[RPG] available to mitigate the damage of physical blows

damage-reductiondnd-3.5e

I am working on creating a "Tank" character, of course the goal is to prevent the party to be hit, rather than getting hit, but obviously getting hit is likely and the character should survive hits as much as possible.

There are various ways to mitigate the damages/effects of spells (and even gaining immunity), however when it comes to physical damages (to HP) it seems more restricted:

  • Armor Class: if you do not get hit, you do not take damage
  • Damage Reduction: directly reduces the damage taken
  • Fortification: and in particular Heavy Fortification, or anything that prevents being a victim of a critical hit (Plant/Undead type, …)

However neither is a panacea:

  • Armor Class is swingy, if the GM is lucky, you might well take 2 or 3 hits in a row
  • Damage Reduction is hard to come by (especially DR/-) and therefore lags considerably behind damage output
  • Fortification is well and all, but even non-critical hits still take their toll

I only found one instance of another mechanism: in Ravenloft, the Ancient Dead template has a special quality (Damage Resistance?) which reduces the damage of physical blows by 50% before DR.

Are there other mechanisms than AC/DR to mitigate the damage of physical blows?

Note: of course playing an Ancient Dead is one option, however a Lawful Evil mummy does not necessarily fit in every campaign… therefore solutions as broadly accessible as possible would be preferred (types/subtypes/races/feats/magic items/spells are all acceptable).

Note: healing, such as Fast Healing, would potentially work, but is usually very limited in magnitude as well; furthermore healing does not scale as fast as damages, thus the goal is to reduce the damage taken.

Note: as mentioned, the goal of a Tank is to prevent the party from getting hit, meaning using an array of methods preventing the enemy from acting (Trip, Stun, denying actions, …); however, despite all precautions, being a front-line fighter involves getting hit as fleeing might unleash the enemies on more squishy targets. Thus, I am looking for options that allow a character to stand though.

Note: for the particular character I have in mind, I am probably going to lean heavily on Tome of Battle, and multi-classing is not an issue. As mentioned I would prefer solutions as broad as possible (for further reuse), however using specific maneuvers from the Nine Petal Blossom is also viable.

Best Answer

Use the spells delay death and beastland ferocity

The 4th-level Clr spell delay death [necro] (Spell Compendium 63) says

The subject of this powerful spell is unable to die from hit point damage. While under the protection of this spell, the normal limit of –9 hit points before a character dies is extended without limit. A condition or spell that destroys enough of the subject’s body so as to not allow raise dead to work, such as a disintegrate effect, still kills the creature, as does death brought about by ability score damage, level drain, or a death effect.

The spell does not prevent the subject from entering the dying state by dropping to –1 hit points. It merely prevents death as a result of hit point loss.

If the subject has fewer than –9 hit points when the spell’s duration expires, it dies instantly.

The spell targets 1 creature within close range as a standard action and has a duration of 1 round/level.

The 1st-level Drd spell beastland ferocity [ench] (Spell Compendium 25) says

The subject becomes such a tenacious combatant that it continues to fight without penalty even while disabled or dying. While between –1 and –9 hit points, the creature gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength. If the creature is reduced to –10 hit points, it dies normally.

The spell targets 1 touched creature as a standard action and has a duration of 1 minute/level.

Both are low enough level to fit in wands, and some prestige classes can even cram them into potions.

A legalistic DM may kill the creature affected by both spells when the creature hits –10 hit points anyway, as per the spell beastland ferocity, but the effects of the spell delay death should alter what would otherwise be dying normally for the affected creature. Nonetheless, before whipping out this strategy at the table, I strongly urge first clearing it with the DM.

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