What's the tankiest character?

[Greywander]

By which I mean the hardest to kill, not necessarily the best character at providing tanking support for their party.

The Build
I'm going to say a yuan-ti pureblood, for their advantage on saving throws against magic.
Ancients paladin, at least 7 levels, for +CHA to saves and half damage from spells.
Sorcerer, for Shield, Mirror Image spells (and many others). Probably Shadow sorc for the Strength of the Grave feature.
Resilient (CON) and Shield Master, to further beef up saves.
Lots of other feats that could be helpful, Alert, Defensive Duelist, Tough, Heavy Armor Master, and Lucky probably all being great picks.
2 or 3 levels in barbarian (Bear Totem, if 3) for damage resistance during rage and Danger Sense might also be a good idea. Plus, better naked AC should it ever come up.

Armor Class
If we're wearing plate and using a shield, we'll have an AC of 20, 21 if we get the Defense fighting style. Armor/shield +3 (which requires no attunement), if we can get it, will boost this to 27. If magic items are on the table, a Ring of Protection can give us +1 to both AC and saves (nice). Staff of Power is even better (though incompatible with Defensive Duelist), giving +2 to both AC and saves, as well as having other uses. This boosts our AC to 30, and even a tarrasque will only hit us about half of the time. For our third attunement slot, a Cloak of Displacement might be the best choice, giving disadvantage on all attacks until we take damage. This isn't ironclad, but in a pinch we can stack on Shield for another +5.

Saving Throws
For saving throws, we get to add our CHA mod, which we'll assume to be +5. Proficiency gives us +6 on CON, WIS, and CHA saves, while Shield Master adds +2 to +5 to DEX saves. STR and INT saves are left out, but still benefit from adding the CHA mod. We'll need at least a STR of 15 for plate, though, so we'll have at least a +2. Our other ability scores will boost their individual saves, though I haven't worked out exactly what they would be. Ring of Protection and Staff of Power give us another +3, for a total of +14/+13 on our strong saves, not including the ability score bonus. Our CHA saves, for example, will be at +19 (the spell save DC of a 20th level caster, without magic items, is 19). Our lowest save will probably INT, which, with a 10 in INT, would get +8. On top of all of this, we get advantage on all saves against magic.

We only have one concentration slot, so either Bless or Shield of Faith can further boost AC or saves, as needed.

The Result
With this setup, we can reach a base AC of 30, boostable to 35 with Shield, 32 with Shield of Faith, and 37 with both. Cloak of Displacement gives disadvantage on all attacks against us until we take damage (save for half damage could be an effective way to get around this). Mirror Image can further increase the difficulty of hitting us. Our saves are at +7 at the lowest (e.g. with an INT of 8) up to +19 at the highest (CHA). With a DEX of 14 and WIS of 12, we would have +15 to those saves. Yuan-ti gives advantage on all saves against magic, Danger Sense (if we go barb) gives us advantage on DEX saves, magic or not, as long as we can see them. Bless adds 1d4 to saves, which averages to +2.5.

It's not quite untouchable, but it's pretty close. If we do get hit, we have resistance to magic damage, immunity to poison (yuan-ti), pseudo-Evasion from Shield Master, and barb rage for resistance to everything except psychic (if Bear Totem). Lay on Hands can heal us between fights, and Strength of the Grave will give us one last chance to keep fighting.

There's a lot more we could do, like summons, using walls to block off enemies, or teleporting away from harm (it never hurts to have a Dimension Door in your back pocket), but that risks getting into very complex territory very quickly, so I just focused mostly on AC, saves, and damage reduction.

The Counter
To take down this character, perhaps the most expedient way would be with a Heightened Feeblemind (disadvantage from Heightened Spell would cancel with advantage from yuan-ti), preferably with a magic item to boost spell save DC. No CHA means bye-bye to that +5 to saves. Our weak INT save makes this roughly a coin flip. Heat Metal, either on the armor (which can't be removed fast enough), or the shield (which, if shed, will drop AC and DEX saves by 5). Heat Metal on the shield makes attacks easier, both Feeblemind and Heat Metal make DEX save spells viable, though we still have resistance to magic damage. As such, we might ignore Feeblemind and instead opt for an archer bard (possibly multiclassed for archery fighting style) who can Heat Metal on our shield, then run away as they pelt us with arrows. Heat Metal on the armor can bypass the Cloak of Displacement, though this means you'll have to drop Heat Metal on the shield, which could then be picked up if it it's still close by.

How could we improve on this? Some of the details of this build are intentionally vague, so there's some wiggle room in the build.

[Arkhios]

Probably a bit controversial and unorthodox, but on the grounds of being difficult to kill, and using no-save, no attack spells, int 13 and Abjurer instead of Sorcerer could be pretty amazing investment upon Ancients Paladin 7.

If unaware of what the Abjurer is capable of, it's their ability to constantly keep up a fairly high temporary hit point value.

Besides, int 13 can be remedied with Headband of Intellect which set your Intelligence at 19 instead, which is pretty damn good already.

[Citan]

Hardest to kill?
Depends on level.

