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So my group is playing Rappan Athuk and we're in dire need of some front line beef.
We currently have:
A tanky Magus
Cleric
Rogue or Alchemist
We rolled our abilities and I ended up with the absurdly high (can be arranged in any order): 15 15 16 17 17 18
My first character is probably going to be a Drunken Master Monk, but I'm looking for ideas on other front liners. With these stats I feel like I can make almost any build work
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Paladins can be very good tanks, especially dwarven Stonelords. You could even go into stalwart defender, if you want to be a true tank. High AC, many hitpoints, crit-protection, self-healing...
[edit] you can even stance-cycle with the fatigued mercy. go out of stance, move, heal, go in again, attack.
I actually really like that idea. I think I'm going to make all of my characters dwarves from the same clan vying to be the first one to clear out Rappan Athuk.
Well if you're going to play Rappan Athuk, it doesn't hurt to roll stats like that.
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I don't know what your feeling on 3pp material is (obviously you can't be too against it if you're running a 3pp dungeon), but the Warder class from Dreamscarred Press is a fantastic tank, with abilities that actually help him to shield allies and encourage enemies to target him.
I talked a bit about interesting ways to make a Sensei tank here.
What are some other cool tank builds....
The Phalanx Soldier has some fun abilities to really crank up his AC and wield a reach weapon one-handed, so he can be fairly interesting.
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Our GM isn't allowing any 3PP or splat books.I don't know what your feeling on 3pp material is (obviously you can't be too against it if you're running a 3pp dungeon)...
Phalanx Soldier and Sensei are still good options then, and both are part of the core product line and availble on Paizo's PRD. One of my biggest qualifiers for a class to really be "tank", is that it has to be able to actually mitigate damage to its party members. Having really high AC and good hit points alone doesn't (in my opinion) cut it, because those just help you.
The Sensei tank I linked in can combine high AC and saves with the ability to target Will or Fort with shut down attacks. It can also buff the party, which is a plus, especially considering your current party make up. Mix in Qinggong as necessary and you can have a pretty good thing going on, and dwarves make a solid monk race.
The Phalanx Soldier is a little more traditional. You have great AC, you can use your reach to keep enemies from reaching your allies, and you eventually gain the ability to provide mobile cover and evasion and/or improved evasion to allies. The biggest downside there is that the build pretty much begs for high Dex so you can make AoO's with Combat Reflexes and take advantage of the Evasion it offers, so you end up running around in light armor and carrying a tower shield... Which is weird, but not necessarily terrible. Mithral Agile Breastplate would probably be ideal since you're stuck with those crappy Tower Shield penalties, but if you're running Rappan Athuk you might not have a lot of say in what gear you end up with.
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Dwarves can already do that with the dorn duergar, they don't need an archetype
The Phalanx Soldier has some fun abilities to really crank up his AC and wield a reach weapon one-handed, so he can be fairly interesting.
What book is that in again? He did say the GM specifically said no splat books, so I think that's off the table.
Either way, the Phalanx Soldier gives him a greater breadth of options and weapons, especially if they have limited ability to acquire custom gear.
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I will be Honest with those stats a Paladin with just a big 2 handed weapon will be all the "Tank" you need....
I hate the word tank in Pathfinder but if you must use it then think about what a Tank is. If you can get away from the term and set of mind thinking when playing pathfinder.
It is a heavy armored Mobil CANNON. What makes a real tank scary is the destruction it brings with the armor on wheels.
If you like Dwarves you can pull off a paladin with one...Not optimal stat array but hell it can be done with such high rolls.
Id align it like
Str: 18, Dex:16 , Con: 17, Int: 15 wis: 15 Cha: 17
Just bring the smited Power attack damage.
You could also do well with a shield and a 1 handed weapon. I like Long Swords and Scimitars.