Defending character(s) build

[TheMooch]

I'm looking for a build thats main goal is to defend another character or two at most. Preferably this would be a melee build but other options aren't out of the question.

Assume elite array for stats, lvl 25, all books and dragon magazine are options
Weath by level for any gear that might be needed

I would think that some combination of knight, crusader and maybe marshel but I'm not familiar enough with these kinds of builds to come up with anything

[herrhauptmann]

I think Knight works, but from what I remember, to really use your knight abilities you've got to single-class it.

Devoted Defender from Sword and Fist is a protector PrC.
Drow of the Underdark has a number of defender type feats, but all with the flavor of sacrificing the life of your servants/slaves, rather than being the rugged guardian angel.

[RavynsLand]

Devoted Defender is a pretty good one yeah. Tack on a few level of Dwarven Defender if you have room, just to tank up.

[Kraken]

Whatever route you go, I'm going to recommend something with high level casting, simply due to the fact that if things go south, a wizard can cast baleful teleport on their charge, who can voluntarily fail their save, and get out of dodge. If you can get your DM to reflavor spellguard of silverymoon, I'd highly recommend it as well.

Consider wizard2/fighter4 (or any other full BAB class)/abjurant champion4/swiftblade (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327)10/spellguard of silverymoon5

BAB +19 with 17th level wizard casting overall.

You can be shapechanged into a solar (or whatever) all day long for gaudy physical stats.

You can cast heroics (spell compendium) to grant yourself fighter bonus feats on demand. There won't really be much that a fighter can do that you won't be able to do.

Spellguard of silverymoon allows you to cast some spells that are normally personal only on your charge (any spell that increases saves, AC, or HP is allowed). Combined with abjurant champion, you can cast shield on your charge to grant them a +8 shield bonus to AC, and cast greater luminous armor (book of exalted deeds) on them to grant them a +12 armor bonus to AC. Greater luminous armor lasts all day, too. If you ever get to level 26, the 5th level of abjurant champion would increase those armor and shield bonuses by 1.

You can spontaneously cast time stop because of swiftblade.

You get an extra standard action every turn.

Spellguard of silverymoon allows you to exclude creature types when casting area spells. So if you want to fireball an area that includes your charge, unless he's the exact same type and subtype as all his attackers, you can safely exclude him from the fireball.

In addition to baleful teleport (Waterdeep) allowing you to send your charge far away if needed, benign transposition (Spell Compendium) will allow you to switch places with them in the midst of battle.

Swiftblade grants makes haste an (EX) effect while it's active, it also grants you (EX) freedom of movement. This means you'll basically never be able to be grappled, among other things.

[Know(Nothing)]

If you decide to not go caster, I really like this kind of build:

Get Large(Half-Ogre, Half-Minotaur, or whatever works for you).

Get as much War Hulk as possible. Mix with Fighter for more BAB and Feats, or get fancy with some maneuver classes.

Combat Reflexes(or if you can boost your Dex enough, Improved Combat Reflexes as an Epic feat).

Large and In Charge(from Draconomicon).

Short Haft(if you can meet the requirements-- from either PHB2 or a Dragon Mag, not sure which one).

Wield a large, Keen Talenta Sharrash(if you can get proficiency great, if not you will probably be strong enough to do without it anyway).

If you got the feats to spare, Brutal Throw is nice, especially coupled with a Harpoon and rope/chain.

Mage Slayer/Pierce Magical Concealment/Pierce Magical Protection is a nice route if you wanna go caster-killer. Might be especially hard depending on how your DM runs the War Hulk's No Time To Think.

So you're hitting anything in your massive range with a solid chance to crit, which with your obscene strength means it'll be dust. If you get an AoO on anyone and they don't die, you at least prevent them from moving any further. Your size plus your reach means you can act as a murder-fence for numerous allies depending on how you arrange yourselves. If something is out of your range, or gets between you and your ally, you can harpoon it and keep it from closing on them.

This is just kind of a starting place, with a lot of room to make it your own, though. With this as your main method, you can still play around with other tactics and roles.