Building a Tank

[Roll Me A D20]

I am looking to build a tank and would like some help. I would like some suggestions as to some races, base and prestige classes, feats , and a few items. All books are allowed. Please and thank you!

[bjoern]

Well, what do you mean by tank?
Tons of HP?
Tons of DPS?
A BFC guy with a spiked chain and 20' reach?
A CoDZilla that outshines everyone?
An Incantatrix that.....see CoDZilla.

[Elricaltovilla]

What do you mean by tank? Do you want to be hard to kill or do you want to protect your allies? What books do you have available and what system are you using?

[Forrestfire]

If you play a Warforged, you can use Alter Self to turn into Large Animated Objects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/animatedObject.htm) at level 4. I'd give it the Wheels ability, and probably some high hardness thanks to adamantine armor. You'll need to get your own cannon, so make sure you have graspy-bits to hold and fire your gun.

[bjoern]

Play a wizard.
Dump all physical stats.
Take silent and still spell
Polymorph into a hydra or some other gigantic thing and tank every encounter.

[bjoern]

If you play a Warforged, you can use Alter Self to turn into Large Animated Objects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/animatedObject.htm) at level 4. I'd give it the Wheels ability, and probably some high hardness thanks to adamantine armor. You'll need to get your own cannon, so make sure you have graspy-bits to hold and fire your gun.

Do this.....and make the transformers sound every time.

[Almarck]

We need more information. 3.5 or Pathfinder? Depending on choice, there might be options the other is incapable of using.
Also, what level and how many resources you got?


Do you mean playing a tough, hard to kill playable character? Or an actual main battle tank? Kinda joking about that, but anyways: can you specify what you want of things you want to defend against the most? Evade more blows, endure more blows, that sorta thing.

[Roll Me A D20]

Apologies for the lack of information. I am playing dnd 3.5 and I have access to all of the books. I am looking to build a character who is tough to kill. Preferably melee based. I want the character to soak up blows like a damage Sham Wow

[Darrin]

Apologies for the lack of information. I am playing dnd 3.5 and I have access to all of the books. I am looking to build a character who is tough to kill. Preferably melee based. I want the character to soak up blows like a damage Sham Wow

Warforged Crusader with Adamantine Body and Stone Power.

[Doctor Awkward]

Warforged Crusader with Adamantine Body and Stone Power.

Alternately, Azurin Incarnate/Crusader with defensive soul melds that reduce the damage you take and increase the effectiveness of your self-heals.

[Red Fel]

Apologies for the lack of information. I am playing dnd 3.5 and I have access to all of the books. I am looking to build a character who is tough to kill. Preferably melee based. I want the character to soak up blows like a damage Sham Wow

The thing to remember is that a character who is tough to kill, who puts all of his WBL, feats, and class features into being indestructible... Is useless. He's a moving obstacle, and enemies will simply navigate around him to get to the other PCs, who are bigger threats and squishier targets.

Ignoring the obvious "play a Wizard" solution, my advice is to take a Dragonborn Warforged (wings aspect) and go more or less straight Crusader. Add a Whirling Frenzy Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian dip or Fighter dip, if that's your thing, but run Crusader. Grab Thicket of Blades stance, and a reach weapon, then combo some feats like Karmic Strike/Robilar's Gambit, Improved Trip + Knock Down, and Stand Still.

The goal is to turn everything in your threatened area into an immobilized lump, and to force everything to attack you, which will in turn provoke AoOs for (hopefully) monstrous damage. Wings will give you the edge on mobility, because your goal should be to get to (and lock down) your enemies before they can get near your squishies.

[WeaselGuy]

Knowledge (Engineering), Craft (Metalworking), Profession (Mechanical Engineer)

On a more serious note, using video game terms isn't always analogous in D&D. And they don't always work the way you want them to. A War Cleric using divine metamagic can become large with great base attack bonus and bonus hit points, along with some other goodies, and end up doing what you have in mind for a Fighter class, only better. If you want to forego magic (somewhat, at least) then I recommend Crusader, as mentioned earlier.

And then there's the Druid route, where you shift into bear form, ride a bear into battle, and summon other bears to fight alongside you. It's a thing, and it works. It also makes some DMs cry. Although not as much as when you play a Necromancer of some variety, and swamp the table with skeletons. Death by a thousand AoOs!

[Seerow]

If you play a Warforged, you can use Alter Self to turn into Large Animated Objects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/animatedObject.htm) at level 4. I'd give it the Wheels ability, and probably some high hardness thanks to adamantine armor. You'll need to get your own cannon, so make sure you have graspy-bits to hold and fire your gun.

This is beautiful. Can Warforged really alter self into constructs? I thought living construct was its own thing so you couldn't do that.

[True believer]

Dwarf Cleric10/Dwarven defender10



buffs: check
Heal: check
Best tank class: check


If you have a feat problem then take the first level as a fighter

[Troacctid]

This is beautiful. Can Warforged really alter self into constructs? I thought living construct was its own thing so you couldn't do that.

Alter Self changes you into a creature of the same creature type as yourself, and your type is construct (with the living construct subtype, but subtype isn't factored into it), so yeah.

Warforged shapeshifting is pretty cool in general, actually. A Warforged Druid who uses wild shape retains its original type and subtype (per the alternate form rules), so you turn into a metal version of the animal, complete with whatever type of composite plating you originally had (which, since it's not technically "natural armor", is retained).

[endur]

The thing to remember is that a character who is tough to kill, who puts all of his WBL, feats, and class features into being indestructible... Is useless. He's a moving obstacle, and enemies will simply navigate around him to get to the other PCs, who are bigger threats and squishier targets.


