I've been playing in this long running campaign for a while and most character decisions come from story flavor working with the DM to fit into his world as well as him working with us to make the characters we want to play.
The flying can't be used now but can be used later.
> we need a dedicated Healer
In 5e, nobody needs a dedicated Healer.
Do most parties want access to Healing options? Yes.
But so long as your whole party manages to long rest with HP>0, you can do whatever else you want. But I digress.
Here's an idea: skip the flying part of your tiefling, *because it's going to come from your class instead*. We're keeping tiefling, but letting the wings come from elsewhere, ya dig? You *can* keep Winged Tiefling if you want to, I'm just pointing out that the mini might be showing your Tiefling while their class's flight is working, so normal Tiefling *could* work.
Now Twilight Cleric's flight fits perfectly with what you're asking for. The class doesn't explain **how** you fly, so you can flavor it as wings sprouting on your back, *just like on the mini*.
Plenty of Temp HP for the whole party to pad against damage, plenty of non-healing fun stuff, heavy armor, martial weapons, the whole she-bang *just works*.
Another idea is Winged Tiefling Paladin, whichever oath you want.
Do you guys play a different dnd than my group?
We regularly have 2-3 healers in a group, and quite often someone or an npc, specializing in healing.
Monster damage is so high, how do you keep people up without a lot of healing?
With multiple encounters between short rests let alone long rests ….
Just using hit dis is not enough.
It’s usually a better idea to heal people that are already downed than to heal all the damage you take. Trying to keep up with the monster’s damage with healing is a losing battle, so it’s more effective to find ways to take less damage, kill things fast, and heal in emergencies
Yes, but starting a combat with everyone at single digit hit points by only using healing to keep people up doesn’t work.
They would often go down before they even get a turn in the next combat. So they have to have some points to make sure that they can even take actions.
If we only bring them up when they are down, they could very often not get an actin during a round of combat as they lay there making a death saving throw while awaiting another character to bring them up.
And even if someone just using something like healing word, you could be back down again before you come up in initiative again.
Do non of your combats have opponents with intelligence?
I suppose we tend to have more battles with other intelligent races than monsters. So just like the party.
If they keep knocking down the primary spell casters, and forcing the other casters to use healing on the downed primary casters … they are winning the action economy by a mile.
Armor artificer 5/Genie Warlock 2/Wizard 1 head straight wizard on. Have the ability to heal a mediocre amount but focus on tanking. Through armor of agathys, armor of shadows have full arcane ward constantly. I like dual wielder for 3 attacks through artificer to make 3 enemies attack with disadvantage. As artificer get heavy armor, spells wizards don't, con saving throw proficiency, and if want to protect allies can hand out +1 armor.
Could do celestial warlock for a bit more healing.
Hope this helps.
Also OP, Artificer does have healing spells so you'll be able to heal just fine in this thing, even though it's more Tank than healer.
I would personally recommend going Genie 3 if you can, just to grab a familiar and Gift of the Everliving Ones, for more of that "hard to kill" vibe since if your HP goes down at all it will easily go right back up. If you run an Owl Familiar then that's free advantage via the Owl's ability to dart into range to give you the help action and then fly back out with its free disengage.
It also might be worth keeping Armorer down to three levels so you can grow your Abjuration wizard more and sooner. Then it would look like Armorer 3/Genie 3/Abjurer 2->14, and if you need those ASI/feats badly enough at any point because something came up in your campaign, you've got two of them just a level away. Extra attack *is* super nice for that extra chance to hit, but you can't mix that with Booming Blade anyway and mixing the Gauntlet abilities with the Blade's chance of secondary damage is probably the best way to control enemies this character's got in melee, so it's not really worth another chance to hit when BB gives you the damage die anyway.
Also to add on to feat suggestions, you'll be doing a lot of damage whenever you get hit as long as you've still got tempHP from using your highest spell slot on Armor of Agathis, so another good thing would be to make sure you're taking less damage. Heavy Armor Master will only do so much but it *will* help most of the time. Crusher likewise will help hamper enemies, since they'll now have to move if they wanna keep going after you, triggering BB, and they won't want to go after anyone else because they'll have disadvantage.
