Flying Tank build help

[Glarnog]

New campaign. The setting is exploring islands floating in the air.

Point buy, 1st level, Tasha's, can't be human, elf, or dwarf. Not sure how high it will go

Ideally I was thinking paladin because we don't have front liner, tank, or a face. I think the rest of the party is a mix of 2 rangers and 2 artificers. Two of which are aarcokras. I think flying tiefling and the ua Dragonborns wings feat only allow up to med armor with flight.

I haven't played a paladin, or warlock in 5e yet. Not sure if a dex/med armor paladin would work (or best way to build), or a hexblade/paladin would be viable too and seems a far more complicated build, but with potential and fun. With point buy and paladins being MAD I assume most Asis will go to abilities.

My fall back will be a tiefling barbarian.

Thanks all.

[RogueJK]

A Winged Tiefling Hexblade/Paladin with Medium Armor is very viable.

Point Buy would look something like:

STR 13
DEX 13+1
CON 14
INT 8
WIS 8
CHA 15+2

Start Hexblade 1 for medium armor and shield proficiency, and CHA-based attacks. Take Shield as a Warlock spell known. Wear Medium Armor, use a shield, and wield a Longsword/Battleaxe/Warhammer using CHA. Use Eldritch Blast as a backup ranged option.

Go Paladin from there, with the subclass of your choice, until at least Hexblade 1/Paladin 6 (or 7 for certain Paladin subclasses with great Level 7 features like Ancients or Watchers). At that point, you can decide whether you want to stop taking Paladin levels altogether after 6/7 and just go straight Hexblade from there, or take Hexblade to 2 for the additional Pact spell slot and Invocations then back to Paladin, or leave Hexblade at 1 and continue on with just Paladin.

Use ASIs to boost CHA, potentially along with the Warcaster feat for better Concentration and Booming Blade Opportunity Attacks. Inspiring Leader is also a great feat option for a CHA-based character like this.

[gloryblaze]

Hexblade 1/Paladin x is a fine build for a medium armor user, since you can leave Str at 13 (multiclassing minimum) and Dex 14 (for medium armor) then invest all your points into Cha (attack, damage, spellcasting, eventually saves from Aura) and Con (HP, concentration). Thanks to Tasha's, your point buy for a dragonborn can be something like:

Str: 13
Dex: 13 + 1
Con: 14
Int: 8
Wis: 11
Cha: 14 + 2

[Kvess]

Warlocks with the genie patron subclass can fly for 10 minutes a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus at level 6. Assuming the floating islands are less than 9,000 feet off the ground, that should free you to play a character that isn't an aarakocra or a winged tiefling.

[Glarnog]

Thank you all so much. I was swamped today and stressing finding time to figure my build. The newest member of the diplomatic core will be reporting for service on time!