Fairly new still only played warlock and cleric so far... Learned I loved warlock when I don't have to do the pact beings bidding and hate cleric rp wise. I did play a barb once but won't count it because that DM ended the campaign after first session without saying a word about it leaving the players with no DM.
So I want to play more of a juggernaut wading into the front line, having some controls like grapples and/or other utilities, and wanting to do my job without a healer since the group has none and my warlock has already come close to death twice after two sessions once a 1hp after one hit and 5hp after two hits this time since we struggle with a front line holding the line.
Keep in mind I know I know I can play a healer problem solved... but sadly none of the healer builds interest me or become fun... like cleric I can't have fun with RP for me personally and our campaign is pretty RP heavy, I can't enjoy paladins for the same reason, I don't really like the sub classes mechanically for druid, sorcerer bothers me with too limited spells due to me saving my spells and never using them because I feel I will need them later... then warlock celestial well... I wan't to play something that isn't warlock next for a change of pace, then I heard alchemist artificer was disappointing so I want to avoid it... no need to be over powered but if I am out shined 24/7 by everyone I get bored and loose interest.
So any advice on a good class and even race for a juggernaut setup I would appreciate it! My stat rolls are 18, 16, 15, 13, 11, 9. Also my DM allows UA mostly except for things like mystic for obvious reasons, but I also own all books so toss some suggestions to me!
Essentially this might just boil to the easiest choice for this kinda thing if you wanna be the sort to just tank damage.
Race: Any that give +2 STR/CON, +1 STR/CON Class: Barbarian, Totem Warrior (Bear)
That's... kinda it. You've won D&D.
Or my personal idea that I've always wanted to tinker with if you didn't want to be a rolling death ball of cheese is: Race: Dwarf (Duergar) Class: Battlerager
If you're wanting to hit the front line and be a nuisance, grapple as much as you can while wearing spiked armour that is signature to the battlerager. You'll do slight passive damage over time and keep the enemy pinned down. The duergar part will help with the bigger monsters you come across when you cast Enlarge.
Since your strength will go up to 19 if you put that 18 stat in there, getting the feat Squat Nimbleness will throw it up to 20 and allow you to take the Athletics (STR) skill. Freeing you some room to put skills in other areas.
For the constitution you place the 16 in there, it'll go up to 18 from being a dwarf and then you grab Dwarven Fortitude feat for a +1 to the stat and use a dodge action to use a hit-die (essentially a d12+5 potion) with the added benefit that the enemy will have a harder time hitting you.
Level 12, you can just put a +1 to CON so it goes to a +5 modifier and the second +1 to anything you want. I'd put it in DEX for +1 to Init/saving throws.
If you did the previous bullet point you might get annoyed that Spike Armour only allows a +2 DEX mod. Just grab Medium Armour Master feat. When you take this is completely up to you.
It's what I'd personally do with a stat roll like that. The archetype I enjoy fun to be a frothing at the mouth madman who charges in to the fray to knock heads with the first enemy they find. The main downside is that being a duergar will mean you will get sunlight disadvantage so you might be able to ask the DM to give you Dayvision goggles (uno card the Darkvision goggles) and keep up with the surface walkers. If you want other race line ups for going the barbarian route, take another subrace or go for goliath/half-orc.
Love this idea honestly, the bear totem had my attention but focusing on grappling with spiked armor sounds super fun when you explain it that way and to solve disadvantage on attacks you could poison the spikes couldn't you? I can just imagine holding onto someone like a torture device with poisoned spikes piercing their skin giving an interesting reason to get into alchemy and gathering types of poison!
Now that I think about it you could essentially just hug someone to death like this, really cool idea not what I was going for but it is definitely really cool so it is going to be my backup option depending on what others say thanks!
Love this idea honestly, the bear totem had my attention but focusing on grappling with spiked armor sounds super fun when you explain it that way and to solve disadvantage on attacks you could poison the spikes couldn't you?
