Stealth Medium Armor Master Tank

[Remover of Obst]

Build Concept
Stealthy medium armor master tank with high health and very proficient with Thieves’ Tools..
Damage mitigation tools
-Rage
-Danger Sense
-Bear Totem
-(Alternate Path of the Ancestral Guardian XGtE)
-Uncanny Dodge (stacks with Rage for 75% damage reduction, right?)
-High HP - Hill Dwarf, Toughness, Dwarven Fortitude
-High AC - Shield, Medium Armor Master

Aggro
-Use Rapier with strength to get Rage and Sneak Attack Damage
-Reckless Attack (pairs well with Champion Fighter critting on 19 and 20 and Sneak Attack)

Utility
-Nice to have your stealth scout/trap disarmer be able to take a hit
-Cunning Action + Action Surge + Fast Movement to get around
-You can go hide to not be a burden on social engagements.

Hill Dwarf
+1 hp per level
STR....15
DEX....15
CON...15+2
INT......8
WIS....8+1
CHA...8

1 - B1 - Rage, Unarmored Defense
Starting equipment is a bit meh - Rapier, 2x Hand Axes, 4x Javelins - no armor.
If you buy a shield you can get to 17 AC unarmored with point buy. Pick up a longbow when you can and save up for that +1/+2 Half Plate and Shield.)

(Alternate start with Rogue 1, less AC more skills, need a level of Fighter to get medium armor proficiency or Mountain Dwarf.)

2 -B2 Danger Sense, Reckless Attack

3 - B3 Bear Totem for resistance to almost all damage while raging, 3 rage per day.

4 - B4 ASI - Time to even out some stats - +1 STR/DEX or maybe Dwarven Fortitude

5 - B5 Extra Attack, Fast Movement

6 - R1 Sneak Attack, Expertise

7 - R2 Cunning Action

8 - R3 ?

9 - R4 Medium Armor Master

10 - R5 Uncanny Dodge

11 - F1 Fighting Style Defense, Second Wind

12 - F2 Action Surge

13 - F3 ?

14 - F4 ASI Feat Dwarven Fortitude XGtE

15 - R6 More Expertise

16 - R7 Evasion

17 - R8 Toughness

18 - R9

19 - R10 ASI/Feat?

20 - R11

What else could you get?
-Barbarian 7 gives Feral Instinct for advantage on Initiative and surprise protection.
-Barbarian 8 for ASI/Feat.
-Barbarian 9 for Brutal Critical for more damage (probably less reliable than an extra sneak attack dice)
-Fighter 6 and 8 give more ASI/Feats plus Martial Archetype at 7).
-Other races:
Halfling Stout - Sometimes it is better to be lucky and have a Second Chance (XGtE Feat) each combat and your saves are not anything special
Halforc - More STR, more damage, 30’ movement
Mountain Dwarf - More Str, could start level 1 with Rogue and have access to medium armor earlier.

*** Help please ***
1. So in an attempt to keep this Adventure League legal, which subclasses (PHB +1 XGtE) would you consider?

2. What name would you recommend for a dwarf or halfling?
For example...
Slade Shadeshield
or
Boppin Thornhill

[CTurbo]

A Barbarian with the Medium Armor Mastery feat is repetitively redundant as Unarmored Defense is superior and free unless you plan on dumping Con which of course you're not.

[Remover of Obst]

A Barbarian with the Medium Armor Mastery feat is repetitively redundant as Unarmored Defense is superior and free unless you plan on dumping Con which of course you're not.

+3 half plate gets you to 18 + 3 from dex with Medium Armor Mastery Feat for 21 AC and lets you get that extra 1 AC from fighting style defense for 22.

Even with 16 Dex and 20 Con, you are 18 AC.

[Remover of Obst]

1. I'd recommend Samurai and Swashbuckler.

2. Boppin Thornwall...

I had originally written Thornwall, then changed it after looking at recommended names. Thanks.

[ZenBear]

Just make a Fighter with MAM, 16 DEX and the Urchin background gives proficiency in thieves tools, right?

