Kawaii Tank

[ZenBear]

So it looks like I’m going to be running a game for a few friends who are brand new to D&D. One of my players has a very goofy, fun idea I would like help making into a reality. She wants to play the tank who is so cute that enemies just don’t want to attack her. The only mechanic I can think of to achieve this is Sanctuary. Other than that, what sort of builds/mechanics can y’all think of to serve this concept?

[Greywander]

Maybe a homebrewed version of Unarmored Defense that adds her CHA mod to AC? Remember that you can easily reflavor existing effects as needed. For example, "armor" could just be a really cute outfit, a "shield" could be a stuffed animal, the "dodge" action becomes striking a cute pose, et cetera.

[GlenSmash!]

So it looks like I’m going to be running a game for a few friends who are brand new to D&D. One of my players has a very goofy, fun idea I would like help making into a reality. She wants to play the tank who is so cute that enemies just don’t want to attack her. The only mechanic I can think of to achieve this is Sanctuary. Other than that, what sort of builds/mechanics can y’all think of to serve this concept?

I think Tanks typically want to be attacked. Thats kind of their thing. :smallamused:

[Agénor]

It would be a form of intimidation on her behalf, she somehow impresses the opponents to the point they lose some of their means, not performing as well. I am away from my books but I believe some feats do something similar.
Also, something that would add your CHA mod. to A.C. could be viewed as her cuteness affecting others' ability to feed her the pointy end of their swords.

Edit: Greywander was quicker.

[Xihirli]

A reflavored Sanctuary spell, but it's not often cast on tanks.

[ZenBear]

Maybe a homebrewed version of Unarmored Defense that adds her CHA mod to AC? Remember that you can easily reflavor existing effects as needed. For example, "armor" could just be a really cute outfit, a "shield" could be a stuffed animal, the "dodge" action becomes striking a cute pose, et cetera.

This is excellent advice. Thanks for the tip!

[Droodicus]

Oath of conquest paladin. Regal our the fear effects to be them staring dumbly at the adorableness

[Quoxis]

...you guys realize he’s basically describing the „charmed“ condition, correct?
A level of fey warlock, done.*

*only works for 1 round though

[JakOfAllTirades]

...you guys realize he’s basically describing the „charmed“ condition, correct?
A level of fey warlock, done.*

*only works for 1 round though

This also reminds me of the Glamour Bard's 14th level Mantle of Majesty ability; for 1 minute any creature which tries to attack the character has to make a saving throw first.

[Nifft]

She wants to play the tank who is so cute that enemies just don’t want to attack her.

Straight-up Barbarian, going for Bear.

Her Constitution score represents her cuteness. Her HP are so high because enemies pull their punches, because she is so cute.

Later, when her Bear Totem feature comes on line, her foes will just attack her armor, her shield, and her weapon instead of her cute, exposed body -- behold the power of cute, the Teddy Bear Totem Barbarian.

[ProseBeforeHos]

Just reflavor certain abilities.

Monk's patient defense, or battle-master fighter... whatever the ability is called that boost AC.

Maybe even CoS bard with their defensive florish -> 'cuteness florish' ?

IDK it's hard to get this to work in 5e.

Honestly as the DM you can do some of the work here also. Whenever you miss an attack on her, just flavor the enemies hesitating to attack her.

[DarkKnightJin]

Straight-up Barbarian, going for Bear.

Her Constitution score represents her cuteness. Her HP are so high because enemies pull their punches, because she is so cute.

Later, when her Bear Totem feature comes on line, her foes will just attack her armor, her shield, and her weapon instead of her cute, exposed body -- behold the power of cute, the Teddy Bear Totem Barbarian.

...Teddy Bear Totem Barbarian.
I am putting this one in my back pocket to bring out at some point. Possibly as an NPC/bossfight if I enjoy my time behind the DM screen.

[ZenBear]

Oath of conquest paladin. Regal our the fear effects to be them staring dumbly at the adorableness


Straight-up Barbarian, going for Bear.

Her Constitution score represents her cuteness. Her HP are so high because enemies pull their punches, because she is so cute.

Later, when her Bear Totem feature comes on line, her foes will just attack her armor, her shield, and her weapon instead of her cute, exposed body -- behold the power of cute, the Teddy Bear Totem Barbarian.

