ultimate meat shield

[Dorphius]

So this is what I'm thinking. DM has banned variant human but is allowing us to take a feat/ASI at first lvl and use the point buy. So starting stats after picking Hill Dwarf (for the extra 1hp per level) and Heavy Armor Master would be

16 str
8 dex
17 con
8 int
9 wis
15 cha

Starting Paladin
1st lay on hands
2nd Protection fighting style and Divine Smite
3rd Oath of the Crown Channel Divinities:
1. Champion Challenge: enemies in 30ft make a Wis save; if they fail they can't move more than 30ft from you.
2. Turn the Tide: bloodied allies in 30ft regain 1d6+Cha HP
4th ASI 1 pt Con 1 pt Cha
5th 2nd attack
6th Aura of Protection adds my cha bonus to saves of all within range
7th when an ally in 5ft takes damage, use your reaction to take the damage instead.
8th Feat Tough for even more hps/survivability

9th 1st lvl fighter Defense fighting style / second wind
10th 2nd lvl fighter action surge
11th 3rd lvl fighter battle master Goading Attack, Maneuvering Attack, Trip Attack

12th lvl and up Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer for more options in spell casting/smiting slots and metamagic and at this point forward it would be 1d6 +8 hps (2hps from tough, 1 from hill dwarf 1 from draconic sorcerer and 4 from con) So plenty there even though going caster.

So this is what I have thought of so far. Ideally I could precast warding bond (which I believe I can cast on more than 1 person) on folks in the party with low hps. Essentially in battle I want all focus on me, while having enough hps to survive a majority of encounter damage, and focusing the enemies on me using the Oath crown channel divinity/compelled duel/goading attack. I could use Maneuvering Attack to help my allies get into safer or more advantageous positions, or trip attack to limit enemy movement while giving allies advantage to hit. As a paladin I could use smite and at later levels superiority dice to nova and end smaller encounters quickly before anybody can get hurt, or in longer encounters use my spell slots for healing (most likely myself if all goes well). I want to be able to take as much damage as possible (sometimes to a fault) while healing myself if all goes well, or others as needed and thus allowing the rest of the party to use their offensive capabilities to the fullest without being hindered. Also in game I would like to quest for that cursed shield that attracts missiles lol, I think it fits my concept as the meat shield/protector of the group. I am not to worried about my strength or other stats going any higher, as I don't think it helps my concept all that much to increase my str or cha, con maybe at very high level if I make it that far.

I think this progresses well from low into the higher levels, but am always open to suggestions to make this concept work better. Thank you in advance for taking a look.

[zylodrizzt]

The only diffrence with a build I had that I can see is your using sorc instead of bard. Bard gets you same amount of spells lets you negate rots at range heals more on short rest. Also I think a bit different on feats. This was before scag though. If you want extra sticky goodness pick up that tunnel fighting fighting style instead of protection since they both use reaction. Consider swash for the taunting. Allowing you to taunt without spells or channel. Consider toughness and durable or even heavy armor master for maximum durability. You may have a bit too much use for bonus action now but consider shield master for adv. Consider booming blade and sentinel for extra sticky and use the sentinel for when you have low hp but still wanna be a theat pairing nicely with tunnel fighter. You may or may not need to pick up warcaster with your hands full but definitely help you maintain concentration you may be lacking.

[Gwendol]

No bear totem barbarian? In terms of meat-shieldness they have no equal.

[zylodrizzt]

I think he could get a bit of that from spells. Doesn't interact well with spell casting. If he wanted something for when he was out of spells sure. To me it just doesn't feel right for the character. "Rawr I'm protecting you by continually smacking someone cause if I don't I won't be as tough to protect you rawr" however reckless attack gives the enemy alot of reason to hit you instead.

[Dorphius]

Yes I think barb is probably best at taking and mitigating damage to themselves. However I am looking to mitigate group wide damage a lot with Warding Bond and FORCING enemies to deal with me using the oath crown channel divinity/compelled duel and such.

As far as feats/ASI I was starting with Heavy Armor Master at 1st lvl, 4th lvl 1pt con 1pt cha, and at 8th lvl taking tough. From there after taking 3 levels of fighter I wont have another ASI/feat until I go up 4 more levels in sorcerer at which point I could pick up sentinel. The biggest reason I was thinking Sorcerer is for the Shield spell, and lightning lure cantrip (which can be twinned or quickened), quicken and twinning my current paladin spells with a few more tricks from the sorcerer spell list would give me a lot battle field options.

I don't know if bard or swash would be better for this particular concept once I reach 12th lvl but personally I just don't enjoy playing bard or rogue types. Also playing this campaign once a week, I would probably not reach the level to make that decision for a long time. We rarely play any campaign much past 15th lvl or so.

