Don't mind me, I'm trying to break the monotony here. This thread is probably meant to be half informational to those who are unfamiliar with things you can do in tabletop, and half potential feedback guidance on how certain mechanics could be implemented in BG3, assuming they will be. And maybe 100% trading tactics with a badass story, or a conga of humiliation that turned out to be awful enough that you must share it with the world.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm probably relatively new to tabletop DnD. I joined a group about 4 years ago, though I've yet to make it through a full campaign, and have only had one character throughout. He was a College of Valor Bard with an archery focus, mostly built for utility support (especially with possessing every language-related and Speak With ____ spell under the sun), with the Sharpshoot feat so that he'd be capable of respectable burst damage in combat if the dice willed it. Beyond that, I barely had any knowledge on how other classes and their abilities worked outside of observing what my party members did.

But our DM recently gave us the opportunity to briefly play with an entirely new party for a side story in our campaign, so I used the knowledge I gained from Solasta to roll a halfling Paladin focused on tanking and imposing disadvantage on enemy attacks/granting advantage on party attacks as I could. Plus the mental image of a halfing smiting and shield bashing people's shins is pretty hilarious. The principle behind her revolved around two things.

Protection (Fighting Style):

When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Shield Master (Feat):

You use shields not just for protection but also for offense. You gain the following benefits while you are wielding a shield:

If you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to try to shove a creature within 5 feet of you with your shield.
If you aren’t incapacitated, you can add your shield’s AC bonus to any Dexterity saving throw you make against a spell or other harmful effect that targets only you.
If you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you can use your reaction to take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, interposing your shield between yourself and the source of the effect.

Technically, BG3 already has the bonus action shove part of the Shield Master feat available to everyone, without the restriction that you need to take the attack action alongside it. Though tabletop shove gives you the option of either knocking enemies away or shoving them prone, and it's the latter part that my halfling Paladin was made to abuse. After all, when something is prone, all melee attacks made against them have advantage.

Anyway, our new party ran into a bunch of skeletons. I thought I could tank them effectively with my base 18 AC at level 4. The dice decided otherwise, as the Bless spell I cast on my first turn got lost from broken concentration during turn 2, and I dropped below half HP near immediately. So another party member, a Battlemaster Fighter, ran up to save me with something I had not previously known about

Bait and Switch:

When you're within 5 feet of a creature on your turn, you can expend one superiority die and switch places with that creature, provided you spend at least 5 feet of movement and the creature is willing and isn't incapacitated. This movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks.

Roll the superiority die. Until the start of your next turn, you or the other creature (your choice) gains a bonus to AC equal to the number rolled.

So he ran up, switched places with me, temporarily boosted my AC, and we were now tanking the front lines together. The DM made it pretty clear that most of the enemies prioritized me, as I was a Paladin and they were undead (hence the Fighter choosing to boost my AC instead of his own), but I could use my Protection fighting style to react to impose disadvantage against one attack being directed at my Fighter friend every turn. Meanwhile, I was attempting to knock single enemies prone and allow the party to gang up on them with melee attacks rolling with advantage. Eventually, the Fighter switched places with me again, in a way that he was in the direct path of the undead while I was behind him. So I pulled out something else that Paladins had, and was very glad to have the foresight to pick an oath that granted it.

Sanctuary (Spell):

You ward a creature within range against attack. Until the spell ends, any creature who targets the warded creature with an attack or a harmful spell must first make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack or spell. This spell doesn’t protect the warded creature from area effects, such as the explosion of a fireball.
If the warded creature makes an attack or casts a spell that affects an enemy creature, this spell ends.

Sanctuary ended up canceling a good chunk of incoming melee attacks directed at my friend, for the half turn it took for him to go on the offensive himself. (The spell could make for an extremely neat and tactical defensive spell if it makes it into BG3.)

I ended up unintentionally learning a really neat tanking synergy strategy from this experience, while the other two party members blasted/whipped the undead back down.