I have recently joined a Decent Into Avernus game with 2 other players, both of who according to the DM are playing "squishies", probably spellcasters. I need some ideas for either a fighter, barbarian, or paladin that I could play. Backstory doesn't really matter, just any build you think is pretty decent or interesting.
If you are the only "tough" player in the group, you want a build that can take a bit of damage, push enough offense to get your enemy's attention and once you have that be sticky enough to ideally keep it for some time.
For that I would probably go with Fighter. They can take less damage than Barbarians, but get more Feats to help with the other two points. As a race, I would pick Variant Human for the free feat at level one and Ability bonuses to Strength and Constitution.
First, the defense:
- as a Fighter you get D10 HP and should have at least 14 Constitution, ideally 16 if you can afford that
- Heavy Armor is nice and the Defense Fighting Style will get you an additional point of AC, so you start with at least AC 17 on level 1 (Chainmail + Defense).
- For better defense, I would consider the "Heavy Armor Master" feat. You get one point of strength and take three points less damage from basically any monster. While a lot of monsters cause magic damage, they almost all cause some form of physical damage as well. So, the more you get hit, the better this feat becomes.
Offense:
- you want to put out decent damage, so 2H weapons are a food choice. I would go with Polearms like Glaives, because they open one of the strongest tank synergies in the game
- "Great Weapon Master" can really increase the damage of your weapons, if you can reliably hit an enemy
"Stickyness":
- Sentinel + Polearm Master combined will allow you to keep any enemy from running past you within a 10 ft radius and you get additional attacks against the enemies if they try to attack one of your allies
- The Battle Master Archetype gives you some great combat maneuvers like "Trip Attack" and "Menacing Attack" that allow you to knock your enemies prone when you hit them or even make them run away in fear of you for one round. "Rally" only grants temp HP but in a pinch that could save one of your ally's lives.
Altogether the build would look something like this around level 10:
Heavy Armor Master is strongest during the low levels, that is why I would pick it as the first feat.
You should also always try to use the terrain to your advantage. With the Polearm you have an effective threat range of 10 feet, so if you can find a bottleneck no wider than 25 feet you can completely block that passage by standing in the center.
If no such passage is available, your caster friends might be able to create difficult terrain or project the illusion of deadly traps or flames to create one.
If an enemy gets past you and to the squishies, make sure you make them pay like hell for it. As Battlemaster from Level 5 on you can open your first attack with a trip attack so they fall prone and you get advantage on your roll and 1d8 Bonus damage. On your second attack, pop menacing attack for another D8 extra damage and fear. That is 2D10 + 2D8 + 3 or on average 23 points of damage in one round plus two crushing negative effects in one round. If you later on combine the second, third, and eventually fourth attack with the +10 bonus damage from Great Weapon Master, that should leave enough of an impression to make even a devil take notice.
And if you simply want to blow all your dice at once and kill the enemy... pop Action Surge and do it all again.
Remember: your enemies won't know you just blew up all your combat resources and are now more the less drained. They only know that you just tore their friend apart in less than 6 seconds and that should make them classify you as a priority target.
I see here you should focus in something like a Lance + shield + Mounted Combatant Feat. hehehehehehe..... How letally should you be at lvl 15, huh ?? With 2 points spent on Dex that's gonna be enough Dexterity. And later, in Strenght or more Con.
The inconvenience here is, if you go deep on caverns / dungeons, your mount animal should be "parked" outside there.
I see here you should focus in something like a Lance + shield + Mounted Combatant Feat. hehehehehehe..... How letally should you be at lvl 15, huh ?? With 2 points spent on Dex that's gonna be enough Dexterity. And later, in Strenght or more Con.
The inconvenience here is, if you go deep on caverns / dungeons, your mount animal should be "parked" outside there.
A lance does not qualify for Polearm Master or Great Weapon Master, though. So you are missing out on both damage and battlefield control only to get +2 AC from a shield. I would still carry a shield and a 1H weapon, though. For smaller rooms and more defense if needed. And some Javelins for ranged attacks (Combat Maneuvers work with them at range).
