If you could make one super-tank, how would you do it?

Try to keep the character completely legal according to the Baldur's Gate II rules.

Personally, my vote goes for the multiclassed Cleric/Ranger. DUHM and Stoneskin are great while dual-weilding the Flail of Ages and the Defender of Easthaven.

Klorox i totally agree. Cleric/Ranger has been the most sucessful for me. I do also use DUMH, and i think all my lvl 2 spell slots are usually packed with this spell. And I belive you mean Ironskin, not stone skin btw ;)

Dual weilding is a good option, and I like the flail of Ages and the crom feyr (sp)? The reason for this is they get a large boost to strength, which will give them a lower thac0. Granted a tanks job is usually to soak damage, and the defender of easthaven fits this role well, but for damage, crom gets my vote. UNTIL! you reach a lvl when your strength bonus from DUHM is 25, then crom becomes obselte, and your better to use the defender of easthaven.

Just to get one thing clear... are you asking for the best DEFENSIVE tank, or something else? Dualwielding is not the best option for defensive tanks.

an off-hand strategy based on DoE that reduces physical damage is wasted on a character who's ironskins prevent any damage - much better to have a shield, reduce hits, and extend the life of your ironskins

I just finished SOA with a C/R in a party of six.

Wow, what a great time I had. I did not do Watcher's Keep, but everything else was much more manageable than my previous run-throughs. All of the buffs, boots of speed, insect plague, turn undead, etc. made many of my previously tough battles near walks in the park. I dual wielded DoE, Skullcrusher, MoD, or Crom (main hand) and FoA (off hand) for most of the game. Occasionally, I threw up a shield (Saving Grace, I think) but that was rare. This character has all but eliminated my need for cheese items and tactics. No shiny cloaks needed!! [img]smile.gif[/img] I was even able to finish off a boat load of Beholders without a certain shield...for the first time!!

In case you are wondering, I had Minsc (Silver Sword and Elven Court bow), Keldorn (various two handed swords then Carsomyr...possible cheese), Haer'Dalis (dual wielding long swords, short swords, scimitar: Belm, the Drinker, Cutthroat, Daystar...darts of wounding for those pesky mind flayers; and, of course, bard song), Imoen (Gesen Bow, Tuigan Bow), and Aerie (Sling of Everard).

If I ever decide to try a solo run, this will be the character. Until now, a Kensai->thief I played on my last run through was the most versitile and powerful character I had played. I also had a high-level monk a while back that became very powerful, but this C/R has them both beat for all around power (in my opinion, of course. I am more of a melee kinda guy as opposed to an offensive magic user for my main character.)

I'm off to start TOB this weekend with this party...woohoo!

Oooops, yeah thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I dunno. Whatever you'd like to place in your tank position. Let's assume a combination of both.

This is an excellent point, something I hadn't thought about. Perhaps that shield that prevents all of the mind attacks is a better choice.

Of course, if you're a C/R, you have access to Chaotic Commands, meaning that a lot of the time, even the Shield of Harmony is superfluous. Shield of Balduran (though cheesy) and Darksteel (for the resistances) would both be more useful, I think.

If you have the patience, and have a party size no more than four members, do consider the Wizard Slayer->Thief dualclass( 25->27).

Once you get the UAI ability, it is very easy to tweak the WS->T to become immuned to various types of damage and magic.

AC and Stone/Ironskins are nice and all, but nothing beats undispellable immunities( and healing from physical damage is always amusing). [img]smile.gif[/img] Of course... this tank only starts to shine and dominate in ToB, since you need to level him up first and get some of the quest rewards.

For an end-game ultimate tank, the WS->T definitely gets my vote. Even if you restrict him to only default game mechanics. ;) If you allow WeiDU mods... the WS->T will simply blow the competition away.

For a tank that is tankful from start to finish however, then it will be the C/R multiclass.

just a small question, how much magic resistance does the ws gain on each lvl up?