We covered a lot of topics in this video. Here's a few timestamps for the key points: 2:54 - Differences between Tanking in D&D vs Video Games 5:09 - Survivability 9:25 - Feats to Consider 14:48 - Protecting Your Allies 16:00 - Sentinel and Polearm Master 19:07 - Battlefield Control 20:40 - Teamwork 22:14 - Mobility and Initiative 23:44 - Dealing with Ranged Attacks and Flying Foes
My Valor Bard uses Disguise Self to create the illusion of a golden haired knight in silver armour who challenges all comers to mortal combat. Thanks to a 1 level dip into Draconic Sorcerer he has some offensive spells, using Booming Blade like a semi-Smite, and Shield, so he can be tough enough, for a while at least. Of course he doesn't have a lot of HP with 14/14/12/10/12/18 but he can use Cure Wounds to keep himself going a bit longer. Unfortunately we don't have a proper tank in our party, just my Bard and a Ranger. Perhaps the simplest "Tank" is to give your entire party level 1 in Fighter or Paladin. High Dex characters can then wear medium armour and shield, and high strength characters heavy armour and shield, so all your party has high AC.
I'm sad to say that Resilient can only be taken once as only feats that specify they can be taken multiple times can be selected more than one. Resilient does not say that it can be selected multiple times. :'( Saving throw king is a high level Monk followed by a high CHA Paladin. Bonus points if they are both Halflings, have the lucky feat, and (most importantly) are near each other! A high level Halfling Monk next to a CHA 20 Paladin has a +11 on *Death Saves* & can re-roll a 1. Only the dreaded double 1 can screw them over. Shield Master only acts like evasion against things allowing DEX Saves that *target only you* ((Edit: CORRECTION - it appears that the "only you" restriction is for the save bonus & the reaction for evasion effect did not have a target check)). So it would not help against a fireball. I had a Shield Master fighter and was *very* disappointed in the dearth of spells that it actually protected me from.
I can’t believe you didn’t touch on the light domain cleric’s warding flare or the protection fighting style that you can use to impose disadvantage on enemy attacks against your friends. Cleric/fighter multiclass makes a nice tank/healer build
I'm honestly surprised that it was never mentioned about the Paladin's "Aura of Protection" ability that they get at level 6. This improves all saving throws for all allies within 10 feet - including themselves. My Oath of Conquest Paladin doesn't have the Dexterity, and barely has enough strength to put on plate armor after adding an ability score increase to strength, but he has a very high Charisma score as a Fallen Aasimar. His +5 bonus means +5 to all saving throws against magic and other effects (worst saves being Dexterity and Intelligence, but his best are Wisdom and Charisma.) Mounted Combatant and Shield Master along with the spell Find Greater Steed has allowed him to move and be anywhere on a battlefield atop a flying mount, throwing javelins from above if he can't get close to swipe at them with his sword. Furthermore, the spells Compel Duel and Protection from Evil and Good are powerful 1st level spells when used in the right moments, such as blocking a doorway against a group of undead while the rest of the party is trying to get open the way out of a collapsed mine tunnel with spells, abilities, and just digging for our lives while that simple level 1 protection spell forced all those undead to face him one at a time at disadvantage on most of their rolls as he focused on defending and healing himself as needed. Outside of that, the Order of the Lycan from the Blood Hunter class has the built in tanking ability to reduce physical damage taken from non-magical weapons that aren't silvered. My half orc has been a lot of fun playing at being a beefy tank using Polearm Master and Sentinel away from his allies just in case he fails a saving throw against Bloodlust, forcing him to move and attack the closest target (enemy or ally,) which makes some very fun interactions later when he has to apologize to the party rogue and cleric for clawing them after the battle is over because they were too close. That class also has some useful blood curses to remove debilitations such as poison and paralysis, or even increase saving throws against some magics and effects.
then there is the cleric, 45 ac and then disadvantage to be hit and actually having saving throws, minus charisma because who needs to talk, eyes banish he he
Dodge is sick and Disengage is also a bit broken, just "oh I wont attack so I get to run away for free". Heavy armour master is nice for tanky fighters and clerics but for some real cheese I can recommend hill dwarf barb 1 -> moon druid.
I just started a new campaign as a Forge Domain cleric. First combat had three enemies wailing on me while my party's spellcasters got eviscerated. I sat there throwing out healing word and taking the Dodge action. Disadvantage + 18 AC made me almost unhittable.
Lower level monks are stupid good tanks in this way too. Fighters and Barbarians overtake them later but they are great for campaigns you don’t expect to last very long or one-shots. I played a rogue/monk/warlock in one of my more recent campaigns and she was a mobility machine. I could probably get anywhere I needed to go (even as a halfling) and still have my action for attacks (and stunning strike)
We had a shitlord DM once, that when someone gained resistance against a type of damage, would never ever use that damage type anymore in the campaign.
what about the cavalier fighter? Unwavering mark giver the target disadvantage against everyone but you, warding maneuver lets you boost an ally's AC, and Hold the line is basically the sentinel feat
cavalier isn't bad, and they did talk about how fighters are one of the big three in terms of tank classes. I personally prefer paladins because they have auras that help boost saving throws, along with a variety of other effects, can use spells like bless to give support, and have a high enough damage output to be a threat
I always go paladin, along with one level in both hexblade and shadow sorcerer. This means I don't really have to worry about STR because hexblade lets me put it into charisma, and shadow sorcerer lets me make a CHA saving throw when i'd get knocked unconscious to drop to 1 HP. Along with paladin's aura, it makes it pretty hard to die. The fact that I only have to get 13 STR lets me put more points into DEX and WIS
@@coachron5033 You could, and that is a perfectly viable build. The main question is the pacing. What do you start as, how far do you go in each class, when do you take a fighter level over a paladin level? I've done plenty of multiclassing, but without multiclassing I personally prefer to go paladin if I want to be tanky
Hold the line is a little different because let you make an opportunity attack when the enemy is inside your reach and move inside it, Sentinel let you attack when he tried to get out; so if you are a lv 10 cavalier, with Sentinel and Polearm Master, if the enemy moves you can attack it. Also, remember the second part of Unwavering Mark, if he hit an ally next to you, you can punish him not only with the reaction of Sentinel but also with the special attack with the bonus action on your turn.
Cavalier, ancestral guardian and crown oath are THE subclasses designed for tanking. They all sorta have a way to provoke aggro better than more durable options like bear totem barbarian of ancients oath. That said, my favorite option for tanking might be the dragonborn conquest paladin with a polearm. With a ton of fear effects (your channel divinity, wrathful smite, fear and the Dragon Fear feat ) and good positioning, you can prevent melee enemies from even moving closer your backline. With your polearm your can can even keep some enemies from getting in melee with you while still be able to hit them meaning you'll take less damage on the frontlines effectively making you more tanky. It becomes really mean once you get the aura that neutralizes the movement speed of target you've frightened, but even way before that the build is fun. I also like adding in the UA feat menacing if allowed. I haven't tried it out myself yet, but this makes for a really fun take on a protector character so I'm figuring out ways to make the character compatible with your standard heroic party.
9:00 One thing to note, since the Resilient feat doesn't say it can be taken multiple times like Elemental Adept, you can only take it for one ability score.
Ooh, that’s good to know. Do you know if that’s the same for martial adept? Can a battle master take that multiple times to get more support maneuvers?
Jack The Lucario Since the feat itself doesn't say that you can take it multiple times, you can only take it once. As far as I'm aware the only feat you _can_ take more than once is Elemental Adept, and with it you have to pick a different element each time.
Tanks really need high HP, high AC, good saves, good healing, support spells cast on them, and a way to make enemies attack them, like dealing lots of damage. *laughs in paladin*
Having the Sentinel feat early on, you may stand by your allies, use the "dodge" action so enemies gain disadvantage trying to hit you, thus making you tankier. If they choose to hit your nearby ally, reaction into an attack and kill them!
Artificers are surprisingly good tanks since they get to add their int mod to their saves and can add a lot of ac to their armor especially if they take 1 level in cleric
Cannot agree more. Shield is 'kind of good' when it pushes your local caster to an AC of 20 or so, and is invaluable for keeping squishy Wizards and Sorcerers alive through earlier levels. But most people stop looking at it there, which feels really wrong. Shield is really stupid when it pushes your already beefy character into mid-to-high 20s. Especially if you can pair it with literally any way to induce disadvantage, it becomes laughably easy to ignore small armies for several turns running. Individual big creatures can still be problems - but even then they start having to roll fairly decently to hit you instead of that being the default assumption. But groups? I've lost track of how many times I've watched DMs roll 20+ attacks against a character and *maybe* one gets through, because Shield is a really silly spell.
*Laughs in College of Swords Bard* Mage Armour 13AC Dex +5 Shield of Faith or Haste +2 Defensive Flourish +D12 Defensive Duelist +6 (can substitute Shield for +5 earlier on) Total AC 27-38 with no equipment beyond a weapon. And just keep topping up your HP with healing word every turn.
@@crabmaster8174 I can't figure out what rules you're using to get that. For a start, I can't see the UA Warforged rules so I don't know what they are. Second, there is no battle master reaction that adds to AC. The only ones that adds to AC that I can find are Evasive Footwork which only lasts while you're moving on your turn, and Bait & Switch which requires a willing ally. Also Battle Masters don't have spells, so they can't use any of the spell bonuses you gave unless allies grant it to them. My point was a single character without much effort or the assistance of equipment. I also included the benefit of constant healing for any attacks that do get through. Theoretically I could add shield bonus and defensive fighting style (thanks to Tasha's) as well to my character, and get magic equipment bonuses as well as spells and abilities from allies to increase mine into the 50s if I went that route. I've seen people theorise into the upper 60's in some places... though it's a lot of effort for nothing really at that point. Past 37 I don't think there is any enemy it would have an effect on. The highest to hit bonus I can recall finding is +17, though I'm not certain on that. But that basically means they'd need a nat 20 to hit even with +17, and since nat 20 always hits regardless of AC and modifiers anything more doesn't make a difference. Still, it's fun sometimes to theorise limits and see the ideas other people have. Thank you for sharing :)
I love how the basic focus of this isn't really being a tank, but seems more about teamwork and synergy. EDIT: Love the thought of a bonsai ent, a companion who suffers from 1st Greenhouse problems and hates the though of "bogging it"
Don't forget about a Full Plate Warforged Forge Domain Cleric. They get immunity to Fire damage at level 17 and before that, resistance at level 6. They get ridiculous and if they have a +3 Full Plate and +3 Shield, their AC will be 24. Warforged is the best race to stack AC fast. They are incredibly versatile.
@@eri_sister_of_aerial warforged+forge domain cleric+the fighting style that gives you +1 CA and a plate armor with shield and you get a 24 AC character at lvl 7 with no magic ítems so you don't relay on the DM giving you those items
I've found that there are a few "taunts" in D&D, but they're all "soft taunts" that _encourage_ enemies to attack you instead, such as Reckless Attack. Ancestral Guardians has the only "hard taunt" where it not only discourages an enemy from attacking your allies, but makes it completely _impractical_ to attack anyone _but_ you, as they have disadvantage to hit anyone but you and even if they do, they deal half-damage (and you still have your reaction to Spirit Shield and reduce the damage further).
You forgot Compelled Duel spell for the pally and the Goading Attack for the Battlemaster Fighter. But Menacing Attack also works really well as battlefield control.
From my experience, if you want a tank to work consistently, you need to find a DM willing to actually attack the tank instead of the squishies in the back. We can talk about bad DM practices and meta-DM-ing all day, but the reality is, you will often have to deal with DMs gunning for low HP, low AC characters as a sort of easy way to challenge the whole party and make combat deadlier. Otherwise, you're pidgeon-holed into only a select few subclasses (Ancestral Barbarian, Crown Paladin, Cavalier Fighter...) to mechanically incentivize the DM to focus-fire you specifically. I DM most monsters in a way that they go for a Barbarian or Monk first cuz they usually wear no armor and therefore monsters think it's supposed to be easier to harm those without thick leather and metal protecting their skins. However, I rarely focus on the frontliners when I DM clever monsters and especially NPCs that know the party's capabilities. Instead, I usually look to surround them and use terrain to my advantage, picking off low HP/AC spellcasters while the melee PCs are struggling to do anything.
@@pasp9866 That would directly diminish the DM's prerogative to decide who, when and how to attack. It would probably work OK in random combat encounters, but when dealing with bosses/NPCs who know the party or at least have a good idea who the most threatening party members are to them, it wouldn't make any sense. Also, how do you even begin to differentiate between a caster casting Forcecage, potentially completely removing 2+ powerful enemies from the fight right away, and a Paladin doing 100 DPR? Not to mention that in such a system, higher-level casters, the "squishies" can easily generate more threat than the melee damage sponges. There's no good way to go about it, you ultimately have to trust the DM to make the best decisions.
I'm pretty sure my dm just fudges rolls so I take damage every round. Playing a fighter goliath with an ac of 22 twf. But also our group has 3 large tanky melee combatants.
@@pasp9866 I agree the problem exists, but your proposed solution would introduce more problems than it would solve. I don't have a sexy solution either, the problem is actually multi-faceted and I don't see an easy way around it. You just have to trust the DM is not going to be a total metagaming "me vs. the players" asshole. If he/she is, find another one.
My DM fortunately controls the enemies to attack PC closest to it, if aren't available, he'll move them to closest PC; which mostly the frontliners, including the tank itself. So most of the times the tank can do his work
My DM does something similar. The stupid monsters will attack my barbarian--the smart ones will attack our sorcerer (or the cleric, although he's pretty hard to kill too.)
8-10 levels oath of the ancients paladin: you can have ensnaring strike (for trapping a single opponent), misty step (covering distance or reaching enemy back line), potentially plant growth (for slowing enemies so allies can take care of them from ranged) Aura of warding at 7 lv for half damage from spells saving throws for wisdom and charisma for most spells that can take you out in a fight lay on hands, a fighting style, aura of protection at 6 lv and possibly aura of courage for the frightened condition. Then 10-12 levels of fighter: An additional fighting style, second wind, action surge 3 to 4 additional feats/ ability score improvements indomitable and possibly a three attack. Feats that could be used: tough, sentinel, resilient( any physical trait). Feats that can be dependent on player preference: alert, great weapon master, lucky, mage slayer, mobile, polearm master, shield master, or war caster
Oath of Vengeance is pretty sweet for its features too. That's what I'm currently playtesting for party tank who also heals. He attacc, but he also protecc.
@@mal2ksc Sure OoV can dish out more dmg, but OoA benefits your whole team survival chances a lot more. Just the spell resistance alone makes staying in tight formation viable option since aoe are half as deadly. It also make you a lot harder to kill. Add Half orc on top of that and you have 2 cheat death abilities making you really hard to drop down.
I like the Cavalier fighter for its ability to apply disadvantage to enemies who want to attack someone other than you. Stick a reach weapon in their hands and they can put that debuff on a lot of different foes!
I've had this character idea for a while now and finally got it down. For a tank, and since there's no mention of a level cap, I'd go 14 Monk/6 Paladin. The Monk would be a Kensei and select the Spear for the Kensei weapon. All the bonuses for the Kensei are really just that, bonuses. The main reason I picked 14 levels in Monk is for Diamond Soul, getting proficiency in all saving throws. Meaning now, I don't have to fear that Fireball or Banishment as much anymore. I'd also opt forgoing armor not for Unarmored Defense but for Unarmored Movement to circumnavigate the battlefield if necessary. I mean, 55 feet of movement is not something to sleep on. The Paladin would be Devotion purely for synergistic reasons. At 6th level, I start adding my Charisma Modifier to my saving throws. If built correctly, this is an additional +5 to all saving throws, for a total of +11 to everything. I no longer fear saving throws. Now I get to just rush into battle without any hesitation whatsoever. At level 20, having 20 in Dexterity and Charisma should be more than possible. If I rolled well for stats then many doors open for feats, like Polearm Master and Sentinel. In a battle scenario, pop my Channel Divinity Sacred Weapon to add my Charisma mod to my weapon attacks. Combined with Sharpen the Blade (if my math is correct), that should equal a +19 to hit with my standard spear with two attacks. Or, if I want to make more attacks while conserving ki points, four attacks at +16 each. Combined with Stunning Strike, Deft Strike, Divine Smite and possible even a smiting spell.... oof. Oh, and I'd also pick Variant Human for the aforementioned Sentinel feat. Add the stat bonuses for Dexterity and Charisma. This also opens the option for possibly taking the Tough feat instead. If not Human then probably Tabaxi, as it gives the perfect stat split, as well as having Feline Agility for 110 feet of movement without Step of the Wind. This is likely unnecessary but it's another option, and a fun one at that! That being said, this build's only weak point is that it's only truly realized at level 20. Way too far of a goal to reach in a normal game, but for something special like a level 20 one-shot it is viable. Unfortunate but inevitable. To anybody who read all of this, thank you! I really hope you enjoyed my build and I also hope you have a wonderful day :)
Doing a Monk-Paladin multiclass requires 13 strength, 13 charisma, 13 dexterity, and 13 wisdom. A tank also wants to have 14 constitution minimum, and 16+ is highly recommended. If you're taking 14 of your 20 levels as a class with a D8 hit die, it's especially important to have 14+ constitution. Otherwise, you're just not going to have enough hit points. So basically, you need to have *five* stats at 13+ for this strategy, in addition to your plan of having *two* stats at 20 at level 20. That's the build's weakest point.