Before level 10, Ancients Paladin and a very self-centered Shepherd Druid will fare well, with Bear Barb being a distant third (bad defense against charm/fear/control spells unless you pick race with benefits along with Resilient: Wisdom).
After level 14, Abjurer Wizard provided he had enough time to prepare will be a damn pain to end. Any Monk will equally be hard to end.
One level after, Champion comes say hello quickly with its Regenerate ability (pair that with Shield Master and Resilient: Wis, plus Tough, as a DEX and CON build, you're still very killable obviously but it will require high damage bursts to eat into that regen).
At level 18 Monks beat mostly everyone provided they have enough Ki. Life Cleric too can be made absurdedly tanky.
At level 20 Ancients Paladin and Monks are joined by Moon Druid as the top three nigh unkillable (only way to kill Moon Druid is to prevent him to take any action or bonus action: few spells do that, and most of them target WIS), with Abjurer being either in the pack, above or just behind depending on campaign and DM (how much in-world development? How much time spent on building army/traps/Demiplaces/Wishes/etc?).

Those are simply the best options: single-class (easy to build and balanced) and extremely powerful.

With multiclass, you have ways to best all of them in specific areas. But best all of them in all areas? This could probably be done occasionally by putting huge resources in preparation for a specific fight, barring that I fail to see. :)

[Torpin]

lore bard
foresight, some armor, can get self heals out the wazoo. counterspells and cutting words

[Keravath]

A level of hexblade warlock gives you CHA as the attack stat so strength only needs to be 15 for full plate. You also pick up a couple of cantrips/spells and a first level spell slot.

Any build like this is very limited in ASI.

Paladin 7 - 1 ASI
Sorcerer 12 - 3 ASI
Hexblade 1 - 0 ASI

Two of those need to be used to boost CHA to 20. This leaves 2 ASI. If you take resilient con and shield master then you are out of feats and the last one comes online at level 20.

You can get another ASI by going paladin 8 but then you will only have +2 on attacks rather than +5 since using point buy a yuan-ti can only start with 15 strength at most. Starting with 15str/17cha could let you use a split ASI to boost these to 16/18. However str will never be higher than 16 (+3) if you want to take the feats listed.

If your goal is to survive while being a less effective combatant then these considerations may not matter ... though your other group members may think differently :)

Int is probably a dump stat at 8. So the int saving throw is probably +4 ... +5 from aura -1 for int. At tier 4, spell save DC are typically around 19 which would require a 15 to pass. Even with advantage on the saving throw this is only about a 44% chance of making the save - fails about 56% of the time. So more often than not the character will fail the int save. If you are dealing with a DC 23 lich then they fail a lot more often even with advantage. So ... yes ... a weakness in this case would likely be int saves.

[Alucard89]

Sorcadin with Divine Soul. Aura +5 to all saves, plate armor + shield + defense style. Proficiency in WIS saves (worst effects) + Aura and extra 2d4 to saves per short rest from Favoured by Gods from Divine Soul.

Shield spell, aborb elements, mirror image, Extended Aid, Extended Death Ward, Heal, Greater Restoration, Counterspell, Sanctuary, Lay Down Hands, greater invisibility, stone skin etc etc. Add Shield Master to that and you are tanky as hell. If you want to be most tanky, go 7/13 with Oath of Ancient to add to all that.

Typical Sword n Shield Sorcadin Divine Soul with Extended metamagic will have: AC around 23 at least (Plate +1 and Shield +1 and Defense style), 28 with Shield, 30 with Shield + Shield of Faith or Haste. He will have perma Death Ward and Aid (+40 HP) per day due to Extended magic. He has counterspell to counter enemy magic, Shield master to deal with AOE DEX-Based attacks and he has access to best Cleric Spells on top of that and nice combos for tanks, like Lay Down Hands + Quicken Heal for 105 healing. If he is Ancient he will also take half spell damage and can half it again with absorb elements.

On top of that he is hardest Nova character apart from GWM Sorcadin, unless SnS Sorcadin summons Shadow Blade....

[Nhorianscum]

Redeption paladin 20 is a thing.

[Citan]

By which I mean the hardest to kill, not necessarily the best character at providing tanking support for their party.

The Build
I'm going to say a yuan-ti pureblood, for their advantage on saving throws against magic.
Ancients paladin, at least 7 levels, for +CHA to saves and half damage from spells.
Sorcerer, for Shield, Mirror Image spells (and many others). Probably Shadow sorc for the Strength of the Grave feature.
Resilient (CON) and Shield Master, to further beef up saves.
Lots of other feats that could be helpful, Alert, Defensive Duelist, Tough, Heavy Armor Master, and Lucky probably all being great picks.
2 or 3 levels in barbarian (Bear Totem, if 3) for damage resistance during rage and Danger Sense might also be a good idea. Plus, better naked AC should it ever come up.

Armor Class
If we're wearing plate and using a shield, we'll have an AC of 20, 21 if we get the Defense fighting style. Armor/shield +3 (which requires no attunement), if we can get it, will boost this to 27. If magic items are on the table, a Ring of Protection can give us +1 to both AC and saves (nice). Staff of Power is even better (though incompatible with Defensive Duelist), giving +2 to both AC and saves, as well as having other uses. This boosts our AC to 30, and even a tarrasque will only hit us about half of the time. For our third attunement slot, a Cloak of Displacement might be the best choice, giving disadvantage on all attacks until we take damage. This isn't ironclad, but in a pinch we can stack on Shield for another +5.

