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Help me build a Tank in a hurry

jubei_555

First Post
I need to build a 9th level Tank for a game Iam playing in this weekend. I can use the PHB and Complete Warrior. I was thinking of doing something with Momentum Swing feat from the complete warrior. I haven't decided on a Race yet and as it stands my ability rolls are as follows 16,14,15,11,13,13. any help would be appreciated. As for Magic Items I can use the standard for 9th level.

Thanks

Jubei_555
 

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Sejs

First Post
Dwarf, Fighter(8)/Barbarian(1).

16 in Con, 15 in Str, arrange the rest to taste, though I suggest at least a 13 in Int and/or Dex so you can pick up Combat Expertise, Dodge, etc.

Fight in heavy armor (ideally fullplate), with either a heavy or tower shield in one hand and a dwarven waraxe in the other. Pick up the Improved Toughness feat. Pump your Con with both your stat points at 4th and 8th. Grab an item that grants an enhancement bonus to Con. Pick up additional feats that mitigate your opponents ability to deal damage. Improved Trip and Improved Disarm are one option, Power attack and Sunder are another. If your DM will let you (and if they'll let Imp. Toughness count as Toughness for purposes of pre-reqs) pick up the Roll With It feat.

If your back is to the wall, Rage. Don't Rage all the time, keep it as a last resort. That +18hp and strength bonus might just save the day so make sure you have it when you need it.

Bammo, instant tank.
 

IcyCool

First Post
I didn't see any Momentum Swing feat from Complete Warrior.

Are you looking for someone who can take the hits and crunch on? Or are you looking for a "crap falls out pants" damage weasel?
 

jubei_555

First Post
Sorry the feat is one of the tactical ones called combat brute. I want to take a whole lot of damage and also be able to dish out amost as much. Combat brute allows you to charge and take at least -5 for a power attack and deal 2/1 damage with power attack or 3/1 with a two-handed weapon.
 

Elder-Basilisk

First Post
Dish out damage and take it, huh... Is taking damage a must? :)

9th level is 36,000gp by the book guidelines. You've already had a defensively oriented suggestion, so here are some offensively oriented ones:

1. Half-orc Barbarian 5/Fighter 4
Str 20 (16+2 race +1 at lvl 4 and 6)
Dex 14
Con 15
Int 11
Wis 13
Cha 9

Base attacks: +18/+13 2d6+12 +1d6 cold or +20/+15 2d6+15 +1d6 cold when raging
Base AC: 22 (easily increased by magic vestment (if you go for the animated shield), magic circle vs. evil, and/or barkskin).
Base hit points: 5d12+4d10+27 (with amulet). At 50%+1 method, that's 91 hp normally, 109 when raging.

Skills: Handle Animal +11 (12 ranks), Listen +9 (8 ranks), Ride +16 (12 ranks), Survival 9 (8 ranks)

Feats: Power Attack 1, Cleave 3, Combat Brute 6, Improved Critical: Greatsword: 9, Weapon Focus: Greatsword F1, Weapon Specialization: Greatsword F4, Improved Sunder F2

Equipment: +1 frost greatsword, +3 cloak of resistance, +2 amulet of health, +2 gloves of dexterity, +3 breastplate with masterwork cold iron armor spikes (or an ordinary breastplate and +1 animated shield if you don't think animated shields are cheesy), masterwork mighty [+6] composite longbow, 20 arrows, backpack, cold weather gear.

You end up with 2 rages per day, and improved uncanny dodge so you can charge in and not worry too much about being flanked.

If we want, we could cheese that out a bit more:
Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Ranger 1/Pious Templar 3 (god with favored weapon: bastard sword)/Exotic Weapon Master 1
Stats as above.
Feats: Weapon Focus: bastard sword, True Believer, Power Attack, Cleave, Track, Combat Brute, Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper, Weapon Specialization (Pious Templar bonus feat).

You lose out on improved uncanny dodge and can only rage once per day, but your fort save is much better and your will save is one point better. You also pick up Shock Trooper which lets you take a penalty to your AC instead of your attack bonus if you use power attack when charging. You also get a couple of paladin (or blackguard I guess) spells. (Divine Sacrifice and bless weapon are the ones to watch for). With the exotic weapon master level, you take the Uncanny blows trick and deal double your strength bonus in damage when wielding it two-handed (instead of 1.5x). So your attacks do 2d6+15 +1d6 cold and 2d6+19 +1d6 cold.

One last option: "Give me one round and I'm ready"
Human
Clr 9 of St. Cuthbert
Str 15
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 11
Wis 16 (18 with level bumps)
Cha 13

Feats: Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Quicken Spell, Extra Smiting, Combat Brute
(It sounds like you want to use Combat Brute, but if you don't drop Improved Sunder and Combat Brute for Divine Spellpower and another Extra Smiting or Divine Spellpower and Cleave).

Spells: 1. enlarge person, Shield of Faith, remove fear 2. align weapon, delay poison, lesser restoration, remove paralysis, resist energy; 3. magic vestment, magic vestment, and magic circle vs. evil or chaos, maybe a searing light if you feel fancy; 4. Divine Power, Divine power, freedom of movement, Spell Immunity; 5th. Quickened divine favor x2, righteous might

Equipment: +2 cloak of resistance (vest if the DM likes complete arcane), +2 periapt of wisdom, +2 ioun stone for constitution, rose prism ioun stone (+1 insight to AC), lesser rod of extend spell, +1 vicious adamantine heavy mace, cold iron spiked gauntlet, silver spiked gauntlet, masterwork fullplate, masterwork buckler, pearl of power (lvl 1), potions, a wand of cure light wounds, etc.

