Frontline Tank - How be Better

[SpicyBoi_Nezu]

Story of Bingo Beef, the Mountain Orc Minotaur, tank & dps

I created a Half-Minotaur, with the other half being a Mountain orc (Races of Faerun), he is a 5th level Fighter, and I'm planning on multi-classing after level 6 (Get those last 2 feats).

Stats: *REVISED*
Hp- 86
AC- 21
40ft Movement

Strength- 30
Dexterity- 16
Constitution- 22
Intelligence- 12
Wisdom- 10
Charisma- 11

Feats (Not Necessarily in Order): Tomb Tainted Soul, Improved Toughness, Combat Reflexes, Stand Still, Power Attack, & Improved Bullrush
*(Knock-Back & Cleave) at level 6*

He is is a large creature, and uses a glaive (15ft of range) paired with Standstill and eventually Knockdown to prevent enemies from getting close, as well as a Greataxe for whenever they do get close, and because of his racial ability, Monstrous weapon Wielding, he can "two-hand" the axe, because he can treat 2-handed weapons as 1-handed, therefore his axe does (3d6+15)

He has ranks in Intimidate, so that he can routinely demoralize opponents, and eventually get the "Never Outnumbered" Skill trick. He also put a few into Climb, Jump, and such, the few skills that aren't covered in the party.


For those wondering, he got a +16 to strength, -2 to dexterity, +6 to constitution, -2 to intelligence, +2 to wisdom

The stats are a bit crazy, because the description for Half-Minotaur template, states that it is applied to medium creatures it increases their size to large adding +10 movement and all stat increases appropriate for a size increase, I assumed it would be the same as the monnster advancement table, so it should be

Medium->Large +8str -2dex +4con +2NA -1to hit/AC

Applied to the +4str, +2con, +2wis, -2int +2NA plus other abilities for base template


I'm not sure of the best prestige class, so I was planning on multiclassing into another base class, like Barbarian or Ranger, but I wasn't sure. I decided that since my knowledge of non-PHB books is limited, I would ask here. I could just continue in fighter, picking up feats as I go, but i'd prefer to keep them to a manageable level, he has 6(8) feats already, and I don't really know what else to give him. I have given up being the tank, and choose to be 100% DPS, but protecting my party, because if the enemies cant get past me, they cant hurt my teammates.


And for anyone who has noticed my other 4 posts in the past few days will know that I am trying every different combination of character, Serial Killer, Paladin, Tank, Dps. And I can't seem to settle on one particular character for this evil campaign.
For those who don't know, this is our party at the moment

Frenchie- Skeleton necromancer that heals us by dropping summoned skeletons on us, which explode, dealing negative damage to the enemy, and healing us, Except Demki

Deimos- Deimos (Fallen Aasimar) Warlock, that specializes in either shooting from a distance, or smoothe-talking people with his criminally high diplomacy

Demki- Tiefling Dual-Wielder, runs around, swinging her scimitar and rapier, stabbing anything she can get her little hands on, only one in the party that doesn't heal from negative energy (has a stache of healing potions, just in case)

Jorje*- Hellbred Fighter, who's only goal is to have a high AC and an even higher intimidate, he doesn't do much, if he see's an enemy, he hits it, usually at the same time that Deimos is trying to talk to it (They don't get along well)

*This was the character that a player made, and he has now left the group, so I'm bringing my own Tank to the table as a replacement*

[Eldariel]

First of all, with 30 Strength and Large size on this level, you're DPS whether you'd like to or not. D&D is not an MMO; there's no special "tank" category. The frontliner is both, a guardian and a DPS. It's pretty much inevitable since if someone can't do damage, they'll just walk past them. You've got the Stand Still setup but you'll still wreck people in the face pretty hard and at least Power Attack would be a sensible pick-up.

If you're playing 3.5, there are few enough prestige classes of interest. Base classes like Barbarian (with Extra Rage feat [Complete Warrior] you can more or less Rage in every big fight daily), Ranger, Warblade and company can complement the build extremely well, however, so I'd look into multiclassing. However, if you have access to 3.0 prestige classes, Master of the Chain [Sword & Fist], Weapon Master [Sword & Fist] and potentially few others (Disciple of Dispater [BoVD] is not bad) can be cool.

With Large size and those stats though, combat maneuvers are probably not a bad idea; Rampaging Bull Rush [Races of Stone], Shock Trooper [Complete Warrior] and company would allow playing tetris with your enemies pretty efficiently and then you can combine that with Dungeoncrasher [Dungeonscape] if you wish to smash them to walls/floors/whatever. Tripping would work too. They complement what you're doing pretty nicely.