Saving Throws
For saving throws, we get to add our CHA mod, which we'll assume to be +5. Proficiency gives us +6 on CON, WIS, and CHA saves, while Shield Master adds +2 to +5 to DEX saves. STR and INT saves are left out, but still benefit from adding the CHA mod. We'll need at least a STR of 15 for plate, though, so we'll have at least a +2. Our other ability scores will boost their individual saves, though I haven't worked out exactly what they would be. Ring of Protection and Staff of Power give us another +3, for a total of +14/+13 on our strong saves, not including the ability score bonus. Our CHA saves, for example, will be at +19 (the spell save DC of a 20th level caster, without magic items, is 19). Our lowest save will probably INT, which, with a 10 in INT, would get +8. On top of all of this, we get advantage on all saves against magic.

We only have one concentration slot, so either Bless or Shield of Faith can further boost AC or saves, as needed.

The Result
With this setup, we can reach a base AC of 30, boostable to 35 with Shield, 32 with Shield of Faith, and 37 with both. Cloak of Displacement gives disadvantage on all attacks against us until we take damage (save for half damage could be an effective way to get around this). Mirror Image can further increase the difficulty of hitting us. Our saves are at +7 at the lowest (e.g. with an INT of 8) up to +19 at the highest (CHA). With a DEX of 14 and WIS of 12, we would have +15 to those saves. Yuan-ti gives advantage on all saves against magic, Danger Sense (if we go barb) gives us advantage on DEX saves, magic or not, as long as we can see them. Bless adds 1d4 to saves, which averages to +2.5.

It's not quite untouchable, but it's pretty close. If we do get hit, we have resistance to magic damage, immunity to poison (yuan-ti), pseudo-Evasion from Shield Master, and barb rage for resistance to everything except psychic (if Bear Totem). Lay on Hands can heal us between fights, and Strength of the Grave will give us one last chance to keep fighting.

There's a lot more we could do, like summons, using walls to block off enemies, or teleporting away from harm (it never hurts to have a Dimension Door in your back pocket), but that risks getting into very complex territory very quickly, so I just focused mostly on AC, saves, and damage reduction.

The Counter
To take down this character, perhaps the most expedient way would be with a Heightened Feeblemind (disadvantage from Heightened Spell would cancel with advantage from yuan-ti), preferably with a magic item to boost spell save DC. No CHA means bye-bye to that +5 to saves. Our weak INT save makes this roughly a coin flip. Heat Metal, either on the armor (which can't be removed fast enough), or the shield (which, if shed, will drop AC and DEX saves by 5). Heat Metal on the shield makes attacks easier, both Feeblemind and Heat Metal make DEX save spells viable, though we still have resistance to magic damage. As such, we might ignore Feeblemind and instead opt for an archer bard (possibly multiclassed for archery fighting style) who can Heat Metal on our shield, then run away as they pelt us with arrows. Heat Metal on the armor can bypass the Cloak of Displacement, though this means you'll have to drop Heat Metal on the shield, which could then be picked up if it it's still close by.

How could we improve on this? Some of the details of this build are intentionally vague, so there's some wiggle room in the build.
If you want to build a tanky character while still keeping this basis of Paladin and Sorcerer with a Warlock dip...
Keep Ancients Paladin 7.
Go Shadow Sorcerer 4 for now.
Pick Chain Warlock 3 with the Gift of Everliving Dead invocation (automax heal).

Forget about Ring of Protection, grab Ring of Spell Storing instead. Opens all kind of nasty options.

Now, you could for example...
Just keep familiar "inside" you hidden with an Aura of Vitality (or even better, grabbing Healing Spirit one way or another). This uses your concentration and bonus action, so better if you go sword&board with Booming Blade but it will make you *very* resilient.

Have familiar attune to Ring to cast Greater Invisibility or other nice buff on you (GI has the big interest of depriving many spells of their basic requirement "target you can see").
Have familiar keep an Aura of Vitality and heal you each turn (so you have your own bonus action free).
Or have it sweep around battlefield invisible, using Healing Words as needed on anyone.

Of course, this kind of idea would be much much better with a dip in Life Cleric and three levels (or more) in Shepherd Druid. You can set up an Extended "Life" (3rd level ideally) Healing Spirit inside. Use Extended upcast Aid on yourself and your familiar if possible.
Use Unicorn Spirit as a bonus action while your Familiar use Ring for Healing Spirit.

Now, on every turn, you get healed for 17 points (3rd level = 2d6, max heal because Invocation, +2+3 per Life) and your familiar for average 6+5 = 11. In addition to that, you can use a Healing Words as needed to heal your familiar for additional 1d4+3, which in turns thanks to Unicorn heals both of you for 3 HP.

With a >15 regen per turn, you are a nasty fellow to fell in the first place.
With a ~11 HP per turn, and the Aid, and the fact it's Hiding as invisible, your familiar should be able to keep itself alive as well as its concentration.

