[RPG] Is a Barbarian 1/Warlock n effective as a tank

barbariandnd-5emulti-classingwarlock

Playing my first 5e game soon. We're using PHB material only for characters. Is it possible to have a character that is sort of the main tank/off tank with a character who will start as a barbarian and then only take warlock levels?

My half-orc's stats as rolled (after racial modifiers) are:
Str 16 (+3),
Dex 12 (+1),
Con 17 (+3),
Int 9 (-1),
Wis 9 (-1),
Cha 16 (+3).
(This was with 6×4d6, removing lowest d6 and then placing where we wanted.)

At level 1, he'd have only 14 AC unarmoured. Then at level 3 (2nd warlock level) he could get the mage armor invocation and essentially be at 18 AC… Is this enough? I feel like he's still gonna get hit a lot and with the tiny warlock hit dice he'll probably just die.

Now, at level 2 (1st warlock level) he could get the Armor of Agathys which is 5 temp hit points… is that a lot? I've only played Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 and Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale so that seems… ok? But at second level, one hit would be enough to get rid of it.

Then at level 3 (2nd warlock level) he could get false life to get infinite temp hit points (1d4 + 4) which is maybe enough to absorb 1 hit? But at this point he could have as few as 23 HP (or at most 31).

He could use a shield for 20 AC but his character is mainly about using a 2h greataxe so that's kind of out of the question. (At 3rd warlock level, he'd go pact of blade and get a summoned greataxe.)

Most Barbarian → Warlock multiclass guides are mainly about damage and from what I see, not many of the invocations or spells you get at low levels help avoid or mitigate damage. At least twice a day he can rage and get resistance to physical damage, but that's just 2 minutes between long rests.

I couldn't find any other combos to make this work. The other obvious one is Fighter for first level then the rest warlock to get heavy armor, but he may not have the cash to afford the really good heavy armor since even splint is 200 gp (so it's unlikely he'd be able to actually get it until much later) and then of course, mage armor doesn't work, so it's just a flat 18 AC anyway.

Am I missing anything or is this the best it can be with what I have?

Best Answer

Not effective as a tank

First, his AC in Mage Armor would be 14, as it is not added to Unarmored Defense, but replaces it. You will have to rely on rage to be tanky.

In rage

He would take half damage from some damage types, but could only do weapon attacks. Can't even concentrate on Hex, which is about the only reason why Warlock based warriors are competitive.

Outside of rage

He is just a somewhat less powerful Warlock

Only benefit

Con saves are arguably more important than Wis saves for casters, because of concentration. Str and Cha are about the same.

Better alternatives

Two levels of Paladin adds Heavy Armor, great spells, a fighting style and Divine Strike.

One level of Fighter adds Heavy Armor, Con save and a fighting style.

Armor cost

Do not worry about the cost of armor, soon you will have too much gold.