Two more excellent suggestions... I’m leaning toward OoC Pally for the healing (she’s gonna die from giggling at the innuendo with Lay On Hands 😂) and reworking the fear effects into charm effects. Then again, Teddy Bear Totem is the most adorable thing I have ever heard... how would you treat rage? I guess it could be a loli temper tantrum? 😋

[Nifft]

Two more excellent suggestions... I’m leaning toward OoC Pally for the healing (she’s gonna die from giggling at the innuendo with Lay On Hands 😂) and reworking the fear effects into charm effects. Then again, Teddy Bear Totem is the most adorable thing I have ever heard... how would you treat rage? I guess it could be a loli temper tantrum? 😋

Teddy Bear Barbie is a truly fearsome and mighty opponent, for cute is on her side, and cute is justice.

Teddy Bear Barbie, what is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them run without make-up, and to hear the lamentations of their boyfriends!

She'll always use the non-lethal final blow mechanic since she's not actually murdering people, she's just making them see her way (with her cute little Barbie greatsword and her high Intimidation-- er, perfectly reasonable discussion skill check).

[Lunali]

Two more excellent suggestions... I’m leaning toward OoC Pally for the healing (she’s gonna die from giggling at the innuendo with Lay On Hands 😂) and reworking the fear effects into charm effects. Then again, Teddy Bear Totem is the most adorable thing I have ever heard... how would you treat rage? I guess it could be a loli temper tantrum? 😋

Rage doesn't have to be fluffed as anger, it just has to disable casting, reduce damage taken and allow you to make better use of your strength.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Maybe a homebrewed version of Unarmored Defense that adds her CHA mod to AC?

A reflavored Sanctuary spell, but it's not often cast on tanks.

Combining these two, how about a Way of Tranquility Monk with abilities keyed off Cha? You get at-will Sanctuary, basically Lay on Hands, and a whole set of features built around calming people down.

[DarkKnightJin]

Rage doesn't have to be fluffed as anger, it just has to disable casting, reduce damage taken and allow you to make better use of your strength.

Indeed. I have a Barbarian based on Auron from FFX. It's basically a warrior monk, that takes a swig from his jug when he goes into his Rage.
Numbs the pain, and allows him to swing his weapon without restraint. Putting more power into each swing of it.
Danger Sense? That's him being keenly aware of his surroundings, and reacting quickly to the danger approaching him.

Point is: He doesn't go into a frenzy, swinging like a madman every turn, and going for the throat of everything in front of him.
Which is good, because he wouldn't have been able to save the Rogue from dying from failed death saves if he were like, say, Grog Strongjaw.

[Maelynn]

Intimidation is Charisma-based, so works perfectly if you just reword the effect. Instead of being threatening to make the opponent fearful of you, you can also be so darn cute the opponent is less willing to attack you. This would work both with an OoC Paladin and with a Barbarian.

Speaking of Barbarian, the frenzy/rage could very well be temper tantrums as suggested. And the fact that you can use Unarmoured Defence (tweaked to use CHA instead of CON, maybe) helps a lot in giving her a supercute outfit. And yes, definitely go for Teddy Bear Totem. The physical features that a Barbarian can start displaying could be even more kawaii/anime when you give her cute teddy bear ears. Also, Speak with Animals? Hello, cute conversations with birds and squirrels?

Also, a high AC just means attacks won't land. Who's to say what it means? A) the sword hits the armour and bounces off without doing damage, B) the PC dodged the attack in a Neo bullet-style fashion, C) the attacker tries a half-hearted swing because he doesn't really want to hit the cute opponent, or D) all of the above?

[etrpgb]

I guess it could be a loli temper tantrum? 😋

Depends of the kind "cuteness" the player is looking for. I, for one, was imagining more something like a magical-girl-like transformation.

[ZenBear]

A lot of fantastic suggestions! Thank you all so much for the tips, if any more come to mind then keep posting! I’ll be running these by her on Friday and I’ll let y’all know what she picks!

[apepi]

Gnome Moon Druid, very cute.

[etrpgb]

After reading everything and thinking about it too, I agree that Barbarian strangely enough is the class that works best with just minimal refluff.
How extreme is the refluff I think depends on the rest of the game, if you are playing a generally funny and strange game a-la Discworld you can go all down to teddy bear shields and chainmail bikini. Otherwise, just tone it down: she will appear as a (kinda) normal adventurer until she transform (rage) where he will look unnaturally cute.

Here is the refluff and the options I was thinking:

Rage: henshin transformation.
Unarmored Defense: she is so cute, it is difficult to attack her! In the beginning she will probably wear a half-plate, but after a bit of level-up she will be fully naked (otherwise just a super thin strip of leather on chest and around the waist)!


