Possible to play a S&B tank for EE, LE, R1 without a dozen past lives?

[sephiroth1084]

I used to play DDO vigorously, and had an elite-capable raid tank, back when the cap was 20. A lot has changed since then, including my getting real work so that I don't have time to grind out tons of stuff on DDO.

My paladin has 2 paly and 1 fighter PLs, and that's it so far. I'm almost back to 30, and was thinking I might work on a few epic PLs, but I'm definitely not doing 9x in a particular sphere, let alone 36 to cover everything, definitely not doing multiple racial PLs either. I had been leveling with 41 AP in Vanguard, about 27 in Sacred Defender, and the rest in KotC, but recently swapped the 41 into SD, with Vanguard secondary, losing the shield charge trip, 10% attack speed, some shield crit profile, and some low % auto-stunning, but picking up about 30 points of AC, PRR, and MRR, as well as about 100 HP, and self-cast Quickened Resurrection. Using S&B w/ Bastard Sword. Currently running in Divine Crusader w/ Endless Lay On Hands, Legendary Shield Mastery, and Legendary Tactics twisted. Have Dire Charge.

So, my questions are:

• Can I get HP, PRR, AC high enough to be a capable tank for Epic and Legendary Elite, and endgame R1 without a dozen past lives?
• If I were going to do 3 epic PLs, which would you recommend (and in what order)? I realize that Divine offers PRR (and positive spell power), Martial has AC and Doublestrike (leaning this direction, although I don't really want to level 20-30 in LD 3 times), and Primal has HP.
• If I were going to do 1-3 more non-epic reincarnations, which would you recommend? Can you double-up on class and Iconic PLs? I would consider doing a couple Fighter/PDK lives for +2 to tactics, the Rally action boost and +6 PRR, but is there a better set of lives to do? Racial AP is attractive, but I'm not doing 12 million XP for +1 to a stat and +1 racial AP.
• Bearing in mind the lack of racial AP (just 1 from the tome that comes with Ravenloft), which race would you recommend ending up as? I'm thinking human is best for the racial damage boost.
• Is it worth running in DC most of the time, then swapping to US for tougher tanking assignments? Seems like I'd want the DPS benefits of DC for most questing, and US has basically 0 DPS benefits.
• Are there other twists I should grab? Sense Weakness was a consideration, but I would need to do a lot more destiny leveling, and I have 0 desire to spend 2 million XP worth of questing in Shiradi, Avatar, or any of the Arcane destinies.
• How much Dodge is achievable/desirable in full plate?
• Does every Master's Touch tower shields, or are there heavy shields that are good enough to run with? My concern is in how much re-buffing is required after a death to be up and running again, and I don't like having the penalties for using a tower until I can get off a scroll. Not to mention that Dispel Magic is a thing.

I know that's a lot of questions, but my paladin had been my favorite/main character for years, and it has felt kind of lackluster in EE+ content, which is supremely disappointing. All of my characters did, to be honest, but I've gotten my wizard's DCs to effective levels, and my monk is getting squished a lot less (thanks Aasimar!), and is just a CCing machine. My rogue is still in progress, and my archer is on the back burner until I get other things sorted out. My barbarian is languishing at level 12 right now, because I don't relish how hard it will be to keep him alive in epics with basically 0 reliable self-healing available as a dwarven barbarian.

Thanks for any help!

[Emerge2012]

3 martial ETR's will get you the 9% double strike and 15ac at level 30. When you iconic TR you do get both a iconic past life and the heroic past life from your main class, so think like 3 PDK paladin lives for 9prr, the handy 20% move speed clicky, and 30% heal amp.

Past lives obviously help and epic lives are the most important for tanking. But you don't actually need them if you have top end gear and know how to play.

Dodge is a tough choice. Heavy armor can get you a nice set in Ravenloft but with medium armor you can squeeze out a few more dodge. Not sure what the exact numbers would be but something along the lines of around 10% for heavy and 18% for medium.

Don't forget that US has a little more melee power than DC does and also has 7% double strike when using a shield. Kind of a wash though as you'd ideally be in one destiny and twisting things from the other anyways.

Personally I'd build as a vanguard primary initially and see how that pans out. Focus DPS at first and if you're too squishy at level cap then consider getting some past lives. But be careful, past lives are addictive. 15ac and 9% double strike quickly becomes 45ac, 9% double strike, 36prr, +3 to saves, +135hp, +3 weapon bonus, +9% elemental absorption, and a free shiradi proc every 10 seconds.

[RTN]

It can really vary by quest, but R1 tanking should be easily done with something like what you're buildling. In some ways, after you get some reaper points, R1 becomes easier than elite, especially if other group members can occasionally heal you. However, you likely won't be able to main tank any of the endgame raids with what you're discussing, maybe not even the harder normal quests.

Given that you don't intend to etr much or fill out your destinies, look at low level twists. That will make them easier to earn. Cocoon for some healing, for example. There's a low tier sorc one that gives you extra intim and some PRR (iirc). I'd also recommend opening up LD, if you haven't already, and giving that a shot, especially when you want more dps for a quest.

For race, I'd go human for the extra feat. Pally is a feat starved class.

[Enoach]

It is possible to play a tank in upper difficulty content without lots of past lives.

The past lives do add to your abilities.

Two things are big assets to playing as a tank

1. Knowledge - Knowing what defenses you need, where to stand and how to get/hold aggro
2. Gear - The right type of gear to improve your defenses, hate generation, survivability and DPS as it effects your ability to generate hate

Past Lives to benefit the above because it gives you time to acquire the gear, knowledge and practice for what is needed to be successful.

[sephiroth1084]

Thanks for the replies, folks.

Got to 30, swapped some AP from Vanguard to Sacred Defender, capped out SC (which was fun), and swapped to US, and was happy to see my HP jump over 2000, along with over 200 AC and PRR, and over 100 MRR. I was able to solo the first few Ravenloft quests on Elite, which was surprising, particularly for Death House (been in a couple groups that got shredded in the end fight), but it worked out okay.

That's all to say that I'm feeling a bit better about how things stand. Kind of sad to lose the Shield Charge knockdown, but having less emphasis on maintaining a high trip in addition to stuns isn't necessarily a bad thing, though there are some things knockdown worked against that Dire Charge doesn't.