Tanking for a party

[Vallum]

So, I've been invited to another campaign... and I believe its normal on the standards of stat generation, (rolling 4d6 in front of him). So far, we have a beguiler, wizard (dunno what kind), cleric, swashbuckler, ninja and monk. Second level characters, and we have access to core, complete, and RotW

Now, because of the gratuitous amount of squish this party has, I believe it is in order to make a tank character. I don't really care if its martial only, or dips in arcane/divine. Just so long as I can keep everyone from being the target of enemies, take the damage and walk away with both of my legs, I'll be doing my job.

Now, I don't know who'd playing, and whether or not they're newbs, so I couldn't place faith in the cleric being CoDzilla or being an early level tank. Yes, I know this would be much easier if ToB was allowed, (then I'd play a dragonfire insperation bard/crusader), but he doesn't want to learn about the mechanics and blah blah excuse blah blah

So, any suggestions from GitP? You guys/gals have yet to let me down on advice, comments, critiques to full-fledged, level-by-level builds

[bobspldbckwrds]

hmmm... party seems rather low optimization. you could always go paladin, they can be fun to play, just don't be a jerk. fighters make good tanks, as do clerics. then again, you could always come at it sideways, and play a summoner druid, eventually taking advantage of your wildshape, but being halfway decent till then.

sorry for lack of non-core classes, i usually play core.

[Greenish]

Favoured Soul is a cleric-light. Full BAB, all good saves, decent HP, cleric spells.

If your "core" includes SRD, psychic warrior is worth a look.

Barbarian/fighter is a good damage dealer and gets to be trip-happy controller too.

CWar Samurai based on Intimidate is a nifty debuffer or even controller with the right feats and tricks.

And of course, a paladin is not bad, especially with Complete Divine Champion.

[Gan The Grey]

If you could get him to allow PHBII, the knight class should do exactly what you want. It has amongst its special abilities one of the only ways to taunt an enemy to attack you to the exclusion of all else. Plus, its a fairly standard class, unlike what's found inside the ToB.

[JBento]

Basically... I don't think you can.

3.X doesn't have many tanking mechanics, i.e., stuff that will make the opponents hit you instead of a squishy, unless your DM is feeling nice.

[Dr.Epic]

Barbarian. What else could you want?

[Farlion]

Some simple Barbarian with imp. bullrush and maybe some imp. trip can be quite a good tank. Always keep in mind: D&D tanks have to be mobile!

Cheers,
Farlion

[Greenish]

Dungeoncrasher fighter going warforged juggernaut. Start with Adamantine full plate, get two boatfuls of immunitites, smash people against objects, smash said objects, loot what is left intact.

[Amphetryon]

Someone has to say it:

Be a Druid. Let your animals be the Tanks until you have sufficient buffs available, then go to town.

[Person_Man]

In addition to pretty much any full caster (especially Druid, Archivist, or another Cleric), have you considered Knight? It's definitely a high Tier 4 or low Tier 3 at best, but that doesn't seem like an issue for your party. And it's the most strait forward "aggro" class. Although it doesn't really "kick in" until 4th level, you're still pretty effective.

It's a real shame you can't use Incarnate. DR 4/magic, 2d6 retributive fire damage every time an enemy hits you, and an unlimited supply of necrocarnum zombies (although you can only have 1 at a time) is probably the ultimate 2nd level tank.

[PId6]

And of course, a paladin is not bad, especially with Complete Divine Champion.

Fixed that for you. CDivine doesn't really help paladin much at all (unless you're talking about a "paladin" cleric).

[big teej]

So, I've been invited to another campaign... and I believe its normal on the standards of stat generation, (rolling 4d6 in front of him). So far, we have a beguiler, wizard (dunno what kind), cleric, swashbuckler, ninja and monk. Second level characters, and we have access to core, complete, and RotW

Now, because of the gratuitous amount of squish this party has, I believe it is in order to make a tank character. I don't really care if its martial only, or dips in arcane/divine. Just so long as I can keep everyone from being the target of enemies, take the damage and walk away with both of my legs, I'll be doing my job.