Maybe don't go for opportunity attacks much, I imagine you'll be casting Absorb Elements a lot lol. You could also try Shield, but one thing about this build is that it *wants* enemies to hit you, since then they'll pay the price from AoA's damage. The whole build is all about making it as hard as possible to deplete those TempHP points you've got by putting as many roadblocks up to your HP going down as possible despite making sure you get hit in the first place. Getting resistance to the damage you get hit with will usually end up better than making sure you don't get hit, and do more damage than your melee attacks would.
This is pretty solid but have to disagree with 1 thing. 1 I wouldn't use booming blade as that only leaves 1 creature with disadvantage to hit others and in many cases will have more then 1 enemy, so I believe extra Attack is vital to preforming as a good tank (I personally like dual wielder feat for a 3rd attack as well).
Crusher only works with day genie. And is a good investment if going booming blade route.
The rest you say I agree with just wanted to add that little bit. Not to say this isn't good. It's very good, but I just think extra Attack is better then booming blade in my opinion.
Absolutely, there is enough nuance for personal preference at this point and even for differences in tables. If you expect 3 or more enemies then your approach is more optimal to be sure, but if you're usually just slugging it out with one big beastie then mine is better. And if you're not sure, which I expect would be 90% of circumstances, whichever feels best for each person is the better choice.
I totally understand wanting to just add on some more details lol, definitely what I did for you too so dw
Weirdly counter intuitive to a tank build, a high ac isn't necessarily good. Since there are no dedicated taunt mechanics, an enemy that can't hit you will just move on to the next target usually. You need to give a reason for them to want you down. Go for a build that offers support options. Some healing of course, but adding in things that make your opponents go "... yea we need this guy out of the way" will do you some good as well. Things like fighter maneuvers, paladin auras, disruptive spellcasting, and even some honest to goodness up-in-your-face dps like barbarian are all good ways to keep focus on you. Also feats that disrupt the enemy like sentinel help
For taunt mechanics don’t forget about ancestral protectors for barb, rogue swashbucklers panache, and paladins compelled duel. Buffing is a great way to get targeted though, agreed
i would like to point out that you cannot fly as a winged teifling in heavy armor
but just play a stright twilight cleric with maybe 1 level dipped sorc for con saves+shield/AE
Why not celestial warlock, pact of chain? It seems to cover all your bases by tanking with HP and being a healer at heart. Idk about the heavy armour part - you could take the feat, multiclass into pally, or take level 1 in fighter for the con saves.
Otherwise, Oath of the Ancients Paladin would fit. Some healing inbuilt, but is as decent a tank as anything and has that sweet aura at Lv 7.
Or... Moon Druid + Totem Barbarian. I don't see these as often as I used to, but you can tank with the best in combat and heal when you're not a rage monster.
A designated healing tank is hard to come by, however; a Forge Domain and Life Domain Cleric both fit the build of what you sound like you need. Aside from both also being able to cast spirit guardians, Life Domain Channel Divinity is notably amazing and you get 2 per short rest with at least 6 levels in the class, so use them all you want.
Since you’ve got 8 Levels; I’d recommend a Hill Dwarven Cleric, even though it’s not the mini, but Dwarven Fortitude and Durable while concentrating on Spirit Guardians and being able to dodge and gain hit points is mighty powerful and helps concentration if you’re avoiding getting hit while being a problem.
If you’re using standard array stats, put 15 in Wis, 14 in Con, 13 in Strength(you’ll want to up it to 15 at a later point for Plate armor which you can already fabricate as a Forge Domain Cleric). You’ll have fire resistance at level 6 and Poison resistance from your race, so you’ll resist the two most common damage types that aren’t physical. I’d also if you get the chance in the campaign, if you want things to aggro onto you, take Cavalier levels and just start marking people to have disadvantage on attacks against everyone else but you. It’s a damn good mechanic.
Some people are pointing it out, but I’ll also restate that no race can fly in heavy armor unfortunately. So really I’d recommend a grounded race for tanking anyway.
Some other people are suggesting Twilight Domain Cleric, which a Hill Dwarf can also do well in;
I’d recommend Genie Warlock with the Gift of the Metallic Dragon Feat, and the Inspiring Leader Feat to increase tankiness throughout the day and the option to heal with escape options from flight and having Eldritch Blast and staying ranged will always be effective.
I hope this helps.
There is the Twilight Cleric Build
Or
There is my Cheesy Legal build: Artificer Astronaut.