Actually you can, sometimes Jeremy Crawford is wrong cause in the books it doesn't say you can't take that feat more than once, he is just trying to limit the players that ask for help
Rolhn Schmidt the precedent is elemental adept. it specifically says you can take it more than once, which implies that the rule is you can only take a feat once unless stated otherwise.
@@rolhnschmidt8780 Nothing says you CAN take feats more than once, except the individual feats that allow you to do so. You cannot, JC is correct, raw.
My favorite psudeo tank I'm playing right now is a Hill Dwarf Drunken Master Monk. I took Dwarven Resilience so every time I use patient defense, I'm able to heal a hit die as well
Forgot to add, will be taking the Durable feat at 8th to maximize my hit die roll. At a +4 Con modifier, Durable automatically allows you to take your hit die as if you rolled an 8.
@@bruisedfrog please note that this doesn't actually give you an unlimited number of hit dice to heal. You still have the usual number. It just lets you use them in combat, by taking the Dodge action. So you're basically talking about a "Cure Wounds" that you can cast on yourself (level/2) times per day.
@@obliviochamp5986 better than nifty... as long as the party has rests available. Most classes have to give up an action to Dodge. A Monk can do it as a Bonus Action, albeit at the cost of a Ki. So he can actually heal himself, increase his defense, and attack at the same time. VERY effective... as long as he has Ki and Hit Dice.
They're certainly up there. Clerics in general make for strong tanks, particularly once they gain access to Spirit Guardians. They're very underrated since they tend to get pidgeon holed as 'healers' rather than tanks, which is a big mistake since 'healer' isn't really supported as a primary combat role in 5e. It's something some classes can do, but it's generally not something any class should be doing as their primary contribution in combat.
Predictions before watching: If your goal is to protect your party, Ancestral Guardians Barbarian and most Paladins are probably the best choice. If your goal is just to be really hard to kill, Bear Totem Barbarian, most Paladins, most Fighters, Forge Clerics, and some Rogues and Monks are really good. EDIT: Forgot Moon Druids for both categories, especially good for the second.
@@gary6631 Yeah, I'd only recommend going for pure survivability in a solo campaign, unless there's some niche team composition I don't know about. Though you can get very far with a Conquest Paladin's fear aura which locks everything down.
@@stormbringer1876 I wouldn't recommend either of those spells as there are a lot of better concentration spells you could be focusing on instead. Most of the best ones aren't directly related to tanking, but there are a few decent ones that allow you to shape the environment to your advantage as discussed in the video.
They seem to have forgotten it too because you can pop a duration spell, early would be protect from poison on top of barkskin (as you are walking up to the mansion or fort holding "stuff") freedom of movement later on top of the stoneskin and let the wildshapes go.
@@ShankMugen forge clerics can hit the highest possible player AC, plus they have an ability to make a set of armor or weapon into a +1 magic item, that combined with shield from magic initiate, or shield of faith can easily put you up to 26 AC. Standard AC for a forge cleric tank at level 1 is 19 if they choose to use a shield with their armor
@@Frankieboy1123 I have 23 AC at Level 7 with 0 magic items, just plate and shield, as a Warforged Forge Cleric, so was curious how to get that high, as I get +1 AC as racial trait
@@ShankMugen Alright, I admit I overestimated a bit. Pulled up my sheet, I'm only at AC24. Considerably less than my boast, my apologies. Still, if you're interested, this is what I got right now: -Level 8 Silver DB Forge Cleric - Full plate + 1 - Ring of Protection - Shield of Arrow Catching - That blessing that I can do each day
@@Thedutchjelle Oh cool, but Where are you putting the Blessing of the Forge? As the Blessing can only be applied to non-magical weapons and armours with that equipment I would have 24 AC, Right now my set-up is like so - Level 7 Warforged Forge Cleric - Full Plate - Shield - Blessing of the Forge on the Armour
"we've broken the Tank" no!! "...into two separate guidelines" oh, okay then. continue please :) as always, very helpful advice. I hope I'll be able to apply some of these to my Paladin!
My Mountain Dwarf Wizard he is gonna be a nuker type, swearing to the School of Necromancy and using primarily Acid & Poison Spells as well as Flanking the enemy if possible using the rest of the party and/or Undead as "Meat Shields". Also none of my Martial Class Characters are Tanks either they too will flank and follow the same policy.
In my experience the toughest part of trying to run a 'tanky' character is the inevitable meta-gaming that most DM's will engage in when it comes to target priority in the party, most of us have likely played RPG's and MMO's before and likely know about the usual order of how to handle enemies in terms of nuke the healer first, burst down DPS after that and then finally whittle away the tanks when their support is gone but it's worth noting that while that works perfectly fine in a gaming context it also happens to make no sense in terms of actual confrontations and fighting (the shifty looking guy in robes could possibly be a threat but the 7ft tall beefcake decked in plate and approaching you with a greatsword is unambiguously a threat and if you want to keep your head firmly attached to your shoulders you deal with the most immediate threats first). This also translates to why I roll my eyes at DM's and players complaining about meta-gaming in combat scenarios because...it's a necessary evil that physically can't be avoided entirely given that combat is by far the most abstracted and meta concept in DnD as a game, the DM will always have a knowledge in their mind of who the party are and what they're capable of (something the monsters likely shouldn't have in most cases) and will be controlling them all as if they are a singular, cohesive unit rather than individuals (the reason I've seen behind certain DM's scolding players for talking tactically out of character at the table, a practice I think is perfectly acceptable and DM's really need to get over themselves about). In my experience, the best way to 'tank' is to remember that it's not the monster's attention you're trying to grab but the DM's, you can use a spell to taunt a single creature but if you get the emnity of the DM then you can guarantee that they will target you first in every encounter, regardless of the circumstances around it, I'm not saying you should be rude to your DM but make yourself a very forward presence that the DM can't ignore, be the person who charges in first in combat, the acts pro-actively against enemies by interrupting monologues with attacks or takes brash or brazen attitudes, abuse player psychology a little bit. If a DM notices someone getting a bit bold it's not uncommon for them to want to punish them for perceived hubris. Overall, enemies in DnD are just as predictable and exploitable as enemies in an MMO, there's just different techniques required for drawing aggro (in this case, it's not the AI you need to aggro, but the DM).
In fairness, at least regarding intelligent creatures - you reach a point, before too terribly long, when the 'shifty looking guy in robes' almost certainly *is* the bigger threat. Especially over a single engagement. An intelligent creature who sees the basic DnD group composition often enough will, eventually, figure out that the guy who can throw a barrage of fireballs can hurt him more faster than the guy with a big stick, to stay nothing of some of the save-or-lose spells out there. That said, on the whole I don't think you're wrong about a lot of points. That's one of the reasons Sentinel gets so much love - the value is in just straight-up closing options. Even if the big monster (slash the DM) wants to go beat up on your squishy wizard, if there's a fighter with Sentinel in front of him he may just not have a choice about it. Personally, I take that a step further and to me that should be the primary concern of the tank - making sure your enemies. Achieving a reasonable amount of survivability is trivial, and achieving perfect or even near-perfect survivability is close to impossible, so finding a point of "I'm relatively hard to kill" is easy. The rest is putting that investment to work.
@@Kestral287 I'd likely have to challenge that claim based on the fact that it's based very heavily off of meta knowledge that a creature may not strictly have access to, even an intelligent one, you wouldn't strictly know that an opponent is capable of throwing out offensive spells until either they've already started doing it or you're already very familiar with a particular spellcaster (or you're a creature with some innate capacity for detecting magical talent in others and as such could sense the 'aura' of a magic user), but even if you recognize the potentially superior threat posed by the spellcaster that still isn't strictly a reason to ignore the fighter who's advancing upon you and forcing close combat upon you, that's a reason to fall back since that's an inherently disadvantageous position for you to fight from. There's also a lot to be said for the psychological impact of something advancing upon you over attacking from a distance, imagine a situation where you are faced by two men, one holding a gun (capable of instant lethal force from across the room) while the other is walking towards you cracking their knuckles and looking you straight in the eyes, you may very well recognize the firearm as being more immediately dangerous to you but (let's assume for the moment that escape is impossible, you have to try and fight) you are still likely to be pre-occupied by the person actually entering your personal space with clear hostile intent because we are somewhat hard-wired to naturally find proximity threatening, it's an instinct that actually requires a fair bit of training and discipline to overcome in a combat situation. Let's borrow from another setting that frequently has the issue of potentially more dangerous units at a distance than up close, namely Warhammer 40k, units engaged in assault cannot open fire upon other units (with some very rare exceptions, namely vehicles) for the plain, simple reason that it's very hard to concentrate long enough to take aim at someone in the distance when someone is actively trying to punch you in the back of the head, melee is a very disorienting situation to be in that completely rewrites your priorities. Yeah, the guy with the lascannon off in the distance is absolutely capable of more damage than the guardsmen charging you with bayonets but that doesn't suddenly mean that those guardsmen suddenly don't exist or that bayonet charges are infamously terrifying situations for both sides.
It certainly shouldn't be universal, but in this world, magic has some very obvious physical attributes to look for: the pouch or the focus being the stand-outs. The guy in armor who's not using his weapon but has a religious symbol hanging from his neck? Almost certainly a Cleric. The guy holding a chunk of crystal who's not running away from the goblin horde despite carrying no armor and no weapon past a dagger? Arcane caster. The guy with a musical instrument strapped to himself? Bard. Certainly these are not universal truths, and they're things that, if you have a good DM, you can game in turn. Pathfinder has a class called the Magus that's essentially the Eldritch Knight done right, and one of their archetypes doesn't use armor. So a properly suited Kensai Magus wears essentially the same outfit as a Wizard and carries a spell component pouch; the only odd thing they carry is a sword. I built one particularly tanky and at times, against enemies who weren't familiar with the group, got to get some of them to focus me from the outset. In 5e I could see a Bladesinger, or even a Monk who went out of his way to pick up the basic caster gear, pulling a similar trick. Certainly it doesn't last - once you whip out the sword and go to town (or in the monk case start punching things) it's going to start looking pretty obvious that they misevaluated the scenario, but the biggest concern is the first round or two anyway. There is something to be said for the psychological impact of the guy in your face, but there's also something to be said for the psychological impact of "I don't want to be Fireballed". However, there are two points to be made here, I think. First, you assume the fighter is already in their face, but a lot of the time enemies are going to make their threat assessments *before* then. The guy with the brass knuckles came into the room at the same time as the guy with the gun - and that changes your scenario considerably. If the guy with the gun can get off the first shot he is absolutely the person I want to kill first every time. I can maybe run away from the guy with the brass knuckles before he gets a chance to punch me. It's much harder to outrun a bullet (or 120' range spell). So if "I" in this case am a bunch of soldiers with longbows or whatever... yeah I'm shooting the caster first. Second, as you've said, that's the sort of thing that takes training to overcome, but... a lot of the intelligent enemies you face tend to *have* that sort of training, if not directly than through experience. The horde of low-CR goblins, sure probably not (but then, the guy with the pointy stick is only menacing so many of them at once). The dragon? Not only has it likely been around the block long enough to know what magic casters typically look like and the kind of annoyance they can be if left unchecked, it's also just straight-up *not* going to be intimidated by a fighter with a greatsword under the vast majority of circumstances. And the flip side of 'psychological impact' is that sometimes monsters have *other* reasons to go for the squishy looking guy. I'd started to write a comment about the behir in my previous point, as something in the grey area where it's somewhat intelligent but not very so may well fall for the pointy-stick-in-front concern. But then - when you pause to think about it, the behir's main goal in most fights is going to be a good meal. It's 'intelligent' in that it's not an animal and can speak, but is still fairly stupid. Even so, it makes absolute sense that a behir knows how its own abilities work - here, I'm primarily thinking of the constrict - bite - swallow chain of attacks that it goes for. The guy in a ton of armor is probably pretty strong, which means he may be able to break out of the behir's constrict. The quick-moving guy with a dagger also has a decent chance to do so. The guy with a staff trying to stay out of the behir's reach? Probably not so much. And besides, something without armor seems like a much more satisfying meal.
I’m loving playing my Oath of Ancients Paladin. The halved damage from spells to allies in my aura is really effective and makes grouping up less risky. I have a solid 20 ac(before shield of faiths bonus 2ac) heavy armor master, and sentinel to protect the group. The Paladin bonuses to saving throws for your auras another bonus. Like you mentioned, saving throw based damage is most effective against a tank. The disables are a tank’s worst nightmare because your health pool is often your least precious resource with an adequate max hp (lay on hands is amazing for the bonus effective health). I am surprised that evasion tank playstyle of a monk was not mentioned. The mobility is often my biggest weakness and monks can match my 20 ac fairly easily, have excellent battlefield control through stuns and outstanding mobility, and they can deflect projectiles. I’ve seen more effective tanks in monks with sentinel doing things I’ve only dreamed of. Patient defense cannot be underestimated either. I would be interested to see a breakdown of how you would approach a monk tank.
i'm loving playing my Oath Of Vengeance paladin. although i think i talked about it enough... -half-elf -super-high charisma -healing spells and lay-on-hands -sword for decent damage -18 AC -can fly thanks to winged boots -has sentinel, so I can protect allies by doing more damage
I am actually shocked when you were talking about threat/agro not being predictable that you didn't get into using control spells defensively. Oath of Conquest is BALLER at keeping other people alive. "Taunt" mechanics aren't terribly different from Fear or Dominate.
Circle of the moon is one of my favourite tank options entirely because I will never forget our party druid tanking a fall from an airship and onto the city below by using his last wildshape to turn into an orca
I wanna go Forge cleric with my highest stats in WIS and CHA. I was just doing it for my spell casting ability and CHA for persuasion because I'm a merchant too. I see now there is more benefit to my strategy.
Half elves and elves are solid tanks simply because their resistance to charm and sleep magic shores up a weakness that can lock most tanks down instantly.
PSA: You can not rage in Heavy Armor. So Multiclassing, while still a great option, will put a small dent in AC. Half-Elf Paladins work great to with Fey ancestry and good stat boosts. With any race, Oath of Devotion Paladin solves your weak save problem and gives the shield of faith, Ancients helps with spells, and lay on hands makes for great survive ability. The Tough feat can give you an extra hit or two in a fight sometimes. Parry and Rally maneuvers are great at soaking up damage depending on your stats. Moon Druids are fun, but the attack bonuses are low. You have to make sure that you remember to heal yourself with your bonus action though, because once the Wild Shape drops, soon will you. Spore Druid can get a huge Temp HP buff with their special Wild Shape use. Mountain Dwarves get free armor, so a mountain dwarf War Magic or Abjuration Wizard or Divine Soul Sorcerer(Shield + Shield of Faith + Aid) can make a fantastic tank. With Haste, Shield, Blur, and Mirror Image, you wont get hit that often, if at all. War, Order, Forge, Nature(6th level feature), and Tempest Clerics can get pretty tough while also dishing out some good support, also Shield of Faith + Aid + Bless. Paired with Hill Dwarf gives extra Hp and Warhammers for any cleric that lacks it. The Hunter Ranger gets some unique options for defense, those being Multi Attack Defense or Iron Will and Evasion or Uncanny Dodge. The new spells in Xanathar's can also add to being a tank, specifically the Guardian of Nature Spell. They get the Defense fighting style and it's also only one feat away from Medium Armor Master. I could see being a kind of dex based tank. Warlocks are weird, I'm sure somebody has a Warlock tank somewhere. Rogue and Monk do not tank. But they can be slippery.
I'm currently playing a human Spore Druid in Curse of Strahd, and have sort of become the de-facto party tank with the huge amount of hit points I have access to with Symbiotic Entity, it's been really great. Taking Polearm Master and favoring Thorn Whip as my cantrip of choice when out of melee range has really been a great way to leverage control of enemy positioning on the battlefield; not only can I pull monsters into my deadly spore radius, they get punished harshly if they try to leave my side to run off and attack the others. It's been an awesome experience for a first-time player. Just working my way up to 19-20 AC, hopefully, although it's proving difficult with my class cutting me off from metal armor.
I'm glad you mentioned Abjuration Wizard. I feel like it gets overlooked a lot. One of my favorite tanks I've ever played was a high elf Abjuration wizard with a 1 level dip in tempest cleric.
With the "aggro" thing you mentioned, I've only ever brought it out once - and it was a final boss targeting the one player who kept bombarding him with radiant damage, which he had a weakness to. So he started singling them out to try and stop that damage.
