A tanking cleric

[mealar]

Hi guys, been running in a small group recently and i made a tempest cleric with a polearm, honestly just cause it sounded cool, but the rest of my grp is a sneaky rouge a sorcerer and a bow ranger so i found myself on the frontline. this isn't a huge problem but finding my health pool and AC aren't that impressive (same as ranger hiding behind me) so just wondering if you guys have some ideas for "beefing" up my guy without losing the warrior priest/gish thing i have going?

[Aurthur]

Variant human life domain cleric with sentinel feat would be a pretty effective tank. Heavy armor, shield, and taunting ability... in addition to the ability to shield/heal.

[mealar]

does the humans extra skill include armor/weapons? cause other than that the light cleric doesn't get heavy Armor

[Corey]

What level are you? Are you and the sorcerer casting a concentration spell every encounter, or doesn't that make sense yet? Is the sorcerer doing anything to help reduce incoming damage?

[Giant2005]

Just don't try to tank. As you said that Ranger behind you can take a hit better than you can, so just cast Spirit Guardians and herd the enemies towards him.

[mealar]

we're only 4th level atm and my concentration normally goes on Bless for the grp as for the sorcerer think of him as a giant glass cannon who occasionally explodes because of wild magic

[Giant2005]

Then cast Sanctuary and just wait it out until the enemies get bored of you and move on.

[Naanomi]

Life cleric with heavy armor mastery isn't bad but much better with a second meat shield tag teaming the front line with him

[Aurthur]

does the humans extra skill include armor/weapons? cause other than that the light cleric doesn't get heavy Armor

Life, not Light. Corrected.

[Corey]

we're only 4th level atm and my concentration normally goes on Bless for the grp as for the sorcerer think of him as a giant glass cannon who occasionally explodes because of wild magic

Bane as a general rule won't be as good as Bless by the numbers, but in the occasional fight it might be a better choice.

If the arcane caster is all about damage rather than controlling the enemies, that may be part of your problem. Do any of the three other players contribute to defense, or is it three damage-dealers plus you?

[AvatarVecna]

Currently playing in a lvl 5 game IRL where one of the players is a dwarf war cleric decked out in Full Plate with a shield and a warhammer. Combined with their wonderful buffing/healing spells, their killer class features, and their wonderful synergy with the rest of the party, and they're a force to be reckoned with: tons of HP, AC 20, and powerful buffing/healing is quite a combo in a tank. the best part is, she didn't even realize what a tank her character was until she got into combat for the first time; she's virtually always played clerics from what I've seen, and was really used to everybody trying to Shoot The Medic, but she wasn't prepared for when her medic shot back with superior firepower.

[Celcey]

Another thing to consider is the Tough feat and being a hill dwarf, which gives you an extra 3hp per level, although the later may not be an option, being as you've presumably already chosen a race.

[Tarvil]

It's probably too late to make such deep changes in your character, but for posterity's sake...

Good "tank" Cleric build is Hill Dwarf Nature Cleric. Take Resilient (CON) and War Caster, fight with club and shield, wear Plate armor. You don't need high STR or DEX to do good melee damage (Shillelagh), you have great AC, huge hp pool (because you can max Wis and Con) and great concentration rolls. Moreover, you have very good damage without being spell slot hungry, cast Shillelagh, Spiritual Weapon and Spirit Guardians and hold waves of enemies, smacking them with your magical club.