Need help with a Fey cohort as a tank.

[RandyH]

I am going to be part of a two-man campaign in a few days, and we are in desperate need of a meatshield. I am a charisma-based Warlock and the other guy is a burst DPS type guy. I am taking Nymph's kiss and just going to designate my cohort as my love interest; therefore my cohort HAS to be a Fey with Good alignment.

Templates are fine, whether it is a template to give a creature the fey type, just boost its ability scores, or something that helps her capabilities to tank. There is no LA buy-off or anything, so keep that in mind when suggesting races/templates. We are jumping into the campaign at level 12, so depending if I decide I want to take Improved Cohort or not, my cohort's ECL will be either 10 or 11 for now.

Nothing is set in stone yet, so if you have a good way to make something like Undead Leadership or Dragon Cohort work better AND be just as flavorful, then suggestions using other means are welcome too.

Oh, a REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE...There is a 3 class cap for multiclassing...So please no suggestions that need four or more classes to really make work...Racial HD, Bloodlines, Paragon levels, Savage progression levels, etc. count as a class and will be subject to this 3 class cap too.
Just about any published material is okay, including 3.0, Pathfinder, third-party, Dragon mag., etc. Homebrew would likely be okay as long as it is balanced and makes sense, but I would personally prefer to avoid homebrew.

Last thing to keep in mind. I'll probably take (as well as have my cohort take) Faerie Mysteries Initiate for the Cha bonus to my hit points. So Con may not be necessary for my cohort, and could focus on Cha instead..making Oracle from Pathfinder and/or Paladin (or Paladin variants) attractive options.

Things I am considering for her at the moment...
-Going full druid. Essentially gaining two tanks.
-A pseudo-supermount build. Something like Paladin-of-Freedom/Beastmaster/Vadalis-Beastkeeper or Druid/PrC-Paladin/Vadalis-Beastkeeper (assuming my DM lets me get past the alignment issues with Paladin and Druid). So it would similar to the Druid, in that I would be gaining two creatures to damage soak, OR use her primarily while she is mounted on her mount-companion. I don't have any experience when it comes to mounts in 3.5, besides uses them as a form of long-distance travel, so I don't really know how to reliably build a mounted melee character.
-Going full Knight and relying on Test of Mettle for taunting
-Seems like I can't go wrong with having her go full Cleric.
-Other than these options, I really only know that Goad should be something I take (if I don't go Knight) and probably focus her on tripping.

 

[RandyH]

Also my DM is fairly lax as long as something makes sense. So things like combining Prestige Paladin and the Anarch paladin variant, or getting rid of alignment restrictions of a Druid (especially if it was a variant less tied to nature...ie Lost Ones or Urban variants. It also might be possible with the regular druid if I RPed her as having a tie to a specific aspect of nature, rather than nature as a whole), would probably be okay.

And if it matters, my Warlock will probably be a CN Cleric(cloistered)-1/Warlock-10/Mindbender-1. He'll be focusing on Social Skills, UMD, and battlefield control, and should be fairly efficient with counterspelling when necessary. I am not sure on a race/template yet. If my DM will give me a pass on the LA, then I might go Half-Fey human (freeing me from needing to take the Charm and Fell Flight invocations), otherwise, I'll see if he'll let me be a Magic-blooded Human or something...Been considering a Primordial Giant, but haven't found a base class that I like for it yet.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Hmm ... if it's not too late I'll toss out some ideas.

For the cohort's race I'd either go with a Half-Fey or maybe an Uldra (Frostburn) if you're in an area where they make sense. Uldra has no racial HD and a LA of only +1. The Petal creature from MM3 gets tossed around a lot. It has a +2 LA and it is listed as (cohort) so that may be worth considering. It's tiny so I don't know how much good it would do as a meat shield. Would your DM be willing to take something like a Wood Elf or Wild Elf and treat them closer to being fey than regular elves?

For the cohort's class, I would strongly recommend against going druid. Having a cohort already gives you two turns, essentially. Add in an animal companion and your fellow PC may wind up twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to finish your turn. I would probably go either ranger, and swap out the animal companion for Spiritual Guide (Complete Champion), or I would go cleric. If you choose Ehlonna you can stay with the woodsy/fey theme. I've always been disappointed that there isn't a primal trickster deity for D&D. Something that would fit in with the different Native American legends of Raven or Coyote. Maybe homebrew something?

Goad is an okay feat. The biggest problem is that it doesn't stop the target from deciding "No, I'm not going to attack in melee, I'm going to hurl this giant boulder at the wizard instead". Tripping is a good option but, most fey are small or smaller. Without knowing how your DM runs combat it can be hard to suggest feats.