Eldritch Knight, Tanking with Magic

[pfctanman]

So I never played an Eldritch Knight before and I was wondering if my idea for one is a viable option, When I go pure fighter I want something extremely sturdy and Tanky, so I picked a Hill Dwarf for the bonus HP and +2 Constitution. Now when it comes to tanking I go for heavy armor and Board and sword build, with say plate armor and shield Im already at 20 AC, push it to 21 for selecting protection and then go eldritch knight to pick up spells, most important of these spells is Shield. On a given reaction Im sitting with 26 AC to defend myself and my allies if need be. Can I get some advice on this however?

[nickl_2000]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with you build at all, it is very effective.

Although if you are wanting to be a melee fighter who also has shield when you need it, you should consider a straight fighter with a dip into Wizard. You still get shield, you get an arcane focus, and cantrips as well. Just a thought.

[Gorgo]

Don't forget the challenges of casting with a sword+shield, though. Spells with somatic components are tough unless you take War Caster, and spells with material components even worse.

[Chunkosaurus]

So I never played an Eldritch Knight before and I was wondering if my idea for one is a viable option, When I go pure fighter I want something extremely sturdy and Tanky, so I picked a Hill Dwarf for the bonus HP and +2 Constitution. Now when it comes to tanking I go for heavy armor and Board and sword build, with say plate armor and shield Im already at 20 AC, push it to 21 for selecting protection and then go eldritch knight to pick up spells, most important of these spells is Shield. On a given reaction Im sitting with 26 AC to defend myself and my allies if need be. Can I get some advice on this however?

Don't forget Absorb elements for when you are inevitably fireballed. Gives you half damage and a boost to your next attack

[dejarnjc]

I suggest liberal use of booming blade and also picking up the warcaster feat. These will make you very sticky as in any enemy that wants to move away from you will potentially incur plenty of bonus damage.

Heavy armor master and Sentinel are also great "tanky" feats. A lot of people will say that heavy armor master falls off at later levels and in some cases they're right but plenty of high level monsters have muti-attack with 3+ attacks so you'll still see tons of value.

[Willie the Duck]

So I never played an Eldritch Knight before and I was wondering if my idea for one is a viable option, When I go pure fighter I want something extremely sturdy and Tanky, so I picked a Hill Dwarf for the bonus HP and +2 Constitution. Now when it comes to tanking I go for heavy armor and Board and sword build, with say plate armor and shield Im already at 20 AC, push it to 21 for selecting protection and then go eldritch knight to pick up spells, most important of these spells is Shield. On a given reaction Im sitting with 26 AC to defend myself and my allies if need be. Can I get some advice on this however?

What are your goals for this character? Invincible irrelevant boulders simply wait to die after the rest of the party died because they didn't contribute. Figure out what you want to do with your tanky character and we can help you out.

[kingheff1]

I'd recommend the dueling style for the extra damage with a one hander, your AC is already very good.

[Specter]

The guide in my signature can help.

[Citan]

So I never played an Eldritch Knight before and I was wondering if my idea for one is a viable option, When I go pure fighter I want something extremely sturdy and Tanky, so I picked a Hill Dwarf for the bonus HP and +2 Constitution. Now when it comes to tanking I go for heavy armor and Board and sword build, with say plate armor and shield Im already at 20 AC, push it to 21 for selecting protection and then go eldritch knight to pick up spells, most important of these spells is Shield. On a given reaction Im sitting with 26 AC to defend myself and my allies if need be. Can I get some advice on this however?
Hi!

This is perfectly viable, but you are just "turtling yourself" here.
If you want to tank, this means you want one or more of the following...
1- Resist attacks / damage.
2- Give incentive to attack you instead of others.
3- Reduce the effective threat against others.

1. Shield and Absorb Elements do the trick, but keep in mind you have very few spell slots. A quick and easy way to help on that is dipping into another caster.
In any case, you really need Warcaster sooner or later (rather sooner than later).

