I would like a second opinion/advice! I'm fairly new to Fighters and I want to make sure I'm building a good tank.
Currently, I'm in an Eberron campaign with some friends and its been a lot of fun! Our Party make up is a: a High Elf Bard whos specking into a damage/intimidation bard. A Changling Arcane Trickster Rouge who's really speaking into Cha. A human Artificer who's specking into a versatile support. And me, a Centaur Fighter who's going MAXIMUM TANK! :D
I want some opinions on my plan for my character. I want to make sure I'm gonna be a good tank for my party, pick the right feats, etc. Somebody has gotta protect those squishy nerds from being whomped on by the baddies :P
So here's where my character stands now. We're almost at level three and my stats are: Str 19, Con 17, Dex 16. We rolled stats and I got two 17s. My other stats are all pretty meh and I don't really plan to use them.
My plan is to at level 3, become a Cavalier. I think its just too good to be a Centaur Cavalier even if I can't personally make use of the mounting property. I also think I'll enjoy their play style/be a pretty good tank.
At level 4, I'll raise my Str to 20, and my Con to 18.
At level 6, I plan to max my Con to 20.
Then at level 8, I think I'll take Pole Arm Master.
Level 12, I think I'll grab Sentinel to fill out my defensiveness.
Throughout the levels I plan on grabbing a bunch of different weapons too. I already have a Lance, Shield, and Longsword. But I want to get a Halberd and Spear at some point. Basically I wanna have a big ole bag of weapons :D
Past that, I'm not really sure. I'm thinking maybe Tavern Brawler at some point or maybe Shield Master. I'm not quite sure. I may increase my Dex a bit too later on just for some flexibility. I think I've got a half decent plan up to level 12.
What do ya'll think of my plan? Is there anything you'd add? Anything you'd remove?
Unlike a MMO, there are very few abilities that MAKE enemies have to deal with you, as opposed to going around you and just smacking the squishies anyway.
PAM+Sentinel is definitely one of them though. I would probably take those first (4 and 6) before raising stats. Or at least Sentinel, since that is what makes them stop.
I'm playing a Cavalier right now, and I love it. Cavaliers make great tanks. Houligan's right, D&D doesn't have much in the way of "taunt"-like abilities that a lot of video games have that let you pull aggro. Tanking in D&D generally requires two elements: 1) Being able to withstand a lot of attacks. You can do this by either avoiding damage(jack that AC up!), or absorbing damage(lots of HP, damage resistance etc). Something else to keep in mind for this is defending against status effects. The single most efficient way to boost these defenses? Take the Resilient(Wisdom) feat. Trust me, the LAST thing my party wants to see is my Goliath Cavalier engine of death fall victim to a Dominate Person spell :) 2) Keeping your enemies from ignoring you and going after the rest of your party. Cavaliers get multiple abilities that help with this. Unwavering Mark penalizes them if they try to go after anyone but you, Hold The Line makes it easier to make opportunity attacks and locks them down if you hit with one. But the other part of this to keep in mind is the simplest. Make your offense strong enough that the enemy can't afford to let you run rampant on the battlefield. It's one thing to say "If you try to ignore me, I have all these special abilities to keep you in combat with me". It's much more straightforward to say "You don't want to fight me? Fine, I'll just kill you all while you focus on the other people." :)
I will remember that Resilient part! That sounds like a good feat.
I guess one question I do have is, would it be worth it to keep raising my Con to get a long term hit point benefit? Say versus grabbing Sentinel early to help with defense when I already get Unwavering Mark at level 3 to help pull aggro?
con gives you hp retroactively. So its always a good buy. 2 points of con = 20 hp. That being said, feats like sentinel can help if your party is very squishy and no one already has it.
Frontload PAM and Sentinel to levels 4 and 6; those will make a major impact on your playstyle which is much more noticeable at the table than squeezing out one more +1 to hit/damage or +4-6 hp.
And yes, Cavalier is the best "tank" fighter class, even if you won't (or can't) be using the mounted features. High level cavaliers with PAM and Sentinel and a reach weapon are very sticky and able to single handedly form a defensive line the rest of the party can hide behind.
I will remember that Resilient part! That sounds like a good feat.
I guess one question I do have is, would it be worth it to keep raising my Con to get a long term hit point benefit? Say versus grabbing Sentinel early to help with defense when I already get Unwavering Mark at level 3 to help pull aggro?
A high Con is definitely a good thing for a Cavalier. The extra HP and boost to Con saves are obviously useful, and every +1 to your Con modifier gives you an extra use of Warding Maneuver per day once you reach Level 7. I've found that I use Warding Maneuver WAY more often than I use the bonus attack from Unwavering Mark, mostly because enemies I've marked are usually focused on me anyway and rarely try to hurt anyone else while I'm in melee with them.
a cute gimmick could be taking the mobile and charger feats. Charge and using goading attack then run off ala the mobile feat with the remainder of the movement. It doesn't force them to deal with you but it does give disadvantage on attacks against your allies
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Hello all!