I'd say that would be the DM's call but it should be a choice. Good luck!
If you allow UA I am having great fun playing an gnome armorer artificer as a tank (wearing guardian armor). I started at level 3 and I admit you will struggle ot tank before then. With int and con as your main abilities you might struggle to be good at grapples until level 10 (when you can infuse Gauntlets of ogre power or Armor of magical strength (UA). But the thunder Gauntlets are great for protecting your friends from enemy attacks, if carry an unfused shield you will have an AC 21 by the time you get plate and gnome cunning gives you advantage on many saving throws to keep you safe if the bad guys try to take you down that way.
For a tank, look at the Circle of the Moon Druid again. Other than that one of the Barbarian sub classes is your best bet. I’ve never played one, but I’ve played with a couple of them and they just never, ever go down.
If you go with the dwarf barbarian idea, which I recommend, maybe also look at the Dwarven Fortitude feat, which lets you heal yourself using a hit die when you take the dodge action. Then you won't need a healer very much.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Just wanted to point out that, if the RP element you can't get into with paladins and clerics is the goody-goody religion aspect, there's ways around it. In 5e, paladins and clerics don't actually require gods to draw their power from. Paladins draw their power from the strength of the oath they take, be it vengeance, devotion, ancients, conquest, etc. They're not necessarily beholden to a diety, and they're not even beholden to any alignment. You can have good paladins, chaotic paladins, neutral paladins, even evil ones, and there's an oath to basically go with any of those alignments.
Clerics can be the same, where their power doesn't need to come from a diety because really a cleric's power is derived from faith. That's usually interpreted as faith in a god, but it can just as easily be faith in a concept or philosophy. In worlds like Ravnica where there aren't any gods, clerics devote themselves to concepts like Order or Justice or Death. Just like paladins, they can come in any alignment.
Just in case that's why you were feeling hemmed in creatively by those classes from an RP perspective.
Just wanted to point out that, if the RP element you can't get into with paladins and clerics is the goody-goody religion aspect, there's ways around it. In 5e, paladins and clerics don't actually require gods to draw their power from. Paladins draw their power from the strength of the oath they take, be it vengeance, devotion, ancients, conquest, etc. They're not necessarily beholden to a diety, and they're not even beholden to any alignment. You can have good paladins, chaotic paladins, neutral paladins, even evil ones, and there's an oath to basically go with any of those alignments.
Clerics can be the same, where their power doesn't need to come from a diety because really a cleric's power is derived from faith. That's usually interpreted as faith in a god, but it can just as easily be faith in a concept or philosophy. In worlds like Ravnica where there aren't any gods, clerics devote themselves to concepts like Order or Justice or Death. Just like paladins, they can come in any alignment.
Just in case that's why you were feeling hemmed in creatively by those classes from an RP perspective.
I got that stuff I guess due to my life I struggle to play a character who focuses on "faith" and my mind is too all over the place to play a character that lives by a strong "code" so yeah this is my main issue not really an alignment issue although the god side of things is rough for me due to my past is all.
That's cool, that's cool. In that case I'd definitely second whoever said Moon Druid. Allows you to tank with the wild shapes and the spell selection even gives you some healing potential if you still feel your group needs someone who can heal.
Bladesinger. This lets you tank with you AC while still having fireball!
Summoner/necromancer. This does not really work until 5th level, but a necromancer with both of his 3rd slots filled with zombies has a extra 176 HP to be taken (If you have enough time and can get 4 zombies in each spell slot). Summoner is also fun, especially when you summon allys that explode when they die.
Echo Knight. This lets you summon a 1hp minion at will, that you can make attacks from.
Circle of wildfire. This is under summoning, but it still works.
Order of the Lycan Blood hunter. This is basically a barbarian rage with a flaming sword!
Any melee class with polearm master and senitnal. If you hit them, they can't even reach you. Plus you can attack your enemys when they try to hurt your allys.
