HP if there's no other healers available, though in a standard party that's usually not a concern.

Paladin's Aura of Protection is the best for protecting against save-based spells and effects like Beholder eye rays.

Hi lads and lasses thought you might want to know I was making a Bodyguard Subclass for fighter maybe eventually for barbarian but any ideas you have I would really really really appreciate!

Please?

There seem to be a number of ways to make a good bodyguard.  In combat, certainly controlling enemies, keeping their focus on your, or otherwise preventing them from getting to your ward is helpful.  If they do get to your ward, making it hard for enemies to hit your ward is also helpful.  And if your ward does take damage, can you mitigate it through magic or otherwise. 

Lastly, I'll add that there may be a couple other good things for bodyguards.  One is simply to be able to quickly identify or perceive threats – you can't protect against a sniper or poison if you can't identify them.  Also, obviously staying power is important – you can't very well protect someone if you yourself are down. 

I do like the idea of a bodyguard being able to take hits or damage in place of their ward.  I think there are a few similar redirect abilities I've seen in the past. 

Thanks for helping me out! I was wondering what you thought about a idea I came up with! It's called massive Bulk. Starting at Second level As a Bodyguard you get a resistance to ranged weapons because of the training you get which gives you a muscular build. Making ranged weapons less powerful.

Yes? No?

Love the idea!  Is there a way to make it more about protecting someone else? Or is it more about protecting the bodyguard?

Not really the right thread or right forum for this side conversation, but what's the harm.

If you think about what "bodyguard" is about thematically and mechanically, you might think about protecting one specific person, survivability, and detecting threats. You're not going to be able to introduce all three of those right away at level 3, think about how you want to spread them out to represent basic body guard training vs. being very experienced. Maybe the level 3 feature introduces a new way to protect an ally, and then at 7 there's some new bodyguard toughness coming on line, and and then at 10 they're getting better at detecting things? Fighters also get subclass features at 15 and 18,  so maybe that 3/7/10 might get spread out to 3/10/18, with 7 and 15 being some sort of dice resource going up in size, or a once/rest ability getting additional uses. Or, maybe you have more ideas for more features to give at high levels, like the ability to cast Revivify or something. 

I think resistance to ranged damage, as an always-on ability right at level 3, that would a little extreme and unbalanced. At level 10, maybe? Or, maybe it's more limited, like an ability to intercept ranged damage against your allies that are within 5 feet (that range might go up at later levels), and you have resistance against those attacks you intercept? 

Just remember: almost anyone can fit three levels of Fighter in as a multiclass, it's hard to imagine a character that won't have either 13 strength or 13 dexterity, and Action Surge and Second Wind are already very useful abilities. Try not to hand out something at 3 that's just a flat buff to every possible build, like "you have resistance to all ranged damage forever" would be. Think about what other defensive/team supporting martial characters (like Purple Dragon Knight fighters, Cavaliers, and Ancestral Guardian Barbarians) can do for their team at level 3, vs. level 7, vs. level 10, etc., and think "how is this similar? how is this different? does this feel like a different enough character concept that it deserves to be its own subclass? is this obviously better or obviously worse than what the character could do if it were that class instead, or just different?"

Good luck. 

How about as a level 3 power something like". When an ally within 5' of you get struck by a ranged attack (weapon or spell), you can instead take the hit in place of your ally.  You only take half damage from the attack. 

Thanks for the great ideas guys!

“Bodyguard” spells vary in effectiveness. Some of the options are separated by class spell lists, some may be limited in their duration, and spells not usually thought of in a correct defensive capacity may be capable of providing protection. Some low level options:

cantrips
-guidance/resistance can help shore up defenses if concentration isn’t an issue between fights. Being cantrips means they can effectively be used continuously without resource expenditure beyond concentration. 
-Vicious mockery/frostbite can be slightly effective it funded to make the targets next attack to be made at disadvantage, it is unreliable though and doesn’t scale well. 
-shocking grasp can be used to take an enemy creatures reaction away, this potentially leaves your ally free to move to a safe location without worrying about attacks of opportunity. 
-thornwhip can perform a similar role to shocking grasp by moving a dangerous creature away from your ally. 
-ray of frost can be used with other game features to reduce the movement of an enemy to the point that they may not be able to attack your ally. 
-mold earth can be used to create varying degrees of cover depending on the environment. Potentially breaks line of sight which is required for quite a few spells targeting specifications.
-minor illusion can create an image that creates obscurement which may impose disadvantage on an attack as well as break line of sight to prevent targeting by most spells. 
-thaumaturgy/prestidigitation/druid craft can all affect levels of light in varying degrees ranging from controlling brightness to sniffing out flames completely. This may drive up the defense of allies if levels of darkness start playing a role in the encounter. 

