This means War....

[Starchild7309]

Ok brief background. I have been playing some version of D&D with the same DM and a few other players for almost 20 years now. The current group we have is 50/50 older players and newer in experienced players. While I understand some leeway be given to newer players that are just learning, our DM has decided us older players have more experience and can therefore handle impossible feats of heroism. Last night, immediately following a major battle, we slunk off into cover to rest where were were set upon by the biggest baddest dragon we have seen in this campaign. My sorcerer with 12 hp left and about 3 spells left tanked it just long enough for the rest of the party to regroup and with some handwaving by the DM, chase off the Adult black dragon. I am dead, dead, very dead, torn to little pieces dead. I have to reroll I believe. Fine this happens in campaigns, seems a little shady to throw that at us after a major battle, but whatever. My problem is this: According to our DM, us older players are more experienced and should be able to handle harder situations better and therefore he throws more things at us than newer players. This has cost me at least a half dozen characters over the years where things get down right deadly for me while the newer players are bopping goblins on the head. While I enjoy the challenge I am starting to become perturbed. I want all you Giants of the playground to help me come up with the character with the most "survivability" What is the hardest character to kill in the level 6-10 range? And what does that character look like? Feats? Multiclass? specialities within a class? Tell me your opinions.

[Specter]

Right off the bat, a few options:
- Barbarian with the Resilient (Wisdom) feat
- Eldritch Knight (Absorb Elements and Shield help you live a lot longer)
- Paladin X/Fighter 2, using Action Surge to use Lay on Hands and the bonus action for Second Wind (essentially instant healing)

But many other things are possible.

[saeval]

Bear Totem Revenant? A Dude that wouldn't sacrifice himself for others?

[SliceandDiceKid]

I'd go Fighter2/WizardX

Start heavy armor+shield take defense style, better HP base. (If concerned about your movement speed or don't want to invest in 15 str, get 14 dex and use medium armor)
When you start wizard, grab green flame blade for great scaling damage. Cast shield for safety. Choose Abjuration for the ward (basically refillable temporary HP). Use defensive spells all the time. At wiz 14, advantage on saves vs spells and resistance to damage from spells. Use rituals in your downtime to refill your ward's HPs.

War caster is necessary for casting with weapon+shield, but you could always use daggers and drop them if you need to cast??? Idk. Decent planning is more effective IMO than spending the feat.

HEAVY ARMOR MASTER if you're ok with movement penalty/doing heavy armor. MOBILE can be helpful at times.

If you go this route, I'd just bolster dex/con and leave int at 13 or 14. Whatever works for you. It's pretty easy to fill in the gaps on this build.

Also,
That character is pristine and attractive, or gruff and scarred. I think mine is the more appealing of the two routes. ;)

[R.Shackleford]

You want 2 levels of Rogue, Cunning Action (disengage/dash) is going to be a life saver. You might as well hit level 3 thief for fast hands so you can use healing kits. If you go Strogue you will be an offensive juggernaught with some of the best defenses in the game (uncanny dodge and high accuracy).

From there you can go multiple different ways. You could stick with rogue but I prefer cleric, barbarian, or Paladin. Another option so to go monk, if you go Dex/Wis based, free disengage and dash on the monk let you save your ki for your offense. Plus short sword is a monk sneak attack weapon.

Tavern Brawler could be nasty. Stab w/ broken bottle + sneak attack + grapple (extra attack from monk) + bonus action dash + regular movement... Have an enemy keep spike growth up...

[PoeticDwarf]

The hardest? Barbarian! EK and pally can stay a while too

[Giant2005]