Thanks everyone you all helped a lot I am making him a shepherd druid healer and using the animals and fey to take some heat off of allies while buffing and healing with spells and totems! I plan for him to be a pallid elf raised in a cult that murdered his parents and kidnapped him as an infant indoctrinating him through manipulation. The cult is druidic "shepherds of the Flame" they seek to use burn civilization to ash and raise nature from it's ashes. So essentially he is trying to stop them and thinks horribly of himself for the acts he did in the cult... he is a kind and calm soul caring for nature seeing non beasts as part of that natural order as well as the laws of survival. He worships Eldath the grove mother who helps bring comfort to tortured souls and who's blessed water can cure madness.
I'm playing a dexterity based Fighter 1 Warlock X tank, and he's very durable. He's not the grappler type, but his self healing abilities are remarkable. You could make yours a grappler type by going strength based instead of dexterity based.
If you're interested in playing a Warlock again, but playing a completely different type of Warlock, here's how to do a Warlock tank that doesn't need a healer in the group. I think it's an excellent choice for you because it has so much self healing abilities and you seem to enjoy roleplaying a Warlock. It's kind of a hybrid tank/healer build.
I would recommend choosing a variant human. Put the 18 in Dexterity, the 16 in Charisma, the 15 in Constitution, your choice between the 13 and 11 in Wisdom and Strength, and then the 9 in Intelligence. Put your +1s in Dexterity and Constitution, and choose the Resilient Dexterity feat. Take your first level in Fighter, then take every subsequent level in Warlock. Starting off with Fighter gives you proficiency in Constitution Saving throws, which is fantastic for a full caster. You could also choose Half Elf if you'd rather have a +1 to your Wisdom or Strength and have 18 Dexterity 18 Charisma instead of 20 Dexterity 16 Charisma. You could also do a strength based build instead of a Dexterity based build, in which case Half Elf would make more sense, because a Fighter wouldn't take Resilient Strength as a feat at level 1. Playing a Half Elf instead of a Human means that you don't need to choose the Devil's Sight invocation, although it can still be a good invocation for a Half Elf.
Choose the Defense Fighting style at level 1. Using Studded Leather with a shield and 20 dexterity will give you 20 AC. You'll have +7 in dexterity saving throws, +5 in constitution saving throws, and +2 or +3 in strength saving throws with proficiency in all three (so they increase at levels 5, 9, 13, 17). You'll take the War caster feat at level 5. If you do the strength build, you'll have just 19 AC until you can buy Splint which will bump you up to 20. And once you have 1500 gold, you can buy plate and bump your AC up to 21. Choosing a Strength build makes you an excellent grappler, but it takes away your ability to be good at stealth, acrobatics, sleight of hand, and initiative. Having good initiative is important for a tank. You want to be the first to play when combat starts, not the last to play. But if you want to do a grappler, a strength based Half Elf Warlock tank will do just fine.
Choose a Celestial patron at level 2 for your first level in Warlock. This gives you some nice healing abilities, which should make it quite different from your first Warlock. You can choose Eldritch Blast, but your main attack cantrip will be Green Flame Blade - another way that this will probably be very different from your first Warlock.
At level 4 (3rd level in Warlock), choose to be a Pact of the Chain Warlock - this gives you access to the Gift of the Ever Living Ones Invocation. Now your Second Wind is a bonus action heal for 11 that recharges every short rest instead of a bonus action heal for 1D10+1. And each D6 of your Healing Light heals you for 6 instead of a D6. And this Healing is also a Bonus Action. And it's got a 60ft range in case you need to bring a teammate up. You get a number of D6 equal to 1+ your Warlock level, but unfortunately they only recharge on a long rest.
You also get an invisible familiar to help with scouting, and to add some roleplay opportunities. And you can take the Mask of Many Faces invocation for more role play opportunities.
