Can you create a ( can't touch this ) character.

[Sir cryosin]

In are party I am the one that uselly die first or only to die. Only class I have not had killed are my couple of monks. But I tired of playing a monk. So can y'all come up with a hard to kill character. All published books and UA can be used. What I want is survivability and punching power but survivability is more important.

[coolAlias]

Being hard to kill often has as much or more to do with tactics as it does with a particular build.

What have you tried, other than monks, and how did they die?

[smcmike]

The tougher your character, the more likely they are to die. My barbarian goes unconscious just about every adventuring day, and he's the toughest party member by a good bit. He's also the one kicking in the door.

So, easy solution. Make the wimpiest character you can, and play him that way.

[strangebloke]

Ha...

Is UA allowed?

Two ways to do this.

First is to get a high AC, high saves, and a high hit point pool. Theoretically your best option is a totem barbarian. Resistance and CON to AC are both phenomenal. A sorcadin can have pretty ludicrous saves and AC, although they're usually a bit lacking in the HP department. Druids get the best self-heal in the game. (wildshape) Bladesingers have what is I think the highest AC, but they lack HP and saves.

second way to do this is to multiclass into multiple classes that grant you abilities that prevent you from dropping to zero hit points.

Shadow sorcerer, monk of the long death, light warlock, phoenix sorcerer...

Then you pick up lucky, play a halfling, get a few levels in divination wizard...

You might not be able to do anything, but you'll be pretty fricking hard to kill.

[DeTess]

Some more information would be needed (such as level and allowed material) to be able to properly answer this question. Survival is also very dependent on strategy.

That having been said, you can't really go wrong for survivability with a variant human paladin with the heavy armor mastery feat and a shield, especially at low levels.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Who said back line characters die less?

My 8 str Lore bard agrees.

I have decent Con for hit points, very good Dex for AC and can wear some studded armor. Throw innsome ranged attacks, heals and support spells and I am almost never the first to go down.

[Eragon123]

Alright I am going to suggest a weird build.

Warlock (with a teeny bit of homebrew) or valor bard.

My warlock right now is a (Fey) bladelock with two homebrewed invocations.
1. Spectral Armor: can create any armor around oneself provided you meet the requirements of it (namely 15 strength) you are considered proficient. (though not in shields).
2. WE changed thirsting blade to eldritch blade. If you cast a spell or a cantrip as an action you may make a melee attack as a bonus action.

Strategy.Cast Armor of Agayths. then during combat cast Blade ward and then swing your weapon. enemies won't WANT to hit you.
I got Heavy Armor Mastery for even more mitigation to stretch out AoA longer.

Now if you DM doesn't like my homebrew (understandable) go Teifling Valor Bard.
Steal Hellish Rebuke and Armor of Agyths. everytime someone manages to hit you punish them heartily for it. Bonus points if you also get Fire shield.


Alternativly go Eldritch Knight Fighter and use blade ward swing when things get hairy.
Also misty step is a thing, you can leave your friends to die (sometimes).

[The Ship's dog]

If you roll good stats, a really fun build (and one that I'm playing at the moment) is:
Variant Human (Dual Wielder Feat)
Primeval Gaurdian Ranger with the (Two-Weapon Fighting) Fighting Style
Sentinel Feat at level 4
Wield two Longswords.

Alternatively, and one that I personally enjoy more, is:
Volo's Bugbear
Primeval Guardian Ranger with the Mariner Fighting Style
Sentinel at level 4
Polearm Master later on
Wield a Polearm
A level in Fighter for GWF

The idea is for both builds is, when you go into Guardian Form, you have a +5 Reach and Sentinel. So you go within 10ft wih the Dual Wielder and use all of your attacks to tag various enemies, reducing their speeds to 0.

The Bugbear one is the same idea, but with more reach and a much more defensive playstyle than the Dual Wielder as it has more reach. The Bugbear one requires more levels, but you have much better ability scores from your race.

[strangebloke]

forgot to mention:

rogue has the best defensive perks in the game.

shadow sorcerer 2-4, rogue x.

You can summon a darkness only you can see through something like many times between long rests.

You can hide in it as a bonus action. You'll be practically unfindable, which will make characters unable to know which square you're in. If they do attack you, they'll have disadvantage. Most nasty spells are line of sight.