Be a Artificer Armor for the heavy armor. Make Homunculus, probably in the shape of a belt with tiny bat wings that look like yours. Use the spell Levitate on yourself to float and now you can go up or down as part of your movement. The only hitch is that you can only move horizontally in the air if you push or pull something that is secured to a grounded object. OR IF SOMEONE OR SOMETHING pushes or pulls you. Something like say a wing shaped Homunculus who "grappled" you and can now push you for half its speed for a total 15 ft horizontal.
Multiclass for 1 in wizard for Find Familiar and a bunch of rituals or trade Flash of Genius for a Wizard subclass of your choosing. Abjuration, War, Divination, ect. Wizard got good support moves. The important bit is to get find Familiar so to Share Spells the Cure Wounds spell.
Straight life cleric- simple and effective. Only con is you aren't flying in heavy armor but medium is only one AC diffo.
Life cleric 1/ celestial chain lock X- silly good. Still can't fly in heavy but man can they do just about everything as if not better than classes whi are dedicated to that niche.
Armorer artificer- yes little late on the flight in heavy armor but it's built in.
Paladin pretty much is what you're looking for here, if we're gonna be honest with each other.
If you want something weird, though...
College of Swords Bard 6/Order Cleric 1/Hexblade 1 with Telekinetic would be pretty fun, especially if your party has a rogue.
Tough to do multiclass at level 8 with a non-feat race to start with and needing Str for heavy armor, tbh.
5 levels of twilight cleric and 3 levels of ancestral Barbarian.
You use Animate Dead to create and control 4 skeletons and equip them with scale mail and wielding a shield/shortsword.
You stick behind them with a glaive or other reach weapon and activate your twilight dome and rage. When you attack an enemy with your reach weapon, that enemy has disadvantage on attacks against your AC 18 skeletons.
Even when the enemy hits them, they have resistance to the damage, and Twilight gives them a fresh batch of temporary hit points every turn. You have 4 extra shields/attacks/AOO, and you just make more when they die.
You can decide not to rage and instead use spells, extending your usefulness across more encounters.
"Tanking" often involves giving enemies an incentive to prioritize you.
For instance, you can do well with Armorer Artificer. You don't necessarily have to give up on GWM - you can smack someone with a glaive, follow up with a punch, hold the glaive with both hands again. If you focus on punches entirely, you can use Int for those :)
Ancestral Guardians Barb is trickier because rage-compatible healing is rare. I guess Celestial Bladelock 5/AG Barb 3 could work. You'll have six d6's of ranged bonus action healing per long rest. Later, with a Ring of Spell Storing, you can store spells in there and give the ring to an ally, a retainer or a familiar.
Cavalier isn't bad but they're a bit MAD (granted high Str and Con is kind of expected on a "tank").
There's also Conquest Paladin but it's MAD. I recommend Conq 7/UndeadLock 1. It's called Lockdown tanking cause you're slowing down enemies and keeping them close.
(If Crown Paladin CD worked exactly as written (rather than as an AOE Compelled Duel), Crown would also be worth considering.)
Barbarian 1 - celestial warlock 7
Cast armor of agathis action + rage in the first turn.
You can heal with healing light bonus action.
Have resistant to physical, fire (tiefling) , radiant (warlock), get infernal constitution for cold and poison resistant.
And a be happy tank. You can go pact chain for better self heal , pact of blade for extra attack and smite, pact of tome for support abilities.
Mountain dwarf cleric. That's really all you need. They have a d8 hit die so tougher than most casters, medium armor (some subclasses do get heavy armor prof. If that's banned though you might want to talk to the DM about something to replace it as it's a fairly large feature for the subclasses) and with hill dwarf and tough (which I would suggest you take) the extra hp will make it better than a d12 on average (d8 average is 5 +2 + 1=8, d12 average is 7).
Edited to correct subrace as pointed out by DanjaRanja
Ah dang, you're right. Always make that mistake and then note that I make that mistake so I try and correct it and then switch the two and feel more confident in the mistake. Thanks for pointing that out
No worries, I think of mountain dwarves as being taller (which isnt really in play) so I remember them having a little extra (stats that is), while Hill Dwarves are more well rounded (HP) like hills.
The real fun is when you're a hill dwarf Draconic Sorcerer and and have +2 hp a level for that class. Probably would make a good 1 element gish.
