Low level - high magic, what to play?

[Levistej]

I'm about to start playing in a homebrew campaign that's been running for quite some time but they're still only halfway through level 5. The info I have:

-the dm can be a sadist
-the campaign is roleplay oriented but the fights tend to be brutal
-it's a large party lacking melee frontline capability
-everybody gets magic items far above their punching weight
-no feats allowed
-joining at 5th or 6th lvl with one +2 item and a few uncommon or rare items of my choosing

The party is basically just one tank - a champion fighter and 4 ranged support/dps characters - a hunter ranger, a fire dragon sorc, an assassin rogue and a healbot life cleric

My rolls are 16, 15, 14, 12, 11, 10 and I can only use the core rulebooks for the purpose of creating my character. Due to the party composition mentioned above I was thinking of rolling a gnome moon druid and be the guy that summons meatshields and can become one when needed. The problem I see with this idea is the fact that I can't think of any noteworthy magic item, just seems like moon druids don't really need them and I really hate leaving available resources untapped.

My second idea was playing a paladin of the ancients, the fighter would love my aura and I'd be durable without leaving out those tasty magical gimmicks from my char sheet.

My questions are:
Do you see any glaring weakness in the party composition which I could aim at solving with my choices?
Any better ideas then the mentioned paladin and druid?
Which magic items to pick?

[CaptAl]

Paladin OotA is a great Tanky choice that can burst through most fights.

If the DM is a sadist, though, why not play a masochist. Hexblade, fiend pact, who focuses on reactive damage. Armor of Agythys with hellish rebuke, Polearm master, and sentinal. Make those bastards pay for trying to hit your squishies, and pay more for daring to hit you.

Take 1st level as a fighter, fill in the rest as warlock. Get a plus two glaive/halbard and dare people to hit you. Eldritch blast plus repelling blast to keep enemies who manage to get past you away from the backliners.

Makes for interesting RP to be a fiendish protector of the innocent.

[Levistej]

Yeah, you obviously didn't notice the no feats allowed rule, otherwise polearm master would be one of my preferred choices...

I'm also having ideas of rolling with a death domain hill dwarf cleric - massive HP pool, good ac, and vampiric touch a s a good source of self preservation if the situation requires it.

[Sir cryosin]

Bracers of defense give you like +1 to ac if you arnt not wearing armor it can be used in wild shape form that's what are moon druid had and giants belt of some kind to it works in wild shape

[Sir cryosin]

Every magic use would lie one of these ring of spell storing

[PoeticDwarf]

Barbarians are pretty cool and fit in this. Paladins work if you want more than smashing and still tanky

Or better...
Start 2 druid. Then 5 barb (3 now). Then 13 more druid.
If your DM allows, wildshape works RAW with totem abilities and some say with extra attack...
You are a tank melee fighter with healing and two great nova abilities (rage and wild shape)

[Demidos]

Your party seems to be lacking a battlefield controller/debuffer/buffer/summoner, depending on your sorcerer's spell choices. You could play a druid to fill that in, or go for a semi-frontline bard build.

[PoeticDwarf]

Bracers of defense give you like +1 to ac if you arnt not wearing armor it can be used in wild shape form that's what are moon druid had and giants belt of some kind to it works in wild shape

Many DMs won't allow it. Features as rage will work (RAW) but this doesn't work RAW in most cases :/

[Nicodiemus]

Go necromancer. Only one level away from skellies and zombies. Good battlefield control with choice of spells.

[CaptAl]

Yeah, you obviously didn't notice the no feats allowed rule, otherwise polearm master would be one of my preferred choices...


I did miss that, my apologies.

A 1st level fighter/Abjuration wizard X could fit your niche as well. Secondary tank with a ton of utility/summons and a HP buffer on demand.

[8wGremlin]

You say core books. What does that entail?
PHB, DMG, SCAG?

[bid]

If you never, ever want to MC go half-elf dexadin 11 16 17 10 12 16 with resilient Con or something like it. If no one covers the Int skills, skill versatility can shore it up.

Otherwise, classic paladin or barbarian can get you stats of (18/12 or 16/14) 16 14 11 10 with most races.

[8wGremlin]

Have you thought about going.

Mountain dwarf lore bard.
Bump Str and Cha.
You get good skills.
You can impose restrictions using your cutting words.

At 6th level magic secrets: Aura of Vitality, Booming blade (SCAG) or Eldritch blast.

You can place your expertise in Athletics and grapple.

And for major magic item take Breastplate +2
For an AC of 18 (Dex=14) wielding a battle axe 2-h for 1d10. Take hand off to cast.

Str, = 18(16+2)
Dex = 14
Con = 14 (12+2)
Int = 10
Wis = 11
Cha = 15

[Kane0]

Paladin (Ancients) or Monk (Long Death).

You can help your struggling fighter on the front line and you aren't dependent on multiclassing or feats. Plenty of ways to avoid dying and has bonus secondary roles that won't overstep the other characters in the party.

For magic items go for wacky stuff that will give you new options. No plain AC boosters for you, no sir!

[Malifice]

I'm about to start playing in a homebrew campaign that's been running for quite some time but they're still only halfway through level 5. The info I have:

-the dm can be a sadist
-the campaign is roleplay oriented but the fights tend to be brutal
-it's a large party lacking melee frontline capability
-everybody gets magic items far above their punching weight
-no feats allowed
-joining at 5th or 6th lvl with one +2 item and a few uncommon or rare items of my choosing

The party is basically just one tank - a champion fighter and 4 ranged support/dps characters - a hunter ranger, a fire dragon sorc, an assassin rogue and a healbot life cleric

My rolls are 16, 15, 14, 12, 11, 10 and I can only use the core rulebooks for the purpose of creating my character. Due to the party composition mentioned above I was thinking of rolling a gnome moon druid and be the guy that summons meatshields and can become one when needed. The problem I see with this idea is the fact that I can't think of any noteworthy magic item, just seems like moon druids don't really need them and I really hate leaving available resources untapped.

My second idea was playing a paladin of the ancients, the fighter would love my aura and I'd be durable without leaving out those tasty magical gimmicks from my char sheet.

My questions are:
Do you see any glaring weakness in the party composition which I could aim at solving with my choices?
Any better ideas then the mentioned paladin and druid?
Which magic items to pick?

Sounds like the DM is a [one encounter per long rest] kind of dude.

Steer clear of short rest dependent classes [so go a full caster]. Anything that encourages Nova strikes is what you want [so go a full caster]. Lack of feats is also an issue [so go a full caster].

Sorcerer is already out, so maybe a Divination wizard?

[Talamare]

With no Feats, I suggest a Bearbarian

[Levistej]

Taking everything into consideration, and thank you all for the great and colorful input, I boiled down my options to 2 char choices:

Hanzhee Greensleve; Stout Halfling paladin of vengeance/ancients: Str:10, Dex:20, Con:16, Int:11, Wis:12, Cha:14
Magic items of choice: Goggles of the night, Ring of protection +1, Scimitar of Speed

Hans Dietrich Bärquist; Hill Dwarf nature cleric: Str:14, Dex:12, Con:18, Int:11, Wis:18, Cha:10
Magic items of choice: Pearl of power(one third level spell per day), Magic Shield +2, Adamantine armor

I decided against using a druid because the party is already large in size and I wouldn't want to clutter the grid even more with my summons. The paladin would provide more damage but I believe that the cleric would be a far better tank with bags of hit points, a higher AC + using spirit guardians and thorn whip on a regular basis

Any opinions on class choices, attribute distribution or magic item choice?