The Staff and the Tank Mage.

[Mostlyjoe]

I'm tinkering with the concept of a tank mage. Int primary, and just enough Str and Con to get up to say Chain. If I take the Staff as my implement focus to get that back up to around Scale armor level. Is there any tinkering I have to do to make this work? Are there decent spells that would compliment this build?

 

[Mort_Q]

Focus on Immediate Interrupt defense Utility powers and Close Blasts/Bursts?

 

[scrubkai]

You may not want to go all the way up to chain as you would lose the Int bonus to your AC.

You may find that you get a better tank if you just move up to hide armor...

 

[Cadfan]

There's no reason to go to chain armor. Your Int is your highest stat, and you're going to advance it as fast as you can, so your long term AC is just as good in leather as it is in chain. And you get a lower skill penalty and better movement, and spend only one feat.

So dump the Str, and go hardcore for Int and Con. A human character at level one gets two feats, which you can use for Toughness and Armor Proficiency: Leather. If your starting Int is 18 and your starting Con is 14, you will be sitting on... 29 hp, and an AC of 17 counting your staff? That's quite respectable.

 

[NorthSaber]

So dump the Str, and go hardcore for Int and Con. A human character at level one gets two feats, which you can use for Toughness and Armor Proficiency: Leather. If your starting Int is 18 and your starting Con is 14, you will be sitting on... 29 hp, and an AC of 17 counting your staff? That's quite respectable.

That's the same hp and AC as my 1st level Eladrin Fighter... Not that she's optimal, though - scale and 2h longspear, rolled stats (pretty decent though).

 

[Aust Diamondew]

You may not want to go all the way up to chain as you would lose the Int bonus to your AC.

You may find that you get a better tank if you just move up to hide armor...

While definitely true at lower levels, at higher levels it might be worth moving up to heavy armors if you can get masterwork armor.

 

[Zurai]

No.
+6 Elderhide = 11 AC + Int bonus
+6 Godplate = 20 AC.

Even if you only had a +7 int at level 30, that's still three feats and 2 more Strength and Con required for 2 AC. Not worthwhile.