"Like hitting a wall". A fun tank character i made+some funny solo fights(deadly)

[Balor777]

Ok guys i was reading the ranger today and i had this idea o making a super difficult guy to be killed still having good damage.
We have
Human variant Barbarian (totem) 4 / Fighter 1 / Ranger 8 (13 total level)

Feats: defensive duelist

Point buy +ASIs:
Strength 20
Dexterity 14
Constitution 16
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 13
Charisma 9

Maximum Hit Points: 126

Armor Class: 20 = 10 + 5 [half plate] + 2 [steel shield] + 2 [dexterity] + 1 [defense style]

Proficiency bonus: +5

Attacks:Rapier +10 to hit 1d8+5(str)+2(duelist style)+2(rage) +d6(hunter's mark)+ d8(Colossus Slayer).
Crit chance 20% per hit ~40% per round
DPR versus 19AC target attacking reclessly+rage+HunMrk+CoSl : 42

Now whats the candy about this Character:

Youll have good chances(75%with recless attack on) to get hit the first round even with 20AC because of recless attack from a +10 attacker.
After the first attack all the other attacks from the same target bump your armor by +4 to 24AC (multiattack defence from ranger)
Now things get funny.With defensive duelist feat this second attack will have to bypass another +5 AC from the defensive duelist feat.Yes you have 29AC.
I asume that you choose vs what attack you will use defensive duelist.If not this feat is useless.(Lets say you fight 3 goblins and an Ogre.Youll pay atention for the ogre attack.)

You have 20AC(first attack)
29 AC second attack
24AC for third attack and more if the enemy has any.
A +10 attack enemy will have
50(75)% to hit you at first attack
5(10)% to hit you with second attack
30%(51%) to hit you with third attack.
* value in ( ) is with recless attack.
Plus you have 50% damage reduction from everything(Totem bear lvl3)

This guy has Extreme survivability vs attacks and as usual will take 50% spell damage from totem bear.
Its the oposite from heavy armor master setup.You are good vs enemies that have 2 attacks or more.

Now to the math (including recless attack so enemy attacks have advantage,if you choose not to attack reclessly the incoming damage is VERY low):

2x 15lvl champions(20 STR polearm master) deal combined per round ~23 damage to you.
The fearsome Berserker (17barb/1fight for the GW style) does with frenzy+Rec attack including retaliation 4th attack: 21DPR
2x stone golems(CR10 each) combined DPR: ~19
Marilith (!?) DPR ~18
20(!?)Level champion +2Greatsword, GWF style,ACTION SURGE round will deal to you ~45 damage.Yes, just that.

At 13 level as is this guy can kill solo
2 stone golems Total XP: 11,800 Adjusted XP: 23,600 Deadly
or a CR16 marilith XP: 15,000 Adjusted XP: 22,500 Deadly

http://postimg.org/image/7gur4xl6h/


Give this man +6AC worth of magic items(for example +3armor and +3shield)
and he will tank the tarasque's 5+3 legendary attacks like a demigod taking average 52 damage per round.
Altho you need 6zerker for this(and of course higher level than 13) to counter frightfull presence.
I like berserker more but i choosed totem this time cause thats what most of the people like.Puls a true tank resist magical damage too.
But if i make this guy some time he will have zerk in the recipe not totem.
http://anydice.com/program/52d0

So what do you guys think?

[Human Paragon 3]

One thing I think you missed: The defensive tactics feature of the ranger only triggers when you are hit by an attack. So unless the enemy hit your 20 AC with its first attack, the second attack will be against AC 25, not AC 29.

If your goal is to not get hit, and therefore not take damage) wouldn't it make more sense to use defensive duelist against the first attack? Especially since a lot of enemies only get the one attack.

That would make it 25 against the first attack, and then 20 thereafter (unless your opponent hits you, which then makes it 24).

You could wait on defensive duelist for the 2nd attack, purposely letting them hit you the first time to trigger the 29 AC, but what would be the point, except getting that very high AC ever so briefly? They already hit you, so the 29 AC isn't doing its job (the job that having a 25 would probably do).

Maybe if the enemy has more attacks (like the fighter with action surge you mention) it works out better to purposely take the first hit?

[Giant2005]

With only 1 less level you could do: Ranger 3 (Beastmaster), Paladin 6 (Devotion), Fighter 3 (Battlemaster) and be even more tanky.
With Mounted Combat your companion can only be attacked via AOE attacks but he also has Evasion to reduce them to 0 damage. The Paladin +save aura benefits the creature's Dex save to add to Evasion's reliability.
With Sanctuary you can only be attacked by AOE attacks (Sadly no Evasion is possible for you at this level unless the DM rules that the creature's Evasion applies) or by conventional attacks that first beat a Wis save.
With the Battlemaster Maneuver "Commander's Strike" you can use your second action to order the companion to attack once again meaning you never have to break Sanctuary.
Sanctuary doesn't require concentration so a spell that boosts defense further can be cast (Preferably something that gives advantage on defense or imposes disadvantage on attack rolls - a 3 levels of Sorc would be a worthy addition for Blur)
With Full Plate, a Shield and Defensive Fighting your AC can be 21.
With 21 AC and the enemy is having to bypass a Wisdom save before they can even attempt the attack (And possible advantage to defense) the character is basically unhittable by anything that isn't an AOE attack. He is also virtually guaranteed to make those saves to AOE saves.

