"Durable" build... that's not a necro-ed thread.

[Elminster298]

So someone necro-ed a thread about the durable feat. Reading it started me thinking about a possible build that makes much better use of the feat than was probably intended. If you combine the durable feat with the "Dwarf Resilience" feat from UA, it added a combat usefulness that adds a pretty substantial amount of survivability. The only two classes that I can think of off the top of my head that this works really well with are the barbarian(massive CON bonus, damage reduction) and the monk(bonus action dodge, evasion, full saving throw proficiencies). Good news is that the two best dwarf subraces key toward those two classes pretty well. So, any personal ideas about the theorycraft of this idea? Remember, I am by no means saying this is any form of strong "gimmick". This is just theory to see if other classes, subraces, or fears could play towards this concept.

[Kane0]

Fighter is also a viable option since you have to be a dwarf which means you need those ASIs. Plus theres Second wind for a less reliance on Hit Die just in case and action surge for the option of doubling up on healing. Heavy armor and the extra ASIs also opens up Heavy Armor Mastery for more durability, plus things like shield mastery and tough.

[JNAProductions]

Hill Dwarf Barbarian with 24 Con and the Durable feat has 345 HP on average, and a max of 440.

Is good.

[Elminster298]

Fighter is also a viable option since you have to be a dwarf which means you need those ASIs. Plus theres Second wind for a less reliance on Hit Die just in case and action surge for the option of doubling up on healing. Heavy armor and the extra ASIs also opens up Heavy Armor Mastery for more durability, plus things like shield mastery and tough.

I considered fighter as well... 3 Bearbarian/17 ??Fighter nets you 6 ASIs. Mountain dwarf point buy gives you 17/17/15/8/8/8 at first level. Dwarf Resilience and Durable each come with a +1 con. Then two ASIs to max out str and con, +1/+1 and +2 str. If you go with heavy armor(and there isn't much reason not to) you can swap dex and wis at 1st level then take resilient:wisdom. That leaves one ASI left. HAM would be great for hordes of fodder. Shield Mastery is great but has a bit of overlap with danger sense. Sentinel and GWM make you more of a threat. Tough is just flat extra hit points... This would be one tanky, self sustaining SOB.

[JNAProductions]

Mountain Dwarf doesn't have Dwarven Resilience.

[8wGremlin]

Mountain Dwarf doesn't have Dwarven Resilience.

They are talking about the Dwarven Resilience Feat in the racial feat UA article.

[JNAProductions]

They are talking about the Dwarven Resilience Feat in the racial feat UA article.

Oh. I did not know.

[Kane0]

You don't really get much out of fighter after level 11-12 unless you go all 20 for the 4th attack and in this case the champion's survivor featrue. Maybe spring for some extra barbarian (6 gets you a subclass feature which might be worth it, especially if you go for ancestral or zealot barb) and/or a bit of rogue instead (cunning action for 2 levels or uncanny dodge and evasion for 6 plus expertise, sneak attack and other goodies)

[Elminster298]

Hill Dwarf Barbarian with 24 Con and the Durable feat has 345 HP on average, and a max of 440.

Is good.

I really like the idea of this build with a full barbarian. I think I would go with mountain dwarf for this one as well though particularly because you have fewer ASIs than the fight. Mountain dwarf point buy ends up with 17/17/15/8/8/8 at first lvl. However, full barbarian loses quite a bit for wearing heavy armor. So the decision is unarmored defense or medium armor. Same as before, dwarf resilience and Durable are two ASIs but also net +2 con. Two more ASIs for 20/20 str and con. That leaves one ASI left. Only +1 dex feats are some UA skill feats, athlete, and resilient:Dexterity. Medium armor master is only partially useful without +3 dex bonus. Sentinel, GWM, and tough are all pretty solid choices still.