In tier 1, the Fiendish Vigor invocation is fantastic. But once you get to your 5th level in Warlock, you should switch it out for the Tomb of Levistus invocation. This invocation is fantastic for a tank. It gives you temporary HP equal to 10x your Warlock level as a reaction (once again, a healing type ability that doesn't take an action), although this costs you your next turn, and your temporary HP go away at the end of your next turn. This recharges every short rest, just like Second Wind (and all of your spell slots). This is a fantastic ability to use when you're hit by a critical hit, when you are in a position where you expect to take a huge amount of damage in one round, if you're hit by an attack that would drop you to zero HP, or even if you're flying and you get knocked out of the air and you're falling to the ground.
You don't get extra attack, but you can take spells like Hex to boost your damage, or Shadow Blade to increase your damage. Shadow Blade scales nicely when upcast in a higher spell slot which is something that really matters to Warlocks. And you can cast Green Flame Blade in conjunction with either of those spells. And since you took your first level in fighter, you're proficient in all weapons and with shields. Green Flame Blade gets a damage boost when you take your 6th level in Warlock - you get to add your Charisma modifier to one of the rolls for fire damage.
You also get to cast Shadow of Moil instead of a damage boosting spell if you want to boost your survivability. With a 16 in constitution and proficiency in constitution saving throws and the war caster feat, you'll find it pretty easy to maintain concentration on this spell. If you have 20 AC while being fully obscured, and having your fantastic Dexterity and Constitution saving throws and good Strength and Charisma saving throws, and receiving max healing from any healing spell cast on you (including your own), you'll be an incredibly resilient tank. Keep in mind that Shadow of Moil will prevent your allies from casting healing spells on you because just like most offensive spells, healing spells require you to see your target, and both your allies and your enemies cannot see you. But it won't stop you from casting healing spells on yourself (including Cure Wounds being upcast if you ever become really really desperate).
Your 16 in constitution will help give you a nice amount of HP, but you've got just a D8 hit die (although when you use a hit die to heal on a short rest, the Gift of the Ever Living Ones invocation means that you'll heal up 11 for each hit die used because of your +3 con bonus). Once you reach level 10 in Warlock, you basically get bumped up to being like a Fighter or Paladin with their D10 hit die, because Celestial Resilience will give you temporary hit points equal to your Warlock level + your charisma modifier. And as a nice added bonus, your teammates will get temporary hit points equal to half your Warlock level + your charisma modifier. And you get this benefit after every single short rest. So you no longer have to feel like your maximum HP is lower than the Fighter or Paladin and that you're using Healing Light/Second Wind with Gift of the Ever Living Ones to make up for it. Now you can feel like your maximum HP is just as good as theirs is, although a portion of this max HP will be temporary hit points.
At level 14, you get an incredible once per long rest ability to heal from 0 HP to half your maximum HP (but not including your temporary HP) without using an action, bonus action, or reaction. This ability is separate from any of those types of actions. Not only that, but the ability adds an area of effect damage and a blind effect on all nearby enemies for which they don't even get to attempt a saving throw.
If you're interested in playing a Warlock again, and you want to do a healer build that might actually interest you, and you want to be tanky and hard to kill, this build might be for you. It's a completely different take on the Warlock, so I don't think it would at all feel repetitive to play a Warlock a second time when this is sooooo different from your first Warlock.
Put the 18 in Dexterity, the 16 in Charisma, the 15 in Constitution, your choice between the 13 and 11 in Wisdom and Strength, and then the 9 in Intelligence.
This way way better than a standard array, FYI. Standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 before racial bonuses so most people aren't going to have quite as beastly a con save, among other things. But it is a nice build.
Put the 18 in Dexterity, the 16 in Charisma, the 15 in Constitution, your choice between the 13 and 11 in Wisdom and Strength, and then the 9 in Intelligence.
This way way better than a standard array, FYI. Standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 before racial bonuses so most people aren't going to have quite as beastly a con save, among other things. But it is a nice build.