2. Eldricht Knight does not have anything on that. On the contrary, parading in such high armor class will motivate enemies to focus on someone else once they realize how hard it is to actually hit you.
So if you really go high AC, you have to force them instead.
For that, not much choice: multiclassing into Cleric or Paladin (Command, Compelled Duel) is your only option.

3. Now we get to talk: array of options is much larger here.
Obvious choice if you wield a shield is picking Shield Master feat.
But as an Eldricht Knight, if you manage to start with a decent casting stat (whether INT, WIS or CHA) and accept to multiclass, you get access to a good array of spells for that few times where effective/mass control is required, among which Earth Tremor, Fog Cloud, Faerie Fire, Entangle, Web etc...
Otherwise, there is still "manual" grappling/shoving.

If you want to stay pure Eldricht Knight, that's fine. Just consider you will only use slots on Shield/Absorb Elements for quite some time, and grab "martial control" feats ASAP (among Sentinel, Polearm Master, Mage Slayer), not forgetting about War Caster before hitting 8th level.

If you want to multiclass...
EK / Evoker Wizard 2+: mass killing is a form of control: unleashing Earth Tremor, Burning Hands or even Shatter without hurting you or allies is deeply satisfying for someone usually stuck on the "hit one enemy" role.

EK / Fiend Warlock 2: grab Agonizing Blast for those situations when enemy sticks out of reach, more importantly grab Hex, Command and Armor of Agathys. Hex synergizes with Shoving, Command gives you the control you lacked, Armor of Agathys may prove useful at times. More importantly, you get short-rest slots, great for being even more resilient (Shield/Absorb Elements) or do more soft-control (Command).
Efficiency obviously depends on how many short-rests you get though.
And requires you to dump INT to get decent CHA (meaning you are stuck with learning buff/utility on EK side).

EK / Cleric 1-3: you get Command, but apart from that, you are getting mainly mitigation/defense buffs rather than "enemy control" things. On the bright side, many of those are great whatever your party is (Bless / Healing Words / Sanctuary / Warding Bond) and you can perfectly cope with only required 13 WIS. If you go as far as Cleric 3 with 16 WIS, Spiritual Weapon can be a great asset.

EK / Druid 1-3: Earth Tremor, Entangle, Heat Metal, Moonbeam, Spike Growth are all excellent spells to influence enemy behaviour. You also get Enhance Ability and Healing Words. :) Obviously require you to dump INT to favor WIS though.

[Rowan Wolf]

Is UA content allowed? If so the racial feat that lets you spend hit die when you dodge could be useful increasing staying power.

[djreynolds]

So I never played an Eldritch Knight before and I was wondering if my idea for one is a viable option, When I go pure fighter I want something extremely sturdy and Tanky, so I picked a Hill Dwarf for the bonus HP and +2 Constitution. Now when it comes to tanking I go for heavy armor and Board and sword build, with say plate armor and shield Im already at 20 AC, push it to 21 for selecting protection and then go eldritch knight to pick up spells, most important of these spells is Shield. On a given reaction Im sitting with 26 AC to defend myself and my allies if need be. Can I get some advice on this however?

Everyone has given awesome advice as usual.

1. Please have a 13 in either int, wis, or charisma so you can multiclass.

2. War caster is nice and for S&B... its a requirement and smacking someone with BB/GFB is awesome

3. A 13 in charisma opens up 2 level dip of paladin, or 3 sorcerer or whatever with warlock or bard.

4. Really decide if you want to get level 10 eldritch strike and this requires a maxed casting stat to make dividends.

5. I really like Cleric/EK. You get hold person early on and its a good spell but you will need a higher wisdom score than intelligence

6. You have con save proficiency already and coupled with war caster you may never drop a spell, so always be concentrating on something

7. Sculpt spell is great, nothing like dropping a fireball on yourself.