Halfling Devotion Paladin 6, Beastmaster Ranger 3.
It seems MAD as hell but you won't be attacking anything, therefore as long as you meet the multiclass requirements you are good. Charisma for the Paladin's save aura and spell DCs is basically all you care about - Con for hitpoints obviously matter somewhat too. Don't even bother meeting the strength requirements for heavy armor - your companion will be doing all of the walking, so losing 10' of your own movement is irrelevant.
Your one and only ASI/Feat is reserved for Mounted Combatant and you want to go Sword-and-Board with the Defense Fighting Style.
The basic strategy is to get Sanctuary up and let your companion do all of the fighting so it doesn't break.
Mounted Combatant will keep your Companion from being attacked from anything that doesn't have a save and your Pally Aura plus MC's Evasion will protect it from those that do require saves.
Between having 21 AC and your targets needing to pass a Wisdom save in order to target you in the first place, your personal defenses will be about as good as they can get for physical attacks. As soon as you can, get your hands on Shield Master so you share the same defense against save spells (Aura + Evasion) as your companion.
It is a bit of a stretch, but if you can eventually get your hands on 6 levels of Enchantment Wizard, that will bring both Blur and Instinctive Charm to the table, which add two more layers of defense an enemy will have to pass before it can touch your hit points. It will also bolster your final layer of defense (basic AC) via the Shield spell.

[Citan]

Ok brief background. I have been playing some version of D&D with the same DM and a few other players for almost 20 years now. The current group we have is 50/50 older players and newer in experienced players. While I understand some leeway be given to newer players that are just learning, our DM has decided us older players have more experience and can therefore handle impossible feats of heroism. Last night, immediately following a major battle, we slunk off into cover to rest where were were set upon by the biggest baddest dragon we have seen in this campaign. My sorcerer with 12 hp left and about 3 spells left tanked it just long enough for the rest of the party to regroup and with some handwaving by the DM, chase off the Adult black dragon. I am dead, dead, very dead, torn to little pieces dead. I have to reroll I believe. Fine this happens in campaigns, seems a little shady to throw that at us after a major battle, but whatever. My problem is this: According to our DM, us older players are more experienced and should be able to handle harder situations better and therefore he throws more things at us than newer players. This has cost me at least a half dozen characters over the years where things get down right deadly for me while the newer players are bopping goblins on the head. While I enjoy the challenge I am starting to become perturbed. I want all you Giants of the playground to help me come up with the character with the most "survivability" What is the hardest character to kill in the level 6-10 range? And what does that character look like? Feats? Multiclass? specialities within a class? Tell me your opinions.
As strange as it sounds, I'd say a Long Death Monk, provided you get good roll stats. You'll be good enough for lvl 6-10, and you get the "You just can't kill me" ability at lvl 11.

Otherwise, Paladin Ancients 7 + Shadow Sorcerer 1 + Undying Light Warlock 1 seems good enough to me. :)
Shadow brings ability to make a Constitution saving throw to avoid falling to 0 except if hit by radiant or critical. Undying Light brings resistance to radiant damage and other goodies.
You still get the greatness of Paladin. :)

These are the two obvious options I see right now. I'll come back later for more detailed ideas if you're still looking (no time now unfortunately).

[JellyPooga]

A multiclass Rogue/Barbarian is remarkably tough. Go Hill Dwarf for the extra HP. I'd go Barbarian 1/Rogue 5 to start, then level up in Barbarian from there.

Moon Druid/Barbarian is the tankiest guy around with a high degree of utility from Wild Shape. Add Rogue 5 to be even tankier and for more utility!

[Sander]

You didn't stipulate what sources we could choose from, so I'm going to go ahead and suggest a Bear Totem Barbarian/Immortal Mystic. Between Raging for ½ damage and Immortal Mystic more or less healing you EVERY round, sometimes more than once a round (depending on how often you use your powers), potentially 3-4x your Int mod. Spring for a shield and Shield Master Feat to basically take no damage from the notoriously damaging dex save effects. Remember that fireball you saved for half damage? How about just, no damage insead? Top that off with the Mystic's decent healing abilites and the Barbarian's danger sense and you've got a character that every DM would probably love to kill... assuming they could.

[Gtdead]

In my opinion you need abilities that use reactions because that way you have a say in the outcome. Shield, absorb elements. I'd go with bladesinger. He has access to reactionary defenses, good ac with bladesinging, The ability to spend spellslots to reduce damage and later access to contigencies, clone.

Grabbing alert and/or lucky is a good idea too

But the best defense is to be paranoid. Make it the point of your character. Doing some crazy multiclass for survivability is too much imo.

