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ThoughDungeons & Dragonsis a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) quite unlike roleplaying games online gamers may be more familiar with, there’s still a tendency to think of characters in terms of tanks, healers, and damage dealers. Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins, and Druids are all thought of as “tanking” classes thanks to their combination of high AC (Armor Class), higher hit point maximums, and handful of defensive abilities.
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While there’s really no such thing as a true tank in Dungeons & Dragons, due to the lack of taunt mechanics for which tanks are generally known, a D&D party does benefit quite highly from having at least one character who can take a lot of hits and keep on trucking. We’ll take a look at how to build such a character, as well as some of the best features and abilities you’re able to harness in order to build the ultimate D&D tank.
What Is A Tank In D&D?
In a nutshell, tanks are meant totake a lot of damage on behalf of the party.
As mentioned above, the lack of a dedicated taunt mechanic for any class makes the typical tank classification used in other games not exactly fit here. Usually, a tank needs a way to ensure that the enemy is targeting them and only them, but due to the emphasis on roleplaying in Dungeons & Dragons,there is simply no feasible way for an ability like this to exist (let alone be available to multiple classes).
Consequently, the definition of a tank in D&D is bit different. There is no surefire way you can force enemies to attack you, so you have to be a little more creative with your actions, positioning, and abilities to fulfill the tanking role. As a tank, it’s your duty toget up in melee combat with enemiesanddo whatever you can to convince them to attack you.
Yourhigher AC value and deeper hit point pool make it so that enemy attacks are less effectivethan if they had been made against your party members. Furthermore, as long as the enemies are attacking you,your party members don’t have to worry about things likemaintaining concentration on their spells or suffering from disadvantage on their ranged attacks.
At their best, a tank is both soaking up damage that would potentially kill their allies, and freeing up their party members to be as effective in combat as possible.
Ability Scores
It should come as no surprise thata tank’s most important ability score is Constitution. This ability score directly increases your hit point pool as you get to add your Constitution modifier to your hit point total each time you level up.This bonus also applies retroactively, so if your Constitution score increases from 14 to 16 at later levels, you gain an additional one hit point for every previous level you have.
While having a pool of deep hit points is important, it also commonly falls upon the tank tobring the most Strength to the table. Strength is overlooked by pretty much all ranged character builds, and many melee builds choose to focus on Dexterity instead. Additionally, spellcasters almost always choose Strength as their dump stat (their least useful), save for some very niche builds.
Although Strength is only responsible for modifying the single skill of Athletics, this is a very useful skill for a D&D party to have. As a result, your second-highest ability score should be Strength, andyou’re highly incentivized to take proficiency in Athletics.
Athletics is responsible for climbing checks, breaking down doors, carrying heavy objects, breaking free of restraining effects, and more.
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Feats
Some of the most powerful tanking optionscome fromwhat feats you decide to takeover the course of your character’s career. Fighter tanks in particular can see a huge amount of customization from their feat choices as they have more ASIs (Ability Score Improvements) during their level progression than all other classes.
Below is a table featuring all the tanking feats you should consider split into three categories. These categories includedefensive feats, pseudo-taunt feats, and half-feats. Pseudo-taunts in particular are feats that make your job of incentivizing enemies to attack you over your allies easier. Meanwhile,half-feats provide you a +1 bonus to an ability score on top of other benefits.
Defensive feats
Pseudo-taunt feats
Heavy Armor Master
Resilient
Each of these feats is useful in its own way, however, it’s worth mentioning thatthe combination of Polearm Master and Sentinel in particular is incredibly effective at both increasing your damage and forcing opponents to attack you. Additionally, the best single feat a tank can take isSentinelas this feat makes it so that enemies have a very hard time getting away from you once you come into melee range.
There are a handful of feats useful for tanks not mentioned on this table due to species requirements. These include Dragon Fear, Dwarven Fortitude, Infernal Constitution, and more.
Class Abilities
Every tanking class brings its own unique abilities which make it viable for tanking. The Fighter hasSecond Windfor added durability,Action Surgefor a potential pseudo-taunt, andInterception and Protection Fighting Stylesfor shielding their allies from harm.Lots of ability score improvements (ASIs) for added feats is also incredible,as stated above.
Battlemaster Fighters also have access to useful maneuvers that can hinder their foes and help their allies escape harm.
The Druid brings multiple Wild Shapes for a huge pool of added hit points that actually gives this class more hit points than any other, fairly unique spellcasting including spells such asEntangle, Thorn Whip, and Barkskin, and healing in the form ofGoodberry, Cure Wounds, and Healing Word.
Circle of the Moon Druids have so many hit points that it’s difficult for most enemies to even threaten their lives. However, Druids can often be easily ignored by intelligent enemies due to their lack of pseudo-taunts.
ThePaladin is the go-to tankif you want to shore up your party against enemy spellcasters and spell-like abilities. This is thanks to their sixth level featureAura of Protectionwhich provides a bonus to saving throws equal to their Charisma modifier to all party members within 10 ft. of you. The Paladin’s ability to nova (deal a ton of damage in a single turn) thanks todivine smitealso makes for a great pseudo-taunt, and Lay on Hands can be a clutch source of healing.
Lastly, the Barbarian is your bread and butter tankcapable of soaking up tons of damage due to Ragereducing all piercing, bludgeoning, and slashing damage they receive by half.Reckless Attackis a powerful pseudo-taunt ability as attacking at advantage is an opportunity most enemies won’t pass up, andDanger Sensemakes for a surprising amount of added resilience.
If you take the Totem Warrior subclass and choose the Bear totem perk, you gain resistance to all damage types except for psychic. Without a doubt, this is the best Barbarian tank feature in the game.
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Pseudo-Taunts
This term has been mentioned a lot already, so it’s important to define exactly what it means.A “pseudo-taunt” is an ability or effect that incentivizes enemies to attack you over other characters. These include abilities that deal a ton of damage, restrict enemy movement, or otherwise give opponents a roleplaying or mechanical reason to attack you over your party members.
Grappling an opponent is one of the best ways to restrict enemy movement, and is also something any character can do.
There are a nearly unknowable number of pseudo-taunts available, and a lot of it still depends on your DM’s decisions, so we’ll just briefly mention some of the best ones available. These include feats likeSentinel and Polearm Master, Battlemaster maneuvers such asGoading Attack and Bait and Switch, and warding spells similar toSanctuary (cast on an ally), Shield of Faith (cast on an ally), and Compelled Duel.
It’s important to remember that D&D is a roleplaying game. Consequently, sometimes the best pseudo-taunt available is simply talking smack to your opponent. Generous dungeon masters may even allow you to make a Charisma check entirely for free to see if your taunt works!
Knowing Your Enemy
Speaking once again to the roleplaying nature of Dungeons & Dragons,the best tanks know what to say or do to their enemy to incur their wrath. For example,a maniacal and power-hungry wizardwho believes they are the best spellcaster in the world probably wouldn’t take kindly to someone comparing their spellcasting to mere card tricks.
Alternatively, a self-righteous warlord who thinks they’re making the world a better place by ridding it of nomadic civilizations is really going to dislike anyone who calls their worldview into question and accuses them of being no better than a murderer.
Knowing your enemy means youknow how to incentivize them to attack you over your party members, and this is thenumber one responsibility of a tank. When all else fails, don’t forget you’ve always got the ace up your sleeve of simply pissing the opponent off so badly that they want nothing more than to see your character dead.
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