D&D 5E What class fills the tank role best? Fighter, Barbarian, Cleric or Paladin?

[CTurbo]

The Bear Totem Barbarian is the undisputed tank in 5e. Especially if you're a Goliath or Half-Orc. My Goliath Bear Barb was damn near impossible to bring down. There were a few times that by the time resistance + Stone's endurance were factored in, he took almost no damage from massive spells that completely KOed other characters. (namely the Sorcerer)

My Vhuman Tempest Cleric with Heavy Armor Mastery was extremely tanky. High AC, negating 3 melee damage per hit, and dishing out reaction damage made him a very hard to drop. In fact, that character has never dropped to 0 hp at any time. I imagine a Life Cleric with Heavy Armor Mastery feat would be extra tanky too.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

There's the classic Life Cleric in plate & shield with Spirit Guardians up and Dodging. Toss in Warcaster and a level of Sorcerer for Shield and you have a nigh unmovable, damaging barrier in the front line.

 

[Azzy]

There's the classic Life Cleric in plate & shield with Spirit Guardians up and Dodging. Toss in Warcaster and a level of Sorcerer for Shield and you have a nigh unmovable, damaging barrier in the front line.

In the last game session I played in (last night), I got to see how lovely Spirit Guardians is when our Forge Cleric cast it during a big fight.

 

[TwoSix]

Do you find (from play experience) that the presence of a 4e-style Defender mechanic (such as damaging foes that don't attack the tank) actually works as intended? Does the average DM, attempting to play the monster as tactically as possible, actually feel that the rules make attacking the tank to be the most advantageous choice? Or does it just mean that the monster dies faster because the defender is getting free hits in?

Abso-freaking-lutely. My 4e party of 6 had 2 defenders, and trying to violate the marks with melee monsters was an exercise in futility. The fighter would establish a front line, and the swordmage would look for skirmishers that might be trying to get to the squishies. The rogue, ranger, and wizard barely took any attacks in the majority of combats.

 

[Gwarok]

I'm going to be starting an Out of the Abyss campaign next week, and this group plays by the books.

27 point buy, starting at level 1.

I want to build a tank, somebody who can both dish out damage and draw the attacks away from the other PCs, who are much squishier than I plan on being.

Which class works best?

The Life Cleric in Plate(or the best you can afford) with a Shield. Life clerics can do some amazing healing at low levels, and being healers they will draw enemy fire like few other members of the party. The other classic "tank" classes are tough as nails no doubt, but smart enemies are going to go for the casters if you have them, starting with healers usually, while often fighters will be ignored or sidelined with spells that target their WIS or CHA that often disables them. Make CON their backup stat, and get them Resilient: CON at 4th level to help them with their concentration rolls and CON saves, which after WIS and CHA are the most important I find.

You won't be the biggest damage dealer, but with Spiritual Weapon and Produce Flame with a high WIS you'll do ok, hell might even dip a bit in Druid just for Shillelagh. Thematically kinda works with Life Cleric anyways but still a bit min/max-ey but whatevs. Healing Word and Mass Healing Word both work well with the Life Cleric bonuses and are used as bonus actions so they are pretty awesome. Throw up Spirit Guardians once you can cast 3rd Level spells and have the Spirit Weapon doing it's thing, you'll be a serious damage threat when you hit the Nova button for that big fight.

 

[BookBarbarian]

The Life Cleric in Plate(or the best you can afford) with a Shield. Life clerics can do some amazing healing at low levels, and being healers they will draw enemy fire like few other members of the party. The other classic "tank" classes are tough as nails no doubt, but smart enemies are going to go for the casters if you have them, starting with healers usually, while often fighters will be ignored or sidelined with spells that target their WIS or CHA that often disables them. Make CON their backup stat, and get them Resilient: CON at 4th level to help them with their concentration rolls and CON saves, which after WIS and CHA are the most important I find.

You won't be the biggest damage dealer, but with Spiritual Weapon and Produce Flame with a high WIS you'll do ok, hell might even dip a bit in Druid just for Shillelagh. Thematically kinda works with Life Cleric anyways but still a bit min/max-ey but whatevs. Healing Word and Mass Healing Word both work well with the Life Cleric bonuses and are used as bonus actions so they are pretty awesome. Throw up Spirit Guardians once you can cast 3rd Level spells and have the Spirit Weapon doing it's thing, you'll be a serious damage threat when you hit the Nova button for that big fight.

The post you're quoting is from more than 2 years ago. I think they've already chosen their Tank by now, don't you?

 

[Gwarok]

My advice is timeless

 

[Wiseblood]

From the list I would say Cleric. Decent HP and AC to be out front to be an obvious target. Spellcasting and healing for the more discerning enemies.