Unfortunately, as long as the DM has the ability to choose targets, there's not much a PC can do to draw attacks aside from provide incentives. A barbarian using reckless attack is still just one target in a party, and the squishy wizard may very well be the most sensible target to go after. This is especially true for fighters with builds designed to maximize AC. They will almost never be optimal targets for a standard attack, especially if they've sacrificed their offensive skills.
The Ancestral Guardian Barbarian and Armorer Artificer are the two subclasses that come the closest to functioning as MMO-style tanks, since they both have features that inhibit enemies who attack someone other than you.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I just played a Goliath rune knight who was really good at tanking. No official way to draw aggro, but getting big helps you draw some real attention to yourself. I took heavy armor master. The rune that lets you resist p/b/s damage. Rune that gives resistance to poison damage. Goliath gets cold resist and stone’s endurance. DM gave me adamantine (plate) armor, plus a regular shield. Unarmed fighting style, so when I got big and grappled people, I could drag them around and do auto damage, and just punch them with my free hand so I could keep my shield up.
So immune to crits, resist lots of damage. Could lock down one target. I did crap for damage, but that’s what the rest of the party was for. I could absorb tons of damage.
Sentinel as a feat could also help to gain the attention. Since it provokes opportunity attacks even when the target is disengaging. Plus you can attack when the enemy attacks someone else if he is within 5ft.
Shield Master is also something to consider. It gives you an extra shove, this way you can harass the enemy by constantly lowering his movement to half because he can become prone.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee "Time is relative" - Albert Einstein "It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake "Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
Guys did you not read the title? They asked for a "literal tank", not a figurative or gaming terminology tank. A literal tank : a rectangular metal box with a turret and tracks.
So....
Centaur is pretty good for mimicking the movement limitations / benefits of tracks, that could be combined with plate armor to get the tank appearance & defensiveness with some reflavouring, but then you need a ranged blast-y attack and you need STR for your armour so... you could do Tempest Domain Cleric to be a tesla-tank, or maybe a Fighter-1 x EB-focused Fiend Warlock (for Fireball which seems a must)?
Alternatively Warforged / autognome give you the metal appearance, and I think even Autognome art includes some with tracks rather than legs.
Oh… then a ranger with the gunner feat icw Warforged on a tank Mount could be hilarious.
You could also go Cavalier, but most fitting might be indeed the Artificer Artillerist. With it’s built in Eldritch Canon effects. Combine it with Gunner and you’ll have a strange, fun, and complicated PC xD
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee "Time is relative" - Albert Einstein "It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake "Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
A tank wouldn't be a PC - at least, not to my mind. Now, an Apparatus of Kwalish with a wand of lightning turret - that's a tank.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Thought it would be fun.
Drow Shadowblades are so good! Give them a Google!
Unfortunately, as long as the DM has the ability to choose targets, there's not much a PC can do to draw attacks aside from provide incentives. A barbarian using reckless attack is still just one target in a party, and the squishy wizard may very well be the most sensible target to go after. This is especially true for fighters with builds designed to maximize AC. They will almost never be optimal targets for a standard attack, especially if they've sacrificed their offensive skills.
The Ancestral Guardian Barbarian and Armorer Artificer are the two subclasses that come the closest to functioning as MMO-style tanks, since they both have features that inhibit enemies who attack someone other than you.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I just played a Goliath rune knight who was really good at tanking. No official way to draw aggro, but getting big helps you draw some real attention to yourself. I took heavy armor master. The rune that lets you resist p/b/s damage. Rune that gives resistance to poison damage. Goliath gets cold resist and stone’s endurance. DM gave me adamantine (plate) armor, plus a regular shield. Unarmed fighting style, so when I got big and grappled people, I could drag them around and do auto damage, and just punch them with my free hand so I could keep my shield up.
So immune to crits, resist lots of damage. Could lock down one target. I did crap for damage, but that’s what the rest of the party was for. I could absorb tons of damage.
Sentinel as a feat could also help to gain the attention. Since it provokes opportunity attacks even when the target is disengaging. Plus you can attack when the enemy attacks someone else if he is within 5ft.
Shield Master is also something to consider. It gives you an extra shove, this way you can harass the enemy by constantly lowering his movement to half because he can become prone.
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee
"Time is relative" - Albert Einstein
"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake
"Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
Guys did you not read the title? They asked for a "literal tank", not a figurative or gaming terminology tank. A literal tank : a rectangular metal box with a turret and tracks.
So....
Centaur is pretty good for mimicking the movement limitations / benefits of tracks, that could be combined with plate armor to get the tank appearance & defensiveness with some reflavouring, but then you need a ranged blast-y attack and you need STR for your armour so... you could do Tempest Domain Cleric to be a tesla-tank, or maybe a Fighter-1 x EB-focused Fiend Warlock (for Fireball which seems a must)?
Alternatively Warforged / autognome give you the metal appearance, and I think even Autognome art includes some with tracks rather than legs.
Oh… then a ranger with the gunner feat icw Warforged on a tank Mount could be hilarious.
You could also go Cavalier, but most fitting might be indeed the Artificer Artillerist. With it’s built in Eldritch Canon effects. Combine it with Gunner and you’ll have a strange, fun, and complicated PC xD
"Time, like hope, is an illusion" - Lumalee
"Time is relative" - Albert Einstein
"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother forgive me" - Edward 'The Comedian' Blake
"Do I look like the kind of clown that can start a movement?" - Arthur Fleck
A tank wouldn't be a PC - at least, not to my mind. Now, an Apparatus of Kwalish with a wand of lightning turret - that's a tank.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.