Any ideas on how to make a commoner more sturdy?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

In a turn of events our party needs to escort a half elf female commoner up a moderate mountain to a portal in a cave so we can use her to close a portal.

Its a thing where we think thanks to her ancestry her touching the portal will close it.

Any ideas what we can do to make her a little less likely to die?

We are a level 3 to 5 party.

Our Wizard has mage armor I think he can cast on her. He also has an invisibility spell.

Our cleric is pretty good at healing of course.

Don't think the Rogue or Ranger can help....well the Ranger has a belt of smokey step which boosts Dex but he is worried she may flee with it.

I am a Bard and I suppose I can mitigate damage with cutting words or bardic inspiration.

Can we pretty much give her studded leather armor and expect it to help?

Maybe a helmet, a shield and a rapier even if she is not proficient? Or is she better off without them? Don't all elves get proficiency with bows?

There is a time crunch so we probably only have marching time to "train" her.

[Desteplo]

Any sign of trouble tell her to hide. Control spells to keep people away from her and keep her in the center of all of you. Or in the back if you aren't flanked.

Give her shield and armor anyway but keep a heal or spare the dieing on hand (give her good berries to keep up)

[Quoxis]

To quote the phb:

"Armor Proficiency: Anyone can put on a suit of armor or strap a Shield to an arm. Only those proficient in the armor’s use know how to wear it effectively, however. Your class gives you proficiency with certain types of armor. If you wear armor that you lack proficiency with, you have disadvantage on any ability check, saving throw, or Attack roll that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can’t cast Spells."

You can put her in a suit of platemail, give her a shield, boom, 20ac, just make sure to check for traps in front of her and don't **** around with dragons.

Have the wizard prepare other defensive magic (on 5th level i think there should be some form of invisibility available), maybe try to find a 5th level cleric and carry 300gp worth of diamonds, bc that's what you need for raising a recently deceased creature...

[Jerrykhor]

Do you know what dangers you will be facing? In any case, having a Bard, Cleric and Wizard, you have plenty of options to keep her alive.

Enhance Ability (Bear's Endurance), Aid, Sanctuary, Warding Bond... take your pick.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Flesh to stone is a good spell to ensure maximum rigidity. It's high level, though, so you'll need to find a friendly lich willing to do it for you. Or see if you can find a gorgon or a medusa, they'll work in a pinch.

If the commoner protests, you may need to render them unconscious first. The sleep spell is recommended here, but there are a variety of violent means of ensuring cooperation should she not think your plan to be as amazing as it most certainly is.

[imanidiot]

With Warding Bond and False Life you effectively raise their hp from 4 to 20. Add on plate and shield for 21 AC and Sanctuary and most monsters you're going to meet won't even try to attack her.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Neat ideas. My Bard talks allot and will probably regurgitate them out to the party and let them decide what to do amd cast.

Our Cleric never has cast False Life. Can he cast it on others or just himself? That 5 hit point gain per level could really help.

[Hootman]

The Aid spell may be more palatable either on its own or in combination with False Life (if you want to be REALLY sure the commoner won't go down). It gives three people +5 real hp (and can be up-cast for more) for 8 hours, which among other things raises the Instant Death threshold. Plus, you and the wizard might get a little more durability out of it, so you can interposed yourselves between your ward and danger with a little more surity.