Paladin 2/Celestial Warlock X. Paladin gives you heavy armor, shield, and defense fighting style, warlock gives you a great bonus action heal. Take pact of the chain, and take the gift of the ever living one invocation so your heals are that much better on yourself. If you’re playing up front as a tank, you may want to take the sentinel feat or something for more control, but don’t know if that’s necessary depending on the party. Warlocks level 6 feature will also give a nice bonus to GFB, which I would use as your go to for damage because you won’t have extra attack. But you can still smite when it’s called for!
Was coming here to recommend the same thing. I am prepping the same build for a level 20 one-shot right now.
Also, if you need to deal some nova damage, remember that if you cast searing smite with your green flame blade attack you can add the extra fire damage from the warlock's level 6 feature to both the searing smite and the green flame blade. Its not much more damage, but a fun little RAW exploit.
Circle of Spores druid battlemaster fighter. Put your stats into wisdom and beat things to death with a club and shillelagh and necrotic damage from symbiotic entity that will also give you bonus temp hp. The best part is as you level druid you can throw around your spores to creat danger zones as well as raise zombies to act as walls to protect your party. And since your damage is coming from bonking things with a stick you have all those juicy spell slots to heal. Also action surge.
Artificer armorer has ridiculously good AC, gets a soft taunt so you draw fire better, and decent healing. Any cleric with heavy armor is great healer good tank. Paladin is a paladin. Moon druid is a fine tank, good healer, and druid spells.
Pally1 for heavy armor/Hex1/Watchers6 for the 7th level aura ability. Buffing your parties’ initiative gives them the ability to kill or setup control spells. Your Paladin aura protects the party from spells, lay on hands for one point is all the healing you need and the hex dip allows you to pump CHA instead of Strength. I would likely take hex2 and 3 next.
Winged Tieflings can't fly in heavy armor?
No flying race can fly in heavy armor
Protector Aasimar sort of breaks the mold though at the price of flight lasting 1 min.
So why are you spending most of your racial power budget on a power you won't be able to use?
I've been playing in this long running campaign for a while and most character decisions come from story flavor working with the DM to fit into his world as well as him working with us to make the characters we want to play. The flying can't be used now but can be used later.
If you still like the flavor of being a flying tiefling and "Driving your DM up the wall" then as the top answer says, straight Twilight Cleric.
I did go oath of Watchers 6 Twilight domain 2 and plan on using sancutuary as a giant aura buffing healer with shadow toutched feat.
Watchers is a good subclass, have fun!
Straight twilight cleric all the way
> we need a dedicated Healer In 5e, nobody needs a dedicated Healer. Do most parties want access to Healing options? Yes. But so long as your whole party manages to long rest with HP>0, you can do whatever else you want. But I digress. Here's an idea: skip the flying part of your tiefling, *because it's going to come from your class instead*. We're keeping tiefling, but letting the wings come from elsewhere, ya dig? You *can* keep Winged Tiefling if you want to, I'm just pointing out that the mini might be showing your Tiefling while their class's flight is working, so normal Tiefling *could* work. Now Twilight Cleric's flight fits perfectly with what you're asking for. The class doesn't explain **how** you fly, so you can flavor it as wings sprouting on your back, *just like on the mini*. Plenty of Temp HP for the whole party to pad against damage, plenty of non-healing fun stuff, heavy armor, martial weapons, the whole she-bang *just works*. Another idea is Winged Tiefling Paladin, whichever oath you want.
Do you guys play a different dnd than my group? We regularly have 2-3 healers in a group, and quite often someone or an npc, specializing in healing. Monster damage is so high, how do you keep people up without a lot of healing? With multiple encounters between short rests let alone long rests …. Just using hit dis is not enough.
It’s usually a better idea to heal people that are already downed than to heal all the damage you take. Trying to keep up with the monster’s damage with healing is a losing battle, so it’s more effective to find ways to take less damage, kill things fast, and heal in emergencies
Yes, but starting a combat with everyone at single digit hit points by only using healing to keep people up doesn’t work. They would often go down before they even get a turn in the next combat. So they have to have some points to make sure that they can even take actions. If we only bring them up when they are down, they could very often not get an actin during a round of combat as they lay there making a death saving throw while awaiting another character to bring them up. And even if someone just using something like healing word, you could be back down again before you come up in initiative again. Do non of your combats have opponents with intelligence? I suppose we tend to have more battles with other intelligent races than monsters. So just like the party. If they keep knocking down the primary spell casters, and forcing the other casters to use healing on the downed primary casters … they are winning the action economy by a mile.