[CTurbo]

+3 half plate gets you to 18 + 3 from dex with Medium Armor Mastery Feat for 21 AC and lets you get that extra 1 AC from fighting style defense for 22.

Even with 16 Dex and 20 Con, you are 18 AC.

+3 Halfplate is damn near a legendary item, or at least it should be

[strangebloke]

Okay.

Medium armor master is, unfortunately, a bad pick, pretty much always, and especially for barbarians. MaM is only good for few levels in a few builds.

Dex 16, con 16
Naked: 16
MaM: 18

Dex 16, con 20
Naked: 18
MaM: 18

Since MaM puts you a whole ASI behind, all MaM does is give you +1 AC for four levels, while leaving you with lower Constitution. AC is not that important at higher levels in any case, and if you want to be sneaky in armor, Mithril armor is usually pretty cheap.

If you are worried about going naked because you'll miss the +1 from defense fighting style, UA has the Mariner fighting style.

yeah, +x armor changes things, but only if you get +2/+3 armor, which isn't exactly all that common.

As to the rest: I am not a fan of the four fighter levels. You're missing out on a lot of rogueish delight by taking that dip. I would take one or at most two levels.

The Barb level break is solid.

Rogue subclass pick from me would be assassin or maybe swashbuckler, depending on the feel you're going for.

Fighter subclass (if you must) should be cavalier. Pick up the sentinel feat instead of MaM and you'll be getting two sneak attacks a turn off you want to.

[Remover of Obst]

Okay.

Medium armor master is, unfortunately, a bad pick, pretty much always, and especially for barbarians. MaM is only good for few levels in a few builds.

Since MaM puts you a whole ASI behind, all MaM does is give you +1 AC for four levels, while leaving you with lower Constitution.

AC is not that important at higher levels ...

Mithril armor is usually pretty cheap.

+x armor changes things, but only if you get +2/+3 armor, which isn't exactly all that common.

fighter levels. I would take one or at most two levels.

The Barb level break is solid.

Pick up the sentinel feat instead of MaM and you'll be getting two sneak attacks a turn off you want to.

Thanks a lot for your post. Greatly appreciate the feedback. Especially the input on AC at higher levels.

I went into this build knowing that MAM was sub-optimal in many ways, but I was interested to see how high AC would work with Rage and Uncanny Dodge...

I may re-work this to take out two (or maybe three) fighter levels.


Has anyone tried using Reckless Attack regularly as a "tank" character with high AC (20+)? Does that help offset the double rolls?

[Snowbluff]

I support the use of combining Barbarian and Rogue for tankiness. Medium armor is *fine* considering you're taking at worst 1/2 damage and at best 1/4 damage.

Strength finesse weapon is also the best way of doing that. I wouldn't unduly invest into dex.

[GlenSmash!]

Has anyone tried using Reckless Attack regularly as a "tank" character with high AC (20+)? Does that help offset the double rolls?

Yup, I've done it with a 20AC Barb. I actually found that with Resistance from Rage, a high AC wasn't even necessary to offset the double roles. Damage reduction was good enough (Uncanny Dodge makes it even better). I put the shield away and played a Two-Handed tank.

[djreynolds]

A barbarian wants to get hit, its why he/she has rage.

You can stealth in breastplate, just save up for it or go without armor.

IMO, reckless attack goes well with GWM, you will not be disappointed with the damage output.

I would battlemaster fighter and barbarian, critical hits are really underwhelming in 5E. Grab trip, menacing, and precision and I actually like cleave or riposte.

Reckless attack and precision and GWM is oodles of damage, recharge maneuvers every short rest and pop a rage if you need it since they are long rest dependent.

[jaysay8]

Build Concept

2. What name would you recommend for a dwarf or halfling?
For example...
Slade Shadeshield
or
Boppin Thornhill
I'd go with a halfling. I just completed a campaign with a DEX based halfling paladin. With +2 breastplate, a +2 shield, a high DEX, defensive fighting style and a rapier that granted +1 AC he had a 24 AC and tanked extremely well. Plus stealthy and lucky.