[emeraldstreak]

If you multiclass after level 6, you might need to wait to level 9 to get the new class' best feat.

This character can do well as Fighter-Barbarian-Warblade. Take Mad Foam Rager (feat) and Iron Heart Surge (maneuver) on the way, these are counters to enemy 'controllers' trying to interfere with you plans.

[RNightstalker]

Don't sell yourself short on those skill points, as every PC gets a minimum of 1/level, even with an IQ penalty.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You absolutely need to get the Dungeoncrasher ACF in Dungeonscape, along with the feat Knock-Back in Races of Stone. Always take the Dead Levels (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) class features, they're free.

Also see if you can get the (reflavored) Zhentarim Soldier (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a) substitution levels, along with the Never Outnumbered skill trick in Complete Scoundrel. If you can bump Cha somehow (level ups, enhancement bonus, etc.) you'll need 15+ for Imperious Command in Drow of the Underdark. Get the Fearsome property from that same book added to your armor, it's better than the MIC version and more recent as well. You can also get an Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) and use invest skill ranks to buff your intimidate skill.

Go Fighter 9 because Zhentarim Soldier, then take Warblade 10, and at 20th level get your tenth Fighter level and a bonus feat. Provided you meet the other feat prerequisites, that last Fighter bonus feat at 20th can be Weapon Supremacy in PH2.

[Bronk]

I'm not sure why you'd want to be a tank in an evil campaign... I'd think you'd want the others to take damage in your place. But, one of the only ways to draw damage away from others is by either taking one of the two commoner flaws that make you delicious (either Delicious or Weresheep, which lets you turn it on and off) or just being bitten by a weresheep.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

If you want to tank, the Crusader class is almost always the way to go. Iron Guard's Glare, for instance, imposes -4 to enemies within your reach that try to attack any one else (no action required). Maybe also grab Douse the Flames to render the foe unable to take attacks of opportunity. Plus, with 6 levels of fighter under your belt your initiator level will be 3, giving you access to 2nd level maneuvers with your first level of Crusader.

[Malphegor]

to be honest with those stats and being half-minotaur I'd be considering some variant of barbarian anyway just because it fits with seeing red and all that jazz.

If you want to tank, have you considered being an evil version of a few levels in the Knight class? They've got a mindaffecting ability to challenge anyone with int more than 3 I think each encounter, seems appropriate for a tank, you might just need to scrap most of the knight's oath and make your own one up if you're evil though since it's designed for a post-French-redesign-version-of-Arthurian-myth knights yet somehow still having the worst part of the earlier stories about Arthurian myth knights, the Big Stupid Chivalry that gets them in fights with people far stronger than them over percieved slights to their character.

[Deadline]

Tanking generally infers an ability to redirect attacks to oneself (i.e. "drawing aggro"), or to prevent damage to others. You've kind of managed the latter with some of your feats, but there other mechanics you may want to explore (depending on book restrictions). The first and foremost is the Tome of Battle. The Crusader base class in there has a number of maneuvers dedicated to "drawing aggro", all of which are solid. After that, check out Drow of the Underdark for a two-feat chain (they are called something like Constant Guardian and Dedicated Guardian) that let you grant AC boosts to an ally, and intercept attacks meant for said ally. Aside from that, the cleric spell Shield Other is a solid tanking mechanic that lets you take half an ally's damage for the duration of the spell (you can get it from a pair of Rings of Friend Shielding). Last, and most certainly least for melee brutes who likely have garbage charisma, are the Knight class (PHB2) and the Goad feat (Complete Adventurer I think?). These two allow you to "taunt", but the dc for both is tied to your charisma attribute, so the likely hood of success on these is iffy at best.

A Crusader with the Stone Power feat, the tanking feats from Drow of the Underdark, and the various defensive maneuvers from the Devoted Spirit school is a remarkably resilient tank. Add in a reach weapon and area denial (AoOs with Standstill or Trip), and you are a very hard defensive nugget to shift.

Unfortunately, tanking mechanics are somewhat lightly represented in D&D 3.5.

[ShurikVch]

Since Bingo Beef is Large-sized - how about the War Hulk (Miniatures Handbook)?

[noob]

I suggest you start retraining to be a cleric if you want to tank.
Then do clericky things such as keeping all your allies boosted all day with dmm persist.

[ShurikVch]

I suggest you start retraining to be a cleric if you want to tank.
Then do clericky things such as keeping all your allies boosted all day with dmm persist.Maybe, Urban Druid?
Urban Shape would allow to become an actual Tank... :smallwink: