For feats, resilient: Constitution is a fine feat to take if we don’t want to use defensive duelist and be confined to using Phalar Aluve as its finesse weapon. resilient Con will give +1 to our health, one less than the tough feat, but we will gain the most from the proficiency bonus to concentration saves and other damaging constitution save effects that will likely target our health pool in some way. Resilient constitution is also good for protecting concentration on shield of faith for a day long +2 bonus to our AC if we can hold it. This may be a more optimal way of building an AC tank but its also more boring while also being more complicated to set up at the same time as compared to defensive dualist. This is the way have left it set up as its more intuitive to transition to the defensive dualist stat distribution should we want to. Much can be said about why you might want defensive dualist but for brevity we will assume you are taking resilient con.
The smite spells that require concentration as well as a bonus action are purposefully left out of preparation as a reminder that these spells will break our day long shield of faith if they were to be used (because they take up our concentration for a brief moment). Our spell slots are usually much better spent on divine smite and occasionally on thunderous smite. Nothing is lost by not preparing them and this just assure you aren’t accidently wasting resources by not allowing the possibility in the first place by excluding those preparations.
Items:
Adamantine splint will be the best thing you get for a while. Next most worthwhile upgrade will be in act III with the armor of persistence. The Armor of devotion will be worth going after late in act II but will not be a stat upgrade compared to the adamantine splint which prevents critical hits. completely eliminating crits is far more valuable than even a +3 to AC might be. Beyond 30 AC is absured levels of overkill and we will be well beyond that with our buffs and equipment active. No matter how high your AC, a natural 20 always hits, which is why negating critical hits is so powerful for this build because we get to ignore that rule entirely. The armor of devotion is only nice for picking up because it will allow us to restore a use of our channel divinity out of combat and then we can put our other more powerful adamantine armor on.
The Helm of Bulduran later in the game will negate our need to where the adamantine in late act III allowing us to wear higher AC gear. It will be difficult to let go of the arcane synergy stacks from the diadem of arcane synergy but the helm of Bulduran is one of the only helmets that boosts AC. We can give the diadem to the swords bard (Larry) later on anyway.
For amulets, amulet of misty step is a very safe option for any build. The brood mothers’ revenge acquired in act I will allow us to activate the arcane diadem without using a smite however it may not be simple to get depending on story events. Booming blade will also activate the diadem so be sure to use the cantrip with your hasted actions should you have any from speed potions or a generous ally.
For gloves, the gloves of belligerent skies are likely more powerful in the early game for reducing the hits we take, however the wonderous gloves give a straight up +1 AC boost and will be extremely powerful later when we get bard levels. The gloves of heroism can also be very nice for the fear resistance of heroism especially since it doesn’t take your concentration.