Now, I don't know who'd playing, and whether or not they're newbs, so I couldn't place faith in the cleric being CoDzilla or being an early level tank. Yes, I know this would be much easier if ToB was allowed, (then I'd play a dragonfire insperation bard/crusader), but he doesn't want to learn about the mechanics and blah blah excuse blah blah

So, any suggestions from GitP? You guys/gals have yet to let me down on advice, comments, critiques to full-fledged, level-by-level builds

A knight, pure and simple, the entire class is geared towards "oi! you, come attack me instead!!!"

example

Spoiler

Show

my party fought a rather large group of gnolls, I issued a knights challenge and all but two gnolls failed there will saves, so ALL of them HAD to attack me. (minus the two that saved) now, being a dwarfy walking ironworks, they could not hit me, my party members quickly dispatched the two that made there saves, and then proceeded to chop to bits the gnolls that had to attack me. combat was over before the effect ran out

as far as tank = damage magnet, The Knight is THE perfect class for it, from what I've seen so far


goes and hides from potential insuing flak

[Diarmuid]

I forget where it comes from, but the Goad feat is pretty much the only ability outside the Knight class that I've found for "taunting" (to borrow MMO mechanics).

Some creative DM's usually allow for creative uses of Bluff, Diplomacy, and/or Intimidate so you could ask about that too.

[Vallum]

Well, thank you everyone for you quick and informative advice

I would have gone druid, but more players came in last minute and filled in the melee gap, (one of them getting druid before I could, DM didn't want two of the same class).... Sooooooooo I'm just going to have fun with my 8 INT Welsh charging barbarian named Throogeh

If I can get the damn elf to actually care about the party and not color spray the meat shields with a DC 20 will save =_=

[Dr.Epic]

Someone has to say it:

Be a Druid. Let your animals be the Tanks until you have sufficient buffs available, then go to town.

There's a variant druid that gets rage and a wildshape variant that allows you to get a temporary boost to stats like str and con.

[Greenish]

Fixed that for you. CDivine doesn't really help paladin much at all (unless you're talking about a "paladin" cleric).

Ah yes, that's what I meant. Devotion feats and Battle Blessing.

[Walter]

A knight, pure and simple, the entire class is geared towards "oi! you, come attack me instead!!!"

Second this, at the very least for flavor. You essentially work your way up to a pseudo Dwarven Defender...that you can multiclass into later...if you're a Dwarf. Piss off your DM by getting a tower shield, full plate, dodge, combat expertise, and improved combat expertise. Also be size small. I definitely had a goblin with 46ish AC by lvl 9, with a low magic item setting. Declare your targets and fight defensively each round, assuming they have been taunted. Big weakness is not your touch AC as you'd expect, because combat expertise adds a dodge bonus to AC, but ray of enfeeblement or grappling. A pair of enlarged dire crocodiles literally messed day up. Invest in escape artist.

[Zaq]

No ToB? Seriously? Sigh.

Anyway, I guess that your standard chain-tripper is about as good as you get for tanky-types that aren't ToB or the Knight. Get as big a threatened area as you can, and send anyone who tries to get past you crashing to the floor. Doesn't work against a lot of enemies (things that are enormous, most things that fly, things that operate at range, etc. etc. etc.), but honestly, no 3.5 tank will really work against those. The Knight can at least handle flying things, I guess.

[big teej]

No ToB? Seriously? Sigh.

Anyway, I guess that your standard chain-tripper is about as good as you get for tanky-types that aren't ToB or the Knight. Get as big a threatened area as you can, and send anyone who tries to get past you crashing to the floor. Doesn't work against a lot of enemies (things that are enormous, most things that fly, things that operate at range, etc. etc. etc.), but honestly, no 3.5 tank will really work against those. The Knight can at least handle flying things, I guess.

provided you've exhausted the dragon's breath weapon and they actually have to go toe-to-toe with your knight, yes this works quite well....

ah Kelvar, How little I knew thee.... Ye will be missed.




dibs on his cloak!

[Vangor]

No second druid? Bah, you guys can be different kinds of druids. Tell him you want to be a rhinoceros with a slightly smaller rhinoceros companion to charge down and block hallways. Have the other druid fly about and cast terrain control spells and use his animal to aggravate casters in the back and such, and you buff and tank. Natural Spell, Extra Wildshape, Great and Small.

[mobdrazhar]

i would recommend chain tripper fighter if you can't use PHBII and go knight.