Dwarven fighter tank

[Ronin3058]

Hello,

I will GM a group of new players. One of them wants to play a tank, despite there are no benefical mechanics to do so.
He rolled very well, 4 times 14 and two times 12.

And he wants to play a dwarf, most likely a fighter.

We start at level 1.

What route can I suggest without creating a disappointing Charakter?

[LoneKnave]

Not having a high (16-18 before racial mods) stat is incredibly bad.

Aside from that, there's very little you can do for actual tanking.

Arcane bloodline Bloodrager gets a lot of nice free defensive buffs upon raging, as well as bonus HP. I can't think of anything simple mechanically that would make opponents actually attack him, and dwarf gets a CHA penalty, but it's still pretty viable up until the part where he needs CHA higher than 12.

[Umbranus]

The Archon Style feat chain allowes to do some actual tanking. And in a sense so does bodyguard.

[Nicos]

Ronin3058 wrote:

What route can I suggest without creating a disappointing Charakter?

Do not neglet offensive and steel soul-glory of old are a must have. seriously.

[Natural Magic]

It might help knowing what else everyone else is planning and what books are allowed. If he isn't trying to be the primary damage dealer for the party a cleric can be tanky.Take heavy armor prof.a few levels in once he gets enough money. He can buff himself/party and take a few hits. A Warpriest might be better though. Swift action healing, blessings and spells might make up for the low strength.

Maybe do stats like this
Str 14
Dex 12
Con 16 (14+2)
Int 12
Wis 16 (14+2)
Cha 12 (14-2)

Take the glory of old trait and steel soul feat at first level. Skills can be pretty much whatever he wants. Go with Irori and take the Strength and Healing blessings. Use a hammer/axe/pick, his choice. Wear a buckler for more AC.

[666bender]

Barbarian. Dr infinite.
1 fighter
1 oracle for fatigue immune at lvl 9
Rest barbarian.
Good offense.
Sunder magic.
Huge hp.
Dr.
Take power attack and grapple feats.

[666bender]

2 more options:
Cavalier, wolf or trex pet. Order of the dragon and honor guard. Body guard feat, 2 man trip and grapple beast.

Another, saurian druid. Summon focus tank that focus on control and grapple to tank the foe.

[Melkiador]

Fighter should be fine if you accommodate his magic items needs. You will want to pick an archetype that drops armor training and mastery since its a little redundant with being a dwarf.

[Ronin3058]

Right now we have:

Barbarian (poor stats)
Ranger
Bard
Oracle (Battle, with good stats)
Witch
Monk

It is a big group. Most of them are beginners (only 1 played pathfinder before and 2 other played at least some DnD).

Since I am building the characters and have to explain all rules, all books are allowed.
Therefore I want to keep the rules as simple as can be (witch and oracle are played by players with more experience).

So I don't allowed traits, archetypes and other races than core.

Oh and I plan to gm a simple dungeon crawl.

The 7th player stated he wants to play a tank, no damage dealer. He knows there are no real tank mechanics. And he wants to play a "simple" melee warrior.

In my experience tanks are not satisfactory so I want to fulfill his wishes without gimping the whole character.

But I am a little bit at loss.

[Melkiador]

You already have a ranger but he's probably archery or two weapon fighting, so I would go with a dwarven ranger with the shield combat style. Choosing the group hunters bond would fit the tank more. Dwarf stat bonuses work rather well with ranger too.

[Natural Magic]

Is he set on playing a Dwarf?

[Gilarius]

Give him a special feat called Dwarven armour training. It could work like toughness, with a plus 3 to AC and then plus one per level after third. Or be a simple plus to AC or scale slowly with level.

Make sure everyone knows it's experimental and subject to revision and not allowed to the other players.

Having fun is the point of the game, so a custom feat isn't unreasonable.

[Balgin]

I'd recommend Fighter with dodge, toughness & weapon focus (to offset not having a high strength). Later on he'll want to grab combat reflexes, stand still, step up, following step, step up and strike. Some of the various shield feats would probably help as well. Shield focus, saving shield etc. Flanking foil is a fun one for a tanky warrior build as well.

If he wants to go tanking he'll probably want to either make it harder for enemies to attack his fellow party members or to make it too much bother for them to attack anyone other than himself. So things like trips, disarms, stuff like that.

The Stalwart Defender prestige class is pretty good. It's kind of got a "defensive rage" built into it.

Alternatively if he doesn't want to play a fighter (or thinks it's too boring) then the dwarven stonelord paladin archetype's an interesting variant. It doesn't really use charisma for anything, has the stalwart defender's damage reduction and level based natural armour built into it as well as some other things.

[Balgin]

Nicos wrote:

Ronin3058 wrote:

What route can I suggest without creating a disappointing Charakter?

Do not neglet offensive and steel soul-glory of old are a must have. seriously.

Glory of Old and Steel Soul is a truly powerful combination :).

Ronin3058 wrote:

Oracle (Battle, with good stats)

The Ancestor oracle can actually make for a very dwarfy warrior oracle if you build it right. It's probably a tricky one to master 'though.

[Ronin3058]

The Ranger is an archer.
I think, an oread would be also ok. He loves dwarfs and oreads are similar.

I suggest him know to play some sort of battlefield control with stand still feat and so on (like balgin suggested) with some minor changes to the feat to make it more viable.

[Natural Magic]

An Oread fighter could work if your willing to swap out earth affinity for something else so it doesn't feel like a useless ability for him. The bonus to Strength will help. Put the 12s in wisdom and either charisma or intellgence depending on what skills he wants. Stand Still is a great idea, have him work towards Combat Patrol later on. A reach weapon would help him get the most out of this build, but a one-handed weapon and shield could work if he feels he needs the AC. He will be a little slow until he gets armor training though, Improved initiative might be worth it so he can get into position faster.

[Kurik Grandhelm]

Be like me, become the vindicator of your god, and never need fear death.

Stats are listed on his profile.