Hiring a "meat shield"

[Wafan]

I'm playing a caster and am looking to hire a bodyguard who can take a hit.

I was told about crusader and knight but I was wondering if there is any other classes that would be able to defend me while casting or just going around the world.

As a little heads up my character is neutral evil aligned. <-- Could affect some suggestions

[frogglesmash]

Is the DM building your bodyguard, or are you, or is it a collaborative thing? If it's one of the last two I'd suggest googling a handbook for lockdown builds as that is probably one of the best ways to go for a (melee focused) bodyguard type character.

[Zanos]

What level are you? There's a great 4th level spell for hiring help.

[Wafan]

Is the DM building your bodyguard, or are you, or is it a collaborative thing? If it's one of the last two I'd suggest googling a handbook for lockdown builds as that is probably one of the best ways to go for a (melee focused) bodyguard type character.

It will be a kind of collaborative thing. I am going to suggest things to him and he will roll % to see if he will have said feat, skills, items, ect...

The only thing I get to pick as an absolute is the class.

[Wafan]

What level are you? There's a great 4th level spell for hiring help.

I am lvl 5 so not yet able to cast 4th lvl spells...

[Malroth]

I'd go with a Lawful Evil Cleric of Hextor, they're honorable and loyal to a fault as long as you're supporting the cause of their diety and they don't care too much if you get your hands a little dirty along the way, Just make sure that whatever evil plan you're cooking up also benefits his church.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Why hire when you can summon? Anything with gobs of HP to stand between you and your enemies is good. Grapple-beasts are better. Besides, summoned beasts can be ablative. Who cares if they get dropped? As long as they soak a few hits so you can get spells off unmolested, they will have served their purpose.

Otherwise, sword-and-board, heavy armor class. Crusader would be ideal but anything between that and warrior will do just fine, except paladin for obvious reasons. You just need it to stand between you and the pointies. Readied actions are -really- helpful for a defensively focused character.

[Malroth]

Problem is He's getting 1 minute at most from an extended summon monster and he's not high enough level to Bind or Animate anything

[Kelb_Panthera]

Problem is He's getting 1 minute at most from an extended summon monster and he's not high enough level to Bind or Animate anything

How much more time do you need? If a fight takes longer than a minute, something's gone amiss. If you're suitably cautious then ambushes should be relatively avoidable most of the time. Also note that casting summons while invisible doesn't break the invisibility.

It's your gold but I'd save the cash and just use summons.

[Aleolus]

A level of Fighter wouldn't be bad, for the free feat and Tower Shield Proficiency, if you're going for a high AC build

[Âmesang]

That gets me to thinking—are there any books/magazines/whatever that statted out a "meat golem?" Well, I suppose a flesh golem is close enough…

How effective would a tower shield polymorphed into beef jerky be?

[Zanos]

How much more time do you need? If a fight takes longer than a minute, something's gone amiss. If you're suitably cautious then ambushes should be relatively avoidable most of the time. Also note that casting summons while invisible doesn't break the invisibility.

It's your gold but I'd save the cash and just use summons.
Bodyguards that you need to take a round to pull out typically aren't the best at defending you.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Bodyguards that you need to take a round to pull out typically aren't the best at defending you.

Only if you have to do it in the first roud of combat. If you do it before initiative is rolled then it doesn't matter at all. They're just as good or, perhaps, even better since they only cost you a spell-slot or two.

[tiercel]

Only if you have to do it in the first roud of combat. If you do it before initiative is rolled then it doesn't matter at all. They're just as good or, perhaps, even better since they only cost you a spell-slot or two.

Not everyone plays at an optimization level such that every battle begins as an ambush by the PCs. (In such a campaign, it's arguable why PCs even would want or need meatshields; additionally, it says something about an optimization gap between players and DM.)

More to the point, " a spell-slot or two" is not yet a trivial cost at CL 5. A character at this level can't just do everything all day long with spells, so anything that lets a caster concentrate on casting spells that makes the party win is a net benefit. (Summons could do this, but generally more effectively in a focused minionmancy build.)

To get back to the OP, it is often acknowledged that "tank" is not a well represented archetype in 3.5 D&D. Crusader is the closest, as has been mentioned; Knight might be OK, especially if you are looking to encourage your minion toward a bodyguard-PrC like Thayan Knight (perhaps the most obvious) or even Knight Protector if you can swing the RP. (Both classes: Complete Warrior.)

The problem could be whether you get PrC control/influence. If not, you might be looking for alternatives going forward (Leadership, Wild Cohort, Improved Familiar, and even charm monster). These aren't immediate solutions, but might be something you transition to if your DM won't let you exert as much control over your minion's build as you'd like.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Not everyone plays at an optimization level such that every battle begins as an ambush by the PCs. (In such a campaign, it's arguable why PCs even would want or need meatshields; additionally, it says something about an optimization gap between players and DM.)

It's not a matter of build optimization it's a matter of situational awareness and suitable precaution. It's the antithesis of the kick-in-the-door style. It's listening at the door before you open it. It's looking at a valley and saying to yourself, "that looks like a good place for an ambush. Maybe we should scout the ridges before we try to go through." It's learning to spot the traps before you step into them and picking your fights instead of trying to kill everything you see outside of a town (sewer spelunking not withstanding). Optimization can help to enable these things but it's the mind-set that matters.


More to the point, " a spell-slot or two" is not yet a trivial cost at CL 5. A character at this level can't just do everything all day long with spells, so anything that lets a caster concentrate on casting spells that makes the party win is a net benefit. (Summons could do this, but generally more effectively in a focused minionmancy build.)

At CL 5 that summon might be the only thing you need. The gap between the summoned beasties and the party's foes isn't so big at that level that a huge monstrous centipede might not turn the tide. At later levels the summons become less viable as a replacement for a damage dealer but, like I said above, they can still act as an ablative protection. Every attack focused on a summon is one that doesn't hit the caster or his party.