If you'd like to have fun, you could even Polymorph it as a Giant Octopus (provided you picked Imp or Quasit, two only CR 1 improved familiars AFAIK) and Warding Bond it so the damage is perfectly splitted to reflect respective regen capabilities.

...
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...
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Ok, I admit, I strayed far too much from the initial idea...

TL;DR: instead of betting on as high AC as possible, you could try to think on ways to reliably regain HP for minimum cost.
Also, Cloak of Displacement is much less useful imo than any Adamantine Armor: you really don't want creatures that can actually reach your AC to land a critical hit, because that ought to hurt. And as a Sorcerer, if you pick Quicken, you can use Booming Blade on a bonus action to Dodge which brings same benefit as cloak except in a more predictable and controllable fashion for a (imo) very reasonable cost (especially if you go for Shadow Blade for concentration, making that single weapon attack very powerful, as long as it hits of course ^^).
Or, you could instead go Divine Soul to pick Spiritual Weapon so you have a decent attack (depending on cast level) when you want to Dodge on some rounds in that fight yet want to conserve Sorcery Points.

[Man_Over_Game]

Hardest to kill?
Depends on level.

Before level 10, Ancients Paladin and a very self-centered Shepherd Druid will fare well, with Bear Barb being a distant third (bad defense against charm/fear/control spells unless you pick race with benefits along with Resilient: Wisdom).
After level 14, Abjurer Wizard provided he had enough time to prepare will be a damn pain to end. Any Monk will equally be hard to end.
One level after, Champion comes say hello quickly with its Regenerate ability (pair that with Shield Master and Resilient: Wis, plus Tough, as a DEX and CON build, you're still very killable obviously but it will require high damage bursts to eat into that regen).
At level 18 Monks beat mostly everyone provided they have enough Ki. Life Cleric too can be made absurdedly tanky.
At level 20 Ancients Paladin and Monks are joined by Moon Druid as the top three nigh unkillable (only way to kill Moon Druid is to prevent him to take any action or bonus action: few spells do that, and most of them target WIS), with Abjurer being either in the pack, above or just behind depending on campaign and DM (how much in-world development? How much time spent on building army/traps/Demiplaces/Wishes/etc?).

Those are simply the best options: single-class (easy to build and balanced) and extremely powerful.

With multiclass, you have ways to best all of them in specific areas. But best all of them in all areas? This could probably be done occasionally by putting huge resources in preparation for a specific fight, barring that I fail to see. :)

Basically this.

Tack on Gnome/Yuan Ti, and now most crippling spells (ones that target Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma) are much more likely to fail.

[FabulousFizban]

Tankiest character? Bard

[MilkmanDanimal]

DEX-based Halfling Bear Totem Barbarian with Second Chance and Lucky feats.

[GlenSmash!]

Let see...

14+ Zealot can Rage beyond death. 15+ keeps Rage up the full 10 rounds of combat. A single point of healing will keep them from dying as long as they get it before rage ends. Aasimar can heal while raging once per long rest, but Paladins' lay on hands will work more often.

Disintegrate is still a concern, so is Power word kill, or even Sleep if you've been brought to low enough hit points. But I think those are pain points for pretty much anybody else too.

Anyway Half-Elf Zealot 15/Paladin 1 can Rage 5 times in a day and still use a point of Lay on Hands healing to keep themselves from dying, as long as they kill all enemies in 9 or less rounds and is immune to Sleep and hard to charm too. Lucky Feat to help with Saves.

It is however vulnerable to being kited around.

[Quoz]

I'm playing something similar, a Yuan-ti Conquest Paladin. Just hit 10th level and was debating between Sorcerer and Hexblade for a multiclass. Divine soul was where I was leaning, I will need to take a harder look at Shadow sorcerer.

I have shield master with a +2 shield and Cha 20 (rolled stats, got 1 rare and 1 uncommon at start.) which gives me 23 AC and my worst of the common saves is Wis at +8. We have an Ancients paladin in the party as well so when we work together he gets my better Cha to saves and I get his spell resistance. The real tankiness is my ability to use a fear lockdown, as an enemy close to me that fails a save against my fear spell can only sit there and pray that one of its allies saved and can break my concentration.

Offensively I've found it solid but not overwhelming. I get more use out of my spells than most paladins (command, wrathful smite, spirit weapon, and fear) so I smite a lot less than the average paladin. If it has a weakness it is that all of my offensive spells are save or suck and all are Wis saves, so I have a lot fewer tricks against high wis or fear immune enemies. I'm thinking sticking to sorcerer long enough to get shadow blade so I can upcast with my higher level slots as a good option. If I go divine soul 5, I get the ungodly combo of spirit guardians plus find steed to share spells, and will be able to upcast and possibly extend spell on it. I can just leisurely ride through the dungeon, shredding to bits anything that gets close enough to be a threat.

[Mitsu]

I'm playing something similar, a Yuan-ti Conquest Paladin. Just hit 10th level and was debating between Sorcerer and Hexblade for a multiclass. Divine soul was where I was leaning, I will need to take a harder look at Shadow sorcerer.