One thing you didn't mention about shield master is that you can apply it's AC bonus to your Dex save if you are the only target. Sure, it doesn't help against Fireball but it certainly does against Chain Lightning or Disintegrate. Also some cantrips too like Sacred Flame and Acid Splash. Getting a +2 to these Dex Saves or even more with a magic shield, should definitely be something you keep in your back pocket if you pick up the feat.
When one talks of tanks, MMORPG's have trained us to assume it's going to be the Fighter or Paladin. Of course, some people think of the Barbarian with their high hit points and damage resistances, which does work. However, the parties I've run games with have had some silly tanks. One party I'm running a spelljammer game for, the Barbarian is the support first and tank second, while the Moon Druid is the real tank. Another group I ran the game for had a Kensei Monk in the front lines. They dodged frequently and utilized Agile Parry combined with Unarmored defense for 22 AC total by 8th level (dice roll stats), and their saving throws (being a monk) made them nigh-untouchable.
I feel like Kensei Monk is so often overlooked for a tanking spec (especially if multi-classed with another tank spec). Depending on how they are built, they can have insanely high AC, pretty good HP, and great defenses against magic. Defensive Duelist Feat, Patient Defense, Agile Parry, Evasion, Stillness of Mind, Deflect Missiles, all add up to make you so hard to hit.
Ive only recently got into play. I managed to tank as a Moon Druid, of course it made sense for the animal-like monster to attack me, I had Wild Shaped into a Giant Elk, and our Storm Sorcerer cast Enlarge on me.
I can't believe you guys haven't mentioned the Cavalier ONCE in this video! This class is THE best class to draw damage towards yourself, and protecting your allies, including a skill that pretty much replaces Sentinel at 10th level. Multi class that with a barbarian bear totem just to get that resistance to damage, and then go crazy on that class. Use a one hand spear and a shield (if you feel like it, using a Bugbear will increase your range even more), don heavy armor, and you have a steel wall between your party and the foes
I think you guys are underrating clerics as tanks in 5e. With the right domain choice you can be rocking heavy armor and a shield for good AC, you'll have decent wisdom and proficiency in wisdom saves to ward off the most debilitating save based conditions, you have solid (if still lest than many players expect) healing abilities including self healing, your damage output is ok at first level with bless (which also ups your saving throws and the attacks and saving throws of a pair of allies), good at third level when you get spiritual weapon, and amazing from 5th level on thanks to spirit guardians, which also imposes difficult terrain on enemies within the very large area of effect making the spell fantastic for controlling space and preventing enemies from moving past you to target your allies. Concentrating on big, important spells is one of the better ways to draw aggro in 5e as the enemies try to knock down whatever effect you're having, and you'll be concentrating on big effects in key fights from level one, starting with bless and transitioning to spirit guardians later. This is also one of the reasons I really like Oath of Conquest for tanky paladins, as even enemies that pass their saves against your frighten effects are still tempted to attack you in the hopes of helping their allies break free, but the same theory works even better for clerics. It cannot be stressed how good Spirit Guardians is as a spell for tanking, and the desperation of enemies to shut it down only makes it better. A cleric with spirit guardians up can spend their actions dodging and still reliably draw attacks - now with disadvantage to hit. They can even still attack using their bonus action with spiritual weapon. This core feature set is only enhanced by domain abilities. In addition to heavy armor proficiencies you have domains like forge which gives an extra bonus to AC via an enchanted shield or suit of armor, and eventually resistance to fire damage. Or life which makes you heal more and lets you heal yourself for free when you heal allies. Or even domains like trickery which don't grant a lot of useful abilities but have some amazing domain spells, particularly for spell slots above 3rd level. And, of course, you can always multiclass to augment your abilities. A single level of anything with Shield would be helpful, or you can multi into more traditional tanky classes like fighter. Taking fighter at first level in particular gets you proficiency in constitution saves to help with concentration and heavy armor if your domain doesn't grant it, though it would cost you your proficiency in wisdom saves.
I think there's a build you didn't cover that deserves consideration. The Full Plate Abjuration Wizard. Hear me out. You start with 2 levels of Fighter (because Action Surge yes please) take the Defense Style, with Full Plate you're at 19 AC, add a shield your base AC is 21, once you've got the ability to cast Shield you can surge it to 26. While the Wizard's hit dice is low the Abjuration Wizard gets the Arcane Ward, it's basically extra hit points, 2 x your Wizard Level + your Int modifier. Best yet every time you cast an Abjuration spell your ward regains hit points. Everything you said about feat choices still applies (except the polearm master + shield master + sentinel combo ). For healing you have some of the best once you hit mid-tier Vampiric Touch and later Enervation. For mobility you've got Misty Step and Dimension Door. For pesky ranged enemies you've got a TON of options. Elemental Damage... you pack Absorb Elements and later Fire Shield. Controlling the battlefield and funneling enemies towards you, you've got the wall spells. Someone slips by you and hits a squishy character, projected ward. Invisible enemies, not a problem you've got See Invisibility. Even better just Counterspell it you are the best Counterspeller in the game afterall! Plus Counterspell covers a lot of the weaknesses mentioned while recharging your Arcane Ward. I think my favorite part about this build is getting to use some of those spells that the Wizard rarely uses, the touch spells like Shocking Grasp and the aforementioned Vampiric Touch, Thunderclap (I'm not afraid of rushing into the middle of a group to get the most out of this spell, and Tenser's Transformation is really fun. And let's not forget you get 1 round of going NOVA, that moment when you see a horde of enemies, I cast Fireball, Action Surge, I cast Fireball.... it's glorious.
I'm playing a bear totem barbarian in our game, and from rolling my stats, I got three 15s and put one of them in dex, which I plan to turn into a 16 through the Resilient feat, getting profiency in dex saves. Combined with the barbarian's Danger Sense ability (advantage on dex saves they can see), and the bear totem... Enemy: *Casts fireball* Me: "Who threw that candlelight at me!?"
Vhuman Kensei Monk with Defensive Duelist. You stack AC to the ceiling, proficiency in all saves, immunity to poison, evasion, you're mobile enough to position yourself anywhere on the battlefield and the DM can't ignore you because if he does, his monsters get stunned into oblivion.
According to Crawford, you can't take any feat, including Resilient, more than once unless specifically stated, so when they say you might want to take it for Wis and Dex, you can only take it for one or the other.
Dungeon Dudes: ''You need Sub-classes to prevent you from being mind controlled or exhausted in Paladin or Barbarian'' Also, Dungeon Dudes: ''Oath of the Crown isn't S-Tier.It's the worst sub-class'' Oath of the Crown is probably THE best Tank Class. Aura of Protection, Lay on Hands combined with Unyielding Spirit makes you nearly unstoppable. Now put in the other sub-class features and you can prevent damage to your allies. Make it a Half Elf and +1 to Str and Con, +2 Cha, Advantage against being charmed, immunity to Sleep spells. The Cavalier is possibly better, but has no Aura of Protection or immunity to paralysis etc.
Sneak attack only specifies that you need a finesse (or ranged) weapon to sneak attack, it doesn't explicitly say that you have to attack using your dexterity although it is encouraged by the wording. So you can apply sneak attack damage and rage damage to your attacks every single turn if you use a rapier and use reckless attack constantly
I never play any of the stereotypes/archetypes! My Homebrew Barbarian she is moderately Intelligent/Wise and is a brilliant Smith, she can deal decent damage but she doesn't go for the Frontline! My Astral Elf Anthropologist Paladin she too is moderately Intelligent/Wise and can deal great damage bit she also doesn't go for Frontline! Also neither of them are support role characters! Neither is my Drow Feylost Death Domain Cleric a support role/healer type or my Druid or my Ranger or my Wizard. I let the rest of the party fill any stereotypical role and generally be "Meat Shields" while I directly try and Flank the enemy and use ranged Cantrips or weapons until I get in melee flanking range! Everyone knows that if it's war you always destroy/defeat the Healers first, disable/destroy supply lines, and finally only show mercy after breaking the enemy completely. So if you are planning on replicating war in D&D you don't actually focus on the "Tanks" you focus on the support types.
If your DM is down for UA material, my absolute favorite tank is the Rune Knight. They get a bevy of abilities that are perfectly designed to keep you and your allies alive through a *lot* of punishment: -Giant's Might grows you to large, which is useful for just body-blocking areas and gets great with Sentinel. -The Hill Rune gives you advantage against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage all the time, and 1/short rest you get the defensive half of a rage. Sure you don't have a Barbarian's D12 hit dice, but you can wear plate+shield, or you can go for a dex build, two things Barbs don't normally get. The Hill Rune also makes your self-heal way more relevant as you go up in levels. -The Fire rune is very action-economy efficient since it happens when you hit an enemy with an attack, and can lock an enemy in place so they can't chase your allies around. It's no Sentinel, but it serves a somewhat similar role. -The Stone rune lets you use a reaction to incapacitate someone who walks too close to you. A reaction-based single-target Hypnotic Pattern can be very useful for just taking an enemy out of the fight until you feel like dealing with them later, and fewer enemies fighting = less damage coming at your allies. -The Cloud rune lets you use a reaction to forcibly redirect an attack directed at someone within 30 feet to someone *else* within 30 feet. Regardless of the attack's range. At a minimum this can push an attack that would've hurt your squishy caster onto you, the big beefy fighter. Much more often you get to make an enemy smack their friend instead. Dealing damage as you negate an attack sounds like a wonderful tanking strategy to me. -The Storm rune lasts for a minute and within that minute, you spend a reaction to impose advantage or disadvantage on basically whatever roll you like. Ally needs to make a saving throw that's kind of rough? Advantage. Big monster swinging at them? Disadvantage. It's got a lot of aggressive uses as well, like forcing disadvantage on enemy saves. -Defensive Runes less you burn a reaction to buff an ally's AC against an incoming attack. Note that while most of the above abilities are 1/short rest, this is just something you can always do with your reaction. Also, you're an Int-based class. That opens up some really nice dips: Artificer can not only let you be an Int-based Hexblade but also puts Absorb Elements, Cure Wounds, Sanctuary, and Shield onto your spell list. Plus the value of your Infusions, your Defender, and some pretty neat out of combat utility crossover with all the tool things working well with the Fire Rune giving them Expertise; there are some very easily-flavored characters in there. Wizard is also a good dip. Bladesinger can do Obnoxious Bladesinger Things with your Dex/Int Fighter to push your AC into the stratosphere while you antagonize your enemies, or War Wizard can buff your initiative to help you position while putting Arcane Deflection to fantastic use. The big gap in the Fighter's defenses is always going to be its saving throws; Indomitable helps but you're just never going to make those saves as well as a Paladin. Arcane Deflection says spend a reaction to give yourself +4 to a failed saving throw, at the 'staggering' cost of not being able to cast non-cantrips on your next turn for your martial character. That's absurd. The reaction for +2 to your AC is also nonzero, though in that regard the more notable pickup is, again, Wizards get Shield and Absorb Elements, plus a small arsenal of utility spells and other tricks. A third level into Wizard, regardless of subclass, would also get you second-level spells: Mirror Image and Misty Step are things I obviously like on my tanky characters, or you can grab some extra battlefield control options to keep your party alive. But since we're into UA anyway, one of my favorite spells here is Mind Thrust. Bonus action spellcasting is really good on your extra attack martial class, and the spell contributes a bit of chip damage in a rare damage type but also just says that if they fail their saving throw (and it's an Int save!) they have to dash or disengage away with their next action. Denying an enemy a round of attacks is wonderful for protecting allies, and Int tends to be a weak saving throw even for a lot of big scary things like dragons. The big downside of the Rune Knight is really that it has too many toys for its own good, and the dips don't help it in that regard. Out of the gate your first couple bonus actions in real fights are going to your Giant's Might and Hill/Storm Rune abilities, then if you're a Bladesinger you're going to want to activate that, or the Artificer will want to utilize its Steel Defender (to say nothing of potentially casting spells or using Second Wind deeper in the fight). Your reactions have Defensive Runes, Storm Rune, Cloud Rune, Stone Rune, and if you dipped, a couple spell options and potentially Arcane Deflection. The biggest way this tank runs into issues is when your enemies either do a lot to you quickly to stop you from getting set up or enemies just push to overwhelm your reactions in a single round: smack your allies enough that you're forced to utilize Defensive Runes to protect them, then hammer you with a save targeting one of your weak defenses while Arcane Deflection is down. But to me, that sounds a lot like "the enemies are focusing on you", which means that as a tank you're doing your job well. It gets a lot harder for the monsters to always go after the squishy folks when the guy handing out active protections to the various squishy folks only really goes down when focused. Tl;dr: Rune Knight is a great tank class, everyone knows Battle Smith and Bladesinger are good dips but War Wizard is also a stellar dip class for buffering defenses.
Favorite tank is the dwarves mega tank. (Lvl 3 armor artificer lvl 1 fighter Hill dwarf with Full plate and dwarven fortified)22ac and deals 2d8+str also causes disadvantage on a punch and you get 2 (heal with second wind 1d10+lvl dwarven fortitude 1d10+con on doge and also temp hp =lvl as a bonus action)
This requires that the enemy get close to you or your allies to stay close. If all you're doing is moving and dodging, then you aren't much of a threat. Then you just have to depend on your teammates funneling them towards you. Which could be good, but is completely dependent on the people in your party.
@@DarthPoyner Depends on if the DM plays to the enemy's Intelligence. A non-humanoid monster will attack the biggest or the closest, making it viable to stand and dodge. Sentinel allows the offense to work through Reactions, and works well to control the battlefield. Player intelligence matters, too. Staying a full spell or missile's distance away usually means the foes have to waste an entire turn or more moving closer, which most foes will try to avoid and the exceptions can get horribly injured on the way. They have a responsibility to use this knowledge. Best of all, the Dodge action and Constitution save boost make it viable to let spellcasters center AoEs on the Paladin because the saves will be so high or with advantage, mitigating the 40 damage Fireball down to 10 through halving on success, then halving on magic resist oath feature.
I think everyone knows this already but aarakocra monk has the potential for an AC of 22 at lvl 1. 3 lvls of Barbarian for the bear totem and then throw and danger sense. Finally the rest into Abjuration Wizard. Casting shield as a reaction giving you an Ac of 27, your wizard lvl x 2 + int temp hit points everytime you cast an Abjuration spell. This is without any magical items or feets. Leaving your action and bonus action free with an amazing dex save. The abillity to fly and a ton of spells like wall of fire and dominate person as a future. Dungeon masters be aware and F##k this hit die nonsense
My favorite tank I’ve played is my Dragonborn multiclass, level 4 bear totem barbarian and the rest paladin oath of devotion, holy rage as you smite the heretics and fail no saves
lol just play a +2 con +1 dex yuan ti w/ 4 levels in barbarian, and the rest in paladin then it will be epic and you will have good AC and advantage on all magic saves and immunity to poison on top of absolutely gigantic hp as well as Sentinel feat... Buuuuut you have bad damage ;-)
Oath of Conquest is another terriffic option for a tank once you get your aura of conquest online. Tanking through fear and blocking your enemies actions
My Paladin who when she reaches Lvl 3 she will take Oath of Conquest herself but not as a Tank or Support Role and she plans on establishing a new Queendom and creating a new Pantheon of Deities that are primarily changed & restored Lost/Dead/Weakened Deities, for example Garagos will become her War Deity for that Pantheon she will try to destroy the Red Knight by combining her with Garagos and replacing/weakening Tempus as well as perhaps finding traces of dead War Deities to gather up and grant to Garagos.
On my actual campaign I'm playing as a Warforged Battle Smith Artificer 5/War Wizard 1(in the future), I'm the tank with an AC of 21 and my HP is 50, and I think I'm a pretty good tank, I can deal a lot of damage getting flank advantage due to the Steel Defender, and almost never getting hit. Last session for example, my DM used The Lost against us (he actually buffed it a little bit), and he used all his 5 attacks against me, and I just needed to use shield on the last one of them, he was pissed.
Two of my favorite tank builds. Totem Barbarian/Moon Druid. Shapeshift into an animal and take half damage while taking no damage to your own hit points. And Fighter2/18Wizard School of Abjuration. You can ware all the heavy armor and shields you want now while being a badass wizard with defence spells.
A really cool idea I saw for the tanky abjuration wizard is to use armor of agathys. As written, the arcane ward isn't temporary hit points, so they can stack with armor of agathys's temp hp, which means as long as the ward is up, the enemies will take damage for attacking you. You would have to learn it from another source though, maybe by taking magic initiate in warlock or taking hexblade warlock levels instead of fighter.
There are still strength requirements for some armours, so you'll have to sink ability points into strength......which means they may not be in other vital areas, which can affect your prepared spell list, spell attack, and saving throws as well.
arcane tricksters with 20 dex, hide armor and a cloak of displacement is a good way to make sure physical attacks are wasted. especially with a good charisma to taunt and insult the attacker. build up that hubris to really make the target want to put you in your place. you can also get wis proficiency saves and with resilient go into con saves for dex, cha, con and wis saving throws. you can also use mage hand to give disadvantage as a reaction and you can straight up steal weapons and items
@@cavemoss7188 Actually you can rage while in heavy armor, you just don't benefit from the 3 main rage features, but you still get the bear totem resistance benefit while raging in heavy armor.