If you have access to anything from the mini handbook, try for bracers of the quick strike, the belt of one mighty blow, boots of charging, and the cape of elemental protection. They're all very good items that look like they would fit into your strategy pretty well.

Tactics: Use the rod to put an extended magic vestment on your armor and buckler every morning and do it again before you go to bed (non-extended). If you have divine spellpower, use it with the magic vestment spell until you get caster level 12 for both (this makes them +3 and removes the need to cast it the second time). Keep delay poison active on yourself at all times. When going into a dangerous area, pray for protection (shield of faith).

In combat, you will have two one-round prep options and one ready to rumble whenever option:
1. Cast Divine power and a quickened divine favor and wade into combat
2. Cast righteous might and a quickened divine favor and wade into combat
3. Cast a quickened divine favor, activate your strength domain power, full attack, and smite on both attacks. All told, that would give you attacks at
+21/+16 (+6/+1 base +7 str +1 weapon +4 smite +3 luck) for 1d8+20 (1 weapon +7 str +9 smite +3 luck) +2d6 vicious. You can only do this for one round per day (well the strength domain bit--with 1 extra smiting, you can still smite one more time), but it's a neat trick when you need to turn things around in round 1.
 

nittanytbone

First Post
Str 14
Dex 16
Con 15 + 1 (stat bump)
Int 13
Wis 13 + 1 (stat bump)
Cha 11

16,14,15,11,13,13

Level 1 - Swashbuckler 1 (Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip)
Level 2 - Fighter 1 (Exotic Weapon Prof: Spiked Chain)
Level 3 - Fighter 2 (Combat Reflexes, W Focus: Spiked Chain)
Level 4 - Fighter 3
Level 5 - Fighter 4 (Power Attack)
Level 6 - Fighter 5 (Improved Sunder)
Level 7 - Fighter 6 (Combat Brute)
Level 8 - Exotic Weapon Master 1 (Flurry of Strikes)
Level 9 - Anything you Want -- Barb 1, Rogue 1 (Improved Bull Rush); Rogue 1 synergizes nicely with Flurry of Strikes

This build is an area controller with a lot of versatility. The idea is to get as many attacks as possible with your spiked chain through Combat Reflexes and Flurry of Strikes. You can trip opponents easily during your charge round, and then it is a lot easier to fuel a maxed out momentum swing power attack during round two.

Armor should be a mithril breastplate for maximum mobility. Take five ranks in tumble (that was a main reason for frontloading swashbuckler) and you can fight defensively and use combat expertise to get a stratospheric AC of 29, albeit taking -10 to hit (Breastplate +1 = +6; Buckler +1 = +2; Fighting Defensively = +3; Combat Expertise = +5; Dex = +3). That isn't too bad though, as you generally will only have to make touch attacks to trip or you'll have +4 to hit as the enemy is prone.

Plus, if they're prone, you can "turn off" combat expertise and fighting defensively the next round and use your BAB to fuel your power attack instead.

Defensive benefits are obvious; Great fort save, decent reflex save and will save (due to ability scores), awesome defensive potential due to reach weapon and combat reflexes, good offensive potential, good HP (all D10s), full BAB all the way, and good AC when you need it.
 

Cabral

First Post
I like double weapons for offensively minded tanks ... not neccessarily for using both at the same time, but for the two weapons in one ... Such as a double weapon Dwarven Urgosh. One end is an adamantine +1 flaming weapon. The other is cold iron +1 frost (or acidic or cacophinc, whatever)

It gives you 4 options for bypassing DR if you come up against it (adamantine, Cold Iron, Slashing, and Piercing) and if you go with flaming and frost, you can pick the end based on what the creature is vulnerable/less resistant to.
 

Thanee

First Post
Hmm... let's see...

Dwarf Barbarian 2 / Fighter 4 / Exotic Weapon Master 3
(Brb, Ftr, Ftr, Ftr, Ftr, Brb, EWM, EWM, EWM)

Str 18 = 15+1(lvl)+2(enh)
Dex 14
Con 20 = 16+2(race)+2(enh)
Int 13
Wis 14 = 13+1(lvl)
Cha 9 = 11-2(race)

Hit Points: ~102 = 12+1d12+7d10+45

Saves: Fort +17, Ref +6, Will +6

Skills (ranks only): Climb 5, Craft (weaponsmithing) 3, Intimidate 12, Jump 5, Listen 9, Spot 4 (cross-class), Survival 4

Feats: Weapon Focus (dwarven waraxe), Power Attack, Cleave, Extra Rage, Weapon Specialization (dwarven waraxe), Combat Expertise, Improved Trip

EWM: Uncanny Blow, Trip Attack, Show Off

Equipment: +1 Dwarven Waraxe, +2 Mithril Full Plate, +2 Buckler, Gauntlets of Ogre Strength +2, Amulet of Health +2, Cloak of Resistance +2, Eyes of the Eagle, ...

Bye
Thanee
 


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