Tank/thief

[Stryyke]

My character in one of my other games accidentally ended up worshipping a chaotic evil deity, and was planar shifted to her plane to learn how to serve her. That's going to take a year and a half. In the meantime, the group really needs a tank, and having some thiefy abilities on hand would probably be good. We have a druid, focused on magic, rather than morphing; a pacifist cleric; and an orcish barbarian with no hp. So we need someone to soak up damage, primarily. Are there any good classes that make awesome tanks, but maybe have a bit of ability unlocking things/disarming traps/etc.

3.5, all 1st party sources, and non-broken 3rd party sources.

[Stealth Marmot]

My character in one of my other games accidentally ended up worshipping a chaotic evil deity,

I'm going to stop you right there. How do you ACCIDENTALLY end up worshipping a Chaotic Evil deity? Did he trip, fall, and his prayer beads landed on an evil alter?

[Stryyke]

I'm going to stop you right there. How do you ACCIDENTALLY end up worshipping a Chaotic Evil deity? Did he trip, fall, and his prayer beads landed on an evil alter?

Funny story . . . you see a friend of mine went into this tomb to scout it out; and when she came back out, she said everything was good. So the party headed into the tomb. When we got in there, there was this mummy; and the friend that had gone in earlier introduced us. And this really polite mummy started a planar shift. She was real nice though. Asked me if I wanted to learn some stuff; so I was down. I love learning things. Who knew?! *shrug* LOL

[Stealth Marmot]

Funny story . . . you see a friend of mine went into this tomb to scout it out; and when she came back out, she said everything was good. So the party headed into the tomb. When we got in there, there was this mummy; and the friend that had gone in earlier introduced us. And this really polite mummy started a planar shift. She was real nice though. Asked me if I wanted to learn some stuff; so I was down. I love learning things. Who knew?! *shrug* LOL

Lesson learned: Read the fine print.

Edit: If you want a decent tank and trapfinder, I would go for a human with the Able Learner feat, and multiclass a Fighter with either a Rogue or Factotum. That way you get trapfinding and all the trapfinding skills are effectively class skills permanently.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Wait. Don't you have this same thread on the 3.5 forum?

In any case, I'll throw another suggestion since you're more specific here: Dwarf Incarnate (Magic of Incarnum), going into Ironsoul Forgemaster. 4th level is just enough to bind Theft Gloves for when you need them, granting a +6 to +8* bonus to Disable Device, Open Lock, and Sleight of Hand checks, the ability to make the checks untrained, and-- if you bind them-- Trapfinding. Meanwhile, you can also shape Astral Vambraces for DR 6-8/Magic, which at that level is nuts. (Or +2-3 Insight and/or Deflection to AC, or DR 2-3/alignment (which should be almost impossible to bypass at this level), or up to 12 extra hit points, or SR 12-16, or Resist 20-25 to an energy type). Incarnates are generally much tankier than expected, especially at low levels.

If you go that route, I suggest grabbing Open Least Chakra (Hands) at 6th, and taking a level or two of Totemist-- not only does that add a crapton more options to your list, the PrC chakra unlocks apply to all your melds, regardless of base class. Something like Incarnate 5/Totemist 1/Ironsoul Forgemaster 10 comes out real nice and shouldn't overshadow anyone too badly. Probably worth nabbing Open Least Chakra (Hands) at 6th if you want to regularly use your Theft Gloves.


*Depending on if you take Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (which you will) and what meld you apply it to.

[Stryyke]

Wait. Don't you have this same thread on the 3.5 forum?

Yea. That's why that one is called "Ooops." I put this one in the wrong place.

[noob]

So can you play a cleric?
Clerics are casters and tanks and thieves if you want it to be.
Cloistered cleric is awesome.
(there is prcs for that too)
Furthermore you might get patfinder alternate channeling(somehow it counts as 3-trd party maybe?) and possibly a pathfinder domain for further roguing(the tankyness will come naturally from being cleric and thus having defensive spells)

[Stryyke]

So can you play a cleric?
Clerics are casters and tanks and thieves if you want it to be.
Cloistered cleric is awesome.
(there is prcs for that too)

I suppose I could play a cleric. I really hate the concept of deities, though. When I become awesome, I don't want to share the limelight with some entity I've probably never met, and may or may not have done anything to help me.

[noob]

I suppose I could play a cleric. I really hate the concept of deities, though. When I become awesome, I don't want to share the limelight with some entity I've probably never met, and may or may not have done anything to help me.

You do not have to pick up a deity for cleric: you can pick up domains and get powers from the concepts instead of getting them from deities(also allows much more possibilities than gods)
(I hate all the deities of some settings)

[erikun]

a tank having some thiefy abilities

[...]

Are there any good classes that make awesome tanks, but maybe have a bit of ability unlocking things/disarming traps/etc.

3.5, all 1st party sources, and non-broken 3rd party sources.

If you want a strange one: Dwarf Rogue 1/Fighter 1/Rogue X/Deepwarden (Races of Stone) will give you all the armor and weapon choices of a Fighter, while still having access to near rull Rogue sneak attack along with a good selection of skills. Deepwarden is nice for giving an AC bonus based off Consitiution, rather than Dexterity. It looks like you could get into it by Rogue 6/Fighter 1, although it is hardly necessary for the general idea behind the multiclass. (Which is just "heavy armor and sneak attack/rogue skills.")