1st level spells.
-alarm can awaken allies if they bell option is used. Making sure your ally wakes up during an ambush is an excellent way to protect them.
-bane/bless can be used to increase the defense/offense of ally’s or decrease the defense/offense of enemies.
-cause fear can be used to impose disadvantage on enemy attacks while also limiting their movement.
-color spray can be used to impose disadvantage on a creatures attacks while also taking away opportunity attacks from most of those creatures. This may also make a low HP caster incapable of targeting with some spells and takes away the ability to counterspell.
-command can be used to basically erase the turn of a creature, more if upcast. The wording options immediately end the turn of the targeted creature after they complete a very specific command. 
-compelled duel can work to severely hamper a creatures mobility, even preventing teleportation in some cases. 
-cure wounds can be an emergency heal to bring your ally back to sound health. 
-ensnaring strike can immobilize a creature while dealing continuously damage tool it. It also drastically decreases its offensive and defensive capabilities. 
-entangle is similar to ensuring strike, but trades out damage with the ability to target multiple foes. 
-faerie fire is usually thought of as a offensive powerhouse, but the ability to negate invisibility can even the playing field when it pops up. 
-feather fall can save the lives of the entire party by saving them from fall damage. 
-find familiar can be used to scout ahead in unknown territory. Any deadly trap it sets off and is probably killed by is damage you prevented from being taken by your allies. 
-fog cloud can neutralize pretty much any environmental advantage your enemies may enjoy, takes away sight based targeting required for spells, and allows for all creatures to move about free from opportunity attacks. 
-gift of alacrity can boost your allies initiative which allows for earlier actions to be taken. Also means that your ally will end being surprised sooner since their turn may come earlier. 
-heroism can be used to completely nullify fear, and the recurring temporary hitpoints can really add up if concentration is held for several rounds. 
-hex can potentially be used to target a casters main stat. This gives them disadvantage when counterspelling. 
-mage armor can be used on allies to boost their defenses effectively the entire adventuring day. 
-protection from good and evil can be wonderful when protecting allies from those specific creature types. Defenses skyrocket and several condition immunities are also given.
-purity food and drink is a ritual can should be able to be utilized for pretty much every meal if the campaign involves poisons.
-sanctuary can be a wonderful way to protect an ally, especially if they have features that may be used to keep them useful. An ally who makes use of the dodge action or help action while benefiting from sanctuary can still be effective. Features like bardic inspiration don’t turn off sanctuary either.
-shield of faith can increase an allies AC. This potentially causes more attacks to miss or even makes them a less desirable target to be attacked at all. 
-silent image can be used in similar ways to minor illusion, but is much more versatile and covers a larger area. 
-snare can be used in situations similar to the alarm spell, and can potentially be combined. Should be used when points of entry are limited to doorways and halls since the area is a bit small. 
-tashas hideous laughter can incapacitate a foe with a wisdom save but also immediately drops the targets concentration if that’s applicable. A wisdom save may be more successful in dropping concentration than a constitution save, this also bypasses warcaster feat. 
-thunderous smite/thunder wave can be used to scatter enemies away from your allies. 
-wrathful smite can make use of fear conditions like other spells, deals a small bit of damage, but once it lands is also very hard to shake as the action to end the spell produced an ability check instead of a save. This means the fear condition automatically makes that check happen at disadvantage. Limits movement and offensive capabilities.

One of the best class/subclass combos I’ve seen as far as body guard goes is when 1 player takes the fighter  cavalier and another takes pretty much any melee rogue. The rogue then gains the sentinel feat eventually.

the cavaliers subclass features drastically increase the defense of the rogue by making a creature they target together have disadvantage on attacks vs the rogue. This makes them a less appealing target, potentially making the creature want to target the fighter. If the creature attacks the rogue, it has a very high likelihood to miss. If it hits, the fighter gains a bonus action attack on its next turn that deals bonus damage AND is made with advantage. The cavaliers can use its reaction to further increase that rogues AC and even give it resistance to that damage. The rogue may also reduce that damage further with uncanny dodge if it still hits.

if the creature targets the cavalier with an attack, the rogue may make use of the sentinel feat to gain an off turn attack for another chance to deal its sneak attack damage within the same round. The rogues sneak attack makes its reaction attack drastically more powerful and effective than the fighters.

this combo is amazing as these situations and features are mutually exclusive. The triggers for these reactions are written in a way that means that though you have multiple reaction choices, the choice will almost always be easy to make because of the circumstances and triggers are so different.

The rogue subclass doesn’t really matter. The mastermind, soul knife, arcane trickster, and swashbuckler seem like they may go well with it though.

Mark of Sentinel Human (from Ebberon) is basically perfect for this. Though the race choice is not available at most tables, for Ebberon and many homebrew campaigns it should be fine. It gives you a bunch of protection spells, the ability to take a hit for someone, and a bonus to Insight and Perception to help protect someone by spotting threats. The race is entirely designed around being a bodyguard. I’m going to be playing a Beastmaster Ranger with this race in a few weeks, using thorn whip and my companion to draw aggro to targets besides the warlock and whatever other casters we have. With the race adding spells to my spell list, my ranger now will have Compelled Duel and eventually Warding Bond and Counterspell, as well as some other good spells if I ever get there. I highly recommend making your race Mark of Sentinel Human, possible to Peace or Twilight Cleric for some great help tanking or supporting.