Huge AC and Crazy Saves-a multiclass thought experiment

[Arelai]

So with Xanathars coming out, I've realized that there's a lot of +AC abilities now...which got me thinking of a character who just can't get hit/always makes saves. Here's what I got:

Gnome (adv on mental magic saves)
Forge Cleric 1 (+1 Plate armor+A shield+Shield+shield of faith)
War Wizard 2 (for the reaction +4 to a save, or +2 to AC.)
Barbarian 2 (danger sense for dex save advantage)

This gets you advantage on 4 different saving throws(provided the mental saving throws are caused "by magic"). With a possible +4 bonus as a reaction in case you might fail. And an AC of 23 with shield of faith up, 25 if you use the war wizard reaction ability(28 if you use Shield spell instead).

At higher levels, you could throw in Kensei 3 for the +2 AC, and you could spend your Ki to dodge or jump far. But I don't think that's worth 3 levels when you could just get to an extra attack or other spells(or the defensive duelist Feat for the +1, or shield master to take have damage and bump your dex save).

I also omitted bladesinger-because you can't wear armor and with the MADness here you kinda need it.

Anything I'm missing?

[Fflewddur Fflam]

That's pretty good. Probably the best all-around saves you could have is a Monk 14/ Paladin 6. That would give proficiency in all saves plus CHA bonus to all saves. Crazy MAD but would be a Saving Throw machine.
Okay now I just talked myself into doing one.

[krugaan]

Not the highest, but 1 hexblade / 3 sword bard gets 18 ac + flourish + shield spell and a ton of low level spell slots. I think i was only hit once in the last gaming session (it was a crit), and you don't gimp yourself overmuch, either.

Saves are a mixed bag, though.

[tsotate]

You're probably better off going Yuan-ti, rather than gnome. Why limit yourself to mental magic saves, when you can have advantage on all magic saves?

[Arelai]

You're probably better off going Yuan-ti, rather than gnome. Why limit yourself to mental magic saves, when you can have advantage on all magic saves?

Oooooh, I don't have Volo's so I didn't know that was a thing.

[Arelai]

That's pretty good. Probably the best all-around saves you could have is a Monk 14/ Paladin 6. That would give proficiency in all saves plus CHA bonus to all saves. Crazy MAD but would be a Saving Throw machine.
Okay now I just talked myself into doing one.

Yeah, I know about the monk ability-but it just takes too long to get to. I'd say most of my games are between levelsl 3-10

[Provo]

Don't forget to take the Resiliant feat. Proficiency in Con and Wis with Adv on Dex! All three major saves are covered

[Klorox]

Oooooh, I don't have Volo's so I didn't know that was a thing.

Yuuup. They have the same stat adjustments as a standard tiefling, if you want to plan something out.

The monk 14/paladin 6 build was already mentioned.

Choose yuan-ti and max out charisma first and you’ll probably never fail a save.

At level 20, you’ll make all saves with +10 (+5 proficiency, +5 CHA), plus whatever stat modifier. Make them at advantage if theyre saves vs magic.

Oh yeah, you’re also immune to poison. LOL

[Arkhios]

Here's what I got:

Gnome (adv on mental magic saves)
Forge Cleric 1 (+1 Plate armor+A shield+Shield+shield of faith)
War Wizard 2 (for the reaction +4 to a save, or +2 to AC.)
Barbarian 2 (danger sense for dex save advantage)

Anything I'm missing?

Well, you could add fighter 1 for defense fighting style and monk 14 for proficiency in all saves. While it's not same as paladin/monk, but not bad either.

Of course, you couldn't benefit from martial arts, unarmored defense & movement since you would be wearing armor, but otherwise, you'd be pretty golden. You could use ki to dodge as bonus action on a regular basis, and it can be done even while wearing armor!

Edit: also, if I'm reading this right, all of the kensai features work even if you wore armor! Even Deft Strike might actually let you add damage equivalent to your Martial Arts level :o

Definitely MAD since you'd need Str 13 for Barbarian, Wis 13 for Monk and Cleric, Dex 13 for Monk, and Int 13 for Wizard. Fighter requires either Str 13 or Dex 13, but that's already taken care of.

Positive is that you wont "need" more than 13 in Wis and Int, because barbarian benefits most from Strength, and you could wear medium armor (might want to put at least 14 in dex, maybe eventually 16 if you can/want to invest in Medium Armor Master).

Of course, you might want at least 14 in con, as you're no doubt in melee more often than not.

With point buy & (deep) gnome, here's what I could muster:

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 8

Not awful, but not very good either. Still, since you're small, you can forget GWM anyway, and with monk 14 you get 3 ASI:
Str to 16 (quite enough), Dex to 16 (for MAM*), Medium Armor Master*

In the end, you'd have a constant AC 24:
16 (+1 half-plate), +3 (Dex), +2 (a shield), +1 (Defense), +2 (Shield of Faith)
+ REACTION: +5 (Shield) or +2 (Arcane Deflection)
+ BONUS ACTION: Dodge - Ki 14/short rest
+ Rage: resistance to B/P/S (because medium armor doesn't restrict rage)