Hallo

Thanks to the virus I have lots of time, so I read the players handbook and thought about what char to make.
No, I am not ill, just bored.
While many things are still open, we know
- Max level is 10
- We will get multi classing and feats
- short rest stuff will be per encounter, resting = long rest
- I limit myself to stuff from the players handbook because that will be used for certain

Often my first char is some kind of tank, so I thought: fighter (battle master) 6, wizard or sorcerer 4

race: variant human or something with +2 strengh
stats: main stat is strengh, good con, need 13 int or cha for multi classing
feats: polearm master ( I read it works with quarterstaff/spear + shield), sentinel (bind enemies to you), war caster ( cast with weapon+shield, concentration advantage)
combat style: duellist (should work with weapon+shield)
spells: shield, mirror image, blur
combat maneuvers: riposte, parry, fainting attack
If I use wizard or sorcerer depends on the bloodlines that can be selected, wizard would recover 2 spell slots after each battle at lv10, so I can use blur every fight.

The idea:
- Defense has increasing returns. If you give a char with bad defense a bit more he will still get hit often. If you give a char with high defense a bit more and magic buffs he should be extremely hard to hit. Heavy armor+shield is a good start. Shield spell can give you +5 more ( The handbook does not mention if it stacks with having a shield equipped, but even if it does not stack it is usefull until you have a shield+3.) Blur gives enemies disadvantage, which is +5 on average and a huge reduction of the chance to get crit. It requires concentration, but you are hard to hit, fighters are profient in con and you have advantage. Mirror image can avoid hits too, but I would give blur priority if I cannot have both.
- With polearm master, sentinal and riposte you can attack enemies when they aproach you, when they try to get away from you (including jump/withdraw) and when they miss you. These attack prevent the enemy from moving at all for the next round. I will be hard to hit and I can reduce damage taken with parry.

questions to the experts for the PnP 5E rules:
- Does polearm master mean that you attack with both ends of the weapon with every attack you make, including AoO or riposte? I have read that it works with quarterstaff/spear+shield, but you have no extra reach then.
- How many AoO can you make? Is it per round or per turn?
- Does duellist style add +2damage to both attacks of the weapon if you have polearm master and quarterstaff/spear+shield?

most importent:
Does it make sense to have a specialized tank in the party?
My other chars would be a sniper rogue ( 1 level of fighter for archery style and profiency with longbow/heavy crossbow), a single class cleric (hopefully profient with reach weapons so he can stay behind the tank) and a single class wizard or sorcerer.

If you tell me that having max damage is more useful than a tank, I would use a half orc fighter (champion)/barbarien (berserker) with heavy weapon specialist. More crits, more damage with crits, more attacks when enraged and you attack again if you crit or kill.

Away from my books but:

Technically, Arcane Recovery is only supposed to function once per 24 hour period, not sure how they'll implement though. Plus x buffs stack with anything. As far as armor class, only different means of calculating base armor class don't stack, only the best is used.

Questions:

1. To get Polearm Master's benefit you must take the Attack Action. An AoO does not use the Attack Action, is defined as a single attack, and expends your Reaction.

2. You only have one Reaction per round, which you regain at the start of your turn.

3. You are wielding a weapon with the Two-Handed property. As far wielding a weapon with the Two-Handed property with a shield, I'm thinking a DM isn't going to go along with that (Though it looks like the Quarterstaff is Versatile).

I wonder if Drow or Half Drow characters will have levitation? I'm sure they will have globe of darkness, but since featherfall spell and jumping are in...Just curious.

Drow have Dancing Lights Cantrip, at level 3 get Faerie Fire, and at Level 5 get Darkness, but in XGTE Drow have a feat that grants them Levitation Spell known with 1 free use per day and I think Detect Magic at will.

There was a racial feat offered to Drow, Drow High Magic, in Xanathar's Guide. It allowed Detect Magic at will, and Levitate and Dispel Magic once per long rest.

Thanks

So it means all buffs stack.
The players handbook does not say anything about stacking effects.
Last DnD like game was pathfinder Kingmaker, where you had to look at every buff if it is an enhancement, morale, luck or whatever bonus.
So far I think I like 5E more than previous editions, but I have not played it so far.

Both quarterstaff and spear have the versatile quality. That was the whole idea behind this char. You attack and stop enemies when they get close to you while having a very high defense.

Once again: Does it make sense to have a specialized tank in the party or is it better to maximize the damage?
Damage is also a form of defense because dead enemies do not attack you.

I want to use a martial char, no pure caster. But having some spells is fine.
So I want to have an extra attack, martial weapons and do some damage.

