I want to make a character that is high hit points, hard to hit, and has a damage output that you would normally expect to see on fighter or wizard characters but is one of those very highly desirable tank party member types that are not seen often, very rare, actually. Any character builds that are great for this player type would be greatly appreciated.
High Hit points comes from a high Constitution modifier, the Tough Feat, and/or being a Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, or maybe Ranger. Tough to Hit usually comes from armor class, which usually means either very high-quality light armor and super-high dexterity modifiers, which you won't have early on, or Heavy Armor with a Shield. A shield gives you +2 to AC, so Heavy Armor and a Shield will make you tough to hit. High damage output comes from either lots of attacks, or fewer attacks with heavy weapons. Fighters can have 3 attacks at level 11, and get a 4th at level 20, but reaching that level is unlikely for most campaigns. Heavy weapons deal lots of damage, but they are wielded two-handed, so you lose the benefit of a shield.
You have three basic options:
A Paladin is the typical "High HP, Tough to Hit" class,and Divine Smite can help you a little for damage, but you're stuck at two attacks.
A Fighter gets Action Surge, which means they can take two attack actions every short rest, so if you're level 11 Fighter, that means 6 attacks in a turn. But you can only do that once until level 17.
A Barbarian has truckloads of HP, they can have decent AC with the right gear and stats, but it's more situational, they're not usually that hard to hit, especially if you use Reckless Attack a lot, but they do dish out a ton of damage.
I usually use my build from runscape as a basis for the type of character I am making. It was a ranger class at first then evolved into a more martial character that was most of the game a fighter, then I expanded my tactics to magic, a membership version of the game later, and I became a totally dangerous player to mess with. Early game, every monster is aggressively attacking you, so I learned to fend for myself. And to make this much more easier, I had a buddy twice my experience and rich in gold. This made a good way to topple almost anyone who has the audacity to try something stupid.
Ok then it's easy: 20 levels of EK Fighter + 20 levels of Abjuration Wizard + 8 levels of Gloomstalker Ranger.
Feats/ASIs (Fighter): PAM, GWM, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, Resilient Wisdom, Resilient Dexterity Feats/ASIs (Wizard): Tough, [max your STR then your INT then your CON if possible] Feats/ASIs (Ranger):
Alternatively, this might be better:
20 levels of Bladesinger Wizard (Feats/ASIs: max out your INT and grab Warcaster) 14 levels of Mercy Monk (Feats/ASIs: max out your DEX + WIS) 14 levels of Battlemaster Fighter (Feats/ASIs: Tough, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, increase your CON).
Guide: AC: 10 + 5 (Wis) + 5 (Dex) + 5 (Int) + 5 (Shield spell) = 30 Saves: Proficiency in all saves (Monk) + Indomitable rerolls + Evasion (Monk) Battlefield Control: Spells from Wizard, Stunning Strike, Battlemaster Maneuvers, Weapon Masteries Damage: 3-4 attacks per action (1 extra from Nick) + 3 attacks per BA + Hands of Harm + SD + Spirit Shroud/Conjure Minor Elementals + Booming Blade on one attack Special combo: Summon Undead (wizard spell) can auto-paralyze poisoned targets, Mercy Monk can auto-poison targets with Hands of Harm.
If you are looking for a beefy character that does some decent damage while staying hard to hit, you could consider a Vengeance Paladin.
Build basics by level 8 with 20 STR:
Plate Armor + Shield = 20AC
Spear for a weapon, with Dueling Fighting Style and Polearm Master for extra opportunity attacks and bonus action extra attack.
Round 1: Bonus Action Hunter's Mark, then two attacks, using Vow of Emnity on first to give yourself advantage on all your attacks for 1 minute, . Each hit will do 2d6+7, total of 4d6+14 (28 avg).
Round 2: Two attacks for with your action, and then your PAM's extra strike with your bonus action. Total damage for second round = 5d6+1d4+21 (41 avg).
After that, you can sustain the damage all day without resources. If you like, you can substitute the BA extra strike for the Smite of your choice.
