I was theory crafting the ultimate tank for absorbing all kinds of punishment. What I came up with was a fairly standard Mountain Dwarf Totem Barbarian with bear resistances. In theory, if you point buy you should end up with 22STR 24CON and 20DEX (going for the extra AC) grab a shield and away you go.
My question is, are there any magic items that would make me a better tank, either absorbing more damage, or forcing enemies to target me instead of allies?
My best tank was a dwarf barbarian 6/ warlock x. I'm sure better tanks exist. I went celestial warlock and ancestral barbarian. I chose gift of the ever-living ones as an invocation for maximized healing. I took dwarven fortitude as a feat for hit die healing on a dodge action. It was in adventurers league so I played the right adventure to get a periapt of wound closure for double healing when you you use a hit die.
Between all these features, I could heal myself for 42 hit points in a round.
It was nice playing a warlock and being able to use spell slots for utility (or even better armor of agathys).
It's not perfect, but occasionally it was super awesome. It really shines when there's a small number of high damage foes instead of a large number of small damage foes. I went toe to toe with a giant that dealt like 60 damage a round. Every few rounds I would dodge and spend a hit die and one of my team mates would take a hit, but otherwise the giant was pretty locked down.
Yeah nice, that's actually a really interesting way of doing it, i had never considered a warlock as a tank before. I was recently helping a new player mate of mine build a character and it was a heavy armor Warlock/Fighter and accidentally signed up for some broken amounts of damage :P Warlocks can be cool.
Also, cgarciao, I am a huge pally fan boy so im all for paladins being a great tank class. What's our build? im curious as to how you would do it.
Though i was specifically looking for some items to use :P
When talking about tanking, there can be debate because it begs the question of what constitutes as tanking in this game. Now, to me, a tank has to be hard to hit, so it's all about the AC and making great saves, and gives incentive to being hit. Now, off the bat, a lot of people might suggest a satyr or yuanti for magic resistence. But, that's so played out and obvious if not outright banned in numerous settings. Instead, I'd go with a gnome build to get advantage on certain saves, which if we're being real, most of the real debilitating spells target those saves.
Start with 17 CHA, 16 STR, 14 CON. Dump the rest. Get warcaster at 4th lvl, then fey touched whenever you can. Get dissonant whispers. Max out CHA afterwards.
Then I'd go like something 7 conquest paladin and 13 clockwork sorcerer. No surprise here. Conquest is probably the best sword-n-board option, and clockwork just synergizes nicely while also being OP. A tank that has stuff on lockdown like with conquest's fear aura, channel divinity, and sorcerer spells means you'll be a fantastic battlefield control player. clockwork gets wall of force for crying out loud! Things will be wanting to hit you for a chance to break your concentration. Thats where warcaster comes in. That's where the sword-and-board build comes in.
Even if sorcerer has low HP, oof, you can upcast aid and armor of agathys to high hell. Now you're super tanky, and several of your team mates have been buffed!
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Hey crew,
I was theory crafting the ultimate tank for absorbing all kinds of punishment. What I came up with was a fairly standard Mountain Dwarf Totem Barbarian with bear resistances. In theory, if you point buy you should end up with 22STR 24CON and 20DEX (going for the extra AC) grab a shield and away you go.
My question is, are there any magic items that would make me a better tank, either absorbing more damage, or forcing enemies to target me instead of allies?
My best tank was a dwarf barbarian 6/ warlock x. I'm sure better tanks exist. I went celestial warlock and ancestral barbarian. I chose gift of the ever-living ones as an invocation for maximized healing. I took dwarven fortitude as a feat for hit die healing on a dodge action. It was in adventurers league so I played the right adventure to get a periapt of wound closure for double healing when you you use a hit die.
Between all these features, I could heal myself for 42 hit points in a round.
It was nice playing a warlock and being able to use spell slots for utility (or even better armor of agathys).
It's not perfect, but occasionally it was super awesome. It really shines when there's a small number of high damage foes instead of a large number of small damage foes. I went toe to toe with a giant that dealt like 60 damage a round. Every few rounds I would dodge and spend a hit die and one of my team mates would take a hit, but otherwise the giant was pretty locked down.
Sir, this is a Wen- I mean, this is the paladin sub forum. The barbarian club is two doors down.
Yeah nice, that's actually a really interesting way of doing it, i had never considered a warlock as a tank before. I was recently helping a new player mate of mine build a character and it was a heavy armor Warlock/Fighter and accidentally signed up for some broken amounts of damage :P Warlocks can be cool.
Also, cgarciao, I am a huge pally fan boy so im all for paladins being a great tank class. What's our build? im curious as to how you would do it.
Though i was specifically looking for some items to use :P
When talking about tanking, there can be debate because it begs the question of what constitutes as tanking in this game. Now, to me, a tank has to be hard to hit, so it's all about the AC and making great saves, and gives incentive to being hit. Now, off the bat, a lot of people might suggest a satyr or yuanti for magic resistence. But, that's so played out and obvious if not outright banned in numerous settings. Instead, I'd go with a gnome build to get advantage on certain saves, which if we're being real, most of the real debilitating spells target those saves.
Start with 17 CHA, 16 STR, 14 CON. Dump the rest. Get warcaster at 4th lvl, then fey touched whenever you can. Get dissonant whispers. Max out CHA afterwards.
Then I'd go like something 7 conquest paladin and 13 clockwork sorcerer. No surprise here. Conquest is probably the best sword-n-board option, and clockwork just synergizes nicely while also being OP. A tank that has stuff on lockdown like with conquest's fear aura, channel divinity, and sorcerer spells means you'll be a fantastic battlefield control player. clockwork gets wall of force for crying out loud! Things will be wanting to hit you for a chance to break your concentration. Thats where warcaster comes in. That's where the sword-and-board build comes in.
Even if sorcerer has low HP, oof, you can upcast aid and armor of agathys to high hell. Now you're super tanky, and several of your team mates have been buffed!