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So, while snooping around the ost, I noticed that halflings can Probobly manage to non-magically protect parties.
Traits-
Cautious warrior
6 fighter levels, and the feats-
1) blundering defense, cautious fighter
2) improved unarmed strike
3) dodge
4) crane style
5) toughness
6) draconic defender
So, by level six, when you fight defensively, you gain a +7 dodge bouns to ac, take a -2 to hit, supply a +3 luck bouns to ac to all adacent allies, and a +7 natural armor to one more ally.
But, taking this a step further...
Take a 1 level dip into master of many styles to get improved unarmed and crane style, and replace those with mobility and weapon finesse- this allows us to get into a rarely used prestige class- duelist, all but forgotten when swashbuckler became a thing.
Traits-
Cautious warrior, helpful (halfling)
6 fighter levels, 1 monk level, and the feats-
1 [fighter]) weapon finesse, cautious fighter
2 [moms]) improved unarmed, crane style
3) blundering defense
4) dodge
5) crane style
6) toughness
7) draconic defender
Then, dulist starts up-
Level 9- fencing grace
Level 10- parry- you can now full attack with no adjacent enemies to use those attack to protect your adjacent allies, while still fighting defensively.
Level 11- bodyguard- allows you to give another +4 to the ac of an adjacent ally with an AOO. Comabt expertise is effectively gained at this level, gaining it's benifits so long as you weild a light or one handed pericing weapon. If your DM says you still have to take the feat, take it at level 9 instead of fencing grace.
Level 13- crane wing- just nice to have. Can replace with fencing grace if you had to take comabt expertise at level 9.
Elaborate defense comes online, giving you another +2 while fighting defensively, and +2 more to the natural armor bouns your provide, +1 to the luck bouns.
Level 15- lucky halfling.
Level 16- another +1 to fighting defensively, +1 to the luck bouns you grant, and +1 to the natural armor bouns, for a total of +5 luck to all adjacent allies and +10 to natural armor of one, with the ability to take AOO's to give another +4.
Level 17- uncanny defense supplies a +5 to ref saves and CMD. Crippling critical is great, make sure you pick up a keen rapier.
Alright, so. Any ideas how to make it better?
Benevolent armor, add your armor's enhancement bonus to your aid another to ally's ac.
what are you going to do other than turtle and help other players improve their ac?
Mostly just turtle and protect allies.
I do these more as theory craft in an odd direction.
Finding odd ways to make things.
I've looked into doing a similar build a few times; I'm currently working on designing a martial support character for PFS. Some possible ideas, although Covering Defense doesn't work with Draconic Defender.
--Enlarge Person (or having small companions) + Covering Defense with a Tower Shield lets you give between +5 and +13 to an Ally's AC when you total defense (depending on shield enhancement bonus and feats).
--3 Levels of Investigator provides an Investigator Talent lets you Aid Another as a Move action or Swift with Inspriation use. If you can work that in, you can Total Defense and provide another 4-9 AC with Benevolent Armor.
--A Ring of Tactical Precision can allow you to both increase the Aid Another bonus you give on Bodyguard/Aid Another and share Harrying Partners with an Ally so your Aid Anothers persist through iteratives.
--At much higher levels, if you can afford Rings of Tactical Percision for every Teammate (and they're willing to wear them), you can potentially grant them all Covering Fire and Harrying Partners (if you wear them too, all Aids on the team are boosted by an additional +4, which makes out of combat skill checks where Aid works also quite effective). This lets you Aid the whole Team's AC with a thrown weapon, which can get up to +13 with Helpful Halfling+Benevolent Armor+Rings (or more with class features). With the Investigator, can do this as a Swift action, so you can still move, Total Defense for all the bonuses, and give the team +13 AC vs. 1 target. If you do not need to move, can hand out +8 to hit to a teammate instead. This works with fewer rings if you can get people to take Harrying Partners.
An Investigator 3/Fighter X with a +5 Tower Shield, +5 Benevolent Armor and the whole team with double Rings of Tactical Precision could combine all of this to Total Defense + Double Aid Another to provide a +10 Cover Bonus to AC to one character, +4 Luck bonus to AC to adjacent allies, and two instances of either giving the team +13 AC vs a target or giving an ally +8 to all attack rolls.
I've done a build like this with a halfling swashbuckler. Only managed to get to level 7 before we wrapped up the campaign, but if we ever do a sequel I'll be looking forward to that dizzying defense/crane winged draconic defender. And as a straight swashbuckler your offense is pretty respectable while being a tanky beast.
EDIT: And of course osyluth's guile since you are charisma based and for extra AC goodness. Although, I doubt it adds with the draconic defender portion.
Thanks for the input!
I'll look into these options a bit more when I've got some free time.
the main issue, is how to do a decent amount of damage WHILE being a tank.
otherwise ,you will be ignored - and left for the end.
Being ignored is fine.
You're buffing your allies.
A +10 to ac Basucally means that any ally ajacent to you that already had a passable ac just got a 50% higher chance to comepletly avoid an attack, unless the foe had a to hit thst was greater then or equal to thier ac, or if you push it up to the point where only natural 20's hit.
You don't need to be dishing out damage, you have allies for that- allies thst you're making much, much more tanky by existing.