I have shield master with a +2 shield and Cha 20 (rolled stats, got 1 rare and 1 uncommon at start.) which gives me 23 AC and my worst of the common saves is Wis at +8. We have an Ancients paladin in the party as well so when we work together he gets my better Cha to saves and I get his spell resistance. The real tankiness is my ability to use a fear lockdown, as an enemy close to me that fails a save against my fear spell can only sit there and pray that one of its allies saved and can break my concentration.

Offensively I've found it solid but not overwhelming. I get more use out of my spells than most paladins (command, wrathful smite, spirit weapon, and fear) so I smite a lot less than the average paladin. If it has a weakness it is that all of my offensive spells are save or suck and all are Wis saves, so I have a lot fewer tricks against high wis or fear immune enemies. I'm thinking sticking to sorcerer long enough to get shadow blade so I can upcast with my higher level slots as a good option. If I go divine soul 5, I get the ungodly combo of spirit guardians plus find steed to share spells, and will be able to upcast and possibly extend spell on it. I can just leisurely ride through the dungeon, shredding to bits anything that gets close enough to be a threat.

If you are at 10th level, take 11th in Paladin for IDS. Then multiclass to Divine Soul for maximum tankiness. Cleric spells are that awesome. Also you are Conquest!

Fear + Aura + Spirit Guarians means TONS of pain for enemies.

11/9 Paladin/Sorcerer build is a good build too. Not as good as 6-7/14-13 but also very strong. Any combination of Paladin and Sorcerer is strong.

[Makorel]

snip

Lucky would be the best feat for this build. If you've got a high AC and saves then you want Lucky to reroll crits and failed saves, and Lucky gets better for this the higher your numbers are because you're relying less and less on the 3 rolls you get per day except when it truly matters.

The highest to-hit modifier in the game is Tiamat and the Tarrasque's +19. with an AC of 37, counting for SoF and Shield, they need an 18 or higher to actually hit you. With SoF and Defensive Duelist and a +6 proficiency they need a 19 or higher. Ergo, it's a waste to have both Shield and Defensive Duelist on the same build because an Armor Class of 37 is already necessitating a crit to hit you on anything that isn't D&D's Final Boss guys. Again, Lucky can prevent this. [Edit: Just remembered both shield and defensive duelist cost a reaction. Defensive duelist might be worth it when you run out of shields.]

To hard counter this build, I submit the Marut, whose Unerring Slam auto hits and no sells all this AC stacking that's being done. In addition Unerring Slam does Force damage, which doesn't get picked up by your ancients resistance since it's technically not a spell. Even if you've got bearbarb rage up you're probably not gonna beat this thing in a straight up fight because it's still doing 60 raw damage to you per turn. Then again this clearly wasn't supposed to be a creature you could 1v1 in the first place, but it does open the door for the DM to make his own little level adjusted Marutletts to get around the unscaleable wall you've turned yourself into.

Anything with Regeneration could also be trouble since you've stacked for defense and they could just shrug off your damage.

[pothocboots]

I propose a Yuan-ti Bear Barbarian/Arcane trickster for shield/mirror image

Advantage on spell saves, resistance to most damage while raging, with further uncanny dodge/evasion for more damage mitigation, and some spells.

Who cares that you got hit, you'll just take a quarter of the damage.

[Citan]

Lucky would be the best feat for this build. If you've got a high AC and saves then you want Lucky to reroll crits and failed saves, and Lucky gets better for this the higher your numbers are because you're relying less and less on the 3 rolls you get per day except when it truly matters.

The highest to-hit modifier in the game is Tiamat and the Tarrasque's +19. with an AC of 37, counting for SoF and Shield, they need an 18 or higher to actually hit you. With SoF and Defensive Duelist and a +6 proficiency they need a 19 or higher. Ergo, it's a waste to have both Shield and Defensive Duelist on the same build because an Armor Class of 37 is already necessitating a crit to hit you on anything that isn't D&D's Final Boss guys. Again, Lucky can prevent this. [Edit: Just remembered both shield and defensive duelist cost a reaction. Defensive duelist might be worth it when you run out of shields.]

To hard counter this build, I submit the Marut, whose Unerring Slam auto hits and no sells all this AC stacking that's being done. In addition Unerring Slam does Force damage, which doesn't get picked up by your ancients resistance since it's technically not a spell. Even if you've got bearbarb rage up you're probably not gonna beat this thing in a straight up fight because it's still doing 60 raw damage to you per turn. Then again this clearly wasn't supposed to be a creature you could 1v1 in the first place, but it does open the door for the DM to make his own little level adjusted Marutletts to get around the unscaleable wall you've turned yourself into.

Anything with Regeneration could also be trouble since you've stacked for defense and they could just shrug off your damage.
Strongly disagree on Lucky as the best feat.
We share the opinion that crits are the true danger at late levels, but a very different way to address this. :)

Yours is 3/day.
Mine (Adamantine Armor) is permanent. It "just" ("" because it's indeed not small investment) an attunement slot.