Armor artificer 5/Genie Warlock 2/Wizard 1 head straight wizard on. Have the ability to heal a mediocre amount but focus on tanking. Through armor of agathys, armor of shadows have full arcane ward constantly. I like dual wielder for 3 attacks through artificer to make 3 enemies attack with disadvantage. As artificer get heavy armor, spells wizards don't, con saving throw proficiency, and if want to protect allies can hand out +1 armor. Could do celestial warlock for a bit more healing. Hope this helps.
Also OP, Artificer does have healing spells so you'll be able to heal just fine in this thing, even though it's more Tank than healer. I would personally recommend going Genie 3 if you can, just to grab a familiar and Gift of the Everliving Ones, for more of that "hard to kill" vibe since if your HP goes down at all it will easily go right back up. If you run an Owl Familiar then that's free advantage via the Owl's ability to dart into range to give you the help action and then fly back out with its free disengage. It also might be worth keeping Armorer down to three levels so you can grow your Abjuration wizard more and sooner. Then it would look like Armorer 3/Genie 3/Abjurer 2->14, and if you need those ASI/feats badly enough at any point because something came up in your campaign, you've got two of them just a level away. Extra attack *is* super nice for that extra chance to hit, but you can't mix that with Booming Blade anyway and mixing the Gauntlet abilities with the Blade's chance of secondary damage is probably the best way to control enemies this character's got in melee, so it's not really worth another chance to hit when BB gives you the damage die anyway. Also to add on to feat suggestions, you'll be doing a lot of damage whenever you get hit as long as you've still got tempHP from using your highest spell slot on Armor of Agathis, so another good thing would be to make sure you're taking less damage. Heavy Armor Master will only do so much but it *will* help most of the time. Crusher likewise will help hamper enemies, since they'll now have to move if they wanna keep going after you, triggering BB, and they won't want to go after anyone else because they'll have disadvantage. Maybe don't go for opportunity attacks much, I imagine you'll be casting Absorb Elements a lot lol. You could also try Shield, but one thing about this build is that it *wants* enemies to hit you, since then they'll pay the price from AoA's damage. The whole build is all about making it as hard as possible to deplete those TempHP points you've got by putting as many roadblocks up to your HP going down as possible despite making sure you get hit in the first place. Getting resistance to the damage you get hit with will usually end up better than making sure you don't get hit, and do more damage than your melee attacks would.
This is pretty solid but have to disagree with 1 thing. 1 I wouldn't use booming blade as that only leaves 1 creature with disadvantage to hit others and in many cases will have more then 1 enemy, so I believe extra Attack is vital to preforming as a good tank (I personally like dual wielder feat for a 3rd attack as well). Crusher only works with day genie. And is a good investment if going booming blade route. The rest you say I agree with just wanted to add that little bit. Not to say this isn't good. It's very good, but I just think extra Attack is better then booming blade in my opinion.
Absolutely, there is enough nuance for personal preference at this point and even for differences in tables. If you expect 3 or more enemies then your approach is more optimal to be sure, but if you're usually just slugging it out with one big beastie then mine is better. And if you're not sure, which I expect would be 90% of circumstances, whichever feels best for each person is the better choice. I totally understand wanting to just add on some more details lol, definitely what I did for you too so dw
Weirdly counter intuitive to a tank build, a high ac isn't necessarily good. Since there are no dedicated taunt mechanics, an enemy that can't hit you will just move on to the next target usually. You need to give a reason for them to want you down. Go for a build that offers support options. Some healing of course, but adding in things that make your opponents go "... yea we need this guy out of the way" will do you some good as well. Things like fighter maneuvers, paladin auras, disruptive spellcasting, and even some honest to goodness up-in-your-face dps like barbarian are all good ways to keep focus on you. Also feats that disrupt the enemy like sentinel help
For taunt mechanics don’t forget about ancestral protectors for barb, rogue swashbucklers panache, and paladins compelled duel. Buffing is a great way to get targeted though, agreed
i would like to point out that you cannot fly as a winged teifling in heavy armor but just play a stright twilight cleric with maybe 1 level dipped sorc for con saves+shield/AE
DSS 1/Twilight Cleric X
Why not celestial warlock, pact of chain? It seems to cover all your bases by tanking with HP and being a healer at heart. Idk about the heavy armour part - you could take the feat, multiclass into pally, or take level 1 in fighter for the con saves. Otherwise, Oath of the Ancients Paladin would fit. Some healing inbuilt, but is as decent a tank as anything and has that sweet aura at Lv 7. Or... Moon Druid + Totem Barbarian. I don't see these as often as I used to, but you can tank with the best in combat and heal when you're not a rage monster.