[Lonely Tylenol]

The ultimate tank is probably a Dwarven (or Goliath) Paladin 6/Bearbarian 14 with Heavy Armor Master. Tons of HP, resistance to all damage except psychic damage (you won't gain the default resistance from rage, but you will gain the benefit of Bear Totem rage, which, if I am reading right, has no armor provision) plus a flat 3 damage reduction after resistance, imposes disadvantage on anyone attacking someone other than you, and grants CHA bonus to all saves for anyone near you. The Sentinel feat and Tunnel Fighter fighting style are both outside possibilities (if Tunnel Fighter can be taken by Paladins? I can't recall), as is Tough. You either gain Hill Dwarves' bonus HP/level (taking you up to 8/level with Tough), or Mountain Dwarves' +2 STR (which will help you meet the 15 STR requirement of plate), or Goliath's Stone's Endurance feature, plus proficiency in Athletics, which you'll need to shove and trip people when necessary (or avoid the same).

[bid]

If you ever plan to take a Str ASI, you might as well start mountain dwarf with Str18 Wis8 and replace that ASI for Con20 later on.

That, or drop to Con16/Cha14 to shore up Dex10/Wis11. All it takes is a failed Dex save and you can't do a thing to defend the others.

[Slipperychicken]

The ultimate tank is probably a Dwarven (or Goliath) Paladin 6/Bearbarian 14 with Heavy Armor Master. Tons of HP, resistance to all damage except psychic damage (you won't gain the default resistance from rage, but you will gain the benefit of Bear Totem rage, which, if I am reading right, has no armor provision) plus a flat 3 damage reduction after resistance, imposes disadvantage on anyone attacking someone other than you, and grants CHA bonus to all saves for anyone near you. The Sentinel feat and Tunnel Fighter fighting style are both outside possibilities (if Tunnel Fighter can be taken by Paladins? I can't recall), as is Tough. You either gain Hill Dwarves' bonus HP/level (taking you up to 8/level with Tough), or Mountain Dwarves' +2 STR (which will help you meet the 15 STR requirement of plate), or Goliath's Stone's Endurance feature, plus proficiency in Athletics, which you'll need to shove and trip people when necessary (or avoid the same).

I've always been kind of wary about heavy armor master. When you get to the point where enemies are doing double digits of damage, it seems like it wouldn't make the difference between KO'd and conscious. Sometimes I feel like it should scale more than it does; maybe as 1+proficiency bonus instead of a flat 3.

Also, heavy armor master applies before resistance. IIRC a dev confirmed it.

[Lonely Tylenol]

I've always been kind of wary about heavy armor master. When you get to the point where enemies are doing double digits of damage, it seems like it wouldn't make the difference between KO'd and conscious. Sometimes I feel like it should scale more than it does; maybe as 1+proficiency bonus instead of a flat 3.

Also, heavy armor master applies before resistance. IIRC a dev confirmed it.

I, too, wish it scaled. Heavy Armor Master applying (proficiency) reduction to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, in my opinion, would be enough. It would scale it back at levels 1-4 (where it's currently better than resistance against a lot of smaller creatures), but allow it to scale up in later levels instead of becoming totally obsolete.

If Heavy Armor Master applies before resistance, that's kind of a bummer... It would actually make both resistance *and* Heavy Armor Master less useful individually, although it would still reduce more damage than either of them would alone (by... One and a half damage). It also defies a long-held axiom of tabletop RPGs whereby you apply effects in the most beneficial order. If that's not the case here, it's probably also true that you wouldn't want to bother stacking the two.

[Arvin Natsuko]

The ultimate tank is probably a Dwarven (or Goliath) Paladin 6/Bearbarian 14 with Heavy Armor Master. Tons of HP, resistance to all damage except psychic damage (you won't gain the default resistance from rage, but you will gain the benefit of Bear Totem rage, which, if I am reading right, has no armor provision) plus a flat 3 damage reduction after resistance, imposes disadvantage on anyone attacking someone other than you, and grants CHA bonus to all saves for anyone near you. The Sentinel feat and Tunnel Fighter fighting style are both outside possibilities (if Tunnel Fighter can be taken by Paladins? I can't recall), as is Tough. You either gain Hill Dwarves' bonus HP/level (taking you up to 8/level with Tough), or Mountain Dwarves' +2 STR (which will help you meet the 15 STR requirement of plate), or Goliath's Stone's Endurance feature, plus proficiency in Athletics, which you'll need to shove and trip people when necessary (or avoid the same).

RAW you dont have any rage benefit while wearing heavy armor (PHB p. 48), so you cant have Heavy Armor Master and barbarian rage damage resistence working together at the same time.