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You don't need a healer if your party doesn't get damaged. In one of my campaigns we had a Champion going full on defense reaction with shield warden and champion reaction. He was negating so much damage it made it so that recovery healing between fights was often just 1-2 treatments and a few times we just pushed on cause 1 digit damage isn't much when most of party has triple digits.

I'd like to point out, you often think of Resource cost as "how often can you do this/ what opportunity cost is better." But, keep in mind, some of those "slots" can *only* be used for that effect. Battle Medicine is pretty much resourceless, because it doesn't take anything other than a skill feat selection. Then fonts are crazy because those slots can *only* be used for healing, so you may as well use them without restraint because they aren't taking your normal slots

I love having emergency healing on multiple characters. In my AV group, my Summoner seldom casts Soothe - but when I do it is often a big deal. Having emergency heals on only one character runs the risk of that character going down, but also runs the risk of you having big heals on the wrong initiative count(s). When multiple people can do it (even if they aren't particularly specialised in it) it is much easier to keep frontliners off the dreaded 0hp.

you need someone to heal in combat and someone to heal outside combat, it can be the same person if that person wants to.

Stich Flesh is absolutely a feat tax, and I hate it. You often have to spend a feat just to become undead, only to have to spend another (or have someone spend one) just to get back to the default position every other PC starts with. In addition to losing most player options of healing I might add. Oh, and Battle Medicine still won't work for you. Being undead sucks in PF2e. Stitch Flesh is just insult to injury.

My favorite tank build: Life Oracle + Champion dedication, 10 + Con hp per level, good early to mid game AC from champion dedication and Lifelink focus spell + champions reaction is such a great combo that makes you feel very relevant even when its not your turn. That on top of being an awesome healer and solid buffer/debuff caster. Also getting some athletics prof for grapple/trip is awesome as well.

Wouldn't the best Athletics weapon be a Shield with a Shield Augmentation? As with a shield augmentation (which can have a potency rune) you can give the shield two manuver traits.

That’s what she said

As someone running the Pearly White Spindle, I still run it at level 17! Sure, it's slow, and our Barbarian might not have THAT much use for it, but even so, it's only approx. 2.5 hours of ingame time from 0 to full. Assuming we're not being hounded by something, this means I can typically start any given fight at full health, because there's time between them. Time that I don't have to worry about our medic effing up their Medicine check, or spending spells from our cleric. In terms of HP? My Starlit Span Magus is the most self-sufficient of the party.

How do you not take protector tree with a wood kin tank build. Heh

Homework: For the champion build, Marshal and the Diplomacy stance. It indirectly gives you an offensive presence that's hard to ignore (giant barb +1 status, potentially clumsy enemies) and adds more fear protection. Anything with an occult caster loves bon mot, so diplomacy is a solid investment anyway. For the dragon barb, dragon breath and silencing strike. You are on a timer as a barb and we don't have the feats to take another dedication for healing. So chip things to death or put multiple foes in the reactive strike danger zone with dragon breath. Cancel spellcaster turns with strikes so that your team has caster superiority and pray they deal with any other problems that arise. Kineticist. Aura shaping is a no brainer. Timber sentinel is a great back up plan and Spike Skin can protect either you or your allies.

A very funny way to get a grapple+trip weapon is an inventor dedication. You can do silly things like topping off a guisarme with entangling form. Or slap it on a whip or flail if you want the shield.

Was going to drop a like anyway, but had to instantly do so for the phrase “the juice is not worth the squeeze”

This is great! I've been working on a pseudo-tanking inventor for our next campaign and loved seeing a great breakdown of the core mechanics of how to do it and what to keep it mind. Excellent video and loved watching it. I'm thinking inventor at level 1, weapon innovation with an asp coil. Initial modification is Entangling Form, which applies both grapple and trip traits to the weapon. At level 2, take the fighter dedication to pick up reactive strike (at level 4). So I should be able to grapple or trip at a distance and keep enemies at bay! Since the coil is a one handed weapon, I would still have access to a shield too. There's of course the armor innovation for an inventor as well, but it doesn't speak to me the way weapon innovation does.

Great video, have my sub !

I rly like the format of the video

I really dislike the term. Tanks should have massive turrets on them.

You can tank in any game. Now can you tank well. That's the actual question.

excellent

This is a really good mixture of overview, insight, and relevant graphics that add to the experience without distracting. Great work!