You can hit them with advantage though, even at range.

You can evade most AOE attacks.

uncanny dodge.

If you somehow do drop to zero, you get to make a CON save to not drop to zero. Pick up resilient (CON) to get advantage on that save.

Pick up the stealth feat to hide in even more improbable places. (and to hide from those lousy guys with devil's sight or truesight)

Mirror image. Shield. Misty step.

[Lombra]

Mad but fun: fighter 1/warlock x:
Heavy armor master and rely a lot on armor of agathys to make yourself feel stingy. It doesn't work very well against big single-hit damage. And saves suck.

[Potato_Priest]

If you roll good stats, a really fun build (and one that I'm playing at the moment) is:
Variant Human (Dual Wielder Feat)
Primeval Gaurdian Ranger with the (Two-Weapon Fighting) Fighting Style
Sentinel Feat at level 4
Wield two Longswords.

The idea is for both builds is, when you go into Guardian Form, you have a +5 Reach and Sentinel. So you go within 10ft wih the Dual Wielder and use all of your attacks to tag various enemies, reducing their speeds to 0.


Sentinel only reduces an enemy's speed to zero on opportunity attacks, which you only ever get one of (without tunnel fighter style), and in this case you wouldn't even get it when they approached.

Also, I don't really see the point of being a bugbear if you're already wielding a reach weapon.

[Sir cryosin]

Being hard to kill often has as much or more to do with tactics as it does with a particular build.

What have you tried, other than monks, and how did they die?

I have played a few fighters, ranger, wizards, druid, hexblade warlock, clerics, monks, bard, mystic, paladin.

[coolAlias]

I have played a few fighters, ranger, wizards, druid, hexblade warlock, clerics, monks, bard, mystic, paladin.
And ALL of them but the monks have died?

Are you the only one, or is there a similar mortality rate among the other members of your party? Do enemies attack you specifically more often than anyone else?

This just seems like an abnormally high death rate, is all. I throw pretty tough encounters at my players all the time and none of them have died yet (though they've come awfully close a few times).

[The Ship's dog]

Sentinel only reduces an enemy's speed to zero on opportunity attacks, which you only ever get one of (without tunnel fighter style), and in this case you wouldn't even get it when they approached.

Also, I don't really see the point of being a bugbear if you're already wielding a reach weapon.

Well one of the reasons to play a Bugbear with a reach weapon, is because it is really fun to have a reach of 20ft on your turn, but also because it means that also have a 15ft range normally when in Guardian Form.

I forgot about the AoO Sentinel minutiae sorry, my bad. In saying hat however, with the Polearm Master feat as well as Sentinel, you would get an Opportunity attack if they came within your 15ft range. It is mostly a gimmick build, but it also is extremely effective at staying 'on top' of enemy creatures wih them still being at a range that is comfortable for you.

[Sariel Vailo]

I almost did with a blade singer and some int boosters and dex buffs one robe of the archmage

[Maxilian]

A Yuanti Pureblood Healer (Life Cleric 2 / Lore Bard X)?

-Use Plate Armor
-Use Shield
-Use Sanctuary
-Use Mirror Image

Got a lot of AC, need to go around your WIS save first of Sanctuary to hit you, after they gotta check if they hit you or a clone, and lastly they gotta see if they actually surpass your AC.

Depending enemy, change Mirror Image with Protection from Evil and Good (if the enemy is one of the group pointed out).

You got all the heals needed to survive, got the Shield spell in case something goes over your AC, your only problem would be save spells (And not that big of a problem cause your race helps with that.)

Note: You won't go around doing damage but meh.

[X3r4ph]

Fighter (monster hunter) 4/ Rogue (scout) 5/ Mystic (immortal) 11.

Great defensive abilities all around. Decent damage potentiel. Lots of skills. Lots of Proficiencies. Very versitile. Very adaptable.

[Sir cryosin]

And ALL of them but the monks have died?

Are you the only one, or is there a similar mortality rate among the other members of your party? Do enemies attack you specifically more often than anyone else?

This just seems like an abnormally high death rate, is all. I throw pretty tough encounters at my players all the time and none of them have died yet (though they've come awfully close a few times).

