Tank Options?

[Cowboy_ninja]

I want my character to be able to take a hit or otherwise shrug off damage.

What's something akin to the barbarian's rage ability where all damage is resisted?

I like the Goliath's racial trait Stone Endurance, but I'm trying to stick with Tasha's custom lineage.

What else lets you shrug off dmg more readily?

[SociopathFriend]

At lower levels the Heavy Armor Master is pretty nifty.

A flat 3 damage reduced from nonmagical Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning damage can accumulate value very rapidly.

It won't help against magical SPB or basically any other damage type but at the same time... it's kind of insane that you basically lolnope 3 points of damage against any mundane attack.

A Raging Barbarian gets attacked by 20 Kobolds and is hit by 10 of them. Each one deals an average of 4 damage- which is reduced to 2 damage due to Rage.

A Heavy Armor Master gets attacked by 20 Kobolds and (despite presumably having a better AC) is also hit by 10 of them. They again deal an average of 4 damage- which is reduced to 1 damage thanks to HAM.

Total Barbarian HP loss: 20
Total HAM HP loss: 10

Food for thought is all.

Rage's resistance DOES win out once enemies start dealing over 6 damage a swing though. But that's where having a better AC also kicks in so pick the poison in your food.

[Mastikator]

Very high armor class makes you unlikely to take damage in the first place.

Replenishable temporary HP lets you not take damage to your HP pool.

Forge cleric and artificer both can add a +1 to their armor and their shield. Artillerist artificier with protector has an incredible source of temp hp

War wizard has arcane deflection which lets you become significantly more resilient as far as saves go.

Warforged has a +1 AC

Beasthide Shifter has shifting which gives temp HP and +1 AC

1 level of fighter gives defensive fighting stance and second wind.

Shield and absorb elements lets you reduce incoming damage at will.

[Kane0]

Heavy armor tiefling artificer is pretty fun, the racial feat gives you a total of three useful damage resistances plus heavy armor master for physical damage reduction as well. You have sources of Temp HP from your subclass and extra AC from invocations.

[Nidgit]

Paladins are good at this, particularly Ancients Paladins. High saves and resistance to all spell damage means you can reduce that Cone of Cold to 9 damage without breaking a sweat.

Samurai and Eldritch Knight are both very durable Fighters. Samurai can generate temp HP for themselves while also getting advantage on their attacks, and get some neat high level abilities Eldritch Knights have access to Shield and Absorb Elements to up their tankiness and can really benefit from a War Wizard dip for extra reaction options.

Finally, Long Death monks can easily generate temp HP with their starting subclass ability (which notably fails the bag of rats test), and at Level 11 they can repeatedly spend ki to simply ignore lethal damage. Monks also eventually get proficiency in all saves and the ability to resist all damage, but that's pretty high level stuff.

[LudicSavant]

I want my character to be able to take a hit or otherwise shrug off damage.

What's something akin to the barbarian's rage ability where all damage is resisted?

I like the Goliath's racial trait Stone Endurance, but I'm trying to stick with Tasha's custom lineage.

What else lets you shrug off dmg more readily?

Relevant: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642401-Tanking-Team
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25357814&postcount=19

Just about every class has access to exceptionally durable builds. So it's really a question of what flavor of tank you like.

[RSP]

This can also be achieved with how you RP/fluff attacks and healing.

Shrugging off attacks can very well be re-accrual of tHP (Heroism perhaps), or even regular HP: fighter gets pummeled, but after a second (and a BA Second Wind use), they’re unscathed.

Work with the DM on how you want your abilities fluffed. Otherwise, as stated by other posters, there’s a few different ways to mechanically achieve a tank.

[sithlordnergal]

There are really two ways to tank in 5e, AC or HP:

Now, if you can guarantee that you'll find certain items then tanking by AC is pretty broken. All you really need to tank via AC is the Defense Fighting style, the Shield spell, and +X armor and shields. I have a Paladin/Sorcerer that maxes out at 36 AC with shield when they have Shield of Faith up, they can effectively go toe-to-toe with an ancient dragon and barely get touched. However, its only do-able because they're an Adventure's League character and I know where to find +2 Plate Armor, +3 Shield, Staff of Power, and a Ring of Protection. Without those magical items my AC drops down to 26.

Tanking via HP is a lot less dependent on items, and a lot more dependent on build. The upside with this is that your abilities to tank aren't reliant on what magic items the DM gives you. The downside is that your tanking abilities are now reliant on how much damage an enemy does, and how much HP you have. For example, if you have 200 HP, but you're taking about 70 damage per round, you can only tank for 3 rounds before you go down.

Now, there are two ways to tank with HP effectively in 5e. One is to go Barbarian, specifically Bear Totem Barbarian. Your max HP is effectively doubled when you Rage, which means you can remain in a fight for a long, long time. The other method is with the Moon Druid and their Combat Wild Shape. Even at level 6, as long as you've seen a giant Constrictor Snake, then you basically have 120 HP on top of your normal HP and the ability to heal yourself in either form.