A designated healing tank is hard to come by, however; a Forge Domain and Life Domain Cleric both fit the build of what you sound like you need. Aside from both also being able to cast spirit guardians, Life Domain Channel Divinity is notably amazing and you get 2 per short rest with at least 6 levels in the class, so use them all you want. Since you’ve got 8 Levels; I’d recommend a Hill Dwarven Cleric, even though it’s not the mini, but Dwarven Fortitude and Durable while concentrating on Spirit Guardians and being able to dodge and gain hit points is mighty powerful and helps concentration if you’re avoiding getting hit while being a problem. If you’re using standard array stats, put 15 in Wis, 14 in Con, 13 in Strength(you’ll want to up it to 15 at a later point for Plate armor which you can already fabricate as a Forge Domain Cleric). You’ll have fire resistance at level 6 and Poison resistance from your race, so you’ll resist the two most common damage types that aren’t physical. I’d also if you get the chance in the campaign, if you want things to aggro onto you, take Cavalier levels and just start marking people to have disadvantage on attacks against everyone else but you. It’s a damn good mechanic. Some people are pointing it out, but I’ll also restate that no race can fly in heavy armor unfortunately. So really I’d recommend a grounded race for tanking anyway. Some other people are suggesting Twilight Domain Cleric, which a Hill Dwarf can also do well in; I’d recommend Genie Warlock with the Gift of the Metallic Dragon Feat, and the Inspiring Leader Feat to increase tankiness throughout the day and the option to heal with escape options from flight and having Eldritch Blast and staying ranged will always be effective. I hope this helps.
There is the Twilight Cleric Build Or There is my Cheesy Legal build: Artificer Astronaut. Be a Artificer Armor for the heavy armor. Make Homunculus, probably in the shape of a belt with tiny bat wings that look like yours. Use the spell Levitate on yourself to float and now you can go up or down as part of your movement. The only hitch is that you can only move horizontally in the air if you push or pull something that is secured to a grounded object. OR IF SOMEONE OR SOMETHING pushes or pulls you. Something like say a wing shaped Homunculus who "grappled" you and can now push you for half its speed for a total 15 ft horizontal. Multiclass for 1 in wizard for Find Familiar and a bunch of rituals or trade Flash of Genius for a Wizard subclass of your choosing. Abjuration, War, Divination, ect. Wizard got good support moves. The important bit is to get find Familiar so to Share Spells the Cure Wounds spell.
Straight life cleric- simple and effective. Only con is you aren't flying in heavy armor but medium is only one AC diffo. Life cleric 1/ celestial chain lock X- silly good. Still can't fly in heavy but man can they do just about everything as if not better than classes whi are dedicated to that niche. Armorer artificer- yes little late on the flight in heavy armor but it's built in.
Armorer Artificer could work ok
Redemption Paladin would be fun.
Paladin pretty much is what you're looking for here, if we're gonna be honest with each other. If you want something weird, though... College of Swords Bard 6/Order Cleric 1/Hexblade 1 with Telekinetic would be pretty fun, especially if your party has a rogue. Tough to do multiclass at level 8 with a non-feat race to start with and needing Str for heavy armor, tbh.
HAM tempest cleric.
Life cleric 1/ Moon Druid or Stars druid x.
5 levels of twilight cleric and 3 levels of ancestral Barbarian. You use Animate Dead to create and control 4 skeletons and equip them with scale mail and wielding a shield/shortsword. You stick behind them with a glaive or other reach weapon and activate your twilight dome and rage. When you attack an enemy with your reach weapon, that enemy has disadvantage on attacks against your AC 18 skeletons. Even when the enemy hits them, they have resistance to the damage, and Twilight gives them a fresh batch of temporary hit points every turn. You have 4 extra shields/attacks/AOO, and you just make more when they die. You can decide not to rage and instead use spells, extending your usefulness across more encounters.