After some more thinking the best idea I had was a dragonborn (fire) paladin (devotion) 7/barbarien (berserker)3
At the end I would have 4 attacks per round (2 base, +1 frenzy, +1 haste), great weapon master (attack again on kill or crit), resistence to one element (fire is the most commen, I guess) and physical damage (when rage), a few buffs and heals, extra damage with smite, immunity to diease and charm, better saves, reckless attack and sacred weapon.
Downsides: MAD (multi ability dependent, need str, con, dex and cha), only medium armor (if I want to rage), only 1 feat or stat boost.

It seems very hard to get very high defense in 5E.
If I really want a good tank I need heavy armor, shield and magic buffs, and the best ones are self only for wizard/sorcerer.
A single class eldritch knight would probably be the best thing if you get to lv20.
I chose battle master/wizard to have the same spells as an eldritch knight plus battle master maneuvers at lv 10, but if you level up further an EK would get more attacks and more feats/stat boost.

the polearm meme build works as a tank because it can stop people, but it also deals insane damage while you do so since you, if you go wih tunnel fighter, essentialy get to make an attack on every moving enemy during their turn.

So i wouldnt even call it a dedicated "tank" build in the video game way.
more of a melee controll character.
Remember youre still a figher and youll dish out plenty of hurt on your turn while youre at it

For a tanky build i hear people talk about totem barbarian a lot

OK, I have decided to use a paladin6/barbarien4 as main char, using large weapons.
Too bad I can only have 2 of 3 feats (great weapon master, polearm master, sentinal) unless I am variant human, but than I have even less stats for a MAD char and no points to increase stats later.

I have never played DnD 5E before and it might not be the best char, but the idea of having a paladin/barbarien sounds crazy, if only because it was impossible in earlier editions.
Who are you? A savage madman who has sworn to protect others by slaughtering every bad guy in sight? And who is a bad guy in his eyes? What god does he serve? So many questions.

EDIT:
I am an idiot. It is so obvious: THIS IS MINSC!

There were lots of restrictions in 2E.
He could not be a paladin because chaotic and he was too nice for the typical berserker, so they made him a ra(n)ger with the frenzy ability.
I liked Minsc, but he never felt like a typical ranger to me.
With those restrictions gone I can finally enrage to start "BUTT KICKING FOR GOODNESS!!!"
Strong like a bear, intelligent and wise as his hamster (maybe less), but I need more charisma.

For your Rogue sniper I'd recommend an elf Assassin 4/Battlemaster 6 with archery fighting style and Alert, Sharpshooter and elven accuracy feats. Basically, 2 attacks with double advantage (3d20), only -3 rolls to deal +10 damage, and spending your superiority dice with a longbow and assassinate will deal 4d8 per attack plus 4d6 sneak attack.

So a total of 8d8 + 4d6 + 30 (20 DEX) = 80 damage

The way short rests will work, means doing this at the start of every encounter. This one will probably be my MC.

Edit: I forgot action surge.

You can take another action and attack two more times, which brings damage to 16d8 + 4d6 + 60 = 146

I've detailed the build in another thread.

Not much for a monk or most dex-based fighters or even the naked barbarian builds.

I have look in the players handbook again:

- I saw the conditions. I saw only charmed and frightened as mental conditions, but not confused (act randomly) or dominated (attack your allies).
Did they change conditions a lot since former editions? We fight Illithids and in BG2 and there they dominate you or they use AoE stunn and eat your brain.
Paladins get immunity against charm at lv7 and against fear at lv10, but frenzy gives me an extra attack.

- I do not know how stats will be distributed, but I had problems to get decent str, dex, con and cha when you cannot reduce int and wis below 8. Maybe this one is too MAD.

- I tried to make a great char in PK after reading the rules for ages, but the result was a failure.
For my own sanity I should start with a single class char who focusses on one thing, in this case either paladin or fighter.
It may not be perfect, but at least more useful than a crazy multi classing attempt.
I will use only companions, so I will not have a perfect party anyway.

I could not see a way to get an AC above 21.
Max stat value is 20, so naked chars with 2 stats for defense can get 20.
Plate armor + shield + defensive fighting style = 21
Everything above this has to come from buffs or magic equipment, I do not know what equipment can be found.
Giving the attacker disadvantage seems to be the only way to reduce the chance to crit you below 5%.

You don't need a high DEX to your tank unless he is a Barbarian. If you really want your MC to be the tank, I'd recommend Fighter 7/Barbarian 3. Rage makes you take half damage and you can wear heavy armor.
In the reveal, there is a fight against a dwarf that wears a full plate, which is 18 AC, so you can get it very early. With shield and defense you'll have 21 AC, plus taking half damage from attacks.