I think R.F.'s comment disregards the original poster's goal.

The original poster wants to be indestructible. There are classes that enable that play style. (Crusader, Dwarven Defender, etc.).

Yes, enemies will navigate around the indestructible hero sometimes. See what happens when enemies fight Superman, sometimes they go after Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane when they can't hurt Superman.

Still this play style is NOT USELESS. It is a valid play style.

[HyperDunkBarkly]

might as well make a trip character. without aggro and/or battlefield control, you're not really a tank. you're just a beefy stick.

[Solaris]

Still this play style is NOT USELESS. It is a valid play style.

Technically speaking, so is playing Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane in a superheroes game.

There's nothing wrong with pointing out that D&D doesn't reward defensive play and offering alternatives. While it's technically true that the 'indestructible man' is a valid play style in D&D, it's only slightly less effective than an ordinary fighter and significantly less effective than one optimized around charging or tripping.

[Karl Aegis]

If we're going with competitive balance trope archetypes, he wants a Stone Wall type character. I'm going to suggest playing an actual stone wall. Use a scroll of Stone Shape to turn some stone into the desired shape and then use a Wand of Shrink Item to make transporting the wall more manageable. Toss the wall down whenever needed.

You can cast Animate Objects on the wall, I GUESS. But, that gets more expensive than is actually necessary.

[Forrestfire]

Technically, my proposed Warforged with Alter Self can also turn into an animated object stone wall :smallwink:

EDIT: Warforged Crusader 6/Warforged Juggernaut 5, with cross-class ranks in Use Magic Device, and a Wand Chamber with a CL 4 alter self wand. Best of all worlds!

[Twurps]

I've had a great deal of fun with a Crusader/Ruby knight Vindicator build (And some dips for feats, I don't have the exact build at hand).
Crusader for the 'heal self and allies' maneuvers, cleric for more healing (and knowledge devotion), RKV advancing both. (emphasis was on Melee/maneuvers, so the build could work without RKV/Cleric)

I used 'allied defense' feat to protect nearby allies
'Iron Guard's glare' stance for more protection of allies

A spiked chain (edit: kusari gama: basically the 1 handed spiked chain) (and combat reflexes) for tripping.

A shield (and shield ward feat) for for shield bonus to touch AC

At some point: a 1 level dip in swordsage for all save replacing maneuvers.

including 5 levels of 'sanctified one' (Wee Jas) gives you an additional +5 AC bonus, or: dropping your armor altogether, a +5 shield bonus to touch AC (with shield ward mentioned above). but that might not be worth it.

Get the 'mineral warrior' template (+1) for +3 natural armor, and damage reduction. With the crusaders delayed damage pool, that damage reduction applies twice to any damage you take.

I granted nearby allies an effective +9 to AC, and tripped anything coming close, maiking me a very vialble target even without high DPS. knowledge devotion and a martial discipline weapon ensured I made my hits, for the healing maneuvers to trigger. It's the most durable melee I've played while still looking human.

I know a wizard can do al this better, but wizards can do everything better. At our 'not TO' table, it was great fun.

[AnonymousPepper]

Very high op answer:

Pure HP soak is nice, but let's be honest, HP only goes so far; spell-based defenses make for the best tanks. Artificer, therefore, is my recommendation because it has the best and the cheapest access to such spells, particularly if you're allowed to work with custom magic items. Sure, you're taking a d6 HD instead of d10s or d12s, but Persistent Spell applied to various defensive buffs, as CoDzilla does it, is amazing and more than worth the tradeoff.

Buffs like Greater Blink, Blur, Superior Resistance, Fly, Forceward, Greater Luminous Armor, and Selective Spell Antimagic Field, layered with magic items like a Ring of Freedom of Movement, a Ring of Mental Fortitude, a Smoking weapon, Doomwarding weapons, and Spellblade weapons (use the various Complete Scoundrel blades to have multiple ones wielded at once), piled onto armor and bracers with things like Soulfire, Proof Against Transmutation, and various Augment Crystals (which can be combined as per the MIC's item combination rules, don't forget)...

You can be a walking magical equivalent to an Abrams, literally uncrackable by anything that's not a god (gods ignore AMFs) or an extremely high level caster (Disjunction can screw you over, but it's a 1% chance of cracking an AMF per caster level). Because basically that's the only way to kill you - they have to get through that antimagic field, and then they have to dispel all of the buffs off before you can even touch you. All-day-long selective AMF + buffs, man. And then you slap on +CON items and maybe some Wishes later on and you suddenly have just as much HP as the high-HD classes if not more.

All of this, while also being able to contribute to the party elsewhere with the fact that you're a freaking Artificer who can whip up any fourth-level-and-lower spell in the game in one minute (or a round, if you blow an action point). And all of this for the exceptionally low price that artificers have to pay for their toys with the correct feat selections.

CoDzilla is great, but artificers, as always, do it better.

[Lerondiel]

A few levels of hexblade wouldnt hurt :)

[HyperDunkBarkly]

If we're going with competitive balance trope archetypes, he wants a Stone Wall type character. I'm going to suggest playing an actual stone wall. Use a scroll of Stone Shape to turn some stone into the desired shape and then use a Wand of Shrink Item to make transporting the wall more manageable. Toss the wall down whenever needed.

You can cast Animate Objects on the wall, I GUESS. But, that gets more expensive than is actually necessary.

that would be closer to an actual tank instead of being a mislabeled bruiser.

at least the Stone Wall character is actively using some form of CC.

[Aetolus]

I really like Deepwarden. Con to AC instead of Dex is delicious, and so is the d12 HD and the 6+int skills per level.