TL;DR: I want to make a character for an Abomination Vault campaign (thus, extended dungeon crawl) that balances tankiness and dungeoneering skill. My plan here is a Human dual-wielding Ranger, but I'm open to ideas.
I finally get to play in my first PF2E campaign! I'm the fourth player in an Abomination Vault campaign, and I have what I feel is a fun character idea. The party consists of an Alchemist, Witch, and Monk, so to try to add a balance of tankiness and skill versatility, I want to play a sword-and-shield Flurry Ranger, and we're using the free archetype rule.
Human (Versatile), 16/14/14/10/12/12
Level 1: Toughness, Natural Ambition (Twin Takedown), Monster Hunter
Level 2: Monster Hunter, Fighter Dedication, Assurance (Athletics)
Level 3: Armored Stealth
Level 4: Scout's Warning, Basic Maneuver (Reactive Shield), Unmistakable Lore
Level 5: Fleet
I'm only going up to level five because I don't want to get ahead of myself - there are already a ton of choices that I don't have the play experience to contextualize. Again, I want to be able to play a front-line role while still being able to work with the skill-based elements of the adventure, which Rangers seem well-suited for. So, without going into spoilers or anything, I'd appreciate any feedback on my build! Am I leaving too much on the table by not going with the animal companion? Would maybe going with the Half-Orc ancestry make me tougher, and just how useful is lowlight vision? Would the Rogue dedication be more helpful than the Fighter dedication? Heck, if you can convince me that a Fighter can be tankier than a Ranger without sacrificing utility, I'm flexible on that end as well. Thanks in advance for any advice!
[ur=https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=49]Bastion Dedication[/url] gets you Reactive Shield at level 2 and with only a single feat.
Animal companions are cool and can augment your tankiness by giving you another body on the field, but it doesn't play well with Flurry. TBH I'd take a second look at precision. Flurry wants to spend most of its time attacking and runs into trouble if enemies are dying fast. You can stick with Flurry if you want, but for a defensive character I really like the flexibility Precision gives you.
Low-light vision is good, but better for ranged characters and scouts. If you're a big frontliner you can just slap a sconce on your shield and run around like that and do pretty well.
Fighters are ridiculously good in PF2, but tanky rangers are fun so there's no real reason not to play one if that appeals to you.
I have opinions when it comes to rangers and tanking in PF2, so I may be biased. I think Flurry and human are wonderful edges and ancestries, but from what I'm seeing, you may like my proposal.
Ancestry: Hold-Scarred Orc (12 hp, Diehard, darkvision)
Edge: Outwit (+1 AC and free Recall Knowledge)
Starting Stats:
Str 18, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 10 (these are more up for grabs, like a 14 Con/10 Int/14 Wis is likely much better)
Grab a flail and shield while keeping Twin Takedown and turn into something of a monk-stlye tank. Hunt Target > Move in > Strike (either Trip or Twin Takedown).
At level 2, you can grab the Sentinel dedication for heavy armor and access to the tankier feats. Remaining mobile as you trip up enemies or stand your ground and Twin Takedown wounded foes. Level 4 gives you Disrupt Prey, which is practically a must if you want to protect your allies. Keep focusing on Athletics along with your RK skills to help out the party.
Orc ancestry feats are fantastic for taking hits with Orc Ferocity or Orc Superstition. As a tank, you end up having more versatility than, say, a fighter or champion but lack comparitively in damage or healing ability.
Looking at that party alchemist/witch/monk they need a second melee character so
a) flurry ranger or
b) precision ranger with a melee animal companion especially with free archetype.
OutWit is reasonable with Monster Hunter, and Monster Hunter is fine without it, but you already have 2 Intelligence based characters who will be doing recall knowledge so it can be trimmed. What this party needs is extra damage output.
Reach and an Disrupt Prey is nice for a bit of control. You are thinking about a fighter dedication - that is a much better Attack of Opportunity as it applies to everyone not just your prey. As aways champion for their reaction is good if you have Charisma which is unlikely.
You don't have to go for a shield but you can. The monk can make a fine tank all by himself, a ranger is a better striker.
I'll argue for Outwit with this party for Wisdom skills (and definitely lean more towards my 14 Wisdom propsal): Nature, Religion, Survival, Medicine, all a little lacking with witch and alchemist. A lot does change depending on how your monk wants to take things, of course. If they're grabbing Mountain Stance and snatching up the lion's share of the alch buffs, you may be better off going a bit more offensively focused with something like Precision or Flurry for sure.
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I like the Outwit ranger on a strength based build, but some the circumstance bonus from the edge won't stack with the shield, I'd just grab a two handed weapon myself. That will let you deal competitive damage without spending your feats on it, which let's you take more interesting options like Monster Hunter or the Snare feats. Or even just the less sought after combat feats like Skirmish Step.
