How to be tanky?

[Raul Leão]

Hey guys,

I was thinking of being my teams tank and was wondering how i can do this...

Im currently a dwarf level 3 fighetr/1 barbarian/1 sorcerer /2 dragon disciple

By level 20 i want to be level 10 in dragon disciple and 8 fighter.

How can i be more tanky?

i have +4 from natural armor of DD, 1 time per round mounted combat

I should invest in Armor, or dex is better?

Is a good idea to use 1 shield and 1 flail to trip?

i have power attack, is worth loosing it to use a shield?

What else can i do to be the tanker?

Lets use this example:

The adamantine golem have 40 BAB and a slam +58

so its 98 +d20 attack right?

how can i avoid this? Tankers ins late games are made just by HP?

PS: im using only the core books

[Vhaidara]

how can i avoid this? Tankers ins late games are made just by HP?

Actually, late game tanking works off of miss chance and concealment. And it also generally doesn't work in a core only game.

Here's the problem: If you invest in resources that make you tanky, you aren't investing in damage or control. Without damage or control, you provide enemies with no reason to kill you first, so they will go and kill the people who aren't tanky while you plink away at them for small amounts of damage. Then they kill you.

[Feint's End]

Also that's not how the to hit calculation works. The +40 are already calculated in the +58 ... so it would only be 1d20+58.

Other than that core tanking doesn't really work as has been mentioned. You can try to be as tough as possible (invest in armor ... core only dex based is bad) but I suggest you still use a two handed weapon to make good use of your high strength (preferably you'll be able to trip too).

Edit: also 3 levels of fighter is worthless since you don't really get that much from it. I'd rather take another level barbarian or sorcerer.

[Raul Leão]

I dont think uncany dodge or more level 1 spells will be worth a level in fighter... this level can give me one talent!

[Feint's End]

I dont think uncany dodge or more level 1 spells will be worth a level in fighter... this level can give me one talent!

Level 3 doesn't give you a feat though so it's pretty worthless. Barbarian for example gives you better skillpoints, higher HD, uncanny dodge and a better save boost. Why would you take the 3rd fighter level instead?

I also just realised that core only has almost no useful feats so in the build below you can safely remove the 2 levels in fighter for Barbarian and drop the the latter 2 feats.

For the level 6 entry I'd use the following build (I guess race is up to you but you can't be wrong with human). Assume 32 pb:
Human str 16 dex 12 con 14 int 14 wis 10 cha 12


1 Barbarian / Power Attack, combat expertise
2 Fighter / improved trip
3 Fighter / improved initiative, cleave
4 Barbarian
5 Sorcerer
6 Disciple / ... I don't know ... improved disarm? (You can also delay cleave here and get EWP earlier)

There you go. Good damage and some cc. Invest in the best armor you can get and a weapon with the trip property (you might want to get EWP (spiked chain) for the utility it offers)

Edit: you could reduce cha and int both by 1 to get a higher dex but I'm not sure it's worth it (you likely want to wear fullplate albeit I guess breastplate is an option too ... better yet mithral fullplate barbarian). I'd rather have the higher skillpoints and charisma but it's your choice. A higher dex definitely makes combat reflexes a viable choice (especially if you use a reach weapon).

[Deadline]

How to be a tank in 3.5:

There's really only one requirement to being a "tank" in D&D, you need to draw the attacks of your foes to you. Being able to survive those attacks would be nice, but that part is easy. Making the enemies attack you and not your pals is hard. You need one of these things:


A DM who agrees to help you tank by having the majority of enemies target you.
The ability to cause the enemies enough trouble (doing lots of damage, inflicting penalties on attacks that aren't made on you, or lots of annoying battlefield control) to target you instead of your friends.
An ability to force enemies to attack you (Knight's Challenge, the Goad Feat, Bodyguard feats, etc.).


You'll notice a core only Fighter can pretty much only do #1. Crusaders, high Charisma characters with Goad or Knight's Challenge, and Spellcasters are pretty much the only types that can do most of these reliably. In core only, Spellcasters are the only ones capable of reliably pulling off #2 and #3.

[NOhara24]

How to be a tank in 3.5:

There's really only one requirement to being a "tank" in D&D, you need to draw the attacks of your foes to you. Being able to survive those attacks would be nice, but that part is easy. Making the enemies attack you and not your pals is hard. You need one of these things:


A DM who agrees to help you tank by having the majority of enemies target you.
The ability to cause the enemies enough trouble (doing lots of damage, inflicting penalties on attacks that aren't made on you, or lots of annoying battlefield control) to target you instead of your friends.
An ability to force enemies to attack you (Knight's Challenge, the Goad Feat, Bodyguard feats, etc.).


You'll notice a core only Fighter can pretty much only do #1. Crusaders, high Charisma characters with Goad or Knight's Challenge, and Spellcasters are pretty much the only types that can do most of these reliably. In core only, Spellcasters are the only ones capable of reliably pulling off #2 and #3.


This. There are two parts to tanking. The second part is surviving the damage that enemies deal you. You're literally useless as a tank if you can't get your enemies to attack you over everyone else in the group. You're also going to want to capitalize on enemies that do choose to hit you, and punish enemies who don't. Some feats to look into:

Robilar's Gambit
Stand Still
Combat Reflexes


Generally speaking, a Crusader with a reach weapon would work wonderfully for what you're trying to do. I don't have his character sheet in front of me, but my Level 18 Paladin/Crusader/RKV gets an attack if any of the following happens.

-He gets attacked
-Someone who isn't him in his party gets attacked
-The enemy tries to take a 5ft step
-The enemy starts and ends his turn next to him, even if they do nothing at all.

This is all of course dependent on which stances he has active. The point is, you have to find a way to make it more appealing for enemies to hit you vs. another member of the party.