It also depends on Oath.
A Redemption Paladin has resistance to all damage and can automatically deal radiant damage. This one actually *wants* to be hit. On that one, Tough or HAM feat would be a much better choice in the long run. With Inspiring Leader as even better if short rests are manageable (and they should at that level ^^) since you also help allies.
Same could be said of Conquest: resistance to all damage means you'd better get a higher base HP to stand strong when facing crits or just normal hits. Much better cushion that can be replenished through fights with potions (lot^^) or allies's help.
Same could be said although to a lesser extent for Crown (only physical resistance).
Same could be said for Ancients: 10HP is fixed so does not scale with Tough/Inspiring. However, HAM will make a big difference in how proportionnally you heal from your hurt.

[Makorel]

Strongly disagree on Lucky as the best feat.
We share the opinion that crits are the true danger at late levels, but a very different way to address this. :)

Yours is 3/day.
Mine (Adamantine Armor) is permanent. It "just" ("" because it's indeed not small investment) an attunement slot.


Can Adamantine Armor be +1-3? I was never fully clear on that since I've only ever seen one or the other.

[OverLordOcelot]

What kind of incoming damage are we protecting against? If the damage is in small enough chunks (less than 127 per round, double that if nonmagical), a straight moon druid wins because they can turn into an earth elemental, then refresh their form HP every round with their unlimited wild shape capstone. I'm pretty sure that's not what you're going for here, but I think laying out a few explicit scenarios would help people evaluate different options. For example, high AC and a a cloak of displacement is good if enemies have you hit your AC, but the cloak gets shut down and the AC doesn't protect against unavoidable damage like ongoing 'save or half' effects or a fire elemental.


Mine (Adamantine Armor) is permanent. It "just" ("" because it's indeed not small investment) an attunement slot.

Adamantine Armor doesn't require attunement. You're giving up the possibility of +3AC from armor, but I agree that no crits is probably best. (A DM could allow plusses on top of adamantine, but in the standard rules they are two separate items).

[OverLordOcelot]

Can Adamantine Armor be +1-3? I was never fully clear on that since I've only ever seen one or the other.

In the rules there are separate items listed, the various +1 to 3 armors, adamantine armor, mithril armor, armor of resistance, and others. There isn't any way to combine them, so RAW there isn't any such thing as +1 Adamantine armor to get. Obviously DMs can create their own items and crafting rules, so it's not hard for someone to come up with such an item and a way to make it.

[Snowbluff]

Alright, here's my plan.

Yuan Ti Pure blood.

Mostly the same, except fit 3 levels of barbarian in.

Then, cast Sanctuary on yourself, then rage. Resistant to all but psychic. High AC. High saves and magic resist, and they have to throw a save before hitting you. :smalltongue:

[ImproperJustice]

The Controversial Monk 14 / Paladin 6 could have proficiency in all saves + aura, missile deflection, heavy armor and still mount some decent offense if you ignore Dex, and focus on Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma.

[Lunali]

The Controversial Monk 14 / Paladin 6 could have proficiency in all saves + aura, missile deflection, heavy armor and still mount some decent offense if you ignore Dex, and focus on Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma.

While it would be nice to have full proficiency and charisma bonus to all saves, I think nonmagical greater invisibility and resistance to non-force damage from 18 monk is more valuable. Especially since you can already reroll failed saves (for either build).

[Nhorianscum]

In the rules there are separate items listed, the various +1 to 3 armors, adamantine armor, mithril armor, armor of resistance, and others. There isn't any way to combine them, so RAW there isn't any such thing as +1 Adamantine armor to get. Obviously DMs can create their own items and crafting rules, so it's not hard for someone to come up with such an item and a way to make it.

If I'm not mistaken +1 mythril splint mail is explicitly banned in AL.

As for how Adamant/Mythril armor works it seems like a flat cost added to the base set of armor for the super extra pricy metal in question rather than a distinct magical item so even by RAW +x and the special metals should mix and match.

Similarly +x is explicitly stated to be an add-on to the base item regardless of type.

So if we're assuming perfect gear at level 20 +3 Adamant/Mizzium plate seems within the realm of possibility.

[Mitsu]

Alright, here's my plan.

Yuan Ti Pure blood.

Mostly the same, except fit 3 levels of barbarian in.

Then, cast Sanctuary on yourself, then rage. Resistant to all but psychic. High AC. High saves and magic resist, and they have to throw a save before hitting you. :smalltongue:

That doesn't work that way. Moment you attack- the Sanctuary ends

"If the warded creature makes an attack or casts a spell that affects an enemy creature, or deals damage to another creature, this spell ends."

[Citan]

What kind of incoming damage are we protecting against? If the damage is in small enough chunks (less than 127 per round, double that if nonmagical), a straight moon druid wins because they can turn into an earth elemental, then refresh their form HP every round with their unlimited wild shape capstone. I'm pretty sure that's not what you're going for here, but I think laying out a few explicit scenarios would help people evaluate different options. For example, high AC and a a cloak of displacement is good if enemies have you hit your AC, but the cloak gets shut down and the AC doesn't protect against unavoidable damage like ongoing 'save or half' effects or a fire elemental.



Adamantine Armor doesn't require attunement. You're giving up the possibility of +3AC from armor, but I agree that no crits is probably best. (A DM could allow plusses on top of adamantine, but in the standard rules they are two separate items).
Thanks for the precisions.