Primal Paths, Totem Warrior as said multiple times. In the various steps I would go for:

Totem Spirit, (teddy) Bear: the cuteness is so powerful that even elements have problem hurting her. Unfortunately she is still a bit of ditz so psychic damage still works normally.
Aspect of the Beast, Tiger: as any good cute girl she is able in everything.
Totemic Attunement, Eagle: elegant jumps and exaggerated fluffiness!


The race is kinda of a problem, as the races good for Barbarian are hardly "cute," so probably Human. Other choice it can be a super cute Genasi?

Background: Uthgardt Tribe Member. Again powerful and good with the idea that the cute girl is also able to build stuff as needed (probably everything she does works fine, but still looks cute and delicate) and play instruments.

[ZenBear]

Inspiration struck today, and now I have another option for my friend to choose from! If she chooses to play a Paladin, in addition to granting Unarmored Defense (CHA) in lieu of Heavy Amor, I will offer her the opportunity to play this homebrew subclass:

Oath of the Waifu

Tenets

Faithfulness: Never betray your senpai in any way, not even in your thoughts.

Dutifulness: Always be at your best when aiding senpai in whatever task they need you for.

Destiny: You and senpai are destined to be together; let nothing stand in the way of true love!

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you must choose your senpai to swear it to. You holy symbol must be something that reminds you of senpai, like a lock of hair or a discarded piece of gum.

Oath Spells
3rd: Charm Person, Sanctuary
5th: Calm Emotions, Enthrall
9th: Beacon of Hope, Leomund’s Love Hotel
13th: Compulsion, Evard’s Black Tentacles
17th: Dominate Person, Dream

Channel Divinity

Begone THOT!: As an action, you present your holy symbol and speak in an unintelligible, threatening whisper. Any creature within 10ft of your senpai other than you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage.

Choose what kind of Dere you are to gain the appropriate secondary Channel Divinity.

Tsundere: As an action you can use your Channel Divinity to lash out with harsh words and force each creature of your choice that can hear you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature becomes frightened of you for 1 minute. The frightened creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Your senpai has disadvantage on saving throws against this effect.

Yandere: Immediately after an attacker within 30ft of you deals damage with an attack against your senpai, you can use your reaction to mark that creature for death. For 1 minute the target becomes Vulnerable to your attacks. You may also use this ability on any creature that you think has flirted with your senpai or that your senpai has shown interest in.

Kuudere: You can use your Channel Divinity to freeze your foe with an icy glare. As an action, you force one creature that can see you to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes restrained as a thin layer of ice encases them. The restrained creature can repeat this saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Aura of Dere
Starting at 7th level, whenever your senpai takes damage while within 10ft of you, you can choose to magically take half of that damage instead. This feature doesn’t transfer any other effects that might accompany the damage, and this damage can’t be reduced in any way. But it’s not like you like them or anything...
At 18th level the range of this aura increases to 30ft.

Kawaii-desu
Beginning at 15th level, you are always under the effects of the Blur spell as your preternatural cuteness is so distracting that your enemies struggle to bring themselves to strike you.

Best Girl
At 20th level, you become the ultimate waifu. Creatures that can see you have disadvantage on saving throws against Charm effects cast by you, and you have advantage on Charisma checks against them.

Inspiration:
https://youtu.be/oq7B44odQ00
https://youtu.be/fjyc9XTtC2Q

[DuctTapeKatar]

Monster Musume. Tionshia the Ogre. May be cute, but she will smack you down if you mess with her.

Perfect example.

[Arcangel4774]

College of glamour multiclass with something a little beefier seems like a good pick, probable a palidan either path of devotion or oath of redemption.

[Laserlight]

I need to refer our Paladin of Sune to this thread.

[Segev]

The question has been brought up but not outright asked, and I think it needs to be answered before we can give solid advice rather than throwing ideas that may be a bit disjoint out there:

What does "tank" mean in this context? Somebody who can barrel through damage sources without concern, or somebody who actively interposes themselves and soaks up damage so others don't have to?

The job of a "tank" in a party is usually the latter, but using techniques which make people not want to focus their damaging attacks on her defeats that goal. If that's the goal, then what we want are ways to make people waste actions focusing on her or avoiding her. Refluffed fear effects (sending them off in tears for having risked hurting her, perhaps) work for that.

If the goal is just to be able to be safe even in horribly dangerous environments, rather than to soak damage for the party, then things that let her Charm others will do, as will the sanctuary spell.

[Speely]

I love this idea. In fact, a whole party of Magical Girls would be so fun. Cover all the tropes and get absolutely silly with the RP.