I know. I rolled 16,15,11,11,11,10 for my Warlock Tank. Three of the five times that I have rolled for stats, my third best stat has been a 12 or lower (yes, I have had bad luck). His rolls were very nice. I have 18 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, 14 Charisma on my character. So I do have good Constitution (thus the good max HP a tank needs) and good Constitution Saves, but my Charisma is quite low for a Warlock. It's not much of a problem because the spells I cast all use Dexterity for the attack roll or are buff spells.
EK - the strategy is to use your defensive buffs (shield, protection from evil and good) to soak up damage and attention from the enemies. Battlemaster: several of the maneuvers have a control aspect.
In any event, heavy armor mastery is fantastic at low levels.
I'm starting an artificer. The plan is to go battle smith, then a three-level "deep dip" into Echo knight. The idea is to tank with the steel defender and the echo and hang out in safety behind the lines ;)
Thanks everyone you all helped a lot I am making him a shepherd druid healer and using the animals and fey to take some heat off of allies while buffing and healing with spells and totems! I plan for him to be a pallid elf raised in a cult that murdered his parents and kidnapped him as an infant indoctrinating him through manipulation. The cult is druidic "shepherds of the Flame" they seek to use burn civilization to ash and raise nature from it's ashes. So essentially he is trying to stop them and thinks horribly of himself for the acts he did in the cult... he is a kind and calm soul caring for nature seeing non beasts as part of that natural order as well as the laws of survival. He worships Eldath the grove mother who helps bring comfort to tortured souls and who's blessed water can cure madness.
That sounds like it will be a lot of fun to play!
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Fairly new still only played warlock and cleric so far... Learned I loved warlock when I don't have to do the pact beings bidding and hate cleric rp wise. I did play a barb once but won't count it because that DM ended the campaign after first session without saying a word about it leaving the players with no DM.
So I want to play more of a juggernaut wading into the front line, having some controls like grapples and/or other utilities, and wanting to do my job without a healer since the group has none and my warlock has already come close to death twice after two sessions once a 1hp after one hit and 5hp after two hits this time since we struggle with a front line holding the line.
Keep in mind I know I know I can play a healer problem solved... but sadly none of the healer builds interest me or become fun... like cleric I can't have fun with RP for me personally and our campaign is pretty RP heavy, I can't enjoy paladins for the same reason, I don't really like the sub classes mechanically for druid, sorcerer bothers me with too limited spells due to me saving my spells and never using them because I feel I will need them later... then warlock celestial well... I wan't to play something that isn't warlock next for a change of pace, then I heard alchemist artificer was disappointing so I want to avoid it... no need to be over powered but if I am out shined 24/7 by everyone I get bored and loose interest.
So any advice on a good class and even race for a juggernaut setup I would appreciate it! My stat rolls are 18, 16, 15, 13, 11, 9. Also my DM allows UA mostly except for things like mystic for obvious reasons, but I also own all books so toss some suggestions to me!
Essentially this might just boil to the easiest choice for this kinda thing if you wanna be the sort to just tank damage.
Race: Any that give +2 STR/CON, +1 STR/CON
Class: Barbarian, Totem Warrior (Bear)
That's... kinda it. You've won D&D.
Or my personal idea that I've always wanted to tinker with if you didn't want to be a rolling death ball of cheese is:
Race: Dwarf (Duergar)
Class: Battlerager
If you're wanting to hit the front line and be a nuisance, grapple as much as you can while wearing spiked armour that is signature to the battlerager. You'll do slight passive damage over time and keep the enemy pinned down. The duergar part will help with the bigger monsters you come across when you cast Enlarge.