Most of the time, I would, at least in the game I would check the difference between the opponent levels and my own to gauge whether or not to attack the enemy in question. If it's at least half my experience level in terms of the combat capabilities, then I decide to attack the enemy. I usually stick with this to ensure that I still get experience in addition to the loot. If at least 10 levels under me, I don't take chances and prepare myself accordingly. If similar in power, I usually use every possible way to prepare ahead of time, so I have the best possible chance of success. If it has more powerful then me, I avoid it at all costs if I can help it. If I am passing through an area with such enemies, to reach my destination, I have auto retaliation set to on for the lower level hostile enemies and rush past the area for my safety. I like to sometimes team up with someone double my experience for a bodyguard for this purpose, preferably a friend of mine that I can count on esp. If I know him or her in life as well.
Strength 48, constitution 55, mage 15, ranger 15, fighter 18. Agility of 2, hunter and summoning of 10, attack and defense of 30, prayer of 16, quest level 16, miner 20, Smith 30, woodcutting 30, runecrafting 10, dungeoneering 10, cooking 55, fishing 30, crafting 30, and firemaking 30. This setup gave me the skills to get things done without worrying about people killing me every time I go about minding my own business. I'm in a cooking guild and crafting guild and a champions guild and almost meet the requirements for the miners guild. I am in a clan that I founded with my best friend of mine a few years ago. It was called adam`s army. And yes, it is very egotistical of me to name it after myself as leader as robinadam1.
I use adamant everything, preferably with a gold trim and that is just the full plate set. My cloak also gets that treatment. I also often put a gold necklace in the neck slot, sometimes I wear an amulet of either catspeak of ghostspeak, to understand languages of cats or cat-like creatures and ghosts and other incorpereal undead, and use a gold ring for finger slots, leather boots for feet and gloves for hands. At Christmas I wear crystal amulet to summon Rasmus the snow imp.
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I want to make a character that is high hit points, hard to hit, and has a damage output that you would normally expect to see on fighter or wizard characters but is one of those very highly desirable tank party member types that are not seen often, very rare, actually. Any character builds that are great for this player type would be greatly appreciated.
Generally speaking, it's
Pick any two.
High Hit points comes from a high Constitution modifier, the Tough Feat, and/or being a Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, or maybe Ranger. Tough to Hit usually comes from armor class, which usually means either very high-quality light armor and super-high dexterity modifiers, which you won't have early on, or Heavy Armor with a Shield. A shield gives you +2 to AC, so Heavy Armor and a Shield will make you tough to hit. High damage output comes from either lots of attacks, or fewer attacks with heavy weapons. Fighters can have 3 attacks at level 11, and get a 4th at level 20, but reaching that level is unlikely for most campaigns. Heavy weapons deal lots of damage, but they are wielded two-handed, so you lose the benefit of a shield.
You have three basic options:
A Paladin is the typical "High HP, Tough to Hit" class,and Divine Smite can help you a little for damage, but you're stuck at two attacks.
A Fighter gets Action Surge, which means they can take two attack actions every short rest, so if you're level 11 Fighter, that means 6 attacks in a turn. But you can only do that once until level 17.
A Barbarian has truckloads of HP, they can have decent AC with the right gear and stats, but it's more situational, they're not usually that hard to hit, especially if you use Reckless Attack a lot, but they do dish out a ton of damage.
I usually use my build from runscape as a basis for the type of character I am making. It was a ranger class at first then evolved into a more martial character that was most of the game a fighter, then I expanded my tactics to magic, a membership version of the game later, and I became a totally dangerous player to mess with. Early game, every monster is aggressively attacking you, so I learned to fend for myself. And to make this much more easier, I had a buddy twice my experience and rich in gold. This made a good way to topple almost anyone who has the audacity to try something stupid.
Forgot to tell you, level 48 in game.
Ok then it's easy: 20 levels of EK Fighter + 20 levels of Abjuration Wizard + 8 levels of Gloomstalker Ranger.