I guess it my play stay. My group tends to character's that stay on the back lines. Like one player she always plays a ranger or rogue and always has a longbow. Another player loves playing characters like bladesinger that love using blink high AC. Mystic with the teleport when hit with high AC. A Artificer gnome that used his construct as a mech suit. Then the last player is new to D&D so he play what he think is cool. And he's my younger brother so I end up back seat playing his character by reminding him of ability he has or help build his spell list. My point is my group likes playing back line so I uselly end up playing front line. Trying to keep the enemy's off my party.

So I am attractive to spell casters but I always end up in melee we're the action is. I would love to play a sorcdin but my DM runs the wotc modules so we never get above lv 10 and Sorcerer/paladin take time to come on.

So I guess my question is a build the can stand on the front lines staring down a whole Army by himself. Another part of my play style is helping my other PC. By taking hits for them using buffs on them always putting my self in danger so they don't have to. Always sacrificing myself so the party can get away. Even though they are idiots and don't run away when I tell them to run away or they start to run away and then turn back around and end up dying f****** anyways.

[KorvinStarmast]

So I guess my question is a build the can stand on the front lines staring down a whole Army by himself. You really can't, the Diablo III Barbarian isn't available in this particular game. A war cleric with Spirit Guardians might be a step in the right direction if you survive to level 5. If you take variant human and heavy armor master you may be able to tank/survive the early levels.

Another part of my play style is helping my other PC. By taking hits for them using buffs on them always putting my self in danger so they don't have to. Always sacrificing myself so the party can get away. Even though they are idiots and don't run away when I tell them to run away or they start to run away and then turn back around and end up dying f****** anyways. Then your problem is perhaps not your character, but your team.

[nickl_2000]

I'm wondering with your play style and teams play style how you managed to survive with a monk.


I would say your best bet would be a Sword and Board Bearbarian. Alternately you could possibly try a Moon Druid to be a damage sponge (they can easily be hit, but they can take abuse before they start to take real hits).

[Easy_Lee]

Fighter / rogue (thief) with the healer feat, shield master, and all of the items you can carry.

Character is self-sufficient, operates inside an anti-magic field, and has more actions than you can shake a ten-foot pole at. This character will also teach you to play creatively with Fast Hands and item usage.

[8wGremlin]

What level are you?
What stats do you have? Array/Point buy/Rolled (if so what?)

[djreynolds]

Get out of a pinch.... misty step, really high athletics or acrobatics skill possibly with expertise

Dex Saves Half damage from AoEs..... evasion, maybe shield master if you didn't dump dex, or are a barbarian, or have the bless spell

Con saves.... stun and paralysis are awful

Wis saves.... hold person

Strength save versus stuff like a spell.... strength saves or misty step

Damage mitigation.... rage, stoneskin, HAM, uncanny dodge, defensive duelist

Having a bonus action readied... cunning action and spells

Having a solid reaction.... parry maneuver, uncanny dodge, shield spell, absorb elements

Solid AC... 18 and above, chainmail and shield equivalent

Stealth and perception.... needed, even in plate armor with disadvantage you could pass that stealth check and avoid trouble, someone has a ranger in the party

Rerolls.... mage slayer, lucky, indomitable, racial stuff

Skills, like athletics or feather fall, climbing can kill you

oh yeah, healing and hit points

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think if you can hit on all of these and have party members who also hit on all of these... you have a good chance to make it to the next level

So either you have the bless spell or a paladin or someone ready with a spell to fix you.... you will need con and wis save proficiency (protection from evil, even from magic initiate, is good for 10 minutes once a day)

If you dumped dex, best have absorb elements (even from magic initiate once a day is half damage versus something nasty) or plenty of HP when that fireball is dropped or something akin to evasion

So IMO try to have something for your reaction other than an AoO, even feather fall from magic initiate once a day could save your life

And always allow yourself in creation the ability to at least multiclass and grab a level of another class

Like a fighter should have a high strength and con, but a 13 in wis/dex/chr/int allows and easy dip to grab some perks

Really consider resilient or magic initiate to bolster weak saves (protection from evil/feather fall/absord elements/ bless) especially on a fighter with nothing to concetrate on with a 20 in con and proficiency... why not grab a level of cleric for the bless spell

[follacchioso]

Have you tried an half orc? They are pretty resilient and can keep fighting thanks to relentless endurance.