I love seeing people address kineticists. They are one of the most versatile classes. For SoT I have a conrasu wood kineticist who is a tank/healer. Loads of fun to play.

Uh pathfinders not an mmo? Is a ttrpg.

One of my personal favorite Tank builds is the Weighty Impact feat Summoner! So long as you land a hit, you can pop a single action to Knockdown, which attempts to Trip an enemy WITHOUT USING OR CONTRIBUTING TO MULTI-ATTACK PENALTY. And of course, with Eidolon’s Opportunity, it can take a swing at the enemy when they try to stand back up. Also, if I’m reading the Knockdown entry right, if your Eidolon lands the Reactive Strike, you should be able to attempt to Knockdown the enemy again first thing next turn, provided they’re still in range, but feel free to correct me on that. Also, depending on what spell school you get access to via your Eidolon, you could potentially even get some difficult terrain-inducing spells on your Summoner too to get some nice area denial as well!

My favorite tank build is a polearm Fighter (elf, sylph, dwarf adopted ancestry). The build has a plenty of healing, damage mitigation, max armor, 40 speed, high accuracy/dpr. Combined with a Sorcerer it has the most reliable combo to deal with boss fights. These are often the most difficult encounters in my experience. The combo is: Crashing Slam + Slow (spam). If anyone knows anything stronger/more reliable let me know. I do not like using battle maneuvers on their own, because they weren't as reliable compared to attacks in my experience. I especially dislike the free hand battle maneuvers, because you can't use them well with reach. If you use reach you indirectly tax action economy and it is very reliable if you (+ teammates) position well. The next reason I dislike battle maneuvers is that attacking is often more beneficial. Like you said damage is a form of tanking. A dead creature can't deal damage anymore. Class Feats: ------------------------- 1. Sudden Charge 2. Psychic Dedication: The Tangible Dream - Shield (focus point) 4. Basic Psychic Spellcasting: Bless, False Vitality 6. Psi Development (focus point) 8. Lunge 9. Slam Down 10. Crashing Slam ('win game') Free Archetype: -------------------------- 2. Champion Dedication 4. Healing Touch (focus point) 6. Retributive Strike 8. Desperate Prayer (*focus point) 10. Rogue Dedication The Psychic + Champion combo is to get more focus points (free archetype). You get access to Shield, Shield Block from Psychic. Champion gives access to Retributive Strike, which synergizes very well. All of these abilities are reliable ways of healing/damage mitigation. In case an enemy attacks you I would use Shield Block (often use Shield on myself). The damage mitigation from Shield Block is about the same as the healing from Lay on Hands. However Shield Blocking does save an action next turn and you probably won't use your reaction anyway. The ideal scenario is that an enemy attacks your ally and you can use Retributive Strike. This means free damage mitigation and an 0 MAP attack. You save the focus point and can heal your ally on your turn. With reach you should position yourself in a way to encourage attacking allies. You also want to position in a way to get flanking and/or trigger Reactive Strike. Yes reach is very important. Notice I took Rogue Dedication. This is mainly for Gang Up for easier Retributive Strike/Reaction Strike + flanking. The speed and max armor are from Elf + Nimble Elf + Unburdened Iron + Fleet.

i've never played any version of pathfinder, but i am thinking of the idea of a different version of a tank build that is some sort of ranged fighter that mainly tanks by stunning all or most enemies either before they attack or before they get close if possible, maybe rather then main tank this would be a support tank since it probably couldn't stun all enemies.

There aren't Taunts *YET*. The Guardian is a new class that will release next year and they have a Taunt on their playtest

This video is QUALITY. I wish more Pf2e TH-camrs would spend more time making videos interesting with graphics and an enthusiastic voice with energy. You've got a fine TH-cam future ahead of you!

Thank you for the excellent video!