My party has never played 5e before and I have been a DM for over four years. I knew I was going to be the tank, it was just a matter of stats. I ended up rolling blessed by the dice gods. My lowest roll was a 14. All three physical stats were 18's and I started out at level 1 with 18 AC with unarmored defense because how could I not be a Barb? My lowest ability mod being a +2 also helps save me from those pesky mind saves. It is fantastic. I end up taking the least damage due to my AC and Rage resistance than do the rest of my party. I am just debating going Grappler feat to just turn into a WWE superstar/Khabib Nurmagomedov because I smesh.
But the same thing happens in MOBAs. The other team should rightfully ignore the tank, and the tank makes themselves a presence in fights by bringing CC. In dnd, though, CC on non casters is much less common.
Tanks on MOBAs can hardly be ignored. Historically, the definition of a tank was a huge, tough, dangerous unit meant to break enemy formation. If your character can be ignored, it isn't a tank. The gamer definition of tanks as the guy that takes damage for the party comes from the AI thing, and most of the times they can (and should) be ignored, whence why they have to abuse the AI.
@@rafaelbordoni516 I play tanks all the time in Smite because my preference is support. A tank may rarely do high damage in combat, but they can make it a bitch to get to your damage dealers. Try ignoring the guy who keeps jumping in front of your attacks and uses CC effects to silence and devalue your efforts.
Paladin with sheild of faith and take a level or two into sorcerer for absorb elements a reaction spell to give you resistance against that fireball then hit back with fire damage or whatever element. 20 AC and damage resistance to most spells at 2nd level.
I'm currently playing a Warforged Cavalier and he's a beast! He holds the choke points extremely well he has polearm master and shield make him friggin hard to take down
@@anna4aa570 Spears can be used with one hand. Trades off a little damage to hold that shield. If your goal is to block a door, it's not a bad idea. PAM and Sentinel to lock em down in front of the door, Shield Master to knock em over and keep them there.
When building any character, including tanks, it's important to keep in mind what levels you'll be playing at. Heavy Armor Master, for instance, scales quite poorly and is actually a pretty bad feat at later levels... but most campaigns never make it to those levels. Most campaigns end or peter out around level 10, so a character who picks up heavy armor master at 4th level, or at 1st level via a variant human bonus feat, will be incredibly tough for the majority of their actual career. On the other hand, aura of conquest is an amazing tanking ability that makes conquest paladins among the best lockdown tanks in the game, but it only comes online at level 7, and really only takes off at level 9 when they gain access to the Fear spell, and most campaigns are wrapping up at that point, so while it's my favorite tanking class in theory, in a lot of real world campaigns Conquerors are 'just' paladins - already one of the better tanking classes, but not noticeably better at the job than other oaths.
I'd disagree that heavy armor master is bad. Most enemies use multi attack. Flat damage reduction quickly adds up and works great on mobs in particular. People also tend to ignore that it also gives half ASI with another +1 strength so really it's kinda half a feat and half just a normal stat increase. That's still efficient. If it didnt have that +1 strength it would be bad but with it it is pretty solid.
Ok this is kinda perfect timing. My friend is running a new game and it looks like I'm stuck playing the tank again. Looking forward to the episode Friday.
If you need to play a tank but don't want to, I'd recommend playing a cleric. Full spell casting progression, healing if you wish, high potential damage output. With heavy armour proficiency if you pick certain domains (my favourite is Forge for the tanky cleric vibe)
Well i just played my first night of D&D last night they started me out as 4th level and i am an assassin/sorcerer soon to be shadow sorcerer but i have 3 levels in Rogue that has turned into the Assassin part and one level of sorcerer so far I've got all of 18 hit points and i was doing more damage with my short bow last night than the monk's the fighters and the paladins who all were getting them selfs smashed while i was outside at one of the open windows pinging them with arrows from the shadows i got 2 crits on one only for another party member to finish him off but out of all of this i did one round of 28 damage and the other of 23 points of damage on my two main crits respectable damage i think i would shot an arrow and then get back in shadows shot and back in shadows i did that all night had fun
I also plain on treating my arrows next week with my poison breath weapon taking a round in the shadows and using my breath weapon and making my arrows in to poison arrows and that will give them a D6 extra damage each turn it's just one of my idea's
Archie LaMarr Clear it with the DM first, because Rules As Written (RAW) you can't do that with your breath. And next level all those classes will be getting a second attack each turn. So you'll see a damage change for them.
@@adamkaris ok and you infact may have a point there but i also have a poisoners kit and if he says no with the breath weapon idea then i will simply use the kit and take the time to poison my arrows that way
I love 5e, but 3.5 was insane on making actual tanks. I had a half dragon fighter have 40 AC at level player level 8, total level was 12 with half dragons having a +4 level adjustment.
Is my AC 20 way of mercy monk with 50ish hit points at level 6 a Tank? Its my first time playing, and the rest of my party has lower hp and ac. I rolled really well for stats and HP thru level ups.
3:05 Actually, it's by far one of the rarest types of classes. In games with character/class selection, it's completely normal for there to either only be damage dealers, or damage dealers & support/healer characters. Hell, even rogues are significantly more common than tanks in video games. t. >300 Steam library, been an avid game ever since I was old enough to hold a controller nearly 30 years ago. / Edit: just realized that I typed that while AFK in an MMO that proves my point lol.
I wouldn’t say that. Supports are by far the least popular of the three major archetypes in my experience. DPS is far and away the most popular, obviously, but tanks still keep up decently well due to the fact that they get cool bulky armor and weapons that appeal to many people more than other types of gear, still generally get to fight enemies even though their damage is on the lower side, and they get all the glory for standing right in the boss’ face and protecting their entire party. Comparatively, supports have a thankless job that is focused almost entirely on interacting with emotionally charged players at low health, making insults and harassment extremely common whenever they make a mistake and let someone go down. That kind of pressure combined with the extremely limited play options available to support classes are not appealing to many players and it shows. I mean, seriously, there’s an actual unspoken rule among many players that you need to always go out of your way to thank your healers in any game SPECIFICALLY because they get so much shit online for things both in and out of their control.
Excelent video as always! Tanking in pen &paper RPGs is really not easy. I' ve come up with a few tank ideas, but my Oath of the Crown paladin was the one who lived the most (he even got to retire!) Name: Sir Marcus Khalagan Race (Variant Human-Heavy armor master bonus feat) Background: Folk Hero (survival + animal handling) Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidation and Athletics 1st level Stats-> Str:16 Dex:8 Con:16 Wis:12 Car:14 CA: 18 (chainmail + shield) / HP:13 Right of the bat we got our heals, some damage resistance in heavy armor master, good saves and high AC. Diplomacy or Intimidation can be used to avoid combat or goad enemies into attacking you. 2nd Level is where things start to get interesting, we can select our fighting style (defense, protection or dueling are great), we can now smite or use Shield of Faith to buff us to impossible levels of AC, also compeled duel to pseudo-taunt opponents. 3rd Level we are the ultimate tank, our channel divinity will keep our enemies close to us, and we can compel or command enemies who are farther ahead into melee, AoE spells will probably hit you and 2+ opponents that are glued to you. Also by this level you might be able to afford better gear, so consider upgrading to splintmail Asap 4th Level we get our first ASI, this is the level that I take sentinel, but raising either STR or CON is also great. 5th Level: Two attacks means two oportunities to smite baby!, the find steed spell will help tons in mobility even if you don't fully invest in mounted combat. If you want to multiclass this is our last paladin level, go grab that Sorcadin combo or fighter action surge now if you want...Marcus stuck with paladin until the end of his quest at level 10, but min-max players can do whatever they want! 6th Level: Aura of protection means we are basically invulnerable to CHA and WIS based spells, and highly resistant to STR and CON saves as well, by this level heavy armor master is starting to fall off and elemental damage is starting do hurt us more and more...but your allies are safe! and we are sturdy enough to weather the storm 7th Level: Wasting our reaction to take damage instead of an ally, hope you never have to use this but be glad you have it at your disposal. 8th Level: Shield master feat or a STR bump. Invest in magic itens to bump up your CAR instead of ASI. By this level most goons can't touch your alies and even if they can make the save against your taunting skills you can use warding bond to share their pain! The DM has to be creative in ways to to challenge your team and not get repetitive (all enemies have high WIS/CAR saves, 3+ranged goons and a damage sponge guy) 9th Level: 3rd level spells baby! Spirit Guardians can make us extra sticky! Aura of vitality can be used in low stakes combat to patch yourself up in a pinch...but I never used it 10th level:After two amazing years my particular run with this character ended here, Aura of Courage is quite underwhelming IMO, but it might come in handy. Most campaings will not go above level 10, spellcasters become much more OP and an aventure day is more a battle of atrition and resource management. You can feel you are starting to fall off in damage but very few things by your level will be able to get past you or down you in 2/3 rounds, your companions will have your back covered as well to shore up your shortcommings. Hope my build was of some help if anyone is needing some ideas!! and sorry about my english XD
Personal favorite tank build is a combo build with my fiance. Moon druid with sentinel as the mount and cavalier fighter with mounted combatant as the tank. All attacks the would target the druid now must target the fighter, which triggers sentinel. Being marked by the cavalier means attacks vs. anyone else are disadvantaged. The fighter dipped 1 level into forge cleric to make magic armour and shield of faith. Currently sits at 26 AC in most fits after fighting style and magic gear.
I went a more interesting approach for 'drawing enemy fire' for my tank. My tank is a Tortle Abjuration Wizard/Cleric. Natural AC 17 thanks to turtle shell is pretty nice, that means i get a base AC of 19 with a shield with no investment of money. Tortles also get bonuses to Wisdom saves, which is pretty useful. So decent AC, with decent hitpoints because of course. Plus the Arcane Ward feature from the Abjuration Wizard basically gives me a bunch of free hitpoints that i automatically heal whenever i cast an Abjuration spell, i can theoretically get more effective hitpoints than some fighters. Get the Resistance cantrip to gain resistance to mundane damage types, and able to restore the Arcane Ward without spending slots, and mooks have a really tough time getting through me. What is going to actually cause the enemies to fight me though? Well, i am going to be the NOPE wizard. Counterspell is really the best way to negate the threat of enemy spellcasters, and everyone who plays DnD knows you have to KILL THE WIZARD FIRST to stop fireballs. If i'm just sitting in the middle of the fight with enough AC and hitpoints to deal with pleb attacks, plus shutting down the enemy spell casters with timely NOPE castings, the enemies will have no choice but to target me first. The Cleric multiclass gives me access to shields (and armour, but Tortles can't wear it) and some healing spells to keep my team mates alive. Clerics also know every spell on their spell list, and they have some nice utility stuff like Detect Magic. Going back in hindsight, i probably would have been a Human and saved my pennies to get plate armour at the first opportunity, so i get a juicy feat. But i'm liking my grouchy old turtle man :)
I'm really surprised that Monk wasn't brought up as a tank. It's a slightly different take on it, but it doesn't take away the fact that Monks can be really reliable off-tanks. The Monk is really good at approaching the front lines of the enemies early in the fights, stun enemies, and continue to control the battlefield by moving around and engaging other enemies. The Monk usually has a better AC than a Barbarian since the DEX+WIS is a better combination for Monks, than DEX+CON is for Barbarians (especially at early levels). Their HP is mid-tier (and why it was probably over-glanced), but considering that you are already emphasizing the use of feats, why not bring up a Monk that took the Tough feat? Thanks to their high DEX, Monk is very likely to be at the top of the initiative order, so they start setting up the rules. They also get a lot of saving throws, especially the one you brought up that is so important in DEX, not to mention they get Evasion. They also become resistant to effects like being Charmed or Frightened, which keeps you on your party's side. It's not a traditional one, but you don't have to be big and mighty to be a tank. A lot of the things that you brought up about tanks can easily be done by a Monk.
there's a reason the monk is called a glass-canon. it's dps is great and so is it's AC but when it gets hit it gets HIT. monks have a low HP compared to other close combat classes
My brother found out he loved playing a tank when we did a Ravnican one shot. He and his wife, who played a rogue, made a pretty solid duo. He had heavy armor and a shield and the protector fighting style. He would impose disadvantage while shrugging off hits while she struck with powerful sneak attacks, and though she didn't have the highest ac or hit points she was able to survive against hoards of zombies with disadvantage from his protection and uncanny Dodge.
We covered a lot of topics in this video. Here's a few timestamps for the key points:
2:54 - Differences between Tanking in D&D vs Video Games
5:09 - Survivability
9:25 - Feats to Consider
14:48 - Protecting Your Allies
16:00 - Sentinel and Polearm Master
19:07 - Battlefield Control
20:40 - Teamwork
22:14 - Mobility and Initiative
23:44 - Dealing with Ranged Attacks and Flying Foes
My Valor Bard uses Disguise Self to create the illusion of a golden haired knight in silver armour who challenges all comers to mortal combat. Thanks to a 1 level dip into Draconic Sorcerer he has some offensive spells, using Booming Blade like a semi-Smite, and Shield, so he can be tough enough, for a while at least. Of course he doesn't have a lot of HP with 14/14/12/10/12/18 but he can use Cure Wounds to keep himself going a bit longer.
Unfortunately we don't have a proper tank in our party, just my Bard and a Ranger.
Perhaps the simplest "Tank" is to give your entire party level 1 in Fighter or Paladin. High Dex characters can then wear medium armour and shield, and high strength characters heavy armour and shield, so all your party has high AC.
I'm sad to say that Resilient can only be taken once as only feats that specify they can be taken multiple times can be selected more than one. Resilient does not say that it can be selected multiple times. :'(
Saving throw king is a high level Monk followed by a high CHA Paladin. Bonus points if they are both Halflings, have the lucky feat, and (most importantly) are near each other!
A high level Halfling Monk next to a CHA 20 Paladin has a +11 on *Death Saves* & can re-roll a 1. Only the dreaded double 1 can screw them over.
Shield Master only acts like evasion against things allowing DEX Saves that *target only you* ((Edit: CORRECTION - it appears that the "only you" restriction is for the save bonus & the reaction for evasion effect did not have a target check)). So it would not help against a fireball. I had a Shield Master fighter and was *very* disappointed in the dearth of spells that it actually protected me from.
I can’t believe you didn’t touch on the light domain cleric’s warding flare or the protection fighting style that you can use to impose disadvantage on enemy attacks against your friends. Cleric/fighter multiclass makes a nice tank/healer build
I'm honestly surprised that it was never mentioned about the Paladin's "Aura of Protection" ability that they get at level 6. This improves all saving throws for all allies within 10 feet - including themselves. My Oath of Conquest Paladin doesn't have the Dexterity, and barely has enough strength to put on plate armor after adding an ability score increase to strength, but he has a very high Charisma score as a Fallen Aasimar. His +5 bonus means +5 to all saving throws against magic and other effects (worst saves being Dexterity and Intelligence, but his best are Wisdom and Charisma.) Mounted Combatant and Shield Master along with the spell Find Greater Steed has allowed him to move and be anywhere on a battlefield atop a flying mount, throwing javelins from above if he can't get close to swipe at them with his sword. Furthermore, the spells Compel Duel and Protection from Evil and Good are powerful 1st level spells when used in the right moments, such as blocking a doorway against a group of undead while the rest of the party is trying to get open the way out of a collapsed mine tunnel with spells, abilities, and just digging for our lives while that simple level 1 protection spell forced all those undead to face him one at a time at disadvantage on most of their rolls as he focused on defending and healing himself as needed.
Outside of that, the Order of the Lycan from the Blood Hunter class has the built in tanking ability to reduce physical damage taken from non-magical weapons that aren't silvered. My half orc has been a lot of fun playing at being a beefy tank using Polearm Master and Sentinel away from his allies just in case he fails a saving throw against Bloodlust, forcing him to move and attack the closest target (enemy or ally,) which makes some very fun interactions later when he has to apologize to the party rogue and cleric for clawing them after the battle is over because they were too close. That class also has some useful blood curses to remove debilitations such as poison and paralysis, or even increase saving throws against some magics and effects.
Actually in pvp games like lol and ow, tanks works the same way
The two kinds of tank
Paladin: you can't touch me!
Barbarian: harder
Dragon: what
Barbarian: *H A R D E R*
im a paladin. don't touch me, and because of the sentinel feat don't touch my friends either
3rd Type- Druid: My HP is infinite and I can have an army of animals.
The unholy love child of a totem barbarian and moon druid has entered the chat.... May God have mercy on our sole's
Role for penetration 😁
then there is the cleric, 45 ac and then disadvantage to be hit and actually having saving throws, minus charisma because who needs to talk, eyes banish he he
Never underestimate the power of the dodge action. The door will be blocked for a long time
Dodge is sick and Disengage is also a bit broken, just "oh I wont attack so I get to run away for free".
Heavy armour master is nice for tanky fighters and clerics but for some real cheese I can recommend hill dwarf barb 1 -> moon druid.