You may get an ability to shove your enemies prone, such as shield master or monk. Then your party will have disadvantage on ranged attacks, and be forced to come to the front line :-)

[CaptainSarathai]

Hill Dwarf
Forge Cleric 1, Hexblade Warlock 2, Trickster Rogue 5

Spells: Shield, Darkness, Hex
Invocations: Devil's Sight, Agonizing Blast
Wearing: Medium Armor, Shield
No Weapon

Stats (point buy)
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 14+2
Int 10
Wis 12+1
Cha 14 (+ASI)

HP = 75@8th

1. Start Rogue. This gets you Prof. with Dex saves. You'll want it.
2. After that, Cleric. Shield Spell, you want it.
3. Then Warlock to 2. You want to get Eldritch Blast online as your primary attack source. What's cool about this is that EB scales regardless of class level, so you sort of lose the "race to 5" issue that most MCs have.

You should be wearing Half Plate, with a Shield, and then giving one of those +1 from your Forge ability, for a total AC of 20. The Shield Spell boosts this to AC25 as a Reaction.
In dire straits, you can make like an octopus and pop Darkness. Instant Disadvantage for just about anything (on top of your godly AC) and your practically immune to any spell requiring sight to the target.
At Rogue 2 you have a Bonus Action Disengage. At Rogue 5, you can use your reaction to halve incoming damage, and you also halve any AoE damage automatically. This can save you using a spell slot on Shield if you think you can tank the damage a bit.

Why Hexblade, if not melee?
Because Hexblade's Curse can save you slots on Hex, and you can use those slots for Shield and Darkness. Only use Hex if you need to pummel someone.
If you disagree or I'm wrong somehow, go Light.

Why Arcane Trickster?
Frankly? You gave 5-6 levels of Rogue here. Use it for Spell Slots.

What about levels 9-10?
Warlock 3 and Pact of the Chain to cast Touch through your Familiar. Rogue 6, Cleric2, or Lock4 for the spell slots.

[Quoxis]

Fighter 1/Warlock (Fey or Goo) 1/Abjuration Wizard X

Heavy armor, defense fighting style and a shield are 21 AC, plus you can use your reaction to get +5 from the shield spell.
Fist thing you do in combat is using your highest spell slot to cast armor of agathys, which also triggers your abjurers ward.
If you get hit, the opponent has to hack through your ward, then through your AoA (which also deals damage to them in melee) before they can scratch your actual HP. That is, if they hit you at all - you get up to 26 AC and can still concentrate on another defensive spell if you like.
Stat-wise you'll want to prioritize Con, Int and Dex, and you need 13 in Charisma so multiclassing warlock is possible.
If you find time for feats: shield master for no damage instead of half damage on a dex save can be worth it on a dex character.

[Decstarr]

If you want survivability, I'd suggest Rogue as one part for sure. Uncanny Dodge let's you half the damage you take once per round at the cost of only your reaction. If you feel good about not needing all saving throws, you can go Rogue up to level 7 to get Evasion, too (which is hands down amazing vs. AOE stuff). Or you go Rogue 6/Monk 14 and combine uncanny dodge with proficiency in all saves (that will peek late, though).

Imho, Rogue are the most underlooked survivable class of all, what they lack in HP they make up for in mobility and uncanny dodge together with evasion is just excellent, especially since you get them relatively early. So just go Rogue 7 and then MC into anything and you should be fine!

[rudy]

If UA is allowed, unrestricted, the most survivable character right now is a Oath of Redemption Paladin, no question.

* When not wearing armor or using a shield, AC is 16 + DEX. Yes, that is not a typo.
* They have 'shield' as an Oath spell. Yes. It's true.

Plus the usual paladin saving throw ridiculousness.

If races are unrestricted, then go Yuan-Ti pureblood for the absurd magic resistance. If only standard races, then the usual Half-Elf is probably best.

Assuming Half-Elf:

Str 8, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 14 > Str 8, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 16 to start.