It's what I'd personally do with a stat roll like that. The archetype I enjoy fun to be a frothing at the mouth madman who charges in to the fray to knock heads with the first enemy they find. The main downside is that being a duergar will mean you will get sunlight disadvantage so you might be able to ask the DM to give you Dayvision goggles (uno card the Darkvision goggles) and keep up with the surface walkers. If you want other race line ups for going the barbarian route, take another subrace or go for goliath/half-orc.
Love this idea honestly, the bear totem had my attention but focusing on grappling with spiked armor sounds super fun when you explain it that way and to solve disadvantage on attacks you could poison the spikes couldn't you? I can just imagine holding onto someone like a torture device with poisoned spikes piercing their skin giving an interesting reason to get into alchemy and gathering types of poison!
Now that I think about it you could essentially just hug someone to death like this, really cool idea not what I was going for but it is definitely really cool so it is going to be my backup option depending on what others say thanks!
I'd say that would be the DM's call but it should be a choice. Good luck!
If you allow UA I am having great fun playing an gnome armorer artificer as a tank (wearing guardian armor). I started at level 3 and I admit you will struggle ot tank before then. With int and con as your main abilities you might struggle to be good at grapples until level 10 (when you can infuse Gauntlets of ogre power or Armor of magical strength (UA). But the thunder Gauntlets are great for protecting your friends from enemy attacks, if carry an unfused shield you will have an AC 21 by the time you get plate and gnome cunning gives you advantage on many saving throws to keep you safe if the bad guys try to take you down that way.
For a tank, look at the Circle of the Moon Druid again. Other than that one of the Barbarian sub classes is your best bet. I’ve never played one, but I’ve played with a couple of them and they just never, ever go down.
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If you go with the dwarf barbarian idea, which I recommend, maybe also look at the Dwarven Fortitude feat, which lets you heal yourself using a hit die when you take the dodge action. Then you won't need a healer very much.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
A dwarf monk with dwarven fortitude feat would let you dodge as a bonus action and get the heal.
Way of the Long Death grants you temp hp when you kill a creature.
Way of Tranquility let’s you actually heal, if you can use old UA.
Way of Mercy new UA lets you heal with your martial arts.
Just wanted to point out that, if the RP element you can't get into with paladins and clerics is the goody-goody religion aspect, there's ways around it. In 5e, paladins and clerics don't actually require gods to draw their power from. Paladins draw their power from the strength of the oath they take, be it vengeance, devotion, ancients, conquest, etc. They're not necessarily beholden to a diety, and they're not even beholden to any alignment. You can have good paladins, chaotic paladins, neutral paladins, even evil ones, and there's an oath to basically go with any of those alignments.
Clerics can be the same, where their power doesn't need to come from a diety because really a cleric's power is derived from faith. That's usually interpreted as faith in a god, but it can just as easily be faith in a concept or philosophy. In worlds like Ravnica where there aren't any gods, clerics devote themselves to concepts like Order or Justice or Death. Just like paladins, they can come in any alignment.
Just in case that's why you were feeling hemmed in creatively by those classes from an RP perspective.
I got that stuff I guess due to my life I struggle to play a character who focuses on "faith" and my mind is too all over the place to play a character that lives by a strong "code" so yeah this is my main issue not really an alignment issue although the god side of things is rough for me due to my past is all.
That's cool, that's cool. In that case I'd definitely second whoever said Moon Druid. Allows you to tank with the wild shapes and the spell selection even gives you some healing potential if you still feel your group needs someone who can heal.
Here are a couple fun tanks:
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
Thanks everyone you all helped a lot I am making him a shepherd druid healer and using the animals and fey to take some heat off of allies while buffing and healing with spells and totems! I plan for him to be a pallid elf raised in a cult that murdered his parents and kidnapped him as an infant indoctrinating him through manipulation. The cult is druidic "shepherds of the Flame" they seek to use burn civilization to ash and raise nature from it's ashes. So essentially he is trying to stop them and thinks horribly of himself for the acts he did in the cult... he is a kind and calm soul caring for nature seeing non beasts as part of that natural order as well as the laws of survival. He worships Eldath the grove mother who helps bring comfort to tortured souls and who's blessed water can cure madness.