If you're blocking a door, add sanctuary from your cleric. The enemies can redirect attacks, but there may not be another viable target.
I just started a new campaign as a Forge Domain cleric. First combat had three enemies wailing on me while my party's spellcasters got eviscerated. I sat there throwing out healing word and taking the Dodge action. Disadvantage + 18 AC made me almost unhittable.
Lower level monks are stupid good tanks in this way too. Fighters and Barbarians overtake them later but they are great for campaigns you don’t expect to last very long or one-shots. I played a rogue/monk/warlock in one of my more recent campaigns and she was a mobility machine. I could probably get anywhere I needed to go (even as a halfling) and still have my action for attacks (and stunning strike)
I've made the mistake of not dodging and not blocking the door. R.I.P my level 2 paladin.
Tank with high AC: Man, look at how invincible i am!
Tank suddenly getting hit with an intelligence save: Please don't kill my character.
Unless the tank is a Rogue. Then he just makes the save.
Ha! You've never seen my cobalt Monk.
My partys tank is an EK with high INT the problem is its WIS and CHAR are stupid low
Enter Armorer Artificer lol
lol, reminds me of Grog getting hit by the intellect devourer.
We had a shitlord DM once, that when someone gained resistance against a type of damage, would never ever use that damage type anymore in the campaign.
Robert Lindholm resistant to fire, no more fireball!
@@Rg-fp2vg Right? Somebody be a tiefling, someone else be a bear barb.
LupineShadowOmega why not both? Wait. Does resistance stack?
@@Rg-fp2vg nope, it doesn't.
LupineShadowOmega resistance + resistance = immunity
"since you probably dumped your charisma" *laughs in paladin*
So True :D
This is so my character *laughs in 20 charisma*
Laughs in hexblade paladin multiclass
Just to be clear:
Tank: Can take a lot of damage and dish it out
Wall: Unbreakable, but low damage output and it doesn't need it.
Actually a wall made of bricks is powerful if you take a brick out of the wall and throw it
@Callie Johnson lMAO
@Lonely classic barbarian move
"Don't worry, my friends! I am your shield!" - Braum, friendliest tank ever.
Or just "STAND BEHIND BRAUM!!!"
Also something Reinhardt says.
@@JaelinBezel woosh
Heat Metal. One of the most insane spells to deal with plate wearing pcs
Barbarian: behold my naked glory!
Yeah. Enemy druids should always cast heat metal on principal
My tank is immune to that because forge domain clerics are great
@@gavinroettger13 yissssss
Wasn't one of the rules of heat metal is that it couldn't be used on something worn or held?
what about the cavalier fighter? Unwavering mark giver the target disadvantage against everyone but you, warding maneuver lets you boost an ally's AC, and Hold the line is basically the sentinel feat
cavalier isn't bad, and they did talk about how fighters are one of the big three in terms of tank classes. I personally prefer paladins because they have auras that help boost saving throws, along with a variety of other effects, can use spells like bless to give support, and have a high enough damage output to be a threat
I always go paladin, along with one level in both hexblade and shadow sorcerer. This means I don't really have to worry about STR because hexblade lets me put it into charisma, and shadow sorcerer lets me make a CHA saving throw when i'd get knocked unconscious to drop to 1 HP. Along with paladin's aura, it makes it pretty hard to die. The fact that I only have to get 13 STR lets me put more points into DEX and WIS
@@coachron5033 You could, and that is a perfectly viable build. The main question is the pacing. What do you start as, how far do you go in each class, when do you take a fighter level over a paladin level? I've done plenty of multiclassing, but without multiclassing I personally prefer to go paladin if I want to be tanky
Hold the line is a little different because let you make an opportunity attack when the enemy is inside your reach and move inside it, Sentinel let you attack when he tried to get out; so if you are a lv 10 cavalier, with Sentinel and Polearm Master, if the enemy moves you can attack it. Also, remember the second part of Unwavering Mark, if he hit an ally next to you, you can punish him not only with the reaction of Sentinel but also with the special attack with the bonus action on your turn.
Cavalier, ancestral guardian and crown oath are THE subclasses designed for tanking. They all sorta have a way to provoke aggro better than more durable options like bear totem barbarian of ancients oath.
That said, my favorite option for tanking might be the dragonborn conquest paladin with a polearm. With a ton of fear effects (your channel divinity, wrathful smite, fear and the Dragon Fear feat ) and good positioning, you can prevent melee enemies from even moving closer your backline. With your polearm your can can even keep some enemies from getting in melee with you while still be able to hit them meaning you'll take less damage on the frontlines effectively making you more tanky. It becomes really mean once you get the aura that neutralizes the movement speed of target you've frightened, but even way before that the build is fun. I also like adding in the UA feat menacing if allowed.
I haven't tried it out myself yet, but this makes for a really fun take on a protector character so I'm figuring out ways to make the character compatible with your standard heroic party.
I'm playing a Tank in World of Tanks.
How common is your avatar? A friend of a friend uses it on Facebook. Just wondering if it's a small world, or a coincidence.
@@june012006 Coincidence :)
Yea, very common xD
you should try warthunder, I prefer it over world of tanks
Underrated lmfaoo
9:00 One thing to note, since the Resilient feat doesn't say it can be taken multiple times like Elemental Adept, you can only take it for one ability score.
THIS! Crawford has even confirmed this is intended.
Ooh, that’s good to know. Do you know if that’s the same for martial adept? Can a battle master take that multiple times to get more support maneuvers?
Jack The Lucario
Since the feat itself doesn't say that you can take it multiple times, you can only take it once. As far as I'm aware the only feat you _can_ take more than once is Elemental Adept, and with it you have to pick a different element each time.
Came here to say the exact same thing!
Da Scientist
Good thing to know.
Tanks really need high HP, high AC, good saves, good healing, support spells cast on them, and a way to make enemies attack them, like dealing lots of damage.
*laughs in paladin*
Having the Sentinel feat early on, you may stand by your allies, use the "dodge" action so enemies gain disadvantage trying to hit you, thus making you tankier. If they choose to hit your nearby ally, reaction into an attack and kill them!
Even better: Echo Fighter with sentinel feat
“ACs in the low to mid 20s being almost impossible to hit”. *laughs in Bladesinger*
*Laughs in Mirror Image*
Laughs in level 20
@@starwarsnewsandmemes8289 *Laughs in loaded dice*
Laughs in invincibility. Also, how do you write in bold on TH-cam?
@@samuelevans738 "*"words"*" *without the quotation marks*
Artificers are surprisingly good tanks since they get to add their int mod to their saves and can add a lot of ac to their armor especially if they take 1 level in cleric
Lmao, I love how Kelly says, "we have a video on healing right over there," pointing over Monty's head and nothing is there 😝
Whoops. Thanks. Added the card, but the video is here: th-cam.com/video/Vbax51T813A/w-d-xo.html
Getting ANY tank with the ability to cast Shield is always awesome.... its like "oh does a 26 hit?.... wait no? how?"
Cannot agree more. Shield is 'kind of good' when it pushes your local caster to an AC of 20 or so, and is invaluable for keeping squishy Wizards and Sorcerers alive through earlier levels. But most people stop looking at it there, which feels really wrong. Shield is really stupid when it pushes your already beefy character into mid-to-high 20s. Especially if you can pair it with literally any way to induce disadvantage, it becomes laughably easy to ignore small armies for several turns running. Individual big creatures can still be problems - but even then they start having to roll fairly decently to hit you instead of that being the default assumption. But groups? I've lost track of how many times I've watched DMs roll 20+ attacks against a character and *maybe* one gets through, because Shield is a really silly spell.
*Laughs in College of Swords Bard*
Mage Armour 13AC
Dex +5
Shield of Faith or Haste +2
Defensive Flourish +D12
Defensive Duelist +6 (can substitute Shield for +5 earlier on)
Total AC 27-38 with no equipment beyond a weapon.
And just keep topping up your HP with healing word every turn.
My dex fighter obtained a ring of spell storing. Always kept more than one shield in it.
@@crabmaster8174 I can't figure out what rules you're using to get that. For a start, I can't see the UA Warforged rules so I don't know what they are. Second, there is no battle master reaction that adds to AC. The only ones that adds to AC that I can find are Evasive Footwork which only lasts while you're moving on your turn, and Bait & Switch which requires a willing ally.
Also Battle Masters don't have spells, so they can't use any of the spell bonuses you gave unless allies grant it to them.
My point was a single character without much effort or the assistance of equipment. I also included the benefit of constant healing for any attacks that do get through.
Theoretically I could add shield bonus and defensive fighting style (thanks to Tasha's) as well to my character, and get magic equipment bonuses as well as spells and abilities from allies to increase mine into the 50s if I went that route.
I've seen people theorise into the upper 60's in some places... though it's a lot of effort for nothing really at that point. Past 37 I don't think there is any enemy it would have an effect on. The highest to hit bonus I can recall finding is +17, though I'm not certain on that. But that basically means they'd need a nat 20 to hit even with +17, and since nat 20 always hits regardless of AC and modifiers anything more doesn't make a difference.
Still, it's fun sometimes to theorise limits and see the ideas other people have. Thank you for sharing :)
@@asherandai1000 Sorry my guy, It was 4am and I was drunk at the time! My math and memory was all kinds of fucked!
This video just made me feel so much more confident in my hill dwarf forge cleric tank in our CoS campaign.
I love how the basic focus of this isn't really being a tank, but seems more about teamwork and synergy.
EDIT: Love the thought of a bonsai ent, a companion who suffers from 1st Greenhouse problems and hates the though of "bogging it"
In my experience there’s just one step: Play a half orc.
Seriously, I play a half orc moon Druid and she is un-frickin-killable
Yeah, the Half-Orc has some really clutch abilities.
Fucking true
Don't forget about a Full Plate Warforged Forge Domain Cleric. They get immunity to Fire damage at level 17 and before that, resistance at level 6. They get ridiculous and if they have a +3 Full Plate and +3 Shield, their AC will be 24. Warforged is the best race to stack AC fast. They are incredibly versatile.
@@eri_sister_of_aerial warforged+forge domain cleric+the fighting style that gives you +1 CA and a plate armor with shield and you get a 24 AC character at lvl 7 with no magic ítems so you don't relay on the DM giving you those items
I've found that there are a few "taunts" in D&D, but they're all "soft taunts" that _encourage_ enemies to attack you instead, such as Reckless Attack. Ancestral Guardians has the only "hard taunt" where it not only discourages an enemy from attacking your allies, but makes it completely _impractical_ to attack anyone _but_ you, as they have disadvantage to hit anyone but you and even if they do, they deal half-damage (and you still have your reaction to Spirit Shield and reduce the damage further).
You can spirit sheild yourself. Barbarians 1. Are a creature 2. Can see itself
what962 True, but the difference between the barbarian taking an additional 8 damage (which you're resisting already) vs the wizard is pretty large
You forgot Compelled Duel spell for the pally and the Goading Attack for the Battlemaster Fighter. But Menacing Attack also works really well as battlefield control.
Booming blade cantrip is also a soft taunt. If they leave your reach, they get a boom boom.
@@warcraftlake7 No you cannot, spirit shield specifically says 'when ANOTHER creature you can see...'
From my experience, if you want a tank to work consistently, you need to find a DM willing to actually attack the tank instead of the squishies in the back. We can talk about bad DM practices and meta-DM-ing all day, but the reality is, you will often have to deal with DMs gunning for low HP, low AC characters as a sort of easy way to challenge the whole party and make combat deadlier.
Otherwise, you're pidgeon-holed into only a select few subclasses (Ancestral Barbarian, Crown Paladin, Cavalier Fighter...) to mechanically incentivize the DM to focus-fire you specifically.
I DM most monsters in a way that they go for a Barbarian or Monk first cuz they usually wear no armor and therefore monsters think it's supposed to be easier to harm those without thick leather and metal protecting their skins. However, I rarely focus on the frontliners when I DM clever monsters and especially NPCs that know the party's capabilities. Instead, I usually look to surround them and use terrain to my advantage, picking off low HP/AC spellcasters while the melee PCs are struggling to do anything.
@@pasp9866 That would directly diminish the DM's prerogative to decide who, when and how to attack. It would probably work OK in random combat encounters, but when dealing with bosses/NPCs who know the party or at least have a good idea who the most threatening party members are to them, it wouldn't make any sense.
Also, how do you even begin to differentiate between a caster casting Forcecage, potentially completely removing 2+ powerful enemies from the fight right away, and a Paladin doing 100 DPR? Not to mention that in such a system, higher-level casters, the "squishies" can easily generate more threat than the melee damage sponges.
There's no good way to go about it, you ultimately have to trust the DM to make the best decisions.
I'm pretty sure my dm just fudges rolls so I take damage every round. Playing a fighter goliath with an ac of 22 twf. But also our group has 3 large tanky melee combatants.
@@pasp9866 I agree the problem exists, but your proposed solution would introduce more problems than it would solve. I don't have a sexy solution either, the problem is actually multi-faceted and I don't see an easy way around it.
You just have to trust the DM is not going to be a total metagaming "me vs. the players" asshole. If he/she is, find another one.
My DM fortunately controls the enemies to attack PC closest to it, if aren't available, he'll move them to closest PC; which mostly the frontliners, including the tank itself. So most of the times the tank can do his work
My DM does something similar. The stupid monsters will attack my barbarian--the smart ones will attack our sorcerer (or the cleric, although he's pretty hard to kill too.)
8-10 levels oath of the ancients paladin: you can have
ensnaring strike (for trapping a single opponent),
misty step (covering distance or reaching enemy back line),
potentially plant growth (for slowing enemies so allies can take care of them from ranged)
Aura of warding at 7 lv for half damage from spells
saving throws for wisdom and charisma for most spells that can take you out in a fight
lay on hands, a fighting style, aura of protection at 6 lv
and possibly aura of courage for the frightened condition.
Then 10-12 levels of fighter:
An additional fighting style, second wind, action surge
3 to 4 additional feats/ ability score improvements
indomitable and possibly a three attack.
Feats that could be used: tough, sentinel, resilient( any physical trait).
Feats that can be dependent on player preference: alert, great weapon master, lucky, mage slayer, mobile, polearm master, shield master, or war caster
Oath of Vengeance is pretty sweet for its features too. That's what I'm currently playtesting for party tank who also heals. He attacc, but he also protecc.
@@mal2ksc Sure OoV can dish out more dmg, but OoA benefits your whole team survival chances a lot more. Just the spell resistance alone makes staying in tight formation viable option since aoe are half as deadly. It also make you a lot harder to kill. Add Half orc on top of that and you have 2 cheat death abilities making you really hard to drop down.
I have an Eldritch Knight, I love having shield and absorb element to tank a ton of damage.
I like the Cavalier fighter for its ability to apply disadvantage to enemies who want to attack someone other than you. Stick a reach weapon in their hands and they can put that debuff on a lot of different foes!
I've had this character idea for a while now and finally got it down. For a tank, and since there's no mention of a level cap, I'd go 14 Monk/6 Paladin.
The Monk would be a Kensei and select the Spear for the Kensei weapon. All the bonuses for the Kensei are really just that, bonuses. The main reason I picked 14 levels in Monk is for Diamond Soul, getting proficiency in all saving throws. Meaning now, I don't have to fear that Fireball or Banishment as much anymore. I'd also opt forgoing armor not for Unarmored Defense but for Unarmored Movement to circumnavigate the battlefield if necessary. I mean, 55 feet of movement is not something to sleep on.
The Paladin would be Devotion purely for synergistic reasons. At 6th level, I start adding my Charisma Modifier to my saving throws. If built correctly, this is an additional +5 to all saving throws, for a total of +11 to everything. I no longer fear saving throws.
Now I get to just rush into battle without any hesitation whatsoever. At level 20, having 20 in Dexterity and Charisma should be more than possible. If I rolled well for stats then many doors open for feats, like Polearm Master and Sentinel. In a battle scenario, pop my Channel Divinity Sacred Weapon to add my Charisma mod to my weapon attacks. Combined with Sharpen the Blade (if my math is correct), that should equal a +19 to hit with my standard spear with two attacks. Or, if I want to make more attacks while conserving ki points, four attacks at +16 each. Combined with Stunning Strike, Deft Strike, Divine Smite and possible even a smiting spell.... oof.
Oh, and I'd also pick Variant Human for the aforementioned Sentinel feat. Add the stat bonuses for Dexterity and Charisma. This also opens the option for possibly taking the Tough feat instead. If not Human then probably Tabaxi, as it gives the perfect stat split, as well as having Feline Agility for 110 feet of movement without Step of the Wind. This is likely unnecessary but it's another option, and a fun one at that!
That being said, this build's only weak point is that it's only truly realized at level 20. Way too far of a goal to reach in a normal game, but for something special like a level 20 one-shot it is viable. Unfortunate but inevitable.
To anybody who read all of this, thank you! I really hope you enjoyed my build and I also hope you have a wonderful day :)
Nice build man, really enjoy different thinks in DnD, kudos.