ASIs should be any combination of boosts to DEX, boosts to CHA and Resilient (Con). I prioritize them in that order.

EDIT: Don't forget the Mariner fighting style, for another +1 AC and awesome climb/swim speed to boot.

EDIT: In addition to being super tough and hard to kill, this one *also* has the advantage of being sneaky, and having good ranged options, which means you don't always have to be on the front lines. However, your party will usually want you to be nearby for the auras. Rapier/Whip is a good combo to use.

[Citan]

In are party I am the one that uselly die first or only to die. Only class I have not had killed are my couple of monks. But I tired of playing a monk. So can y'all come up with a hard to kill character. All published books and UA can be used. What I want is survivability and punching power but survivability is more important.
Let's tackle that, but first...


I'm wondering with your play style and teams play style how you managed to survive with a monk.

I would say your best bet would be a Sword and Board Bearbarian. Alternately you could possibly try a Moon Druid to be a damage sponge (they can easily be hit, but they can take abuse before they start to take real hits).


forgot to mention:

rogue has the best defensive perks in the game.

Actually Monk has by far the best defensive perks in the game. And Sir Cryosin just proved that, quite brilliantly too (honestly, while I stand on that point, I wouldn't expect a lone Monk to tank for the whole party either, must have involved great tactics and quite a bit of luck. XD).


Fighter / rogue (thief) with the healer feat, shield master, and all of the items you can carry.

Character is self-sufficient, operates inside an anti-magic field, and has more actions than you can shake a ten-foot pole at. This character will also teach you to play creatively with Fast Hands and item usage.
I'd say it's a half-good idea. It's great that you can heal other people, and Uncanny Dodge will be very good indeed. But it's still a reaction against ONE attack. And you supposedly aggro many people.

TO Sir Cryosin.

One build I could advise you, although it will make you feel weird during the first 3 levels is...
Life Cleric 1+ / Druid 1 / Warlock 1+ / Draconic Sorcerer 1 / Thief Rogue 5+
The idea here is to take advantage of the short rest slots for Warlock, paired with Life Goodberries, to create a vast reserve of healing any "calm" day.
If your DM agrees that the berries are still, well, berries (aka no "magic item" per se), then once you gain Thief archetype you can eat them yourself (maybe make others eat too) with both an action AND a bonus action.
You also get permanent Mage Armor and Bless/Shield of Faith + Shield for the toughest occasions.
This build will feel clunky at first because of taking three different classes, but it will really work well in the end.
Sorcerer 1 > Cleric 1 > Druid 1 > Rogue 1 > Warlock 1 and you are set: Draconic Armor, Life Goodberries, weapon cantrips, Expertise, buffs and healing spells.
Now you can level up whatever you like (Warlock if you want short-rest Mirror Image, Cleric if you want Warding Bond / Spiritual Weapon, otherwise Rogue).
Works great with stats too: caster levels are here only for buffs spells, so you can easily start with 16 DEX, 14 CON, and still 14 in WIS and CHA.
I suggested starting with Sorcerer for better concentration saves, but any will do honestly. ;)

[Drackolus]

Ancients paladin. Simple and effective. You've got cc, ac, hp, saves, and healing. You can go dueling or defensive. Defensive is better on rounds you cast spells on, so if you're using your slots more for that than smiting, then it becomes better. Either way, sword and board is the way to go.
If you can pick Yuan-Ti, do it. They have crazy strong magic resistance, and free spells and poison resistance is gravy. Otherwise, half-high elf to get booming blade and then warcaster at 4. Alternatively, vuman with sentinel, res;con, heavy armor master, or tough. Hill dwarf isn't a lousy option either.
Always take athletics or acrobatics. Getting grappled is death.
You could also go dex, but you give up an ac, or you can get medium armor master... But, unpopular opinion, I think strength saves aren't much weaker than dex saves, so I would just stick with strength and save the asi while keeping the ac. 1 point doesn't seem like much, but ac sort of gets exponentially better... 16-17 is a small jump, but 20-21 is substantial. If you have a particularly stealthy group however, it could be worth it.
Get your 16 str/dex, 14/16 con, and then 20 cha. Try not to neglect wis. Feats aren't really crucial, though sentinel is good at making people stay next to you if that becomes a problem.