Edit: You can buff your tank with shield of faith and haste to reach 25 AC without magical gear.

According to the handbook barbariens gain benefit from rage only when they are not in heavy armor.
I can only refer to RAW, we have to wait how they implemet stuff in the game.

Didn't know that. Granted, I never played Barbarian.
But if this is the case, Barbarian/Druid for the win: Temporary hit points + half damage.
Fighters are not very good tanks on their own.

Unarmored Defense

While you are not wearing any armor, your Armor Class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Primal Champion

Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4. Your maximum for those scores is now 24.

Ta-dah!

Now start using a shield and pilling buffs over it.

That only comes online at level 20. And pure Druids lvl 20 are unbeatable as tanks.

Monk: 20 dex (+5 ac) 20 wis (+5ac) -> 20 AC with nothing else, now start using bracers of defense and add all the buffs you want.

As you can see, there are a lot of characters that easily surpass 21 ac even without magic, like monks, barbarians, races like loxodons and lizards, and as aforementioned, the God mode druids

Oh, yeah, nothing beats god mode druids, but the OP asked for high def without magic(I include moon druid features in the magic epigraph).

But you do not need level 20 to surpass the 21 AC, you can use shields and bracers of defense with unarmored defense as a barbarian. It only improves at lvl 20.

PD: With a plain shield (+2AC) and bracers of defense (+2AC) a barbarian with 20 dex and 20 con has 24AC. And since unarmored defense comes at lvl 1 you only need one level of barbarian to get it if you multiclass. All of that even without feats or class features, improved equipment or magic buffs that you can add to it, plus your damage resistance while raging.

There are also more builds with extra AC and more builds that do not rely on pure ac but on class features or magic. That is only an example.

AC kinda loses its purpose at higher levels. When fighting a CR 15+ enemy you will end up taking damage even with AC in the mid 20s, 5e is not like BG where you can have 95% miss chance up to ToB.

Agreed, but here we are talking about builds that surpass the 21 AC without magic, as the OP wanted.


Loxodon (no matter what class)

• Natural Armor. You have thick, leathery skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 12 +your Constitution modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.

Pick a Loxodon with 20Con, 20 dex. Now you have 22 AC even naked. Now add a shield (+2 AC plus enchantment to reach +24AC), plus all the equipment you want, buffs, feats, etc.

I am not an expert for 5E.
What makes druids so good?

In BG2 Jaheira was good for insect plague to stop everyone from casting and panic some of them.
Apart from stone skin she had nothing tanky, as far as I remember.

In 3E they had an animal companion and they could turn every spell into a summon monster spell.

In those games I almost never used shapeshift, Jaheira as fighter/druid was better with weapon and armor and in NWN2 the druid companion was mostly a heal and buff bot because there was no cleric early. Her badger was useless so I made him a dinosaur.

Nope they are not good. The word good is not enough. Hexblade warlocks are a good class. Life cleric/druids are a good multiclass. Moon druids are Cheat engine characters.

Because....

"Combat Wild Shape

When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you gain the ability to use Wild Shape on your turn as a bonus action, rather than as an action.

Additionally, while you are transformed by Wild Shape, you can use a bonus action to expend one spell slot to regain 1d8 hit points per level of the spell slot expended."

...And

"When you transform, you assume the beast’s hit points and Hit Dice. When you revert to your normal form, you return to the number of hit points you had before you transformed. However, if you revert as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to your normal form. For example, if you take 10 damage in animal form and have only 1 hit point left, you revert and take 9 damage. As long as the excess damage doesn’t reduce your normal form to 0 hit points, you aren’t knocked unconscious."

"Archdruid

At 20th level, you can use your Wild Shape an unlimited number of times."



You think that is not OP enough? Now add this to the classç



"Elemental Wild Shape

At 10th level, you can expend two uses of Wild Shape at the same time to transform into an air elemental, an earth elemental, a fire elemental, or a water elemental."

"Primal Strike

Starting at 6th level, your attacks in beast form count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage."




And now pile all the buffs, spells, feats, features, equipment etc you want over it and start playing your favourite campaign in god mode.

As Vic pointed out, it is because of shapeshifting. The way it works is that your hit points are replaced by those of your wild shape. And at level 20 you gain unlimited uses of shapeshift per day, and can transform into an earth elemental at will and gain 126 hit points and also take half damage from nonmagical attacks.

OK, now it depends on what animals you can transform into and what stats or attacks they have.