Doing a Monk-Paladin multiclass requires 13 strength, 13 charisma, 13 dexterity, and 13 wisdom. A tank also wants to have 14 constitution minimum, and 16+ is highly recommended. If you're taking 14 of your 20 levels as a class with a D8 hit die, it's especially important to have 14+ constitution. Otherwise, you're just not going to have enough hit points.
So basically, you need to have *five* stats at 13+ for this strategy, in addition to your plan of having *two* stats at 20 at level 20. That's the build's weakest point.
Bluehat_Plumber gabriel’s right, but also remember: this comes online at LEVEL 20, i.e, the end of the game. just think about that.
9:00 unfortunately, you can’t take the Resilient feat twice, according to Jeremy Crawford
Actually you can, sometimes Jeremy Crawford is wrong cause in the books it doesn't say you can't take that feat more than once, he is just trying to limit the players that ask for help
Rolhn Schmidt the precedent is elemental adept. it specifically says you can take it more than once, which implies that the rule is you can only take a feat once unless stated otherwise.
@@rolhnschmidt8780 Nothing says you CAN take feats more than once, except the individual feats that allow you to do so. You cannot, JC is correct, raw.
@@elliotbanbury6442 I cannot comment on whether Jeremey Crawford is a loser, but I can clearly say that he is not my DM.
My favorite psudeo tank I'm playing right now is a Hill Dwarf Drunken Master Monk. I took Dwarven Resilience so every time I use patient defense, I'm able to heal a hit die as well
Forgot to add, will be taking the Durable feat at 8th to maximize my hit die roll. At a +4 Con modifier, Durable automatically allows you to take your hit die as if you rolled an 8.
@@bruisedfrog please note that this doesn't actually give you an unlimited number of hit dice to heal. You still have the usual number. It just lets you use them in combat, by taking the Dodge action. So you're basically talking about a "Cure Wounds" that you can cast on yourself (level/2) times per day.
@@ChristnThms I gotta admit though, that's a pretty nifty sustain option even if his resources are finite! Very witty way to stick it out in a fight!
@@obliviochamp5986 better than nifty... as long as the party has rests available. Most classes have to give up an action to Dodge. A Monk can do it as a Bonus Action, albeit at the cost of a Ki. So he can actually heal himself, increase his defense, and attack at the same time. VERY effective... as long as he has Ki and Hit Dice.
We have a Warlock in the party as well so short rests are actually a thing in this party
I see Dungeon Dudes, I like
I'm sad that no one covered the low-key best tank of the game: Arcana clerics with booming blade.
They're certainly up there. Clerics in general make for strong tanks, particularly once they gain access to Spirit Guardians. They're very underrated since they tend to get pidgeon holed as 'healers' rather than tanks, which is a big mistake since 'healer' isn't really supported as a primary combat role in 5e. It's something some classes can do, but it's generally not something any class should be doing as their primary contribution in combat.
Predictions before watching: If your goal is to protect your party, Ancestral Guardians Barbarian and most Paladins are probably the best choice. If your goal is just to be really hard to kill, Bear Totem Barbarian, most Paladins, most Fighters, Forge Clerics, and some Rogues and Monks are really good.
EDIT: Forgot Moon Druids for both categories, especially good for the second.
Always remember that stacking survivability does nothing if you don’t get attacked.
@@gary6631 Yeah, I'd only recommend going for pure survivability in a solo campaign, unless there's some niche team composition I don't know about. Though you can get very far with a Conquest Paladin's fear aura which locks everything down.
Did you forget a Moon Druid with either barkskin or stoneskin?
@@stormbringer1876 I wouldn't recommend either of those spells as there are a lot of better concentration spells you could be focusing on instead. Most of the best ones aren't directly related to tanking, but there are a few decent ones that allow you to shape the environment to your advantage as discussed in the video.
They seem to have forgotten it too because you can pop a duration spell, early would be protect from poison on top of barkskin (as you are walking up to the mansion or fort holding "stuff") freedom of movement later on top of the stoneskin and let the wildshapes go.
In my party, the moon druid plays an awesome tank, either shapeshifting near bottlenecks or filling gaps with conjured animals
To also add, if that player ever decides to multiclass, I hope they dip into Barbarian!
@@David25512 or an Artificer with infiltrator armour :)
You better mention Forge Cleric at some point. I'm running as a Dragonborn, so far I have frost/fire resistance and an AC of EDIT: 24.
Which level and how many magic items?
@@ShankMugen forge clerics can hit the highest possible player AC, plus they have an ability to make a set of armor or weapon into a +1 magic item, that combined with shield from magic initiate, or shield of faith can easily put you up to 26 AC. Standard AC for a forge cleric tank at level 1 is 19 if they choose to use a shield with their armor
@@Frankieboy1123 I have 23 AC at Level 7 with 0 magic items, just plate and shield, as a Warforged Forge Cleric, so was curious how to get that high, as I get +1 AC as racial trait
@@ShankMugen Alright, I admit I overestimated a bit. Pulled up my sheet, I'm only at AC24. Considerably less than my boast, my apologies. Still, if you're interested, this is what I got right now:
-Level 8 Silver DB Forge Cleric
- Full plate + 1
- Ring of Protection
- Shield of Arrow Catching
- That blessing that I can do each day
@@Thedutchjelle Oh cool, but Where are you putting the Blessing of the Forge? As the Blessing can only be applied to non-magical weapons and armours with that equipment I would have 24 AC, Right now my set-up is like so
- Level 7 Warforged Forge Cleric
- Full Plate
- Shield
- Blessing of the Forge on the Armour
"we've broken the Tank"
no!!
"...into two separate guidelines"
oh, okay then. continue please :)
as always, very helpful advice. I hope I'll be able to apply some of these to my Paladin!
My favorite Tank I've ever seen in play is actually my current character, a Mountain dwarf Moon Druid with a ton of HP and control spells.
My Mountain Dwarf Wizard he is gonna be a nuker type, swearing to the School of Necromancy and using primarily Acid & Poison Spells as well as Flanking the enemy if possible using the rest of the party and/or Undead as "Meat Shields".
Also none of my Martial Class Characters are Tanks either they too will flank and follow the same policy.
In my experience the toughest part of trying to run a 'tanky' character is the inevitable meta-gaming that most DM's will engage in when it comes to target priority in the party, most of us have likely played RPG's and MMO's before and likely know about the usual order of how to handle enemies in terms of nuke the healer first, burst down DPS after that and then finally whittle away the tanks when their support is gone but it's worth noting that while that works perfectly fine in a gaming context it also happens to make no sense in terms of actual confrontations and fighting (the shifty looking guy in robes could possibly be a threat but the 7ft tall beefcake decked in plate and approaching you with a greatsword is unambiguously a threat and if you want to keep your head firmly attached to your shoulders you deal with the most immediate threats first).
This also translates to why I roll my eyes at DM's and players complaining about meta-gaming in combat scenarios because...it's a necessary evil that physically can't be avoided entirely given that combat is by far the most abstracted and meta concept in DnD as a game, the DM will always have a knowledge in their mind of who the party are and what they're capable of (something the monsters likely shouldn't have in most cases) and will be controlling them all as if they are a singular, cohesive unit rather than individuals (the reason I've seen behind certain DM's scolding players for talking tactically out of character at the table, a practice I think is perfectly acceptable and DM's really need to get over themselves about).
In my experience, the best way to 'tank' is to remember that it's not the monster's attention you're trying to grab but the DM's, you can use a spell to taunt a single creature but if you get the emnity of the DM then you can guarantee that they will target you first in every encounter, regardless of the circumstances around it, I'm not saying you should be rude to your DM but make yourself a very forward presence that the DM can't ignore, be the person who charges in first in combat, the acts pro-actively against enemies by interrupting monologues with attacks or takes brash or brazen attitudes, abuse player psychology a little bit.
If a DM notices someone getting a bit bold it's not uncommon for them to want to punish them for perceived hubris.
Overall, enemies in DnD are just as predictable and exploitable as enemies in an MMO, there's just different techniques required for drawing aggro (in this case, it's not the AI you need to aggro, but the DM).
I'm a big fan of using Roleplay as the "Taunt mechanic."
So what you're saying is that the aggro mechanic is us messing with the Dm. Challenge accepted
In fairness, at least regarding intelligent creatures - you reach a point, before too terribly long, when the 'shifty looking guy in robes' almost certainly *is* the bigger threat. Especially over a single engagement. An intelligent creature who sees the basic DnD group composition often enough will, eventually, figure out that the guy who can throw a barrage of fireballs can hurt him more faster than the guy with a big stick, to stay nothing of some of the save-or-lose spells out there.
That said, on the whole I don't think you're wrong about a lot of points. That's one of the reasons Sentinel gets so much love - the value is in just straight-up closing options. Even if the big monster (slash the DM) wants to go beat up on your squishy wizard, if there's a fighter with Sentinel in front of him he may just not have a choice about it. Personally, I take that a step further and to me that should be the primary concern of the tank - making sure your enemies. Achieving a reasonable amount of survivability is trivial, and achieving perfect or even near-perfect survivability is close to impossible, so finding a point of "I'm relatively hard to kill" is easy. The rest is putting that investment to work.
@@Kestral287 I'd likely have to challenge that claim based on the fact that it's based very heavily off of meta knowledge that a creature may not strictly have access to, even an intelligent one, you wouldn't strictly know that an opponent is capable of throwing out offensive spells until either they've already started doing it or you're already very familiar with a particular spellcaster (or you're a creature with some innate capacity for detecting magical talent in others and as such could sense the 'aura' of a magic user), but even if you recognize the potentially superior threat posed by the spellcaster that still isn't strictly a reason to ignore the fighter who's advancing upon you and forcing close combat upon you, that's a reason to fall back since that's an inherently disadvantageous position for you to fight from.
There's also a lot to be said for the psychological impact of something advancing upon you over attacking from a distance, imagine a situation where you are faced by two men, one holding a gun (capable of instant lethal force from across the room) while the other is walking towards you cracking their knuckles and looking you straight in the eyes, you may very well recognize the firearm as being more immediately dangerous to you but (let's assume for the moment that escape is impossible, you have to try and fight) you are still likely to be pre-occupied by the person actually entering your personal space with clear hostile intent because we are somewhat hard-wired to naturally find proximity threatening, it's an instinct that actually requires a fair bit of training and discipline to overcome in a combat situation.
Let's borrow from another setting that frequently has the issue of potentially more dangerous units at a distance than up close, namely Warhammer 40k, units engaged in assault cannot open fire upon other units (with some very rare exceptions, namely vehicles) for the plain, simple reason that it's very hard to concentrate long enough to take aim at someone in the distance when someone is actively trying to punch you in the back of the head, melee is a very disorienting situation to be in that completely rewrites your priorities.
Yeah, the guy with the lascannon off in the distance is absolutely capable of more damage than the guardsmen charging you with bayonets but that doesn't suddenly mean that those guardsmen suddenly don't exist or that bayonet charges are infamously terrifying situations for both sides.
It certainly shouldn't be universal, but in this world, magic has some very obvious physical attributes to look for: the pouch or the focus being the stand-outs. The guy in armor who's not using his weapon but has a religious symbol hanging from his neck? Almost certainly a Cleric. The guy holding a chunk of crystal who's not running away from the goblin horde despite carrying no armor and no weapon past a dagger? Arcane caster. The guy with a musical instrument strapped to himself? Bard.
Certainly these are not universal truths, and they're things that, if you have a good DM, you can game in turn. Pathfinder has a class called the Magus that's essentially the Eldritch Knight done right, and one of their archetypes doesn't use armor. So a properly suited Kensai Magus wears essentially the same outfit as a Wizard and carries a spell component pouch; the only odd thing they carry is a sword. I built one particularly tanky and at times, against enemies who weren't familiar with the group, got to get some of them to focus me from the outset. In 5e I could see a Bladesinger, or even a Monk who went out of his way to pick up the basic caster gear, pulling a similar trick. Certainly it doesn't last - once you whip out the sword and go to town (or in the monk case start punching things) it's going to start looking pretty obvious that they misevaluated the scenario, but the biggest concern is the first round or two anyway.
There is something to be said for the psychological impact of the guy in your face, but there's also something to be said for the psychological impact of "I don't want to be Fireballed". However, there are two points to be made here, I think. First, you assume the fighter is already in their face, but a lot of the time enemies are going to make their threat assessments *before* then. The guy with the brass knuckles came into the room at the same time as the guy with the gun - and that changes your scenario considerably. If the guy with the gun can get off the first shot he is absolutely the person I want to kill first every time. I can maybe run away from the guy with the brass knuckles before he gets a chance to punch me. It's much harder to outrun a bullet (or 120' range spell). So if "I" in this case am a bunch of soldiers with longbows or whatever... yeah I'm shooting the caster first.
Second, as you've said, that's the sort of thing that takes training to overcome, but... a lot of the intelligent enemies you face tend to *have* that sort of training, if not directly than through experience. The horde of low-CR goblins, sure probably not (but then, the guy with the pointy stick is only menacing so many of them at once). The dragon? Not only has it likely been around the block long enough to know what magic casters typically look like and the kind of annoyance they can be if left unchecked, it's also just straight-up *not* going to be intimidated by a fighter with a greatsword under the vast majority of circumstances.
And the flip side of 'psychological impact' is that sometimes monsters have *other* reasons to go for the squishy looking guy. I'd started to write a comment about the behir in my previous point, as something in the grey area where it's somewhat intelligent but not very so may well fall for the pointy-stick-in-front concern. But then - when you pause to think about it, the behir's main goal in most fights is going to be a good meal. It's 'intelligent' in that it's not an animal and can speak, but is still fairly stupid. Even so, it makes absolute sense that a behir knows how its own abilities work - here, I'm primarily thinking of the constrict - bite - swallow chain of attacks that it goes for. The guy in a ton of armor is probably pretty strong, which means he may be able to break out of the behir's constrict. The quick-moving guy with a dagger also has a decent chance to do so. The guy with a staff trying to stay out of the behir's reach? Probably not so much. And besides, something without armor seems like a much more satisfying meal.
I’m loving playing my Oath of Ancients Paladin. The halved damage from spells to allies in my aura is really effective and makes grouping up less risky. I have a solid 20 ac(before shield of faiths bonus 2ac) heavy armor master, and sentinel to protect the group. The Paladin bonuses to saving throws for your auras another bonus. Like you mentioned, saving throw based damage is most effective against a tank. The disables are a tank’s worst nightmare because your health pool is often your least precious resource with an adequate max hp (lay on hands is amazing for the bonus effective health). I am surprised that evasion tank playstyle of a monk was not mentioned. The mobility is often my biggest weakness and monks can match my 20 ac fairly easily, have excellent battlefield control through stuns and outstanding mobility, and they can deflect projectiles. I’ve seen more effective tanks in monks with sentinel doing things I’ve only dreamed of. Patient defense cannot be underestimated either. I would be interested to see a breakdown of how you would approach a monk tank.
i'm loving playing my Oath Of Vengeance paladin. although i think i talked about it enough...
-half-elf
-super-high charisma
-healing spells and lay-on-hands
-sword for decent damage
-18 AC
-can fly thanks to winged boots
-has sentinel, so I can protect allies by doing more damage
I am actually shocked when you were talking about threat/agro not being predictable that you didn't get into using control spells defensively.
Oath of Conquest is BALLER at keeping other people alive. "Taunt" mechanics aren't terribly different from Fear or Dominate.
Circle of the moon is one of my favourite tank options entirely because I will never forget our party druid tanking a fall from an airship and onto the city below by using his last wildshape to turn into an orca
I wanna go Forge cleric with my highest stats in WIS and CHA. I was just doing it for my spell casting ability and CHA for persuasion because I'm a merchant too. I see now there is more benefit to my strategy.
Half elves and elves are solid tanks simply because their resistance to charm and sleep magic shores up a weakness that can lock most tanks down instantly.
>Yuan ti pureblood
>Psychic warrior fighter 3
>Heavy armor master feat
>7 levels in Ancients paladin
>10 levels war wizard
>tough feat
Bladesinging Wizard + 20 Dexterity + 20 Intelligence + studded leather+3 + _Shield_ Spell Mastery = WHY IS THE WIZARD'S AC 30
I’m already predicting the Sentinel and Polearm Master feat
PSA: You can not rage in Heavy Armor. So Multiclassing, while still a great option, will put a small dent in AC.
Half-Elf Paladins work great to with Fey ancestry and good stat boosts. With any race, Oath of Devotion Paladin solves your weak save problem and gives the shield of faith, Ancients helps with spells, and lay on hands makes for great survive ability. The Tough feat can give you an extra hit or two in a fight sometimes. Parry and Rally maneuvers are great at soaking up damage depending on your stats.
Moon Druids are fun, but the attack bonuses are low. You have to make sure that you remember to heal yourself with your bonus action though, because once the Wild Shape drops, soon will you. Spore Druid can get a huge Temp HP buff with their special Wild Shape use.
