Combat Build Help

Specifically, something like a Tank. I'm building a new character, and as a "bodyguard", his ideal role would be keeping other party members safe.

Preferably, I'd like a primary combo that forces one or more enemies to come at me, then either hit them back or reduce the damage, and then from there build the rest of my talents around pips and one or two actual attacks (or status effects).

Does anyone have any really good ideas for a build like this, that they'd be willing to share?

We sort of have a "Character Creation Advice" Thread for this sort of thing, but it's fine.

Someting to get you a lot of pips, then Defender and Slashback is one thing I'd do. And some resist to keep yourself alive to defend.

The simple answer is anything in the Paladin class, really. Defender, Guarded Stance, Guardian Angel, Invigorating Strike, Martyr's Blessing, Never Stay Down. All good choices, although you'll need to throw in some pip-gaining options...

A more complex suggestion is for a Level 6 character. By taking Master Defence and Lightning Reflexes, Defender only costs one pip, and there's a 50% chance that any talents that hit you have no effect, making it an incredibly good combo...

I'll look into it more if I get the time...

Right now I'm working on a combo that involves Defender, Guardian Shield and Slashback if someone gets attacked, or Guardian Shield, Slashback, and Where it hurts after Draw blood if I get attacked. Thing is, both of those leave me drained, and I certainly can't stop everything. Conversely, I can use resistance builders to minimize impact to me, but that still leaves me accomplishing very little per pips spent.

There are some good traits for a tank build, such as Who's the Tank? for a second set of armor. Having armor that gives you both Regen and Resist would help a lot. Or one of the spiked armors to deal more damage to attackers. Spending your starting bits on good armor would probably be the most useful.

The traits under Defender would probably also be worth looking at, since they allow you to draw attacks to you, or deal damage to enemies if they don't attack you, or provide allies with Resist or Temporary HP.

Rapid Recovery might be worth looking into for the free PiPs if you don't plan to be saving up above 3 super often.

And yeah, you can't stop everything, so just focus on the most damaging attacks, and coordinate with people if they have interrupts of their own that they can use. You might not be able to stop every hit, but if you're there to stop that one hit that would knock someone unconscious it could be pretty cool. Which reminds me, Perfect Defense is another possible trait to take.

If you need PiPs, one possibility is Form of the Serene Armadillo, which is +3 and gives you 1d4 Temporary HP.

This is a level one character, though, so I can't really worry about traits. It does complicate things a bit, if I consider what traits to get ahead of time, and then try to center my talents around those, instead of maximizing first and then building off of.

I think if I narrow my focus, i should able to expand later. So how about a good combination of soaking up enemy attacks, to start? Temp HP, Resistance or healing, combined with keeping teammates from getting hit.

Those traits that give a chance for moves to not effect you if you're targeted.

And to soak up damage: Start with Resist.