Uff, this is too much to remember.
I started pathfinder and got crushed completely. Then I did lots of reading and I still sucked.
And once you understand most of it, a new game comes with new rules.

I play only computer PRGs.
Its impressive how PnP players can remember and calculate all this.
Are you all crazy nerds like in "The Gamers?" I got the movie for free on gog.

The attack part is kinda irrelevant. You are not very strong, but pretty much unkillable. Not even ancient dragons can deal 100+ damage per turn.
So you transform, take damage, transform again in the next turn and regain all your hit points.

Does not really matter what attacks you do, because thanks to primal strike, all your attacks in any shapeshift are magical and may surpass the resistances of the target, and if not, you just change to a beast or elemental form that does it. You have lots of them to choose (over 40)

And since you can change into a damage-resistant 126HP elemental every turn, if they do not manage to kill you twice (your beast form and your druid form) in the same turn, you regain full heath 6 seconds later.

Well, this looks indeed like god mode.

After some more reading the closest thing I saw that fits my idea of a fighter with magic buffs was:
A hexblade warlock with pact of the blade.
You have martial weapons, medium armor and shield, defensive and offensive spells, a second attack and most importently: You can use charisma for both spell and weapon attacks.
A high charisma main char looks also good for social skills.

Well, I should stop speculating for now and wait until we know what is actually in the game.

So is the spear now. I first heard it on a Dungeon Dudes You Tube video, about Polearm Master +Sentinel. D&D Beyond confirms also it: https://www.dndbeyond.com/equipment/spear and

Polearm Master

I have a Spear and Shield wielding Mountain Dwarf War Cleric 2/ Fighter Battle Master build ready for full release The Spartan Crusader: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Merlex/characters/27043085

If you can get the enemy to attack you, or try to get past you, it makes total sense to have a tank. I ties up the enemy for others to snipe at them, not to mention helping to create advantage for Rogues in the party. As for spears and quarterstaffs not having reach; if you play a Fighter Battle Master, you can take Lunging Attack Maneuver gives you reach for that attack. The Goading Attack Maneuver is good for getting the enemy to attack you, instead of your Rogues and spellcasters. First 2 maneuvers I took on my Spear/ Shield tank build.

Hello there, I have a question about the drow race. I'm planning on making a drow warlock and I thought the drows recieved +2 dex elf bonus and +1 cha sub race bonus. However, it seems like in baldurs gate 3 the drow is being treated like a separate race altogether and I don't see anywhere that they receive +2 dexterity. I could be wrong but I thought the drows were a sub race to the elves. If the drows don't get +2 dex and only +1 cha, that's gonna be a deal breaker. All other races have bigger racial bonuses.

Not all racial bonuses were implemented yet in the game build used for the demo.

Thanks for your answer, @Raze !

What I am reading here is people making min/max characters. You would be banned from our group if playing PnP. There are no perfect people in the world there should be no perfect characters. Now in a video game who cares. I really hope they include weaknesses and bad character traits to counter Mr Universe tanks, etc. We should be powerful, we're the heroes after-all, but we should have something to add character to our character :) Especially if this goes the route that Neverwinter Nights did with DM run servers.

I haven't decided on a character build yet but I always liked druids.

Not at all, a minmax character is just someone who is good at what he is supposed to be good at. I don't understand why my Assassin would not be good at killing enemies, it seems illogical to me. To be better at killing, my character has to forgo being better at other aspects, therefore, he is far from perfect.

Where is this??? i have watched every video i can find on BG3 and can't find this dwarf you speak of...

https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Merlex/characters/28123430 Fixed the broken link.

I'd hardly call a spear & Shield melee character a perfect Mr. Universe tank. If I wanted to min/max, I would go Variant Human wielding a glaive. I like concept builds. The first character I'm going to play is a Light Domain Cleric, which starts as a strong blaster but is outclassed by Warlocks, Sorcerers, and Wizards as levels increased. As for flaws, she wants everyone to convert to worshiping Helm, destroying all false deities in the process. A true fanatic.

I have a Abjurer 8/ Warlock 2 melee mage I plan on playing as well. Not exactly optimal. And if Fallen Aasimars ever get in the game, I have a planned build of her seeking redemption as a Paladin. But she fails and becomes a Warlock and breaks her oath: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Merlex/characters/28200623 .

A Wood Elf Hunter Ranger 4/ Kensei Monk 6, who has imaginary conversations with his longbow. If I wanted to min/max him it would be a hand crossbow. Don't get me wrong, I will optimize my characters as much as I can. But many of my spellcasting builds, currently at 16 builds- 15 with some spellcasting, will lose at least 5th level spells.