Mountain Dwarves get free armor, so a mountain dwarf War Magic or Abjuration Wizard or Divine Soul Sorcerer(Shield + Shield of Faith + Aid) can make a fantastic tank. With Haste, Shield, Blur, and Mirror Image, you wont get hit that often, if at all.
War, Order, Forge, Nature(6th level feature), and Tempest Clerics can get pretty tough while also dishing out some good support, also Shield of Faith + Aid + Bless. Paired with Hill Dwarf gives extra Hp and Warhammers for any cleric that lacks it.
The Hunter Ranger gets some unique options for defense, those being Multi Attack Defense or Iron Will and Evasion or Uncanny Dodge. The new spells in Xanathar's can also add to being a tank, specifically the Guardian of Nature Spell. They get the Defense fighting style and it's also only one feat away from Medium Armor Master. I could see being a kind of dex based tank.
Warlocks are weird, I'm sure somebody has a Warlock tank somewhere.
Rogue and Monk do not tank. But they can be slippery.
I'm currently playing a human Spore Druid in Curse of Strahd, and have sort of become the de-facto party tank with the huge amount of hit points I have access to with Symbiotic Entity, it's been really great. Taking Polearm Master and favoring Thorn Whip as my cantrip of choice when out of melee range has really been a great way to leverage control of enemy positioning on the battlefield; not only can I pull monsters into my deadly spore radius, they get punished harshly if they try to leave my side to run off and attack the others. It's been an awesome experience for a first-time player. Just working my way up to 19-20 AC, hopefully, although it's proving difficult with my class cutting me off from metal armor.
I'm glad you mentioned Abjuration Wizard. I feel like it gets overlooked a lot. One of my favorite tanks I've ever played was a high elf Abjuration wizard with a 1 level dip in tempest cleric.
With the "aggro" thing you mentioned, I've only ever brought it out once - and it was a final boss targeting the one player who kept bombarding him with radiant damage, which he had a weakness to. So he started singling them out to try and stop that damage.
One thing you didn't mention about shield master is that you can apply it's AC bonus to your Dex save if you are the only target. Sure, it doesn't help against Fireball but it certainly does against Chain Lightning or Disintegrate. Also some cantrips too like Sacred Flame and Acid Splash. Getting a +2 to these Dex Saves or even more with a magic shield, should definitely be something you keep in your back pocket if you pick up the feat.
When one talks of tanks, MMORPG's have trained us to assume it's going to be the Fighter or Paladin. Of course, some people think of the Barbarian with their high hit points and damage resistances, which does work.
However, the parties I've run games with have had some silly tanks. One party I'm running a spelljammer game for, the Barbarian is the support first and tank second, while the Moon Druid is the real tank. Another group I ran the game for had a Kensei Monk in the front lines. They dodged frequently and utilized Agile Parry combined with Unarmored defense for 22 AC total by 8th level (dice roll stats), and their saving throws (being a monk) made them nigh-untouchable.
I feel like Kensei Monk is so often overlooked for a tanking spec (especially if multi-classed with another tank spec). Depending on how they are built, they can have insanely high AC, pretty good HP, and great defenses against magic. Defensive Duelist Feat, Patient Defense, Agile Parry, Evasion, Stillness of Mind, Deflect Missiles, all add up to make you so hard to hit.
Ive only recently got into play. I managed to tank as a Moon Druid, of course it made sense for the animal-like monster to attack me, I had Wild Shaped into a Giant Elk, and our Storm Sorcerer cast Enlarge on me.
I love the paladin's shield of faith spell, that +2 to AC can be very handy (and has been for my paladin character).
I can't believe you guys haven't mentioned the Cavalier ONCE in this video! This class is THE best class to draw damage towards yourself, and protecting your allies, including a skill that pretty much replaces Sentinel at 10th level. Multi class that with a barbarian bear totem just to get that resistance to damage, and then go crazy on that class. Use a one hand spear and a shield (if you feel like it, using a Bugbear will increase your range even more), don heavy armor, and you have a steel wall between your party and the foes
I think you guys are underrating clerics as tanks in 5e. With the right domain choice you can be rocking heavy armor and a shield for good AC, you'll have decent wisdom and proficiency in wisdom saves to ward off the most debilitating save based conditions, you have solid (if still lest than many players expect) healing abilities including self healing, your damage output is ok at first level with bless (which also ups your saving throws and the attacks and saving throws of a pair of allies), good at third level when you get spiritual weapon, and amazing from 5th level on thanks to spirit guardians, which also imposes difficult terrain on enemies within the very large area of effect making the spell fantastic for controlling space and preventing enemies from moving past you to target your allies.
Concentrating on big, important spells is one of the better ways to draw aggro in 5e as the enemies try to knock down whatever effect you're having, and you'll be concentrating on big effects in key fights from level one, starting with bless and transitioning to spirit guardians later. This is also one of the reasons I really like Oath of Conquest for tanky paladins, as even enemies that pass their saves against your frighten effects are still tempted to attack you in the hopes of helping their allies break free, but the same theory works even better for clerics. It cannot be stressed how good Spirit Guardians is as a spell for tanking, and the desperation of enemies to shut it down only makes it better. A cleric with spirit guardians up can spend their actions dodging and still reliably draw attacks - now with disadvantage to hit. They can even still attack using their bonus action with spiritual weapon.
This core feature set is only enhanced by domain abilities. In addition to heavy armor proficiencies you have domains like forge which gives an extra bonus to AC via an enchanted shield or suit of armor, and eventually resistance to fire damage. Or life which makes you heal more and lets you heal yourself for free when you heal allies. Or even domains like trickery which don't grant a lot of useful abilities but have some amazing domain spells, particularly for spell slots above 3rd level. And, of course, you can always multiclass to augment your abilities. A single level of anything with Shield would be helpful, or you can multi into more traditional tanky classes like fighter. Taking fighter at first level in particular gets you proficiency in constitution saves to help with concentration and heavy armor if your domain doesn't grant it, though it would cost you your proficiency in wisdom saves.
I think there's a build you didn't cover that deserves consideration. The Full Plate Abjuration Wizard.
Hear me out. You start with 2 levels of Fighter (because Action Surge yes please) take the Defense Style, with Full Plate you're at 19 AC, add a shield your base AC is 21, once you've got the ability to cast Shield you can surge it to 26. While the Wizard's hit dice is low the Abjuration Wizard gets the Arcane Ward, it's basically extra hit points, 2 x your Wizard Level + your Int modifier. Best yet every time you cast an Abjuration spell your ward regains hit points. Everything you said about feat choices still applies (except the polearm master + shield master + sentinel combo ). For healing you have some of the best once you hit mid-tier Vampiric Touch and later Enervation. For mobility you've got Misty Step and Dimension Door. For pesky ranged enemies you've got a TON of options. Elemental Damage... you pack Absorb Elements and later Fire Shield. Controlling the battlefield and funneling enemies towards you, you've got the wall spells. Someone slips by you and hits a squishy character, projected ward. Invisible enemies, not a problem you've got See Invisibility. Even better just Counterspell it you are the best Counterspeller in the game afterall! Plus Counterspell covers a lot of the weaknesses mentioned while recharging your Arcane Ward. I think my favorite part about this build is getting to use some of those spells that the Wizard rarely uses, the touch spells like Shocking Grasp and the aforementioned Vampiric Touch, Thunderclap (I'm not afraid of rushing into the middle of a group to get the most out of this spell, and Tenser's Transformation is really fun. And let's not forget you get 1 round of going NOVA, that moment when you see a horde of enemies, I cast Fireball, Action Surge, I cast Fireball.... it's glorious.
That's pretty dirty.
This excites and terrifies me
I'm playing a bear totem barbarian in our game, and from rolling my stats, I got three 15s and put one of them in dex, which I plan to turn into a 16 through the Resilient feat, getting profiency in dex saves. Combined with the barbarian's Danger Sense ability (advantage on dex saves they can see), and the bear totem...
Enemy: *Casts fireball*
Me: "Who threw that candlelight at me!?"
Vhuman Kensei Monk with Defensive Duelist. You stack AC to the ceiling, proficiency in all saves, immunity to poison, evasion, you're mobile enough to position yourself anywhere on the battlefield and the DM can't ignore you because if he does, his monsters get stunned into oblivion.
According to Crawford, you can't take any feat, including Resilient, more than once unless specifically stated, so when they say you might want to take it for Wis and Dex, you can only take it for one or the other.
Oddly good tank: An Envoy Warforged that happens to be a Battlesmith Artificer
Dungeon Dudes: ''You need Sub-classes to prevent you from being mind controlled or exhausted in Paladin or Barbarian''
Also, Dungeon Dudes: ''Oath of the Crown isn't S-Tier.It's the worst sub-class''
Oath of the Crown is probably THE best Tank Class. Aura of Protection, Lay on Hands combined with Unyielding Spirit makes you nearly unstoppable.
Now put in the other sub-class features and you can prevent damage to your allies.
Make it a Half Elf and +1 to Str and Con, +2 Cha, Advantage against being charmed, immunity to Sleep spells.
The Cavalier is possibly better, but has no Aura of Protection or immunity to paralysis etc.
2 Words.
Rogue Barbarian
EDIT: also yes multiclassing into rogue is almost always worth it. Using your reaction to take half damage is crazy.
Sneak attack only specifies that you need a finesse (or ranged) weapon to sneak attack, it doesn't explicitly say that you have to attack using your dexterity although it is encouraged by the wording. So you can apply sneak attack damage and rage damage to your attacks every single turn if you use a rapier and use reckless attack constantly
I never play any of the stereotypes/archetypes!
My Homebrew Barbarian she is moderately Intelligent/Wise and is a brilliant Smith, she can deal decent damage but she doesn't go for the Frontline!
My Astral Elf Anthropologist Paladin she too is moderately Intelligent/Wise and can deal great damage bit she also doesn't go for Frontline!
Also neither of them are support role characters!
Neither is my Drow Feylost Death Domain Cleric a support role/healer type or my Druid or my Ranger or my Wizard.
I let the rest of the party fill any stereotypical role and generally be "Meat Shields" while I directly try and Flank the enemy and use ranged Cantrips or weapons until I get in melee flanking range!
Everyone knows that if it's war you always destroy/defeat the Healers first, disable/destroy supply lines, and finally only show mercy after breaking the enemy completely. So if you are planning on replicating war in D&D you don't actually focus on the "Tanks" you focus on the support types.
T H E P L A Y P E N
If your DM is down for UA material, my absolute favorite tank is the Rune Knight. They get a bevy of abilities that are perfectly designed to keep you and your allies alive through a *lot* of punishment:
-Giant's Might grows you to large, which is useful for just body-blocking areas and gets great with Sentinel.
-The Hill Rune gives you advantage against being poisoned and resistance to poison damage all the time, and 1/short rest you get the defensive half of a rage. Sure you don't have a Barbarian's D12 hit dice, but you can wear plate+shield, or you can go for a dex build, two things Barbs don't normally get. The Hill Rune also makes your self-heal way more relevant as you go up in levels.
-The Fire rune is very action-economy efficient since it happens when you hit an enemy with an attack, and can lock an enemy in place so they can't chase your allies around. It's no Sentinel, but it serves a somewhat similar role.
-The Stone rune lets you use a reaction to incapacitate someone who walks too close to you. A reaction-based single-target Hypnotic Pattern can be very useful for just taking an enemy out of the fight until you feel like dealing with them later, and fewer enemies fighting = less damage coming at your allies.
-The Cloud rune lets you use a reaction to forcibly redirect an attack directed at someone within 30 feet to someone *else* within 30 feet. Regardless of the attack's range. At a minimum this can push an attack that would've hurt your squishy caster onto you, the big beefy fighter. Much more often you get to make an enemy smack their friend instead. Dealing damage as you negate an attack sounds like a wonderful tanking strategy to me.
-The Storm rune lasts for a minute and within that minute, you spend a reaction to impose advantage or disadvantage on basically whatever roll you like. Ally needs to make a saving throw that's kind of rough? Advantage. Big monster swinging at them? Disadvantage. It's got a lot of aggressive uses as well, like forcing disadvantage on enemy saves.
-Defensive Runes less you burn a reaction to buff an ally's AC against an incoming attack. Note that while most of the above abilities are 1/short rest, this is just something you can always do with your reaction.
Also, you're an Int-based class. That opens up some really nice dips: Artificer can not only let you be an Int-based Hexblade but also puts Absorb Elements, Cure Wounds, Sanctuary, and Shield onto your spell list. Plus the value of your Infusions, your Defender, and some pretty neat out of combat utility crossover with all the tool things working well with the Fire Rune giving them Expertise; there are some very easily-flavored characters in there.
Wizard is also a good dip. Bladesinger can do Obnoxious Bladesinger Things with your Dex/Int Fighter to push your AC into the stratosphere while you antagonize your enemies, or War Wizard can buff your initiative to help you position while putting Arcane Deflection to fantastic use. The big gap in the Fighter's defenses is always going to be its saving throws; Indomitable helps but you're just never going to make those saves as well as a Paladin. Arcane Deflection says spend a reaction to give yourself +4 to a failed saving throw, at the 'staggering' cost of not being able to cast non-cantrips on your next turn for your martial character. That's absurd. The reaction for +2 to your AC is also nonzero, though in that regard the more notable pickup is, again, Wizards get Shield and Absorb Elements, plus a small arsenal of utility spells and other tricks. A third level into Wizard, regardless of subclass, would also get you second-level spells: Mirror Image and Misty Step are things I obviously like on my tanky characters, or you can grab some extra battlefield control options to keep your party alive. But since we're into UA anyway, one of my favorite spells here is Mind Thrust. Bonus action spellcasting is really good on your extra attack martial class, and the spell contributes a bit of chip damage in a rare damage type but also just says that if they fail their saving throw (and it's an Int save!) they have to dash or disengage away with their next action. Denying an enemy a round of attacks is wonderful for protecting allies, and Int tends to be a weak saving throw even for a lot of big scary things like dragons.
The big downside of the Rune Knight is really that it has too many toys for its own good, and the dips don't help it in that regard. Out of the gate your first couple bonus actions in real fights are going to your Giant's Might and Hill/Storm Rune abilities, then if you're a Bladesinger you're going to want to activate that, or the Artificer will want to utilize its Steel Defender (to say nothing of potentially casting spells or using Second Wind deeper in the fight). Your reactions have Defensive Runes, Storm Rune, Cloud Rune, Stone Rune, and if you dipped, a couple spell options and potentially Arcane Deflection. The biggest way this tank runs into issues is when your enemies either do a lot to you quickly to stop you from getting set up or enemies just push to overwhelm your reactions in a single round: smack your allies enough that you're forced to utilize Defensive Runes to protect them, then hammer you with a save targeting one of your weak defenses while Arcane Deflection is down. But to me, that sounds a lot like "the enemies are focusing on you", which means that as a tank you're doing your job well. It gets a lot harder for the monsters to always go after the squishy folks when the guy handing out active protections to the various squishy folks only really goes down when focused.
Tl;dr: Rune Knight is a great tank class, everyone knows Battle Smith and Bladesinger are good dips but War Wizard is also a stellar dip class for buffering defenses.
the playpen is my new favorite thing...
Favorite tank is the dwarves mega tank. (Lvl 3 armor artificer lvl 1 fighter Hill dwarf with Full plate and dwarven fortified)22ac and deals 2d8+str also causes disadvantage on a punch and you get 2 (heal with second wind 1d10+lvl dwarven fortitude 1d10+con on doge and also temp
hp =lvl as a bonus action)
Ancient's Oath Paladin
Sentinel, Shield Master, Resilient: Constitution
Dodge action
That is all.
This requires that the enemy get close to you or your allies to stay close. If all you're doing is moving and dodging, then you aren't much of a threat. Then you just have to depend on your teammates funneling them towards you. Which could be good, but is completely dependent on the people in your party.
@@DarthPoyner Depends on if the DM plays to the enemy's Intelligence. A non-humanoid monster will attack the biggest or the closest, making it viable to stand and dodge. Sentinel allows the offense to work through Reactions, and works well to control the battlefield.
Player intelligence matters, too. Staying a full spell or missile's distance away usually means the foes have to waste an entire turn or more moving closer, which most foes will try to avoid and the exceptions can get horribly injured on the way. They have a responsibility to use this knowledge.
Best of all, the Dodge action and Constitution save boost make it viable to let spellcasters center AoEs on the Paladin because the saves will be so high or with advantage, mitigating the 40 damage Fireball down to 10 through halving on success, then halving on magic resist oath feature.
I think everyone knows this already but aarakocra monk has the potential for an AC of 22 at lvl 1. 3 lvls of Barbarian for the bear totem and then throw and danger sense. Finally the rest into Abjuration Wizard. Casting shield as a reaction giving you an Ac of 27, your wizard lvl x 2 + int temp hit points everytime you cast an Abjuration spell. This is without any magical items or feets. Leaving your action and bonus action free with an amazing dex save. The abillity to fly and a ton of spells like wall of fire and dominate person as a future.