Sounds like a lot of fun!
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
I'm playing a dexterity based Fighter 1 Warlock X tank, and he's very durable. He's not the grappler type, but his self healing abilities are remarkable. You could make yours a grappler type by going strength based instead of dexterity based.
If you're interested in playing a Warlock again, but playing a completely different type of Warlock, here's how to do a Warlock tank that doesn't need a healer in the group. I think it's an excellent choice for you because it has so much self healing abilities and you seem to enjoy roleplaying a Warlock. It's kind of a hybrid tank/healer build.
I would recommend choosing a variant human. Put the 18 in Dexterity, the 16 in Charisma, the 15 in Constitution, your choice between the 13 and 11 in Wisdom and Strength, and then the 9 in Intelligence. Put your +1s in Dexterity and Constitution, and choose the Resilient Dexterity feat. Take your first level in Fighter, then take every subsequent level in Warlock. Starting off with Fighter gives you proficiency in Constitution Saving throws, which is fantastic for a full caster. You could also choose Half Elf if you'd rather have a +1 to your Wisdom or Strength and have 18 Dexterity 18 Charisma instead of 20 Dexterity 16 Charisma. You could also do a strength based build instead of a Dexterity based build, in which case Half Elf would make more sense, because a Fighter wouldn't take Resilient Strength as a feat at level 1. Playing a Half Elf instead of a Human means that you don't need to choose the Devil's Sight invocation, although it can still be a good invocation for a Half Elf.
Choose the Defense Fighting style at level 1. Using Studded Leather with a shield and 20 dexterity will give you 20 AC. You'll have +7 in dexterity saving throws, +5 in constitution saving throws, and +2 or +3 in strength saving throws with proficiency in all three (so they increase at levels 5, 9, 13, 17). You'll take the War caster feat at level 5. If you do the strength build, you'll have just 19 AC until you can buy Splint which will bump you up to 20. And once you have 1500 gold, you can buy plate and bump your AC up to 21. Choosing a Strength build makes you an excellent grappler, but it takes away your ability to be good at stealth, acrobatics, sleight of hand, and initiative. Having good initiative is important for a tank. You want to be the first to play when combat starts, not the last to play. But if you want to do a grappler, a strength based Half Elf Warlock tank will do just fine.
Choose a Celestial patron at level 2 for your first level in Warlock. This gives you some nice healing abilities, which should make it quite different from your first Warlock. You can choose Eldritch Blast, but your main attack cantrip will be Green Flame Blade - another way that this will probably be very different from your first Warlock.
At level 4 (3rd level in Warlock), choose to be a Pact of the Chain Warlock - this gives you access to the Gift of the Ever Living Ones Invocation. Now your Second Wind is a bonus action heal for 11 that recharges every short rest instead of a bonus action heal for 1D10+1. And each D6 of your Healing Light heals you for 6 instead of a D6. And this Healing is also a Bonus Action. And it's got a 60ft range in case you need to bring a teammate up. You get a number of D6 equal to 1+ your Warlock level, but unfortunately they only recharge on a long rest.
You also get an invisible familiar to help with scouting, and to add some roleplay opportunities. And you can take the Mask of Many Faces invocation for more role play opportunities.
In tier 1, the Fiendish Vigor invocation is fantastic. But once you get to your 5th level in Warlock, you should switch it out for the Tomb of Levistus invocation. This invocation is fantastic for a tank. It gives you temporary HP equal to 10x your Warlock level as a reaction (once again, a healing type ability that doesn't take an action), although this costs you your next turn, and your temporary HP go away at the end of your next turn. This recharges every short rest, just like Second Wind (and all of your spell slots). This is a fantastic ability to use when you're hit by a critical hit, when you are in a position where you expect to take a huge amount of damage in one round, if you're hit by an attack that would drop you to zero HP, or even if you're flying and you get knocked out of the air and you're falling to the ground.
