How would I do this?

[Clopin Silk]

I want to make a character that is, in essence, a wall. As in, a super-defensive character. You can't bring them down, you can't get around them. As long as they're alive they'll stop you from getting to the squishy party members, and to them, the entire rest of the party are the squishy party members. And have fun killing them! I want an immovable object, basically. Working with 3.5 here, but beyond that you have free reign.

[Erit]

Changeling Warblade with a Crusader dip to pick up Thicket of Blades, Warshaper for increased reach and fast healing. Spiked chain or similar for a total of 15ft reach, all of which you threaten and any movement whatsoever provokes AoOs from you. Take three levels of Knight to get Bulwark of Defense, then all your threatened area becomes difficult terrain for any enemies who start their turn in it. From there proceed with tripping shenanigans, which others are far better versed in than I. You have a bunch of d12 hit dice, heavy armor proficiency, Devoted Spirit and Iron Heart maneuvers for self-sufficiency, a small delayed damage pool which also increases your damage, and fast healing so long as you're in a form that isn't your default. Which is always, because you're a Changeling. You're also immune to crits (and by extension most forms of precision damage) and stunning, and have +4 Str and Con from Warshaper.

Sure, you aren't wholly indestructable. But if something manages to kill you it was probably way too strong for your party anyway.

Edit: I got confused.

[GilesTheCleric]

If your goal is to be immovable, there's a few options. Roots of the Mountain (RoS 143) requires a turning pool; there's also an earth elemental graft that I can't seem to dig up right now. Dwarven Defender probably has an option like that, and if you're a spellcaster, there's any number of spells you could cast to create a literal wall behind yourself.

[Nifft]

I think you could do pretty well with a combo of Crusader (for armor, delayed damage, and the Roots of the Mountain stance) + being very large.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Generally speaking, D&D favours active defense over passive defense. That is: proactively preventing potentially problematic ploys is profoundly preferable to placid postponement pending perdition. This maxim is colloquially known as "the eleven peas".

The question then is: how are you actively going to be a wall? Are you going to be a spiky wall, and hit back when attacked? Are you going to be a repairing wall, taking damage, but regenerating? Are you going to be a wall behind a moat, unreachable by melee? Are you going to be an illusory wall?


I mean, the tankiest you can get is 'aleax of an ice assassin of yourself', which is pretty tanky - immune to everything short of epic backlash damage, as far as I know. For most games, that's too tanky. In fact, a straight crusader with a reach weapon is already very tanky, and adding a bit of other stuff (I like incarnate 4) will make you unkillable, as far as your regular mooks are concerned.

In short, is there something more you want out of this character? Are you looking to play something tactical, something game-breaking, something in shining armour?

[Vizzerdrix]

Nothing in D&D says the monsters have to chew through the meat walls first. You have to make them want to come to you. Commoner 1 with either the tastey or weresheep flaw will do that.

[Troacctid]

The most effective wall is probably a wall of force. Impassable, and completely invulnerable to damage. Warlocks can create them at will starting at 16th level.

[ShurikVch]

I want to make a character that is, in essence, a wall.Play Urban Druid, Urban Shape into Animated Object (wall)?
Or play Fiend of Possession, possess some wall?

[Karl Aegis]

Play Urban Druid, Urban Shape into Animated Object (wall)?
Or play Fiend of Possession, possess some wall?

Nah, you want to dip into Binder to Bind Ronove, The Iron Maiden so you can use far hand on like a carpet or a chair or something. It's far less risky for you and only costs a swift action every turn. Feel free to branch out into Anima Mage or Knight of the Sacred Seal if you want more than a dip for this.

[Extra Anchovies]

The best sort of defense in 3.5 is an active defense. What would be best here, I think, is a character with a lot of "no" buttons, and the ability to prevent enemies from trying the same trick twice. That probably means spellcasting - Freedom of Movement, Wings of Cover, Nerveskitter, Contingency, Celerity, Heart of Air/Fire/Earth/Water, Starmantle, that sort of thing.