[ZenBear]

The question has been brought up but not outright asked, and I think it needs to be answered before we can give solid advice rather than throwing ideas that may be a bit disjoint out there:

What does "tank" mean in this context? Somebody who can barrel through damage sources without concern, or somebody who actively interposes themselves and soaks up damage so others don't have to?

The job of a "tank" in a party is usually the latter, but using techniques which make people not want to focus their damaging attacks on her defeats that goal. If that's the goal, then what we want are ways to make people waste actions focusing on her or avoiding her. Refluffed fear effects (sending them off in tears for having risked hurting her, perhaps) work for that.

If the goal is just to be able to be safe even in horribly dangerous environments, rather than to soak damage for the party, then things that let her Charm others will do, as will the sanctuary spell.

She has never played a ttrpg, so I assume she means a tank in the mmorpg sense, so the latter. I know that in ttrpgs it doesn’t really work that way since aggro isn’t a thing, but the way I see it whoever is fighting in the front lines getting in the face of the enemy is going to have their attention. Smarter foes will try to ignore them and target more vulnerable players, but as a DM I try to respect the emotion of the situation and not even the most hard bitten soldier can really ignore a screaming Barbarian that’s trying to rip your **** off through your eye socket when he’s all up in your grill.

[MagneticKitty]

May I present, the oath of redemption dexadin tabaxi. (Dump str, run defense fighting style, studded leather and shield. Rapier. A.c. is 12 + dex + 2 shield + 1 defense fighting style (which is not bad at all.))
Stat priority:
Cha > dex > con > wis > int > str
Lv 3 you get sanctuary. You can channel divinity to be really persuasive.
Take diplomat feat, you can charm anyone you've talked to for a minute, and they stay that way until you're far away. You also get calm emotions.
Plus you're a cute kitty.
You can fluff (pun intended) your aura at lv 6 as being so cute that the enemy can't bear to hit you or your allies.
you excel At sneaking in complete with a climb speed. Then sweet talking and charming your way out. Which having good dex saves and stealth is rare for a paladin

[Segev]

She has never played a ttrpg, so I assume she means a tank in the mmorpg sense, so the latter. I know that in ttrpgs it doesn’t really work that way since aggro isn’t a thing, but the way I see it whoever is fighting in the front lines getting in the face of the enemy is going to have their attention. Smarter foes will try to ignore them and target more vulnerable players, but as a DM I try to respect the emotion of the situation and not even the most hard bitten soldier can really ignore a screaming Barbarian that’s trying to rip your **** off through your eye socket when he’s all up in your grill.

In that case, I suggest the Sentinel feat, not using sanctuary but seeking out Charm effects, and fluffing things that improve AC as improving her ability to make people not want to hit her. Use the Charm effects to talk enemies out of fighting altogether. Sentinel will let her hold territory and force people to deal with her. Can't use sanctuary because she'll have to be a bit aggressive. But Sentinel and the like can be fluffed as tantrums and crying because they're ignoring her.

I might actually suggest the Fighter archetype that gives superiority dice. The maneuvers in there could be fluffed to work with the concept, I think. Could play that straight up, or go Faelock for Charm effects. Pact of the Chain would let her have a cute shoulder dragon pet; Pact of the Blade would let her have the most adorably cute versions of whatever weapons she's spec'd for as a Fighter.

Also, take a look at Backgrounds for ones with fitting special features.

[Maelynn]

I love this idea. In fact, a whole party of Magical Girls would be so fun. Cover all the tropes and get absolutely silly with the RP.

When I was reading up on the Celestial Warlock and read that one of the possible patrons could be a unicorn, I knew I wanted to make a Magical Girl Unicorn Goldilock. I haven't fully worked it out yet, but I know this can work. A few things that crossed my mind so far:

Pact of the Chain, of course, because Magical Girls need a superkawaii talking animal as a familiar. Especially one that follows them around and gives either sage advice or comic relief. Maybe both.

Speaking of talking animals, Forest Gnome would make a cutesy teensy little girl that can Speak with Animals. Lightfoot Halfling would be lovely as well, because of Lucky and the bonus to Charisma. Also, hiding behind bigger stronger people (especially men) is cutesy.

Max not just Charisma, but also Dexterity - give enough AC to forego armour (and go with adorable skimpy rainbow outfits). Intelligence can be mediocre, Wisdom preferably dumpstat for increased silly behaviour.

Slightly adapt the spell list so she's allowed to use spells like Color Spray and Dancing Lights. Basically, any spell that creates lots of pretty lights and colours and glitter.

Like I said, work in progress. But I am going to make this one work. Some day.