My fellow friends and me are not fond of magic items so I'm far from knowing well the array of magic items. I just remembered Adamantine as being imo underrated being just "uncommon".

I guess now I know why thanks to you (no +bonuses) but even knowing that, if I had been given opinion on how to rate I'd push it one step further.

[Snowbluff]

That doesn't work that way. Moment you attack- the Sanctuary ends

"If the warded creature makes an attack or casts a spell that affects an enemy creature, or deals damage to another creature, this spell ends."

Attacking wasn't on the menu. When did I implicate that? The objective was to be tanky, not effective. :smallconfused:

The OP is what doesn't work. You can't use Shield of Faith (Concentration) or Shield (casting) when raging. Sanctuary does work because it's a not a concentration spell. Perhaps you should reexamine who you're calling out. :smalltongue:

[Lunali]

Attacking wasn't on the menu. When did I implicate that? The objective was to be tanky, not effective. :smallconfused:

The OP is what doesn't work. You can't use Shield of Faith (Concentration) or Shield (casting) when raging. Sanctuary does work because it's a not a concentration spell. Perhaps you should reexamine who you're calling out. :smalltongue:

Rage ends if you don't attack or take damage.

[Mitsu]

Attacking wasn't on the menu. When did I implicate that? The objective was to be tanky, not effective. :smallconfused:

The OP is what doesn't work. You can't use Shield of Faith (Concentration) or Shield (casting) when raging. Sanctuary does work because it's a not a concentration spell. Perhaps you should reexamine who you're calling out. :smalltongue:

Sorry about that, I was thinking you didn't know about that as I can't imagine any build recommend who does not attack. A tank that does not attack is not tank, because enemies will ignore him.

The best tanks I had in 5E where the ones who could also kill fastest. Nothing reduce damage as much as dead enemy :)

Hence why when it comes to tanking I still think of nothing better than Sorcadin surrounded by Spirit Guardians, locking enemies in difficult terrain, AOE per turn damage blending them and having Warcaster with BB opportunity attacks if they will try to run away from you (or you force them to waste action on disengage) on half-their speed. One hypnotic pattern will also reduce damage taken by whole party way more than any Rages can.

And when it comes to tanking boss I also can't imagine better tank than 28-30 AC Sorcadin with defense spells ready and smitting boss to oblivion in 3 turns, reducing damage taken by him and party by a lot, becuase again- dead enemies don't do damage.

[Snowbluff]

Rage ends if you don't attack or take damage.

You've got another rage is whatever you're fighting doesn't hit you with anything in a round.

But, are you saying I'm not taking damage? Because if you are, I've accomplished the objective. :smallwink:

Note: This also can counter the feeblemind.

[Talionis]

Ancient Paladin 9/ Fiend Chain Warlock 3/ Ancients Barbarian 3/ Blade Bard 6

AP is for Saves and Heavy Armor and Aura of Vitality
FCW is for Healing off the Chain Invocation, temporary hit points, and Armor of Agathys
AB is for Rage Resistances and for the taunt ability to make creatures attack you.
Blade Bard is for Inspiration to increase your AC.

[Snowbluff]

Sorry about that, I was thinking you didn't know about that as I can't imagine any build recommend who does not attack. A tank that does not attack is not tank, because enemies will ignore him.

The best tanks I had in 5E where the ones who could also kill fastest. Nothing reduce damage as much as dead enemy :)

Hence why when it comes to tanking I still think of nothing better than Sorcadin surrounded by Spirit Guardians, locking enemies in difficult terrain, AOE per turn damage blending them and having Warcaster with BB opportunity attacks if they will try to run away from you (or you force them to waste action on disengage) on half-their speed. One hypnotic pattern will also reduce damage taken by whole party way more than any Rages can.

And when it comes to tanking boss I also can't imagine better tank than 28-30 AC Sorcadin with defense spells ready and smitting boss to oblivion in 3 turns, reducing damage taken by him and party by a lot, becuase again- dead enemies don't do damage.
That depends. I would say the adjective "tanky" is that you can tank a lot of hit. A tank is something is that does this and draws aggro/punishes foes for disengagin/attacking allies (or in 4e terms is a melee controller).

I actually have a Storm Sorcerer/Tempest Cleric who does the Warcaster/Booming Blade/Spirit Guardians build in AL right now. He has +3 plate, a staff of power, and that +2 shield with +2 init on it. That's 27 AC before he casts shield. Rather than smiting, he does maximized Lightning Bolts from the Staff or Destructive Waves. It's pretty cool.

I also do have a Yuan Ti Paladin/Barb but I don't play him as much. He doesn't do as much.

I will say that adding sorcerer (or wizard, in hindsight until I have more sorcerer levels for more metamagic, wizard is just better in AL because you can Scribe Absorb Elements into your spellbook, as well as pick up portent), you have access to some of the sickest items in the game like Staff of Power. +2 AC and Saves? Oh, and it's a +2 polearm with bonus damage dice? Thank you!

[OverLordOcelot]

If I'm not mistaken +1 mythril splint mail is explicitly banned in AL.

Yes, someone put it into a module but it doesn't fit the rules.