5:36 shade at the Guardian lol Great analysis! My favorite tank build is a Warpriest **CLERIC** of Irori so I can Athletic Rush in for +2 to Athletics for a round (that is also a stride)... You also get to use Shield + Shield Block and Cleric Heals to sustain when you are targeted! As long as you are not one shot, you are full health after spending 2 actions. Raising a shield lets you mitigate the lack of defenses and you can keep on stalling for as long as you have heals (which is a LONG time as a Cleric). The enemies also can't ignore you as you then get to trip / grapple them or just keep on healing allies. It is INCREDIBLY difficult to deal with! Nothing is better at drawing threat than a healer, but you don't actually lose much survivability due to Cleric being able to self heal efficiently. Sometimes late in a fight you need to play backline, but you are still a full Cleric so you can totally shift that direction and throw out buff / debuff spells to make enemies want to come and attack into your defenses / self healing. Another note is that Shield Augmentation can let a shield Trip / Disarm / Shove (pick 2), or a Shield Boss can make a shield a perfectly serviceable weapon (particularly for a class that gets a boost to its damage like Barbarian or Ruffian Rogue). My next "tank to play" on my list is a maneuver focused Flurry ranger as flurry reduced MAP applies to maneuvers as well! Wrestler Archetype for Combat Grab is also REALLY good for any unarmed character. The extra skill increase in Athletics lets you increase Medicine very easily alongside the "grapple skill" so you can have Battle Medicine also make use of that offhand. Any character can both Heal and Crowd Control simply by investing in some skills... Wrestler Archetype can make that much easier. (Bastion can help action economy issues with shields, Medic can further boost non-magical healing on a tank). Even in a non-FA game I frequently see tank characters dip into one of these archetypes in order to help them accomplish their job just that little bit better (particularly if their main class lacks something like how Barbarian does not have great on hit effects, Combat Grab really helps them apply crowd control alongside their damage threat)

I did a lot of tank builds because I love tanks, such as mountain dwarf with the stance that increases AC, a kineticist tank (prob should make other versions with other elements to still be tanky), a few that are barbarian, a decent bunch that are champions but prob my favorite is the tank that is my favorite class, Wizard Quite off topic, but I wanted to make a build around a halfling wielding a frying pan as an attacking pan, but my version is prob pretty bad lol

No no you can’t

*Insert Konosuba Darkness reference here*

Pathfinder is an absolute blast ot play but alot of the time its hard to know what is going to be good until you try it. But in a narrative game it can be difficult to learn on the fly what abilities are good and what abilities are bad, so breakdowns like this are super helpful!

Weapon Inventor can add Grapple AND Trip to a melee weapon. A single handed reach melee weapon let's you use a shield for extra AC and Shield Block. Might need some GM fiat as most 1-h reach weapons are Uncommon, leaving you with the whip with its low damage die. 2-h are probably the standard to go for RAW. A ransuer gives you good damage die size, reach, and Disarm giving you three maneuver traits. A bo staff has low damage for 2-h weapons but has Parry giving you a minor defensive option. Animal Instinct Barbarian is another good DPR tank. Best static AC of all instincts with the Animal Skin feat. Natural weapons have easy access to Grapple traits. Deer gets Grapple and Reach. It's anathema to use weapons but not a shield, making you even tankier. Regardless of instinct, Furious Bully is probably the goto at level 8... Shoutout to Friendly Toss though-- sure you can use it offensively but it also means you can throw allies to safety away from enemies and avoid reactive strikes crushing your poor squishy casters. Champion at level 8/10 is easy. Quick Shield Block is great as it frees up more actions on your turn for Grappling and minotaur-ing. 10 is generally picking up your Divine Ally upgrade feat. It'll be interesting to see how PC2 shakes up Champion, especially with that new Shield focus spell that looks like a good offensive/defensive alternative to Lay On Hands / Touch of Corruption. An interesting off-tank setup I'm currently playing around with building is a Duelist/Aldori-Duelist build. They dueling parry for +2 AC is nice but nothing special. It comes online at later levels when you can strike or Disarm foes when they critically fail the strike. Duelist gives you Selfless Parry and let's you do the riposte reaction on protected allies. Remastered Disarm is good for burning actions or applying accuracy debuffs. Great to supplement another frontliner PC, like a Champion or Barbarian without a shield. I haven't looked at Kineticst too much but you've peaked my interest... I was interested in a Wood/Metal Kineticist to build some sort of wall build. Can't hurt my party if they're on the other side of a wall. If only there was a way to sustain one wall while I erect the other. Unfortunately it's not a spell otherwise you could archetype with Witch for Cackle. I'll have to rethink this one...