[Elminster298]

You don't really get much out of fighter after level 11-12 unless you go all 20 for the 4th attack and in this case the champion's survivor featrue. Maybe spring for some extra barbarian (6 gets you a subclass feature which might be worth it, especially if you go for ancestral or zealot barb) and/or a bit of rogue instead (cunning action for 2 levels or uncanny dodge and evasion for 6 plus expertise, sneak attack and other goodies)

17 fighter gets you action surge×2 and indomitable×3 which is pretty huge. Plus the loss of ASIs limits feat choices even if you go for rogue since you only get a "bonus" ASI at rogue 10. The build certainly works with fighter 12/barbarian 8. 5 ASIs plus more HP and some nice class features from barb. Not sure if it's worth the loss of an action surge and an indomitable. A barbarian has the potential to curb stomp a BBEG with two rounds of 3 attacks+action surge+reckless attack+GWM. I think it would come down to personal preference.

[Phelan Boots]

Add a Periapt of Woubd Closure to really make that Durable Hill Dwarf Monk a monster. With 20 Con you're healing for 25 HP every time you dodge.

[Elminster298]

Add a Periapt of Woubd Closure to really make that Durable Hill Dwarf Monk a monster. With 20 Con you're healing for 25 HP every time you dodge.

Periapt of wound closure would be ridiculous on the monk version of this build... Hill dwarf starting stats would be 8/15/17/8/16/8 at lvl 1. Monk 20(because I can't really think of a good 6 or fewer level multiclass that changes much) gives 5 ASIs. Two for Durable and dwarf resilience and +2 con. One more for 16 dex/20 con. For a monk I would personally have to put the last two ASIs in wisdom for final scores of 8/16/20/8/20/8. With bonus action dodge, a monk can do this every round(until out of ki that is) while still being very effective. With every dodge you heal 20-26 HP(5 con bonus×2 for durable×2 if you have periapt of wound closure) until you run out of hit dice. At level 20 thats 400- 520 possible points of healing between long rests. For a monk who has an average of 203 hit points, evasion, all save proficiencies, and is dodging on any round it feels it needs healing it's very likely you'll never use all of those. Open hand monk for for another 60 points of healing. I...I just can't even.

[8wGremlin]

What about a Dwarven Druid/Monk?

What about Duergar how would this affect those builds?

[Maxilian]

What about a Dwarven Druid/Monk?

What about Duergar how would this affect those builds?

It give you some versatility, if you go Monk and you decide to go STR instead of DEX, you will be a little more MAD, but your damage and your battle field control should increase a bit, IMHO even with Duergar, going main DEX is better and use the extr a +1 STR to just make sure your STR is not trash and that, if needed, you can combine with Enlarge for grapple mechanics.

Also you get to cast Invisibility (that's great) and would never have to worry about using torches or things like those.

Duergar becomes more useful in a Barb or Fighter build. (but i think if you really want to take advantage of the 2 feats, then its better monk for the bonus action dodge)

[Elminster298]

It give you some versatility, if you go Monk and you decide to go STR instead of DEX, you will be a little more MAD, but your damage and your battle field control should increase a bit, IMHO even with Duergar, going main DEX is better and use the extr a +1 STR to just make sure your STR is not trash and that, if needed, you can combine with Enlarge for grapple mechanics.

Also you get to cast Invisibility (that's great) and would never have to worry about using torches or things like those.

Duergar becomes more useful in a Barb or Fighter build. (but i think if you really want to take advantage of the 2 feats, then its better monk for the bonus action dodge)

A duergar would would well with either the barbarian or fighter builds from above. Probably better than mountain dwarf actually because the mountain dwarf armor proficiencies are wasted on fighter/barbarian but enlarge/invis/120' darkvision are all fantastic. Sunlight sensitivity is horrible though so stay underground.

Hmm... Hill dwarf druid/monk? You would definitely want to go monk 14/moon druid 6. Monk could be pretty much any achetype- open hand=more healing, shadow=teleport/invis, long death=temp hp/cheat death, drunken master= hilarious drunk animals!, tranquility= even more healing. Enemies would have to burn through your wild shapes before you would even need to start healing so that's basically ~200 extra HP on top of the 400- 500 points of healing from hit dice. This is a very solid option since you keep all your monk save proficiencies in wild shape which is huge survivability.