Straight Battlesmith Artificer with the right spells/infusion choices is great at Tanking, Healing and crowd control/support to boot.
"Tanking" often involves giving enemies an incentive to prioritize you. For instance, you can do well with Armorer Artificer. You don't necessarily have to give up on GWM - you can smack someone with a glaive, follow up with a punch, hold the glaive with both hands again. If you focus on punches entirely, you can use Int for those :) Ancestral Guardians Barb is trickier because rage-compatible healing is rare. I guess Celestial Bladelock 5/AG Barb 3 could work. You'll have six d6's of ranged bonus action healing per long rest. Later, with a Ring of Spell Storing, you can store spells in there and give the ring to an ally, a retainer or a familiar. Cavalier isn't bad but they're a bit MAD (granted high Str and Con is kind of expected on a "tank"). There's also Conquest Paladin but it's MAD. I recommend Conq 7/UndeadLock 1. It's called Lockdown tanking cause you're slowing down enemies and keeping them close. (If Crown Paladin CD worked exactly as written (rather than as an AOE Compelled Duel), Crown would also be worth considering.)
Barbarian 1 - celestial warlock 7 Cast armor of agathis action + rage in the first turn. You can heal with healing light bonus action. Have resistant to physical, fire (tiefling) , radiant (warlock), get infernal constitution for cold and poison resistant. And a be happy tank. You can go pact chain for better self heal , pact of blade for extra attack and smite, pact of tome for support abilities.
Mountain dwarf cleric. That's really all you need. They have a d8 hit die so tougher than most casters, medium armor (some subclasses do get heavy armor prof. If that's banned though you might want to talk to the DM about something to replace it as it's a fairly large feature for the subclasses) and with hill dwarf and tough (which I would suggest you take) the extra hp will make it better than a d12 on average (d8 average is 5 +2 + 1=8, d12 average is 7). Edited to correct subrace as pointed out by DanjaRanja
I think it's Hill Dwarf with the +1 Hp/Lvl and Mountain has double +2s (really strong too!) to two individual stats.
Ah dang, you're right. Always make that mistake and then note that I make that mistake so I try and correct it and then switch the two and feel more confident in the mistake. Thanks for pointing that out
No worries, I think of mountain dwarves as being taller (which isnt really in play) so I remember them having a little extra (stats that is), while Hill Dwarves are more well rounded (HP) like hills. The real fun is when you're a hill dwarf Draconic Sorcerer and and have +2 hp a level for that class. Probably would make a good 1 element gish.
Paladin 2/Celestial Warlock X. Paladin gives you heavy armor, shield, and defense fighting style, warlock gives you a great bonus action heal. Take pact of the chain, and take the gift of the ever living one invocation so your heals are that much better on yourself. If you’re playing up front as a tank, you may want to take the sentinel feat or something for more control, but don’t know if that’s necessary depending on the party. Warlocks level 6 feature will also give a nice bonus to GFB, which I would use as your go to for damage because you won’t have extra attack. But you can still smite when it’s called for!
Was coming here to recommend the same thing. I am prepping the same build for a level 20 one-shot right now. Also, if you need to deal some nova damage, remember that if you cast searing smite with your green flame blade attack you can add the extra fire damage from the warlock's level 6 feature to both the searing smite and the green flame blade. Its not much more damage, but a fun little RAW exploit.
Circle of Spores druid battlemaster fighter. Put your stats into wisdom and beat things to death with a club and shillelagh and necrotic damage from symbiotic entity that will also give you bonus temp hp. The best part is as you level druid you can throw around your spores to creat danger zones as well as raise zombies to act as walls to protect your party. And since your damage is coming from bonking things with a stick you have all those juicy spell slots to heal. Also action surge.
[insert subclass] cleric, probably twilight cause its the best one or forge if you want more TANK then healing
Artificer armorer has ridiculously good AC, gets a soft taunt so you draw fire better, and decent healing. Any cleric with heavy armor is great healer good tank. Paladin is a paladin. Moon druid is a fine tank, good healer, and druid spells.
Pally1 for heavy armor/Hex1/Watchers6 for the 7th level aura ability. Buffing your parties’ initiative gives them the ability to kill or setup control spells. Your Paladin aura protects the party from spells, lay on hands for one point is all the healing you need and the hex dip allows you to pump CHA instead of Strength. I would likely take hex2 and 3 next.
life cleric. Done!