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

[MarkB]

I sure hope this advice is useful to the opening poster in his Out of the Abyss campaign from 2015.

The recommendations for full plate were rather amusing, given how much of a struggle my players had just finding clothes that weren't filthy rags in the early chapters of that campaign.

 

[thethain]

Battlemaster fighter gives you lots of control options and enough bonus feats that you can pickup essentials like sentinel without sacrificing str/con.

 

[Ordrek]

I got to page 3 with nobody mentioning rogue 5 as part of their build (obviously won't be mentioned if talking strictly level 1).

Totem barbarian +rogue 5 is crazy damage mitigation (halve damage twice, can have good ac), combat mobility, and even great damage (use rapier with STR).

There are other classes you can throw in the mix too.

 

[Satyrn]

Just in case you did not notice, that comment you quoted is almost two years old. Someone necroed this thread

Well, now I know who to call if the party needs a necromancer: [MENTION=6867841]Nathan Mitchell[/MENTION]!

Well, or [MENTION=6867375]Erik Stoop[/MENTION].

. . . you know, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it:

In before the third thread necro!

 

[BookBarbarian]

Therefore, most combatants, given a chance, probably don't want to fight the most threatening opponent.

Yup. Although Some Monsters will see an aggressive stance as a challenge like certain Lizards to this, and it could be extrapolated to Larger Beasts. Most bandits etc. will probably try to prey on the weakest looking. And unless the foes have a good reason for sound tactical thinking (like say Hobgoblins) I wouldn't play them as tacticians.

So it's just going to vary by the encounter. I hate the MMO style aggro building. You won't see it in my games. Instead you'll see foes react based what the characters are actually doing. So a foe that sees a Barbarian leave himself open by using reckless attack, they're going to try and take the opportunity and if the see a fighter shut down an enemy with by using Sentinel, they probably won't try to run past that fighter etc, etc, etc.

 

[guachi]

I got to page 3 with nobody mentioning rogue 5 as part of their build (obviously won't be mentioned if talking strictly level 1).

Totem barbarian +rogue 5 is crazy damage mitigation (halve damage twice, can have good ac), combat mobility, and even great damage (use rapier with STR).

There are other classes you can throw in the mix too.

My favorite PC so far in 5e (really, my only PC I've gotten past level 3. Too much DMing!) was an AL PC who ended up being a Swashbuckler/Battlemaster with Gauntlets of Ogre Power, a Breastplate +1 (from LMOP) and boots of elvenkind (from some AL adventure).

He had Sentinel and Shield Mastery. His AC was a decent 19. He could sneak well thanks to the boots. He had advantage on Athletics to knock people around. He had Sentinel if you attacked a friend (and get sneak attack!). He had Riposte if you attacked him (and get sneak attack!)

When I finally go to level 5 in Rogue and had Uncanny Dodge I could Dodge or Riposte depending on whether I thought I could take the damage or not. And with Shield Mastery I could avoid more damage.

It was very fun and quite versatile as a front-line combatant that could help out his party members in a number of ways.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Here's my "reasoning" (from a DM stance...as that is what I am)...

Players: We keep heading down the trail towards the coast.
DM: After about an hour of wandering this trail, it weaves around the more rocky terrain, always descending at a leisurely grade. [rolls a d20] Hmmm. Suddenly, from both sides of the trail, out pop a dozen goblins!
Players: Crap dogs on a stick! Wasn't anyone looking?
DM: Their Stealth roll beat the highest Passive Perception...sorry... Anyway...uh...Megdan the Mage is dressed in robes or travel clothes, right?
Megdans Player: Yeah, traveling cloak and robe.
DM: So...AC 11. Got it. [rolls 12d20] Megdan takes 35 points of damage.
Megdans Player: ... ... Well, that puts me at an imaginary -15.
DM: Oh? Hold on then...you have 20hp? Then you take 20hp, drop to 0, then take another three hits which are automatic criticals, so you are actually...uh...dead. Again.
Players: Run away! Run away!
DM: Ok. Rennie the Rogue has leather armor, right? AC 14 was it?
Rennies Player: Yup.
DM: Ok, as you all flee back the way you came, you all move 60'. So, let me see how many arrows hit Rennie [figures out how many goblins are in close versus not close range...works out to be half...rolls 12d20]. As you all flee, Rennie is hit by 8 arrows, the last one was a critical. Rennie takes 45 damage...which, iirc, means he drops at 30..meaning he takes 10 and 20 under 0. ...Oh...uh...guess he's dead too.



A bit extreme? Only by a little bit. Mages and rogues would be dropping like flies. Hell, anyone other than the guy with heavy armor would be dead by the third room in the dungeon. If the DM used his/her 'logic' to RP.

What I am advocating is that the DM use his/her 'logic to RP', but with a strict eye on the way that 'logic' would be in a D&D world. I mean, do 100 orcs just camp outside the town and charge in at dawn? Yup. Why? They are orcs and that's what orcs do. What would make more sense? The orcs not camping outside the town and instead hide nearby until night...say, 10'ish. Then sneak as best they can into town and into allyways, barns, stables, etc...wait for the signal horn...and then start kicking in doors and killing. But they don't. Not "normally" anyway. Why? That's not what D&D orcs do.

If the DM played "every" monster as his/her logic would dictate to be the 'best' way to kill the PC's...then we'd have no sense of different monsters being, well, different. An orc's "logic" will be quite different from a kobolds, which will be different from a hill giants, which will be different from a beholder, etc, etc, etc.

That said, no matter the creature, the DM needs to think of 'logic' in terms of D&D. And in D&D "logic", when the DM RP's three of the 5 orcs ganging up on the full-plate fighter, it's because that's what a D&D orc would do. Is it smart? Probably not...but it is 'honorable' to an orc to kill the tough guy over the weaklings. If they all gang up on one guy, after that one guy is dead, they can all fight over who did the killing blow.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Luckily ranged attacks are no auto critical hits and have disadvantage against prone enemies.

 

[Axios_Verum]

Wizard

Wizards who take on the Abjuration arcane tradition frequently wind up being the "last man standing", even when in direct melee combat. God help you if the aforementioned wizard can get ahold of a cube of force. At higher levels, this build might as well just be resistant to most kinds of damage- absorb elements cast an unlimited number of times is ridiculous.
But it's survivability goes way up if you build to be a "grapplemancer"- that is, a wizard who has proficiency in athletics, a high Strength score, and tackles foes to stupid powerful effectiveness. Works about as well as a barbarian for normal fights with enemy spellcasters, and outperforms barbarians as a tank against aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead with one spell: protection from evil and good.

 

[Valdier]

Fighter 2, Protection style, Second wind for minor self heals and action surge for whatever you need.
Paladin 6, Defense Style, Lay on Hands, defensive buff spells and aura of saving throws for everyone.

Don't forget the Heavy Armor Master and Inspiring feat for extra tank.

The rest is up to you from there, but that would be the basis for the best tank imo (I would go EK the rest personally).