[Balor777]

One thing I think you missed: The defensive tactics feature of the ranger only triggers when you are hit by an attack. So unless the enemy hit your 20 AC with its first attack, the second attack will be against AC 25, not AC 29.

If your goal is to not get hit, and therefore not take damage) wouldn't it make more sense to use defensive duelist against the first attack? Especially since a lot of enemies only get the one attack.

That would make it 25 against the first attack, and then 20 thereafter (unless your opponent hits you, which then makes it 24).

You could wait on defensive duelist for the 2nd attack, purposely letting them hit you the first time to trigger the 29 AC, but what would be the point, except getting that very high AC ever so briefly? They already hit you, so the 29 AC isn't doing its job (the job that having a 25 would probably do).
The point of this build is the super nice synergy recless attack has with the multiattack defence+Def duelist...

As i said with 20AC a normal character defending agains an enemy with 3 attack with +10 to the attack has 50% chances to be hit.
So its damage suffered per round:(enemy damage average per swing x3)50% if the average damage from one enemy swing is 2d6+4 the
damage your average 20AC character suffers per round is (11x3)x1/2=16.5 DPR suffered per round

The idea of the build is that of 2 scenarios vs the same +10 to hit 2d6+4 enemy:
Scenario 1,probability 75%:
You will be hit for the first swing + 10% chances to be hit with second swing + 51% chances to be hit from the third swing:
11damage x 75/100 + 11 damage x 10/100 + +11damage x 51/100= 8,25 + 1,1 + 5,6 = 14,95 /2 from barbar rage => 7,4 damage

Scenario 2,probability 25%:
You wont be hit from the first swing so 44% chances to be hit from the second swing + 51% to be hit from the third swing:
0 damage + 11 damage x 44/100 +11damage x 51/100=0 + 4,84 + 5,6 = 10,44 damage /2 from barba rage => 5.22 damage

Average damage from this 2 scenarios 6,8 DPR suffered per round

What we see here is that 1 more hit per round deals to you only 2.2 damage more.What this means?You are NOT afraid to be hit even with the SUPREME ability
called recless attack. wich doubles your critical chances and buffs you DPR for about 23%(not including criticals).
The same 20AC barbabar without this setup suffers 33 x 75/100 => 25,75/2 => 12,3 DPR suffered per round

So at this fight we have 3 times the survivability vs the first lets say 20AC fighter and double the survavability of the classic barbar with shield.

Now if we really want to tank we dont use recless attack and the chances to be hit are droping dramaticaly:
50% first attack + 5%(only crit) second attack + 30% from the third attack



To make a conclusion with this guy you have:
-Good damage with the only thing you burn is the hunters mark, and you wont run out uses of easily.(see compared to the same lvl champ+GWF+PolMaster feat+GWmaster feat http://anydice.com/program/52e5 )
-50% damage from spells.
-Supreme melee survivability
-You are NOT afraid to use Recless attack 90% of the time.

Do you want even more damage?make it 3lvl berserker than totem.You get magic damage normaly but your DPR gets superb.
If you read through Monster manual youll see that most of the enemies do 2 attacks and the very strong enemies do 3+
If you face 2 attack enemy the mitigation is HUGE.You will be hit the fist time for half damage(rage) and thats it.
Also some enemies do one-two normal attacks and one NASTY one with effect.You can use the defencive duelist right THEN.
You can be very difficult guy to take down with ohter setups too but you will burn spells or other expendable abilities.

[Alucard2099]

With only 1 less level you could do: Ranger 3 (Beastmaster), Paladin 6 (Devotion), Fighter 3 (Battlemaster) and be even more tanky.
With Mounted Combat your companion can only be attacked via AOE attacks but he also has Evasion to reduce them to 0 damage. The Paladin +save aura benefits the creature's Dex save to add to Evasion's reliability.
With Sanctuary you can only be attacked by AOE attacks (Sadly no Evasion is possible for you at this level unless the DM rules that the creature's Evasion applies) or by conventional attacks that first beat a Wis save.
With the Battlemaster Maneuver "Commander's Strike" you can use your second action to order the companion to attack once again meaning you never have to break Sanctuary.
Sanctuary doesn't require concentration so a spell that boosts defense further can be cast (Preferably something that gives advantage on defense or imposes disadvantage on attack rolls - a 3 levels of Sorc would be a worthy addition for Blur)
With Full Plate, a Shield and Defensive Fighting your AC can be 21.
With 21 AC and the enemy is having to bypass a Wisdom save before they can even attempt the attack (And possible advantage to defense) the character is basically unhittable by anything that isn't an AOE attack. He is also virtually guaranteed to make those saves to AOE saves.

So do you want fish or steak at our wedding?