What are my best options?

[Razuchee]

Hello Playground
In one of the campaigns I am playing, I have a Warforged Eldritch knight wearing heavy armor, sword and board. He is currently level 5, and I intend to turn him literally into a tank. I figured that I do not really need the 4th attack, and therefore am looking over the classes to find more utility/versatility. What are your recommendations? And please don't mention bladesinger (We don't use the racial restrictions), I am not going to drop my heavy armor.

My Stats are:
Str18 Dex14 Con16 Int14 Wis11 Cha10, atm I intend to take the resilient (wisdom) feat, as well as warcaster.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Barbarian could be good. Juicy hit dice and nothing says 'tanky' better than bear totem at level 3. You can't cast while you're raging, but that's not a huge loss to a 1/3 caster.

[Gastronomie]

Have a level 17 Caster use True Polymorph on your character to turn him literally into a tank

Assuming you went Defense for your fighting style, base AC 22 is quite nice. You should get War Caster as soon as possible, since getting to use Booming Blade as an opportunity attack and using the Shield spell while having S&B are bonuses you must get as soon as possible.

If you don't have it, Absorb Elements works amazing.

I don't think Barbarian works, since you can't wear heavy armor during Raging. And with those WIS and CHA scores you can't multiclass into most classes either.

Going Wizard gives you Find Familiar, Grease, Protection from Evil and Good, Hold Person, Magic Weapon, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Suggestion, Web, Fear, Fireball, Fly, Haste, Hypnotic Pattern, and... *faints*

Just, whatever you do, I suggest you go Fighter 7 first. War Magic + the SCAG cantrips (BB and GFB) are really, really good.

[Coffee_Dragon]

He is currently level 5, and I intend to turn him literally into a tank.

Find a caster with True Polymorph.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I don't think Barbarian works, since you can't wear heavy armor during Raging.

Oh, true. I forgot about that. :smallsigh:

[Sir cryosin]

Up your wisdom to 13 muiticlass in to tempest cleric to get shield of faith another +2 to ac and thunderous rebuke. Try and get Spirit Guardians. Then for ek spells you want absorb elements and shield. Your ac will be 24 with shield of faith then 29 with shield spell if some one hit 24. Absorb elements there to help those save or sucks save cutting then in half. You could also take wizard lvs to get stuff like misty step, mirror image, haste which is a nice spell 2 to ac free attack and doubles movement.. But if you lose con you a sitting buck for a round.

[Arkhios]

I don't think Barbarian works, since you can't wear heavy armor during Raging.
Oh, true. I forgot about that. :smallsigh:

Technically you can, but it's not advisable due to not being able to benefit from most rage features in heavy armor. With that Dexterity, though, he could switch into using medium armor (maybe Half-plate), and become a barbarian.

[Gastronomie]

Technically you can, but it's not advisable due to not being able to benefit form most rage features in heavy armor. With that Dexterity, though, he could change into using medium armor (maybe Half-plate), and become a barbarian.Eh, that works. A trade-off of -1 AC and resistance to physical damage is not a bad option at all.

Just, again, you should get to level 7 first.

[Arkhios]

Eh, that works. A trade-off of -1 AC and resistance to physical damage is not a bad option at all.

Just, again, you should get to level 7 first.

And, if willing to spend a few ASI, he could even get that -1 AC mitigated (dexterity to 16 and Medium Armor Master feat), though it's probably not the best thing he could do.

[Razuchee]

Thanks for the answers. Although I don't know if its worth wastin +1 on wisdom for cleric, I'll consider it due to having more HP than a wizard multiclass. I though about takin Haste when I get 3rd level slot, as it also gives +2 AC, as well as a "bonus attack". How many levels would you suggest for either Wizard or Cleric? And are the Wizard schools even a consideration, except divination?

[Specter]

Best bets:

Magic Initiate (Cleric): If you don't want to be bothered with multiclassing for Shield of Faith.
Cleric 1: Shield of Faith. Amen.
Wizard 3: Blur and Mirror Image. Nuff said. You can grab one of those at fighter 8. I prefer MI because it's no-con.
Wizard 5: Haste. Smash. Also pickable at Fighter 14.

And absolutely don't go Barbarian. Missing on all of these spells along with Shield and AE is the worst thing you can do.

[Biggstick]

Thanks for the answers. Although I don't know if its worth wastin +1 on wisdom for cleric, I'll consider it due to having more HP than a wizard multiclass. I though about takin Haste when I get 3rd level slot, as it also gives +2 AC, as well as a "bonus attack". How many levels would you suggest for either Wizard or Cleric? And are the Wizard schools even a consideration, except divination?

Abjuration is fantastic if you're trying to play the part of tank. That Abjuration ward is a nice little buffer of temporary hp that can get replenished every time you cast a Shield spell.

As for number of Wizard levels, it's really just the level of spells you want access to. Going EK up to 7 is a minimum requirement, as well as grabbing Warcaster. Pick up three levels of Wizard, which would put you at PC level 10. Decide from there. You could pick up two more levels of Wizard for the Haste spell or go the more martial route.

[CaptainSarathai]

Idk man, you get more than a 4th attack if you finish out as Fighter. You get:

5 ASIs, compared to 4 (one gained at last level - lame) with an 8/12 split.

A bigger Second Wind

Extra Action Surge per rest

Teleportation at 15th

Improved WarMagic and Eldritch Strike are there, but they're not that great, admittedly.
--

Unless you MC into a Full Caster, you lose Spell Slots. So really, Wizard or Cleric are my suggestions. You don't have enough Charisma to even consider Sorcerer yet, but that would be a good option too, actually (Metamagic makes everything better).

I don't think Wizard offers much that you don't have or won't get eventually. You can snag Haste at 13th. MC Wizard and you get it at 12-13 (7 or 8 split) but start giving up the stuff above.

If I were going to dip out, I'd go with Tempest Cleric. You give up Haste though. Tempest matches well with Booming Blade to deal extra damage and force movement. Only your Reaction ability cues off Wisdom, so you can leave the stat low.

You're Sword'n'board, so you're not gaining much from an extra attack - D8+Ability and maybe Duellist on a hit. When you cast a spell, you give up all but 1 attack anyway. Cleric would offset this with Divine Strike granting another D8 Thunder Damage at 8th level.
You get Thunderbolt Strike at 6th. It's an awesome ability alongside Booming Blade, because you can hit an enemy and then push them out of range. If they want to hit you, they have to move and take gobs of damage.

At 6th level you also get Channel Divinity (2) for maximum Action Surge damage.
Action: BB + Divine Strike + Divinity = D8+24+Ability guaranteed on hit
Surge: BB + Divinity = D8+16+Ability guaranteed on hit
War Magic: D8+Ability

Both Booming Blades can push enemies 10' away from you, and if you were surrounded, you could move the Divine Strike to your Bonus attack, and trigger a push there as well. Remember that you can break up your Move across actions, so you could (if you wanted) land all 3 hits on one enemy, and shove them 30' away from the party, while having them end 10' away from you and risking a whopping 8d8 Thunder Damage if they move to attack anyone.

If there were some way to get your Charisma high enough, adding Draconic Sorcerer would be hilarious. You get +Cha to a damage type of your choice (Thunder) when you cast a spell.
You could also cast Quicken Spell, allowing your 2 attacks and then a spell as a Bonus Action.
It would also be fun to say that you have a mixture of all three Caster stats...

[Razuchee]

The pushing on damage triggers only on lightning damage.

On abjuration: I intend to put most levels in Fighter, wouldn't the ward be pretty weak then?