[stoutstien]

I want my character to be able to take a hit or otherwise shrug off damage.

What's something akin to the barbarian's rage ability where all damage is resisted?

I like the Goliath's racial trait Stone Endurance, but I'm trying to stick with Tasha's custom lineage.

What else lets you shrug off dmg more readily?

Rune knight has a lot of the benefits of barbarian while also being able to utilize spell casting and feats like HaM. It also is an actual tank in the regard it can help mitigate damage to others, cause action denial(the best form of mitigation), redirect attacks, area control/denial, can add movement restrictions, has more ASI/feat flexibility, and has burst damage threat.

[animorte]

Start with one level Barbarian, max Dexterity and Constitution. Try and keep your Wisdom from falling too low as well, because this stat requires the most saves.

Unarmored Defense and a Shield can get you up to 20 AC at level 1. Of course some would say just play Tortle race and be done with it, but with my idea, play any race you want.

After that, feel free to multiclass into anything you want. You'll be wielding a one-handed weapon and shield (sword and board).
- If you want to specialize in melee defense (depending on further class levels and how you play them) by selecting Defensive Duelist at first ASI. This provides an additional AC equal to proficiency bonus vs melee attack as a reaction.
- If you would prefer to have more all around damage avoidance, particularly where casters are concerned, Shield Master as first ASI allows you to better deal with their damage. It also gives you a little bit of extra control vs melee with bonus action shove.

Other suggestions:
- VHuman can get you both mentioned ASIs early.
- Mountain Dwarf provides a healthy +2 Con and +2 Str and resistance to all poison.
- Half-Orc +2 Str and +1 Con, also the Relentless Endurance, preventing KO (once/long rest)

[Damon_Tor]

Clockwork sorcerer's and abjuration wizards both have extremely potent defensive abilities, especially when stacked on top of a nice AC and a source of temporary hit points. Clockwork sorcerers in particular have access to Armor of Agathys via their bonus spell swap ability. It's a very potent self-defense package.

[Sherlockpwns]

Could do Goliath psi fighter 3 or 4 / abjur wizard x.

This would give you many reactions (2x pb) to reduce damage, on any major hit Goliath can add additional cushion.

Assuming INT of 20 each fighter reaction would reduce damage by 8.5. The wizard shield would absorb 2x your wizard level+5 and gain a few points here and there as you cast spells.

Combine this with absorb elements, heavy armor, a shield, because why not.

Top it off with burning your highest spell slot on aid at the start of your day and give yourself and two friends a bunch of max hp and power up the wizard shield.

As an example at player level 6 and +4 INT you’d have 6 shield reactions(~30hp in value), abjur shield of 13hp, and 5 bonus hp. Plus the Goliath shield if you go that route. You could also just go with a race with a feat and add HAM later.

By player level 11 and +5 INT this becomes 8 shield reactions (~51hp) an abjur shield of 21, and 15 bonus hp.

Should work fine in practice. The fighter levels also give you a quick heal and the burst dpr from action surge. And yes you could sub out aid for AoA if you are playing with dragonmark races for supreme cheese.

Ideally have someone in the party that generates temp HP as well, because why not.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Rune knight has a lot of the benefits of barbarian while also being able to utilize spell casting and feats like HaM. It also is an actual tank in the regard it can help mitigate damage to others, cause action denial(the best form of mitigation), redirect attacks, area control/denial, can add movement restrictions, has more ASI/feat flexibility, and has burst damage threat.

Agreed. I'm playing a (new Fizban's gem) dragonborn RK with the Dragon Fear feat, Skilled feat(Athletics), and the Stone/Hill/Storm runes. It makes for a surprisingly good battlefield controller, one who can step into the damage-sponge role when needed, fend off mobs that can be frightened, charm/disable some foes (on the foe's turn, no less), negate some Critical Hits on allies or disadvantage enemies on the party's save-or-suck spells, and very effectively lock down (up to Huge) enemy melee combatants by grappling. Honestly, the "tank" roll he's actually worst at is dealing damage.

I don't know exactly what OP wants in a tank, but a reasonably well-built RK offers lots of different options to protect your party.

[Itsfrank]

What would be the best tank healer options?

[Frogreaver]

What would be the best tank healer options?

Clerics are the obvious choice. Twilight. Life and maybe peace.

Forge deserves honorable mention for being able to pump up ac and can get some fire resistance.

Nature is also surprisingly tanky due to their ability to have resistance to many damage types.

Clerics can also take heavy armor master as a variant human, which really goes a long way for tanking assuming your a heavy armor subclass.

Glory Paladins are pretty freaking good at tanking to on a more melee oriented class. Tons of ho generation. Lay on hands for healing and you are free to divine smite even more.

[animorte]

Clerics are the obvious choice. Twilight. Life and maybe peace.

Agreed. Clerics all day are the winners, especially Twilight with the aura.