What would you build for this party's tank? (decently long post)

[Klorox]

Hey everybody.

I've played a couple of sessions with a party, and I'm having fun.

I'm currently playing a dragonborn paladin. I don't want to change the fact that I'm a big dumb lump who's main job is to tank and smash heads. This is way outside of the usual types of characters I play and I'm having fun.

The rest of my party consists of:

A bugbear bard, who will probably go valor or swords bard. He's currently dual wielding short swords.

A high elf rogue. I have no idea what subclass he'll go for, but he likes staying at range.

A half elf celestial warlock. He's a fun blaster and healer.

This game will go to level 7.

Now, I chose paladin because I wanted to tank and I knew we'd need some healing (the warlock player was deciding between warlock and sorcerer and I had no idea he was considering celestial).

Now that we're a few sessions in (we just hit level 2), I'm realizing a few things:

I definitely do not need my 16 CHA. The warlock and bard have all the social stuff covered.

I am the third best healer on the team, so that's really not *needed* either.

----

After these realizations, I'm thinking perhaps I might talk to the DM and switch out my character.

I want to keep the same name, race, and keep the same basic role, but I'm kind of thinking a barbarian might fit the character and party better.


Do you think it makes sense to switch to a barbarian? If so, are there any types a dragonborn is particularly good at? Is another class a better option? Perhaps it's because I've been reading TCoE, but I think that wild magic barbarian seems like a lot of fun.

[Witty Username]

Honestly, I would probably make an abjurer wizard but I am what we call in the business weird.

Barbarian is good if you want to be aggressive, Fighter or Ranger may get you more defensive traits and utilities. Moon druid is on the table two if its a low level game.

[OldTrees1]

The rest of the party is flexible enough that you can play any character you want.

Personally I would stay a Paladin. Paladin is very well designed to feel like a protective teammate. Those auras in particular.

[Nidgit]

Moon Druid would be a nice tank since it's got a lot of utility spells you can cover. Don't even take any healing spells if you don't want to.

But if you're looking for more of a classic bash bro, Ancestral Guardian Barbarian might be worth looking at. It's specialized in drawing fire and discouraging enemies from targeting your allies, which could be ideal with a bunch of squishier characters to protect. Storm Herald isn't amazing but it provides some elemental control that could go nicely with a Dragonborn character. Beast Barbarian could be neat if you're RPing as more of a wyvern or drake or something.

[RogueJK]

I definitely do not need my 16 CHA.

You will as your Paladin spellcasting develops, and especially starting at Level 6 once your Aura comes online.

CHA is specifically extra important for certain Paladin Oaths that are more reliant on spells and abilities tied to Saving Throws, like Conquest, Crown, and Ancients.

[Klorox]

I redid the character as a barbarian, and I’m not sure I like him any more this way. I thought i would.

I might keep him as a paladin and, although my initial thought was to go ancients, I’m not tied to any oath yet.

[RogueJK]

I might keep him as a paladin and, although my initial thought was to go ancients, I’m not tied to any oath yet.

If you do go Ancients, you'll appreciate the 16 CHA, even before Level 6. Both your Ensnaring Strike and Moonbeam Oath Spells, as well as both your Channel Divinity options, rely on saving throws tied to your CHA score. Those are in addition to your other standard Paladin spells like Command, Cure Wounds, Compelled Duel, and the various Smite spells, which rely on your CHA score as well.

[Eldariel]

I suggest you try a caster tank like Moon Druid or Abjurer or Bladesinger. They just work and they prevent boredom by lack of options and in general, do all sorts of cool stuff up front. Wizard and Druid would both cover a mental the party doesn't have an expert in yet too so they'd bring a lot of value skill-wise. Of course, Cleric is the third option but that's simpler and more ordinary (not that far removed from the Pally really) so I figure you might enjoy fooling around with some shapeshifting and the play experience that provides or some magic-based melee, both of which are quite functional and yet different enough that they might suit your fancy.

[Nidgit]

I redid the character as a barbarian, and I’m not sure I like him any more this way. I thought i would.
What do you dislike or want to like more?

[Sception]

Paladin is still good, and multiple high cha characters can work well in a party if you all work together and your DM rolls with it, negotiating or bluffing your way around combats, having a couple of good rolls to offset whenever someone rolls bad. It's kind of like stealth - a stealthy character can scout for a party, but an entire party can infiltrate in a way that just one character can't. Granted, applying the same reasoning to charisma situations requires a bit more play-along from your DM, and may or may not be as effective in a generic dungeon crawl situation, but even so.


That said, if you want to change things up you certainly can. *Especially* if your GM allows options from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything - particularly the new fighting styles (interception being a decent tanking option) and the option to switch up racial stat bonuses (which lets you shift the dragonborn's +1 charisma over to dexterity, constitution, wisdom, or intelligence, as few of the non-paladin tank options have much use for charisma).

For instance, you could try bear totem barbarian or spirit guardian barbarian, either on their own or mixing in a level of fighter at level 1 (for combat style and heavy armor) and another at level 7 (to grab action surge as a 'capstone'). Grab a great sword, great axe, maul, or halberd and forget shields. Barbarians absorb damage via resistance from rage rather than putting effort into avoiding hits in the first place. Heck, you'll be actively making yourself easier to hit via reckless attack in order to discourage enemies from targeting your squishier companions. Pick up Sentinel at your first ASI if you're still having trouble with enemies attacking your friends instead of you, otherwise grab great weapon master and SMASH.

Other good strength-primary, non-cha-based tanking options include Cavalier, Battlemaster, Psychic Warrior, and Echo Knight, which are all fighter subclasses. There are more solid tanks besides that, but they either also use cha (sorcadins, some hexblade multiclasses), or also bring a lot of redundant healing (heavy armor clerics spamming Spirit Guardians), or else don't favor the 'big strong brute' high strength aesthetic (armorer or battlemaster artificers, offbeat abjurer wizard builds, etc).