Some fun tank builds I've enjoyed playing as: - Braggart Swashbuckler - using the Antagonize feat, enemies you've Demoralized are stuck being Frightened unless they attack you, so unless they want to hit you, they have a -1 to everything (so long as you succeed your Demoralize roll). Using a Buckler or Dueling Parry allows the Swashbuckler to get very solid AC, they can grant themselves extra HP with Vivacious Bravado, and Opportune Riposte gives you a chance to punish enemies who do end up attacking you. It can be a little reliant on getting good Demoralize rolls, but it's very fun when you do. - Grappler Armor Inventor - This build comes online at later levels, but it's very funny once it does. With the armor modifications that grant bonuses to Athletics, as well as the usual set of resistances that the Armor innovation can give, you end up being a very effective grappler and quite durable. But the star of the show is Electrify Armor - grapple enemies and turn this on and they're pretty much forced to take significant damage to escape, or just stay in the grapple and cry. Inventors are disappointingly lacking in HP but this is still a lot of fun. - Air/Earth Kineticist - An alternate tanky kineticist that takes advantage of Concealment and has extra mobility from Air impulses. The Desert Wind composite stance is an incredible option in conjunction with Safe Elements in order to protect allies, giving a flat 25% miss chance to enemies inside your aura when targeting allies outside it - ideally, the only ally who doesn't get Concealment is you. Their ability to create difficult terrain with earth impulses and aura junctions also helps them keep enemies locked down. - Tiger Stance Medic Monk - Using the Tiger Stance to boost your mobility and the Medic dedication, you can take 10 foot steps in and out of Reactive Strike range, Battle Medicine yourself and your allies multiple times, and still hit with Flurry of Blows or Flurry of Maneuvers. This is more of a support build, but your support is so annoying on top of your good damage and survivability that enemies might want to go for you anyway.

As a forensics investigator/medic, I literally had more healing power than a cleric, two Battlemedices per character, every hour! It was gross.

👍 agree I do

Dude this is hell. Im going to wait here for 35hs. The anticipation is doing more Dmg to me then the Dragons I'm holding at bey

This is a great video with a lot of information and consideration on healing. I think you did an excellent job with this as an introductory video to your channel and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with! It has already been mentioned, but I think one very valuable tool is being able to Refocus while doing other activities. I'm playing a cleric with a heavy lean towards healing, and it's been a real time-saver to break out Lay on Hands, then spend ten minutes to Treat Wounds on someone and get the focus point back since the medical healing counts as an appropriate focus activity. Combined with useful feats like Ward Medic for maximizing a Treat Wounds use or Continual Recovery to keep treating the most serious wounds, it really helps keep things flowing without too much time in exploration or downtime between bouts of searching and combat. As a cleric, I would say that Healing Hands and Magic Hands have also been vital. With Healing Hands, not only are my own Heal spells boosted, but when I used a Wand of Heal, I would get the same effect, making the wands automatically more powerful in my hands than if someone else had used them. With Magic Hands, my GM and I discussed and decided to use the pre-remaster rules, as being able to max out Treat Wounds was a far more useful and reliable tool than boosting a randomized roll result. As for the homework, I'd already completed it before watching this video, with the same character even! We had a brief side game with some guest adventurers, and one player had a Wood/Water dual gate Kineticist with Ocean's Balm. The other two items I've been able to use myself. Ocean's Balm was definitely a useful tool, especially combined with Fresh Produce which the Kineticist also had. Though it didn't match what a focused healer could pull off in a single burst, being able to reuse both of these at single action costs and with no extra feat taxes required was a way for the Kineticist to be a great healer for the party outside of combat and provide some quick healing in a pinch. The underleveled Wand of Heal was actually quite useful. We picked it up right around level 1 or 2 as a first-tier Wand, and it proved useful for several levels, all the way up until at least level 6 as adventurers. While its healing by itself was not particularly potent, it was good to use as a burst effect to give everyone in the party a little health before going into more intensive out-of-combat healing, or to get someone back on their feet in combat in a dire moment. We did end up selling it when I hit level 7, but it proved useful for a lot longer than I was initially expecting! Healer's Gloves, on the other hand, seem mostly supplemental. I picked mine up as my cleric's choice of reward for an item from completing a quest, as the only things I was actively searching for were several levels higher than the reward threshold. By and large, they mostly exist to boost my Medicine rolls and potentially help me hit those Critical Success results on Treat Wounds or Battle Medicine rolls.