As for how Adamant/Mythril armor works it seems like a flat cost added to the base set of armor for the super extra pricy metal in question rather than a distinct magical item so even by RAW +x and the special metals should mix and match.

No; adamantine on a weapon is an extra cost, but for the armor version it's just an item you can get. So outta either or RAW or in AL, but it's common for people to house rule stacking them and nothing actively prohibits it.

[Citan]

Attacking wasn't on the menu. When did I implicate that? The objective was to be tanky, not effective. :smallconfused:

The OP is what doesn't work. You can't use Shield of Faith (Concentration) or Shield (casting) when raging. Sanctuary does work because it's a not a concentration spell. Perhaps you should reexamine who you're calling out. :smalltongue:


Rage ends if you don't attack or take damage.


You've got another rage is whatever you're fighting doesn't hit you with anything in a round.

But, are you saying I'm not taking damage? Because if you are, I've accomplished the objective. :smallwink:

Note: This also can counter the feeblemind.
This is a nice idea indeed. Note that you can push this idea further by casting "thorns spells" in addition to that, although that could divert enemies away from you as a result. ^^

The problem I see with that is that you have very little way to aggro as a Barbarian. This is already true for a regular Barbarian. For a raging Barbarian (decent AC, low damage dealt) that *on top of that* can make you waste attack from start?

Enemies will just ignore you once they see one or two guys failing to even try an attack against you.
So your rage will drop quickly.

Barbarian is actually the worst fit for that (while it's a perfect one for Armor of Agathys/Fire Shield). Unless a) you work in tandem with another tanky guy and b) you multiclass into Redemption Paladin for its reaction... Except that it specifies black on white such damage cannot be reduced or cancelled in any way...

It would suit an actual Redemption Paladin much better actually:
- cast a Compelled Duel, ask your friends to move back outside range while you cast Sanctuary on next turn: the big bad guy now has little choice except try and target you, with risk of completely losing its turn. Of course this works mainly on creatures that are heavily melee-based. :)
- cast a Hold Person/Monster on the most dangerous foe, on subsequent turns cast Sanctuary and Dodge: because you're disabling one of their biggest assets, enemy party will certainly want to break your concentration as quickly as possible. But will they succeed though? Aura of Protection + Sanctuary will make it damn hard. Added benefit: Hold Person is scalable.
- multiclass into a class that has passive-agressive spells like Flaming Sphere, Spirit Guardians, Spike Growth, Heat Metal etc... Also, ditch Crawford's tweet into trash. By RAW it works, and the limitations you apply on yourself are enough to keep it reasonable in terms of balance power (even when upcast).

Especially since Sanctuary is still far from a god-spell: it affect attacks/spells that "target you", but won't do anything against "collateral damage" (effects like those of a Green-Flame Blade, AOE spells, traps, natural hazard, displacements that are not a direct result of a Shove -because that takes the place of a weapon attack, so while it may work RAW I think it would not be RAI ^^).

In fact, as far as "tanking" (as in keeping allies from harm) goes, very little people best a Life Cleric (or Divine Soul Sorcerer with investment in AC one way or another) with Expertise in Grappling (Extra Attack or Quicken can help).

(Up)cast Spirit Guardians, grapple creature 1 in one hand, grapple creature 2 in other hand, next turn cast Sanctuary and start Dodging or using Channel Divinity/Healing Words as needed, enjoy. :)

[Snowbluff]

Yeah grappling then Sanctuary is a nice combination. Make sure you get expertise!

I dunno if someone's thought of it yet, but for everyone's benefit for improvements, you can give a ring of spell storing to a familiar so it can cast a concentration buff on you. This will take an attunement slot, but it will let you put a Haste on yourself or something similiar for more defenses. It won't take your concentration and will even work through rage.

[Lunali]

You've got another rage is whatever you're fighting doesn't hit you with anything in a round.

But, are you saying I'm not taking damage? Because if you are, I've accomplished the objective. :smallwink:

Note: This also can counter the feeblemind.

Well, you've accomplished the objective for 3 rounds anyway.

[Aquillion]

Are we assuming the character just stands there and soaks up damage and hostile effects and the like? Or are they allowed to teleport / plane shift out? Because if they're allowed to flee, having a lot of retreat options becomes key to survival. Otherwise they'll run out of resources eventually.

This eventually leads to the ideal survivor being a Warforged or other immortal race who, as a Wizard, casts Demiplane, hides in it, waits for the spell to run out, then burns their spell book (having wasted all their prepared spells.) There's now no RAW way into their Demiplane, and no RAW way for them to leave. They will live forever.

If you want to be even more secure, they could keep their spell book (but be certain not to bring any spells capable of planar travel or leaving), and keep Nondetection and Mind Blank up constantly. I don't think those are actually needed for anything except possibly blocking Wish, though.

[LudicSavant]

By which I mean the hardest to kill, not necessarily the best character at providing tanking support for their party.

At high levels? Specifically for personal survivability rather than ability to protect the party?

"Cheats the Reaper" tier: Bard, Wizard.

"Requires WMDs to Kill" tier: Sorlockadin, Moon 20

"Achilles" tier: Zealot 20

[stoutstien]

Long death monk with one lv dip in cleric for sanctuary?