Ok, here's the deal - we had a 4 man party: Sword and Board Pally, Reach Cleric, Monk and Inquisitor.
Our pally just left for the Peace Corps.
Any recommendations on who would be best suited to pick up tanking? And how said toon would go about doing that?
Arcane casters are highly persecuted (like killed) in this setting :-)
The best tank has to be a Druid with augment and superior summons.
He just fills the battlefield with mini tanks (suited to the actual combat specifications thanks to the extremely versatile animal list). He doesn't even need to heal them. And that's on top of beastmorphed him and his animal companion.
Sure this army may not take many high level opponents down, but they will give your team the time to do it safely. And that's what a tank is about right?
No body is an arcane caster... and you have to be lvl 5 or 6 before being able to take false priest
Looking for ways to get a tank out of what we have vs. somebody re-rolling a toon
If the gent going into the Peace Corps is comfy with the idea maybe somebody would like to take over that character. Or have him around as back-up, companion like.
Let the monk do the tanking with some bracer of armor, ring of protection and armlet of natural armor. Long with the Wisdom plus Dex AC on top of the bonus monk AC, it's once of the class that hardest to hit in average of flatfooted, touch and total AC. Combine with highest saves in all class, you can't really harm it without a smart strong fighter.
Let the monk do the tanking with some bracer of armor, ring of protection and armlet of natural armor. Long with the Wisdom plus Dex AC on top of the bonus monk AC, it's once of the class that hardest to hit in average of flatfooted, touch and total AC. Combine with highest saves in all class, you can't really harm it without a smart strong fighter.
High defenses alone, does not a tank make (and actually, it can easily do the opposite, as smart enemies will realize the futility in trying to attack someone with that high of defenses). What reason does the enemy have to care about the monk, and not simply ignore it?
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I might urge you to set the monk up to do maneuvers. Look at Flowing Monk combined with Sacred Mountain archetypes. You can build it to become a bedrock around which combat must flow or cease altogether. Reposition, Dirty Trick, Bull Rush, Drag, these are all good, cheap, uncomplicated maneuvers you can invest in to shut the battlefield down.
A lot of people seem to think that in Pathfinder, a tank is the guy who can take all the damage. In reality, the concept of tanking in a game is about controlling who your opponents attack and how. In Pathfinder a tank is not the Barbarian with 10 DR. It's the Whipmaster with a 25' reach and 6 status effects to apply.
To do this effectively your monk may need to rebuild.
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You have three martial characters: Monk, Reach cleric, and Inquisitor. You have no need for the 'tank' role. I'd set up an integrated combat team with all three. You can each cover each others' weaknesses.
Find ways to use each of your special talents to reinforce each other. Perhaps the monk can do combat maneuvers that give the cleric and Inquisitor each extra AoOs. Reach weapon wielders maintain a zone of exclusion to give the monk time to work (e.g. grapple). The Inquisitor can probably focus big damage on primary targets. The tough monk can soak up attacks and neutralize foes. Learn to fight as a mobile triad.
Let the monk do the tanking with some bracer of armor, ring of protection and armlet of natural armor. Long with the Wisdom plus Dex AC on top of the bonus monk AC, it's once of the class that hardest to hit in average of flatfooted, touch and total AC. Combine with highest saves in all class, you can't really harm it without a smart strong fighter.High defenses alone, does not a tank make (and actually, it can easily do the opposite, as smart enemies will realize the futility in trying to attack someone with that high of defenses). What reason does the enemy have to care about the monk, and not simply ignore it?
To tank, you just need to hold the attacks from enemies. Either with damage using flurry of blows or with grapple, pin and bound will be good enough. because Cleric has reach and Inquisitor can survive decently. So the few times that you will need to tank is to tank the one big thing, either boss or an one on one fight. Which AC, flurry of blows along with decent grappling and fast movement speed will be good enough.
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To me "tanking" implies gumming up defensible spots and holding back monsters so that your allies can attack from relative safety behind you. I'm guessing that the Reach Cleric wants to "attack from the back". The Inquisitor might be able to go either way. One or both of them could help buff the Monk into a defensive bulwark. For instance, if the Cleric puts Freedom of Movement, Death Ward, etc on the Monk as needed and the Monk uses ki points to boost AC it might be tough for a lot of monsters to cause the Monk much harm. If the Monk does get hurt the Cleric can probably heal him.
If the Inquisitor is suited to melee then he or she could share frontline melee duties with the Monk. If not perhaps Bane with a bow or repeating heavy crossbow could help cut enemies down more quickly. As some folks have said, one problem with tanking is making sure the enemies engage with the "tank". This is pretty simple in constricted dungeon environments, but it can be tough against mobile enemies in open settings. If you need more protection than one PC can offer you might look at the Cleric's options with Summon Monster. They're more varied and arguably more powerful than what the oft mentioned Druid gets from SNA. Depending on the Cleric's alignment, Sacred Summons might offer a way to lay down some "mini tanks" quickly. A metamagic rod of echoing spell is expensive but can effectively double your highest level spell slots to bring in the big monsters over and over as needed.