As others have pointed out, Flurry is all about attack and as such your character won't be tanky. And Outwit bonus doesn't stack with a shield. Also, Shield Block is very interesting in terms of tankyness. As is heavy armor.
I'd personally go Precision, with a Full Plate either through Sentinel or Champion Dedication. Champion Dedication is very interesting as you can then grab Lay on Hands and Champion Reaction, for group tankiness. And it looks like your party lacks a character with high charisma.
While precision can be a good damage source in many campaigns, you are getting ready to play one that is little more like a scooby do episode on mean juice. There are likely to be a fair number of enemies that precision damage is not going to effect. You don’t want your party depending on your precision damage to be the way you all get things killed. Someone in the party probably wants to be pretty decent at recalling knowledge with religion as well. Flurry with a shield can be fine but you will want to pick up reactive shield as soon as possible. I also think out wit could be a lot of fun for you in this campaign but a reach weapon would be better in that build than a shield. As a mega dungeon exploration campaign, there will be a lot of corridor and small room battles, in all likelihood
While precision can be a good damage source in many campaigns, you are getting ready to play one that is little more like a scooby do episode on mean juice. There are likely to be a fair number of enemies that precision damage is not going to effect. You don’t want your party depending on your precision damage to be the way you all get things killed. Someone in the party probably wants to be pretty decent at recalling knowledge with religion as well. Flurry with a shield can be fine but you will want to pick up reactive shield as soon as possible. I also think out wit could be a lot of fun for you in this campaign but a reach weapon would be better in that build than a shield. As a mega dungeon exploration campaign, there will be a lot of corridor and small room battles, in all likelihood
That's a very good point. Precision damage will have issues. Flurry may have problems as well. While Twin Takedown does let you combine damage types for DR purposes, your follow up shots will still suffer from any damage reduction an incorporeal creature. A d12 Outwit build might be the way to go.
Why Ranger?
As you can see, many of these suggestions require picking up actual tanky abilities from other sources; abilities that other classes get by default.
Plus suggestions can then integrate your Ranger-themed goals.
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Separately,
For Flurry to be the best route you have to average 3+ attacks/round, which as others have noted might mess with your ability to tank.
Not only might you want (need) a shield, but you also need to position yourself.
Outwit, as noted above, allows you to set up a passive circumstance bonus, but note that's only for one bad guy at a time and IMO that won't suffice. But if you have other uses tied for Outwit, getting a two-handed (Reach/Trip) weapon & Disrupt Prey makes for a good offense.
(Note that the Monk's in a better position for maneuvers.)
As others have noted the group lacks Charisma so that could be blended in with Outwit for some good Demoralize actions (which as a good debuff helps everyone's defenses, something a tank wants to do). That's also single-target (for the most part) so it'll emphasize how single-target focused you are, but if companions can toss out AoEs, your flaw's covered. You'd still want Sentinel for that heavy armor. Every +1 matters when you're tanking (especially w/ such little healing).
That leaves Precision, which IMO is the best anyway. Sure precision damage doesn't always work, yet you'd be the only one relying on it and you have two sources of energy damage to cover that flaw.
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As for weapon style, tank implies shield, maybe only for the AC, but if you have it up, Shield Block for the emergencies too (though a Shield Cantrip is another direction to go here.)
I'd recommend a sword & board style (though w/ a hammer, maybe even light hammer) w/ Twin Takedown. You'll often have that available action to put up the shield (better than a third attack) so instead of Bastion I'd go w/ Sentinel for the heavy armor and leave the Reaction for Shield Block instead of just raising a shield.
That's only one class/Dedication feat and one general feat and it puts you among the top tanks. Yes, there is a tier of tanks above you, but those would best be achieved with another class and w/ Ranger you're getting skills and good offense.
And yes, keep that Wisdom up since it's your worst save and you're the party's detector.
Do not take Fighter MCD, and I wouldn't recommend an animal either due to the low amount of combat healing & (group) support in the party. IMO animals need synergy with the party's build and I don't see that here.
Thank you for all of the help, guys! My head's spinning with all of these different options, but I'd like to give my backstory-reasoning for wanting to go with a Ranger:
The initial idea is that he's the scion of a noble clan, but a violent dispute forced a family servant to flee with him while still a baby, and so the child was raised in a cave, without knowledge of his lineage. The problem is that the servant is insane and paranoid, giving my character a deeply warped view of the world. He's basically an amalgamation of two characters: Stalker from Dimension20's "Escape from the Bloodkeep Campaign" (who is himself a parody of Aragorn) and Carrot from the Discworld books. That is, my character is a socially-maladjusted killing machine who demonstrates random bursts of regal charisma.
I'm still trying to figure this out; I was planning on going into Charisma rather than Intelligence, so Champion dedication could be fun (but actually having to pick a god doesn't really gel with how I'm imagining this character at the moment). Kind of abandoning the tank role and going with a reach weapon and Outwit also seems like fun, but so does the Bastion dedication.