Dungeon masters be aware and F##k this hit die nonsense
My favorite tank I’ve played is my Dragonborn multiclass, level 4 bear totem barbarian and the rest paladin oath of devotion, holy rage as you smite the heretics and fail no saves
Yuan Ti for paladins. Magic resistance and +2 cha for aura of protection means saving throws against magic aren’t going to even touch you.
how’s those strength and constitution scores?
Compelled duel, Lv1 paladin spell. “Fight me!”
Lv 1 Paladins don't get spells
I think they just meant it uses a level 1 spell slot
@@ShankMugen thats level 0, i think level 1 gets spells
@@carteradams43 no, they get it level 2
lol just play a +2 con +1 dex yuan ti w/ 4 levels in barbarian, and the rest in paladin then it will be epic and you will have good AC and advantage on all magic saves and immunity to poison on top of absolutely gigantic hp as well as Sentinel feat...
Buuuuut you have bad damage ;-)
Oath of Conquest is another terriffic option for a tank once you get your aura of conquest online. Tanking through fear and blocking your enemies actions
My Paladin who when she reaches Lvl 3 she will take Oath of Conquest herself but not as a Tank or Support Role and she plans on establishing a new Queendom and creating a new Pantheon of Deities that are primarily changed & restored Lost/Dead/Weakened Deities, for example Garagos will become her War Deity for that Pantheon she will try to destroy the Red Knight by combining her with Garagos and replacing/weakening Tempus as well as perhaps finding traces of dead War Deities to gather up and grant to Garagos.
On my actual campaign I'm playing as a Warforged Battle Smith Artificer 5/War Wizard 1(in the future), I'm the tank with an AC of 21 and my HP is 50, and I think I'm a pretty good tank, I can deal a lot of damage getting flank advantage due to the Steel Defender, and almost never getting hit. Last session for example, my DM used The Lost against us (he actually buffed it a little bit), and he used all his 5 attacks against me, and I just needed to use shield on the last one of them, he was pissed.
Two of my favorite tank builds. Totem Barbarian/Moon Druid. Shapeshift into an animal and take half damage while taking no damage to your own hit points.
And Fighter2/18Wizard School of Abjuration. You can ware all the heavy armor and shields you want now while being a badass wizard with defence spells.
A really cool idea I saw for the tanky abjuration wizard is to use armor of agathys. As written, the arcane ward isn't temporary hit points, so they can stack with armor of agathys's temp hp, which means as long as the ward is up, the enemies will take damage for attacking you. You would have to learn it from another source though, maybe by taking magic initiate in warlock or taking hexblade warlock levels instead of fighter.
There are still strength requirements for some armours, so you'll have to sink ability points into strength......which means they may not be in other vital areas, which can affect your prepared spell list, spell attack, and saving throws as well.
@@MrBottlecapBill I thought lacking the strength requirements only resulted in -5 to speed?
arcane tricksters with 20 dex, hide armor and a cloak of displacement is a good way to make sure physical attacks are wasted. especially with a good charisma to taunt and insult the attacker. build up that hubris to really make the target want to put you in your place. you can also get wis proficiency saves and with resilient go into con saves for dex, cha, con and wis saving throws. you can also use mage hand to give disadvantage as a reaction and you can straight up steal weapons and items
My Warforged Bear Totem PoleArm master is for hire.
Thats a weird combination on the account that you cant rage while having heavy armor on
@@cavemoss7188 Actually you can rage while in heavy armor, you just don't benefit from the 3 main rage features, but you still get the bear totem resistance benefit while raging in heavy armor.
My party has never played 5e before and I have been a DM for over four years. I knew I was going to be the tank, it was just a matter of stats. I ended up rolling blessed by the dice gods. My lowest roll was a 14. All three physical stats were 18's and I started out at level 1 with 18 AC with unarmored defense because how could I not be a Barb? My lowest ability mod being a +2 also helps save me from those pesky mind saves. It is fantastic. I end up taking the least damage due to my AC and Rage resistance than do the rest of my party. I am just debating going Grappler feat to just turn into a WWE superstar/Khabib Nurmagomedov because I smesh.
"Tanks exist in video games because AI is predictable"
Umm have you ever played a MOBA? Party roles still works with human VS human teams.
But the same thing happens in MOBAs. The other team should rightfully ignore the tank, and the tank makes themselves a presence in fights by bringing CC. In dnd, though, CC on non casters is much less common.
Tanks on MOBAs can hardly be ignored. Historically, the definition of a tank was a huge, tough, dangerous unit meant to break enemy formation. If your character can be ignored, it isn't a tank. The gamer definition of tanks as the guy that takes damage for the party comes from the AI thing, and most of the times they can (and should) be ignored, whence why they have to abuse the AI.
@@rafaelbordoni516 I play tanks all the time in Smite because my preference is support. A tank may rarely do high damage in combat, but they can make it a bitch to get to your damage dealers. Try ignoring the guy who keeps jumping in front of your attacks and uses CC effects to silence and devalue your efforts.
Paladin with sheild of faith and take a level or two into sorcerer for absorb elements a reaction spell to give you resistance against that fireball then hit back with fire damage or whatever element. 20 AC and damage resistance to most spells at 2nd level.
I'm currently playing a Warforged Cavalier and he's a beast!
He holds the choke points extremely well he has polearm master and shield make him friggin hard to take down
What polearm is he using with a shield? Because I thought that polearms are 2 handed
@@anna4aa570 Spears can be used with one hand. Trades off a little damage to hold that shield. If your goal is to block a door, it's not a bad idea. PAM and Sentinel to lock em down in front of the door, Shield Master to knock em over and keep them there.
@@mattbrammeier8938 thanks
@@mattbrammeier8938 do spears have reach when used in one hand
@@oliverworley5162 They do
When you play a yuan-ti with at 23 ac and 104 hp at level 8 with advantage on saving throws because yes
As a tank I always keep alot of caltrops or ball bearings on me to limit movement if it's a large room
When building any character, including tanks, it's important to keep in mind what levels you'll be playing at. Heavy Armor Master, for instance, scales quite poorly and is actually a pretty bad feat at later levels... but most campaigns never make it to those levels. Most campaigns end or peter out around level 10, so a character who picks up heavy armor master at 4th level, or at 1st level via a variant human bonus feat, will be incredibly tough for the majority of their actual career.
On the other hand, aura of conquest is an amazing tanking ability that makes conquest paladins among the best lockdown tanks in the game, but it only comes online at level 7, and really only takes off at level 9 when they gain access to the Fear spell, and most campaigns are wrapping up at that point, so while it's my favorite tanking class in theory, in a lot of real world campaigns Conquerors are 'just' paladins - already one of the better tanking classes, but not noticeably better at the job than other oaths.
I'd disagree that heavy armor master is bad. Most enemies use multi attack. Flat damage reduction quickly adds up and works great on mobs in particular. People also tend to ignore that it also gives half ASI with another +1 strength so really it's kinda half a feat and half just a normal stat increase. That's still efficient. If it didnt have that +1 strength it would be bad but with it it is pretty solid.
Tortle Barbarian, Path of Ancestors, Shield Master. So far, so good!
Ok this is kinda perfect timing.
My friend is running a new game and it looks like I'm stuck playing the tank again.
Looking forward to the episode Friday.
The role everyone needs and no one wants to play.
Well in my case.
If you need to play a tank but don't want to, I'd recommend playing a cleric.
Full spell casting progression, healing if you wish, high potential damage output. With heavy armour proficiency if you pick certain domains (my favourite is Forge for the tanky cleric vibe)
Unfortunately stuck playing that all the time lol..
The guy with the beanie seems like he’s always reading instead of just talking
Well i just played my first night of D&D last night they started me out as 4th level and i am an assassin/sorcerer soon to be shadow sorcerer but i have 3 levels in Rogue that has turned into the Assassin part and one level of sorcerer so far I've got all of 18 hit points and i was doing more damage with my short bow last night than the monk's the fighters and the paladins who all were getting them selfs smashed while i was outside at one of the open windows pinging them with arrows from the shadows i got 2 crits on one only for another party member to finish him off but out of all of this i did one round of 28 damage and the other of 23 points of damage on my two main crits respectable damage i think i would shot an arrow and then get back in shadows shot and back in shadows i did that all night had fun
I also plain on treating my arrows next week with my poison breath weapon taking a round in the shadows and using my breath weapon and making my arrows in to poison arrows and that will give them a D6 extra damage each turn it's just one of my idea's
Archie LaMarr Clear it with the DM first, because Rules As Written (RAW) you can't do that with your breath.
And next level all those classes will be getting a second attack each turn. So you'll see a damage change for them.
@@adamkaris ok and you infact may have a point there but i also have a poisoners kit and if he says no with the breath weapon idea then i will simply use the kit and take the time to poison my arrows that way
I love 5e, but 3.5 was insane on making actual tanks. I had a half dragon fighter have 40 AC at level player level 8, total level was 12 with half dragons having a +4 level adjustment.
Dungeon Dudes: A flying enemy with range attacks and invisibility, what are you gonna do about that situation?
Me: Guess I'll die?!?
Is my AC 20 way of mercy monk with 50ish hit points at level 6 a Tank? Its my first time playing, and the rest of my party has lower hp and ac. I rolled really well for stats and HP thru level ups.
Maybe more like a humvee. Since his damage output aint the highest.
3:05 Actually, it's by far one of the rarest types of classes. In games with character/class selection, it's completely normal for there to either only be damage dealers, or damage dealers & support/healer characters. Hell, even rogues are significantly more common than tanks in video games. t. >300 Steam library, been an avid game ever since I was old enough to hold a controller nearly 30 years ago. / Edit: just realized that I typed that while AFK in an MMO that proves my point lol.
I wouldn’t say that. Supports are by far the least popular of the three major archetypes in my experience. DPS is far and away the most popular, obviously, but tanks still keep up decently well due to the fact that they get cool bulky armor and weapons that appeal to many people more than other types of gear, still generally get to fight enemies even though their damage is on the lower side, and they get all the glory for standing right in the boss’ face and protecting their entire party. Comparatively, supports have a thankless job that is focused almost entirely on interacting with emotionally charged players at low health, making insults and harassment extremely common whenever they make a mistake and let someone go down. That kind of pressure combined with the extremely limited play options available to support classes are not appealing to many players and it shows. I mean, seriously, there’s an actual unspoken rule among many players that you need to always go out of your way to thank your healers in any game SPECIFICALLY because they get so much shit online for things both in and out of their control.
I want to be Darth Maul. How could I do that.
*lagths in ac 21 paladin/warlock/barbion with +7 being his lowest save*
Excelent video as always! Tanking in pen &paper RPGs is really not easy.
I' ve come up with a few tank ideas, but my Oath of the Crown paladin was the one who lived the most (he even got to retire!)
Name: Sir Marcus Khalagan
Race (Variant Human-Heavy armor master bonus feat)
Background: Folk Hero (survival + animal handling)
Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidation and Athletics
1st level Stats-> Str:16 Dex:8 Con:16 Wis:12 Car:14
CA: 18 (chainmail + shield) / HP:13
Right of the bat we got our heals, some damage resistance in heavy armor master, good saves and high AC.
Diplomacy or Intimidation can be used to avoid combat or goad enemies into attacking you.
2nd Level is where things start to get interesting, we can select our fighting style (defense, protection or dueling are great), we can now smite or use Shield of Faith to buff us to impossible levels of AC, also compeled duel to pseudo-taunt opponents.
3rd Level we are the ultimate tank, our channel divinity will keep our enemies close to us, and we can compel or command enemies who are farther ahead into melee, AoE spells will probably hit you and 2+ opponents that are glued to you. Also by this level you might be able to afford better gear, so consider upgrading to splintmail Asap
4th Level we get our first ASI, this is the level that I take sentinel, but raising either STR or CON is also great.
5th Level: Two attacks means two oportunities to smite baby!, the find steed spell will help tons in mobility even if you don't fully invest in mounted combat. If you want to multiclass this is our last paladin level, go grab that Sorcadin combo or fighter action surge now if you want...Marcus stuck with paladin until the end of his quest at level 10, but min-max players can do whatever they want!
6th Level: Aura of protection means we are basically invulnerable to CHA and WIS based spells, and highly resistant to STR and CON saves as well, by this level heavy armor master is starting to fall off and elemental damage is starting do hurt us more and more...but your allies are safe! and we are sturdy enough to weather the storm
7th Level: Wasting our reaction to take damage instead of an ally, hope you never have to use this but be glad you have it at your disposal.
8th Level: Shield master feat or a STR bump. Invest in magic itens to bump up your CAR instead of ASI.
By this level most goons can't touch your alies and even if they can make the save against your taunting skills you can use warding bond to share their pain! The DM has to be creative in ways to to challenge your team and not get repetitive (all enemies have high WIS/CAR saves, 3+ranged goons and a damage sponge guy)
9th Level: 3rd level spells baby! Spirit Guardians can make us extra sticky! Aura of vitality can be used in low stakes combat to patch yourself up in a pinch...but I never used it
10th level:After two amazing years my particular run with this character ended here, Aura of Courage is quite underwhelming IMO, but it might come in handy.
Most campaings will not go above level 10, spellcasters become much more OP and an aventure day is more a battle of atrition and resource management. You can feel you are starting to fall off in damage but very few things by your level will be able to get past you or down you in 2/3 rounds, your companions will have your back covered as well to shore up your shortcommings.
Hope my build was of some help if anyone is needing some ideas!! and sorry about my english XD
Personal favorite tank build is a combo build with my fiance. Moon druid with sentinel as the mount and cavalier fighter with mounted combatant as the tank. All attacks the would target the druid now must target the fighter, which triggers sentinel. Being marked by the cavalier means attacks vs. anyone else are disadvantaged. The fighter dipped 1 level into forge cleric to make magic armour and shield of faith. Currently sits at 26 AC in most fits after fighting style and magic gear.
I went a more interesting approach for 'drawing enemy fire' for my tank. My tank is a Tortle Abjuration Wizard/Cleric. Natural AC 17 thanks to turtle shell is pretty nice, that means i get a base AC of 19 with a shield with no investment of money. Tortles also get bonuses to Wisdom saves, which is pretty useful. So decent AC, with decent hitpoints because of course. Plus the Arcane Ward feature from the Abjuration Wizard basically gives me a bunch of free hitpoints that i automatically heal whenever i cast an Abjuration spell, i can theoretically get more effective hitpoints than some fighters. Get the Resistance cantrip to gain resistance to mundane damage types, and able to restore the Arcane Ward without spending slots, and mooks have a really tough time getting through me.
What is going to actually cause the enemies to fight me though? Well, i am going to be the NOPE wizard. Counterspell is really the best way to negate the threat of enemy spellcasters, and everyone who plays DnD knows you have to KILL THE WIZARD FIRST to stop fireballs. If i'm just sitting in the middle of the fight with enough AC and hitpoints to deal with pleb attacks, plus shutting down the enemy spell casters with timely NOPE castings, the enemies will have no choice but to target me first.
The Cleric multiclass gives me access to shields (and armour, but Tortles can't wear it) and some healing spells to keep my team mates alive. Clerics also know every spell on their spell list, and they have some nice utility stuff like Detect Magic.
Going back in hindsight, i probably would have been a Human and saved my pennies to get plate armour at the first opportunity, so i get a juicy feat. But i'm liking my grouchy old turtle man :)
I'm really surprised that Monk wasn't brought up as a tank. It's a slightly different take on it, but it doesn't take away the fact that Monks can be really reliable off-tanks. The Monk is really good at approaching the front lines of the enemies early in the fights, stun enemies, and continue to control the battlefield by moving around and engaging other enemies.
The Monk usually has a better AC than a Barbarian since the DEX+WIS is a better combination for Monks, than DEX+CON is for Barbarians (especially at early levels). Their HP is mid-tier (and why it was probably over-glanced), but considering that you are already emphasizing the use of feats, why not bring up a Monk that took the Tough feat?
Thanks to their high DEX, Monk is very likely to be at the top of the initiative order, so they start setting up the rules. They also get a lot of saving throws, especially the one you brought up that is so important in DEX, not to mention they get Evasion. They also become resistant to effects like being Charmed or Frightened, which keeps you on your party's side.
It's not a traditional one, but you don't have to be big and mighty to be a tank. A lot of the things that you brought up about tanks can easily be done by a Monk.
there's a reason the monk is called a glass-canon.
it's dps is great and so is it's AC but when it gets hit it gets HIT.
monks have a low HP compared to other close combat classes
Magetank = warcaster + melee cantrips as alternate to sentinel
Forge Claric!!!!!
My brother found out he loved playing a tank when we did a Ravnican one shot. He and his wife, who played a rogue, made a pretty solid duo. He had heavy armor and a shield and the protector fighting style. He would impose disadvantage while shrugging off hits while she struck with powerful sneak attacks, and though she didn't have the highest ac or hit points she was able to survive against hoards of zombies with disadvantage from his protection and uncanny Dodge.
Polearm/Shield master spear fighter is my fav new build. Hoplite bois foreverrrrrrrrr