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I have recently joined a Decent Into Avernus game with 2 other players, both of who according to the DM are playing "squishies", probably spellcasters. I need some ideas for either a fighter, barbarian, or paladin that I could play. Backstory doesn't really matter, just any build you think is pretty decent or interesting.
If you are the only "tough" player in the group, you want a build that can take a bit of damage, push enough offense to get your enemy's attention and once you have that be sticky enough to ideally keep it for some time.
For that I would probably go with Fighter. They can take less damage than Barbarians, but get more Feats to help with the other two points. As a race, I would pick Variant Human for the free feat at level one and Ability bonuses to Strength and Constitution.
First, the defense:
- as a Fighter you get D10 HP and should have at least 14 Constitution, ideally 16 if you can afford that
- Heavy Armor is nice and the Defense Fighting Style will get you an additional point of AC, so you start with at least AC 17 on level 1 (Chainmail + Defense).
- For better defense, I would consider the "Heavy Armor Master" feat. You get one point of strength and take three points less damage from basically any monster. While a lot of monsters cause magic damage, they almost all cause some form of physical damage as well. So, the more you get hit, the better this feat becomes.
Offense:
- you want to put out decent damage, so 2H weapons are a food choice. I would go with Polearms like Glaives, because they open one of the strongest tank synergies in the game
- "Great Weapon Master" can really increase the damage of your weapons, if you can reliably hit an enemy
"Stickyness":
- Sentinel + Polearm Master combined will allow you to keep any enemy from running past you within a 10 ft radius and you get additional attacks against the enemies if they try to attack one of your allies
- The Battle Master Archetype gives you some great combat maneuvers like "Trip Attack" and "Menacing Attack" that allow you to knock your enemies prone when you hit them or even make them run away in fear of you for one round. "Rally" only grants temp HP but in a pinch that could save one of your ally's lives.
Altogether the build would look something like this around level 10:
https://ddb.ac/characters/23580775/hh50r7
Heavy Armor Master is strongest during the low levels, that is why I would pick it as the first feat.
You should also always try to use the terrain to your advantage. With the Polearm you have an effective threat range of 10 feet, so if you can find a bottleneck no wider than 25 feet you can completely block that passage by standing in the center.
If no such passage is available, your caster friends might be able to create difficult terrain or project the illusion of deadly traps or flames to create one.
If an enemy gets past you and to the squishies, make sure you make them pay like hell for it. As Battlemaster from Level 5 on you can open your first attack with a trip attack so they fall prone and you get advantage on your roll and 1d8 Bonus damage. On your second attack, pop menacing attack for another D8 extra damage and fear. That is 2D10 + 2D8 + 3 or on average 23 points of damage in one round plus two crushing negative effects in one round. If you later on combine the second, third, and eventually fourth attack with the +10 bonus damage from Great Weapon Master, that should leave enough of an impression to make even a devil take notice.
And if you simply want to blow all your dice at once and kill the enemy... pop Action Surge and do it all again.
Remember: your enemies won't know you just blew up all your combat resources and are now more the less drained. They only know that you just tore their friend apart in less than 6 seconds and that should make them classify you as a priority target.
So, you have a 2 hand weapon and a Shield.
I see here you should focus in something like a Lance + shield + Mounted Combatant Feat. hehehehehehe..... How letally should you be at lvl 15, huh ?? With 2 points spent on Dex that's gonna be enough Dexterity. And later, in Strenght or more Con.
The inconvenience here is, if you go deep on caverns / dungeons, your mount animal should be "parked" outside there.
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
A lance does not qualify for Polearm Master or Great Weapon Master, though. So you are missing out on both damage and battlefield control only to get +2 AC from a shield. I would still carry a shield and a 1H weapon, though. For smaller rooms and more defense if needed. And some Javelins for ranged attacks (Combat Maneuvers work with them at range).