You don't get extra attack, but you can take spells like Hex to boost your damage, or Shadow Blade to increase your damage. Shadow Blade scales nicely when upcast in a higher spell slot which is something that really matters to Warlocks. And you can cast Green Flame Blade in conjunction with either of those spells. And since you took your first level in fighter, you're proficient in all weapons and with shields. Green Flame Blade gets a damage boost when you take your 6th level in Warlock - you get to add your Charisma modifier to one of the rolls for fire damage.
You also get to cast Shadow of Moil instead of a damage boosting spell if you want to boost your survivability. With a 16 in constitution and proficiency in constitution saving throws and the war caster feat, you'll find it pretty easy to maintain concentration on this spell. If you have 20 AC while being fully obscured, and having your fantastic Dexterity and Constitution saving throws and good Strength and Charisma saving throws, and receiving max healing from any healing spell cast on you (including your own), you'll be an incredibly resilient tank. Keep in mind that Shadow of Moil will prevent your allies from casting healing spells on you because just like most offensive spells, healing spells require you to see your target, and both your allies and your enemies cannot see you. But it won't stop you from casting healing spells on yourself (including Cure Wounds being upcast if you ever become really really desperate).
Your 16 in constitution will help give you a nice amount of HP, but you've got just a D8 hit die (although when you use a hit die to heal on a short rest, the Gift of the Ever Living Ones invocation means that you'll heal up 11 for each hit die used because of your +3 con bonus). Once you reach level 10 in Warlock, you basically get bumped up to being like a Fighter or Paladin with their D10 hit die, because Celestial Resilience will give you temporary hit points equal to your Warlock level + your charisma modifier. And as a nice added bonus, your teammates will get temporary hit points equal to half your Warlock level + your charisma modifier. And you get this benefit after every single short rest. So you no longer have to feel like your maximum HP is lower than the Fighter or Paladin and that you're using Healing Light/Second Wind with Gift of the Ever Living Ones to make up for it. Now you can feel like your maximum HP is just as good as theirs is, although a portion of this max HP will be temporary hit points.
At level 14, you get an incredible once per long rest ability to heal from 0 HP to half your maximum HP (but not including your temporary HP) without using an action, bonus action, or reaction. This ability is separate from any of those types of actions. Not only that, but the ability adds an area of effect damage and a blind effect on all nearby enemies for which they don't even get to attempt a saving throw.
If you're interested in playing a Warlock again, and you want to do a healer build that might actually interest you, and you want to be tanky and hard to kill, this build might be for you. It's a completely different take on the Warlock, so I don't think it would at all feel repetitive to play a Warlock a second time when this is sooooo different from your first Warlock.
This way way better than a standard array, FYI. Standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 before racial bonuses so most people aren't going to have quite as beastly a con save, among other things. But it is a nice build.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I know. I rolled 16,15,11,11,11,10 for my Warlock Tank. Three of the five times that I have rolled for stats, my third best stat has been a 12 or lower (yes, I have had bad luck). His rolls were very nice. I have 18 Dexterity, 16 Constitution, 14 Charisma on my character. So I do have good Constitution (thus the good max HP a tank needs) and good Constitution Saves, but my Charisma is quite low for a Warlock. It's not much of a problem because the spells I cast all use Dexterity for the attack roll or are buff spells.
Most fighter subclasses can tank well.
EK - the strategy is to use your defensive buffs (shield, protection from evil and good) to soak up damage and attention from the enemies.
Battlemaster: several of the maneuvers have a control aspect.
In any event, heavy armor mastery is fantastic at low levels.
I'm starting an artificer. The plan is to go battle smith, then a three-level "deep dip" into Echo knight. The idea is to tank with the steel defender and the echo and hang out in safety behind the lines ;)
That sounds like it will be a lot of fun to play!