How would you build a shield/wall/defense character?

[Throne12]

I play in a big group there are about 5 player not counting the DM. And we all tend to make damaging characters. This is fine and we enjoy it we dont feel like we are stepping on each other's toes. So I wanted to change it up a bit for are short gestalt campaign. We will get to lv 6 I believe.
Gestalt mean your duel classing. Example is you are a 2and level character with 2 lvs in fighter and 2 lvs in wizard.


So my inspiration for this character it Naofumi from "Rising of the Shield Hero". I want to be able to take hits for my team mates. Have little to non damaging. Buff and debuff.

Just for a quick idea I was think crown paladin divine sorcerer.

[Waazraath]

Maybe warlock / fighter?

- grab protection fighting style: you can give anybody trying to hit your buddy disadvantage on the attack.
- grab AoA; hitting you instead of your buddy comes at a price.
- grab heavy armor mastery: hits on you do less damage (if they hit at all, with heavy armor and shield you are hard to hit.
- grab booming blade: if you hit somebody, they get extra damage if they just want to walk away from you and your buddy.
- pick battle master, make your enemies disarmed, or prone, give an ally and extra attack, or pick whatever buff / debuff you want.
- grab shield master later, to bonus action your enemies prone.

Just be sure to stand next to a buddy. You won't do much damage by hitting people (you only have a 1 hand weapon and no extra damage from fighting style).

Pick fiend subclass for even more temp hp, when AoA is down, and use all spells and invocations for other stuff (utility, social, etc) or even more buff/debuff.

[MikeRoxTheBoat]

Well, shield master feat, obviously.

Ancestral Guardians Barbarian and Cavalier both have abilities that make attacking your party much harder and less of an attractive option. Naofumi didn't wear particularly heavy armor, so going medium +shield with Barbarian could fit the aesthetic. Plus, you know, Rage Shield.

It's kind of hard to match the shield utility stuff that he has. Wizard or Cleric levels might help, since they give a lot of flexibility for someone who prepares for the fight ahead of time. Heck, druid might work, too, since a lot of his shield stuff was elemental and healing in nature.

If you did go the Sorcadin path, Ancients Paladin/Divine Soul Sorcerer could work.

[Flashkannon]

I am highly surprised no-one has recommended the Sentinel feat yet. It's one of the few abilities that really make one sticky in this game. Combine that with a chokepoint and you can keep enemies from ever reaching your allies.

Honorable mention: Tavern Brawler will give you Proficiency with all improvised weapons, including but not limited to Shields!

[Waazraath]

I am highly surprised no-one has recommended the Sentinel feat yet. It's one of the few abilities that really make one sticky in this game. Combine that with a chokepoint and you can keep enemies from ever reaching your allies.

Honorable mention: Tavern Brawler will give you Proficiency with all improvised weapons, including but not limited to Shields!

I didn't because it uses reactions, and as such is incompatible with the options given by protection fighing style and shield master feat. But it is also a good option of course. Given the paramers of the request, I think there are loads of options, also with knight subclass, or with the ancestor barbarian, or many others. Especially with gestalt rules.

[Kane0]

Crown Paladin | Celestial Warlock

All weapon and armor profs, d10 hit die

Level 1: Bonus action healing, short rest spellcasting (Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Protection from Good/Evil)
Level 2: Fighting Style (Defense or Protection), long rest spellcasting (Compelled Duel, Heroism, Shield of Faith), Invocations (Armor of Shadows, Fiendish Vigor,
Level 3: Disease Immunity, Pact boon (Blade), Bonus action Channel Divinity (Challenge, Temp HPs), 2nd level spells (Darkness, Invisibility, Misty Step, Mirror Image)
Level 4: ASI (Heavy Armor Master, Sentinel, Shield Master, Tough)
Level 5: Extra Attack, 2nd and 3rd level spells (Aid, Find Steed, Counterspell, Magic Circle, Thunder Step), Invocation (Cloak of Flies, Tomb of Levistus)
Level 6: Aura of Protection, Radiant Soul

Lots of HP and THP to throw around, good armor and saves, tools to gain and maintain attention, offensive power to deal with threats yourself and spellcasting to round out your abilities no matter what the rest of your party picks.

[CheddarChampion]

How do saving throw proficiencies work in this game type? Skill proficiencies? ASI's/feats?

Paladin/Sorcerer would be good. Probably more damage potential than you're going for.
Protection Style or Sentinel, War Caster and Booming Blade, twinned defensive buffs (shield of faith, sanctuary, haste), fear spells for cc, Aura of Protection at lvl 6.

[Dudu]

Actually, being gestalt, it's quite hard to not be damaging.
I mean, you surely don't need to focus on damage, but you are bound to do some decent damage anyway with some mild optimization.

One thing, I think one side of that gestalt definitely needs to be a full caster. You do have a lot of interesting options for tanking there. Spells like fog of cloud, wall of force and entangle help you shift the agression of your foes away from your squishier teammates. I recommend Abjurer as a very shieldy guy. You can even toss your ward to your teammates if you feel they are being threatened.

The other side could be a lot of differente martial classes. Paladin is flavourful, but mad. Paladin comboes better with a Sorcerer, but you might feel this combo is too abused already and overpowered. Barbarian is a no, their rage kills your concentration, and they are more on the damaging side of martial classes. Fighter is likely your best bet, they even get you extra feats. Your damage will be good, but if your friends focus on damage in their build they will probably be better than you. You can just roleplay you are shieldbashing too, for flavor.

I played a non-gestalt, MC Battlemaster/Abjurer. Fun build, but the campaign was really short. You are really though, while your spells make it super hard for your foes to even reach the other party members. Your damage isn't stellar, but your battlefield control and tankyness is. Also, you can spare a lot of utility spells.
You look very altruistic while playing it, but unlike the dumb fighter trope who is being targeted because he is too brazen, you are being target because you shaped the situation for that goal.

Oh, and Shield spell. There's that.