Main Fighter/Tank

[thargar]

I was thinking of replacing Valerie with a custom build fighter. Whet would be a good main tank build to replace, straight fighter, sword and board type?

thanks for any suggestions

[khinra]

Aldori Defenders can get pretty obscene armor class although it takes a bit of tinkering and items and suffer a lot in fights where they roll crap iniative, same could be said for monks or sword saints. A plain old standard fighter, no subclasses with heavy armor, heavy shield and a decent melee weapon with high str and decent dex/con/int makes for a nice overall tank that doesnt really require that much help to work and can still pull his weight in combat (which is what stops Valerie from being amazing, she can tank just fine but cant hit the broadside of a barn).

[mattwinfield]

Its not a bad idea to take the overpowered Pre-Made Fighter Hedwirg who starts with 20 STR. You could build him as a tank or off-tank, or whatever.

Oh as a custom made non-main character I'd go Hospital Paladin for the save increase and Aura. Nice custom paladin armor in chapter 2 as well.

[Sieglinde Eilserv]

Good old dwarf warrior tower shield specialist until 9, maybe get 2 levels of paladin if you feel like giving him a touch of cha along with some items to make him more effective against bosses using smite evil along with some bonuses to saves, then go stalwart defender. Being a dwarf he also gets a big ac boost versus giant types, along with his dwarven saves.

He's not flashy, he won't be a huge damage dealer, but he more than gets the job done. He's there to allow your real damage guys do what they need to do without getting blasted in 2 hits by a boss :p

[Sotanaht]

Not sure what the highest AC you can get is, but I like Monks as tanks. I got mine to 73 AC in melee

I could actually get her even higher if I wanted to sacrifice more offense. Currently I have:
10 base
+3 Other AC (monk level bonus)
+7 Other AC (Wisdom modifier)
+11 Dex
+5 Deflection (ring)
+8 Armor (bracers)
+2 Shield (ring)
+4 Natural Armor Enhancement (Manticore Boots)
+1 Dodge (haste)
+1 Dodge (dodge)
+5 Dodge (protectors Robes)

Then we get into things only active in combat:
+5 Combat Expertise
+3 Defensive Fighting
+1 Crane Style
+4 Crane Wing
+3 Wings (aasimar feat)

Furthermore, I could add another +2 with Reduce Person, and if I wanted to sacrifice offense, I could trade her Amulet of Agile Fists +4 for Gyronna's Amulet to get a +5 Insight bonus (and the effect of Mirror Images)

If I really wanted to minmax AC, I could trade the 4 rogue levels I have for 1 Vivisectionist and 3 more Monk. That would give me +2 dex bonus, +2 natural armor, and +1 monk bonus. However, it would cost me Uncanny Dodge, meaning I'd lose most of my defense in the first round of combat and go splat. I also could have potentially traded out Con for more Wis.

Edit: Didn't even have Magic Vestment on, so that's another +4.

[Kyle D'Stroy]

Hard to beat monk based builds for tanking. Currently running Scaled Fist X/Thug 4/Pal 2. It gives up a point of monk AC compared to above, but rogue 4 gives uncanny dodge, and pal 2 gives crazy saves. You do have to like cheese.

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by Kyle D'Stroy:

Hard to beat monk based builds for tanking. Currently running Scaled Fist X/Thug 4/Pal 2. It gives up a point of monk AC compared to above, but rogue 4 gives uncanny dodge, and pal 2 gives crazy saves. You do have to like cheese.

I use the rogue, skip the paladin. I go with Traditional Monk instead of Scaled Fist, so I pump Wisdom instead of Charisma. I end up with slightly higher Will saves than a paladin build would, at the cost of significantly lower reflex and fort, but the higher wis also means better perception/wisdom skills so it's really debatable which build is better.

[Kyle D'Stroy]

Originally posted by Sotanaht:

I use the rogue, skip the paladin. I go with Traditional Monk instead of Scaled Fist, so I pump Wisdom instead of Charisma. I end up with slightly higher Will saves than a paladin build would, at the cost of significantly lower reflex and fort, but the higher wis also means better perception/wisdom skills so it's really debatable which build is better.

A couple of good variations on the theme, but I wanted the persuasion.

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by Kyle D'Stroy:

Originally posted by Sotanaht:

I use the rogue, skip the paladin. I go with Traditional Monk instead of Scaled Fist, so I pump Wisdom instead of Charisma. I end up with slightly higher Will saves than a paladin build would, at the cost of significantly lower reflex and fort, but the higher wis also means better perception/wisdom skills so it's really debatable which build is better.

A couple of good variations on the theme, but I wanted the persuasion.

Main character? I considered doing that, but it takes too long to get off the ground, plus you won't really stack Charisma. I made my main a Sorcerer instead for that reason, monk is merc

[For_Science!]

I had fun with a sword saint/duellist merc. Started her off on a lark, as someone who could use those interesting dueling swords the game kept throwing at me...but she became my go-to tank. Int to AC from both classes, Dex to hit and damage and for more AC...she really only needed those two stats and she was untouchable. Way more damage output and utility than I would expect from a tank as well.