[SliceandDiceKid]

In my opinion you need abilities that use reactions because that way you have a say in the outcome. Shield, absorb elements. I'd go with bladesinger. He has access to reactionary defenses, good ac with bladesinging, The ability to spend spellslots to reduce damage and later access to contigencies, clone.

Grabbing alert and/or lucky is a good idea too

But the best defense is to be paranoid. Make it the point of your character. Doing some crazy multiclass for survivability is too much imo.

I second this. Though it's kinda what I was pushing.

Particularly, do the paranoid thing. Say your character is into some weird mysticism that centers around reincarnation. Fortune tellers have insisted that he's died a thousand deaths. This rattles him to his core.

[R.Shackleford]

In my opinion you need abilities that use reactions because that way you have a say in the outcome. Shield, absorb elements. I'd go with bladesinger. He has access to reactionary defenses, good ac with bladesinging, The ability to spend spellslots to reduce damage and later access to contigencies, clone.

Grabbing alert and/or lucky is a good idea too

But the best defense is to be paranoid. Make it the point of your character. Doing some crazy multiclass for survivability is too much imo.

There was a cleric build on here that a person used in a one shot, totally used nothing but reaction and bonus action spells and then uses their action to use the Help Action, Disengage, or Dodge.

That cleric/warlock really did a number on the game.

[Starchild7309]

There was a cleric build on here that a person used in a one shot, totally used nothing but reaction and bonus action spells and then uses their action to use the Help Action, Disengage, or Dodge.

That cleric/warlock really did a number on the game.

Any idea where I could find that? I would like to take a look at it.

[hymer]

@ Starchild7309: I think the real thing you ought to do is not optimize yourself; rather, optimize the newbies or bring yourself to their level.
Personally, I'd absolutely hate to have my PC singled out by NPCs on the meta reason that I, the player, am more experienced than some other players. How many characters do I have to lose for being experienced? And why force me to play and optimize at my height, thus widening the gap to the newbies? And what does it look like from their perspective? Get good, and you get clobbered by black dragons for no reason. Not much incentive to do well there.

I'd take another talk with your DM before making my next character. It's not like you can protect yourself from DM fiat via game mechanics anyway.

Edit: In that conversation, you can ask your DM what you were supposed to do in that encounter. Apparently there must be a way out, if it was a reasonable challenge, even for such an experienced player as you. Next time this crap happens, ask the DM what you should do while it happens. Show your frustration plainly and abdicate. If you get an answer along the lines of "it's up to you", then counter with "it's up to you to give us a fun game".

[Starchild7309]

@ Starchild7309: I think the real thing you ought to do is not optimize yourself; rather, optimize the newbies or bring yourself to their level.
Personally, I'd absolutely hate to have my PC singled out by NPCs on the meta reason that I, the player, am more experienced than some other players. How many characters do I have to lose for being experienced? And why force me to play and optimize at my height, thus widening the gap to the newbies? And what does it look like from their perspective? Get good, and you get clobbered by black dragons for no reason. Not much incentive to do well there.

I'd take another talk with your DM before making my next character. It's not like you can protect yourself from DM fiat via game mechanics anyway.

Edit: In that conversation, you can ask your DM what you were supposed to do in that encounter. Apparently there must be a way out, if it was a reasonable challenge, even for such an experienced player as you. Next time this crap happens, ask the DM what you should do while it happens. Show your frustration plainly and abdicate. If you get an answer along the lines of "it's up to you", then counter with "it's up to you to give us a fun game".

While I appreciate the idea of making others better players, some of them seem just incapable of learning and since they are related to the DM, them being asked to do more or be a better player never happens. It's a double edge sword the being singled out thing since I might get tragic results, I just as often end up with heroic and epic outcomes that favor me greatly.

I have spoken to the DM and it evens out for a bit, but then creeps back towards the same old same old. I have considered finding another group, but after a few attempts I have found I really don't enjoy any groups I have found that can play at the same schedule I am available so I am stuck with it for now if I want to play, which I do. Therefore, I am just working on finding the most unkillable character I can.