Feats/ASIs (Fighter): PAM, GWM, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, Resilient Wisdom, Resilient Dexterity
Feats/ASIs (Wizard): Tough, [max your STR then your INT then your CON if possible]
Feats/ASIs (Ranger):
Alternatively, this might be better:
20 levels of Bladesinger Wizard (Feats/ASIs: max out your INT and grab Warcaster)
14 levels of Mercy Monk (Feats/ASIs: max out your DEX + WIS)
14 levels of Battlemaster Fighter (Feats/ASIs: Tough, Sentinel, Mage Slayer, increase your CON).
Guide:
AC: 10 + 5 (Wis) + 5 (Dex) + 5 (Int) + 5 (Shield spell) = 30
Saves: Proficiency in all saves (Monk) + Indomitable rerolls + Evasion (Monk)
Battlefield Control: Spells from Wizard, Stunning Strike, Battlemaster Maneuvers, Weapon Masteries
Damage: 3-4 attacks per action (1 extra from Nick) + 3 attacks per BA + Hands of Harm + SD + Spirit Shroud/Conjure Minor Elementals + Booming Blade on one attack
Special combo: Summon Undead (wizard spell) can auto-paralyze poisoned targets, Mercy Monk can auto-poison targets with Hands of Harm.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/137287535
If you are looking for a beefy character that does some decent damage while staying hard to hit, you could consider a Vengeance Paladin.
Build basics by level 8 with 20 STR:
Plate Armor + Shield = 20AC
Spear for a weapon, with Dueling Fighting Style and Polearm Master for extra opportunity attacks and bonus action extra attack.
Round 1: Bonus Action Hunter's Mark, then two attacks, using Vow of Emnity on first to give yourself advantage on all your attacks for 1 minute, . Each hit will do 2d6+7, total of 4d6+14 (28 avg).
Round 2: Two attacks for with your action, and then your PAM's extra strike with your bonus action. Total damage for second round = 5d6+1d4+21 (41 avg).
After that, you can sustain the damage all day without resources. If you like, you can substitute the BA extra strike for the Smite of your choice.
Sample Character Sheet: Damien Skyrender
how do you manage encounters against enemies that rely on saving throws or spells rather than direct attacks?
Most of the time, I would, at least in the game I would check the difference between the opponent levels and my own to gauge whether or not to attack the enemy in question. If it's at least half my experience level in terms of the combat capabilities, then I decide to attack the enemy. I usually stick with this to ensure that I still get experience in addition to the loot. If at least 10 levels under me, I don't take chances and prepare myself accordingly. If similar in power, I usually use every possible way to prepare ahead of time, so I have the best possible chance of success. If it has more powerful then me, I avoid it at all costs if I can help it. If I am passing through an area with such enemies, to reach my destination, I have auto retaliation set to on for the lower level hostile enemies and rush past the area for my safety. I like to sometimes team up with someone double my experience for a bodyguard for this purpose, preferably a friend of mine that I can count on esp. If I know him or her in life as well.
Strength 48, constitution 55, mage 15, ranger 15, fighter 18. Agility of 2, hunter and summoning of 10, attack and defense of 30, prayer of 16, quest level 16, miner 20, Smith 30, woodcutting 30, runecrafting 10, dungeoneering 10, cooking 55, fishing 30, crafting 30, and firemaking 30. This setup gave me the skills to get things done without worrying about people killing me every time I go about minding my own business. I'm in a cooking guild and crafting guild and a champions guild and almost meet the requirements for the miners guild. I am in a clan that I founded with my best friend of mine a few years ago. It was called adam`s army. And yes, it is very egotistical of me to name it after myself as leader as robinadam1.
I use adamant everything, preferably with a gold trim and that is just the full plate set. My cloak also gets that treatment. I also often put a gold necklace in the neck slot, sometimes I wear an amulet of either catspeak of ghostspeak, to understand languages of cats or cat-like creatures and ghosts and other incorpereal undead, and use a gold ring for finger slots, leather boots for feet and gloves for hands. At Christmas I wear crystal amulet to summon Rasmus the snow imp.