I would like a second opinion/advice! I'm fairly new to Fighters and I want to make sure I'm building a good tank.
Currently, I'm in an Eberron campaign with some friends and its been a lot of fun! Our Party make up is a: a High Elf Bard whos specking into a damage/intimidation bard. A Changling Arcane Trickster Rouge who's really speaking into Cha. A human Artificer who's specking into a versatile support. And me, a Centaur Fighter who's going MAXIMUM TANK! :D
I want some opinions on my plan for my character. I want to make sure I'm gonna be a good tank for my party, pick the right feats, etc. Somebody has gotta protect those squishy nerds from being whomped on by the baddies :P
So here's where my character stands now. We're almost at level three and my stats are: Str 19, Con 17, Dex 16. We rolled stats and I got two 17s. My other stats are all pretty meh and I don't really plan to use them.
My plan is to at level 3, become a Cavalier. I think its just too good to be a Centaur Cavalier even if I can't personally make use of the mounting property. I also think I'll enjoy their play style/be a pretty good tank.
At level 4, I'll raise my Str to 20, and my Con to 18.
At level 6, I plan to max my Con to 20.
Then at level 8, I think I'll take Pole Arm Master.
Level 12, I think I'll grab Sentinel to fill out my defensiveness.
Throughout the levels I plan on grabbing a bunch of different weapons too. I already have a Lance, Shield, and Longsword. But I want to get a Halberd and Spear at some point. Basically I wanna have a big ole bag of weapons :D
Past that, I'm not really sure. I'm thinking maybe Tavern Brawler at some point or maybe Shield Master. I'm not quite sure. I may increase my Dex a bit too later on just for some flexibility. I think I've got a half decent plan up to level 12.
What do ya'll think of my plan? Is there anything you'd add? Anything you'd remove?
Thanks! <3
Unlike a MMO, there are very few abilities that MAKE enemies have to deal with you, as opposed to going around you and just smacking the squishies anyway.
PAM+Sentinel is definitely one of them though. I would probably take those first (4 and 6) before raising stats. Or at least Sentinel, since that is what makes them stop.
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I'm playing a Cavalier right now, and I love it. Cavaliers make great tanks. Houligan's right, D&D doesn't have much in the way of "taunt"-like abilities that a lot of video games have that let you pull aggro. Tanking in D&D generally requires two elements: 1) Being able to withstand a lot of attacks. You can do this by either avoiding damage(jack that AC up!), or absorbing damage(lots of HP, damage resistance etc). Something else to keep in mind for this is defending against status effects. The single most efficient way to boost these defenses? Take the Resilient(Wisdom) feat. Trust me, the LAST thing my party wants to see is my Goliath Cavalier engine of death fall victim to a Dominate Person spell :) 2) Keeping your enemies from ignoring you and going after the rest of your party. Cavaliers get multiple abilities that help with this. Unwavering Mark penalizes them if they try to go after anyone but you, Hold The Line makes it easier to make opportunity attacks and locks them down if you hit with one. But the other part of this to keep in mind is the simplest. Make your offense strong enough that the enemy can't afford to let you run rampant on the battlefield. It's one thing to say "If you try to ignore me, I have all these special abilities to keep you in combat with me". It's much more straightforward to say "You don't want to fight me? Fine, I'll just kill you all while you focus on the other people." :)
I will remember that Resilient part! That sounds like a good feat.
I guess one question I do have is, would it be worth it to keep raising my Con to get a long term hit point benefit? Say versus grabbing Sentinel early to help with defense when I already get Unwavering Mark at level 3 to help pull aggro?
con gives you hp retroactively. So its always a good buy. 2 points of con = 20 hp. That being said, feats like sentinel can help if your party is very squishy and no one already has it.
Frontload PAM and Sentinel to levels 4 and 6; those will make a major impact on your playstyle which is much more noticeable at the table than squeezing out one more +1 to hit/damage or +4-6 hp.
And yes, Cavalier is the best "tank" fighter class, even if you won't (or can't) be using the mounted features. High level cavaliers with PAM and Sentinel and a reach weapon are very sticky and able to single handedly form a defensive line the rest of the party can hide behind.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
A high Con is definitely a good thing for a Cavalier. The extra HP and boost to Con saves are obviously useful, and every +1 to your Con modifier gives you an extra use of Warding Maneuver per day once you reach Level 7. I've found that I use Warding Maneuver WAY more often than I use the bonus attack from Unwavering Mark, mostly because enemies I've marked are usually focused on me anyway and rarely try to hurt anyone else while I'm in melee with them.
a cute gimmick could be taking the mobile and charger feats. Charge and using goading attack then run off ala the mobile feat with the remainder of the movement. It doesn't force them to deal with you but it does give disadvantage on attacks against your allies