Fighter subclass & feat choices

[saucerhead]

Hello all,
My group has recently started a new campaign set in Drakkenheim. The 2nd level party consists of:
Elven Artificer, Vhuman monk, Chuman wild/genie Sorlock, Tabaxi paladin, and my Vhuman fighter.
We rolled stats and I ended up taking +1 str & skill expert feat: athletics, unarmed fighting style,
ST17, DX14, CN16, IN12, WS13, CH9 and a campaign specific background as a devout missionary. (Nature and Religion skills)

We have been in a few fights with goblins and kobolds and progressed from 1st level to 2nd. I am the tank and had planned on choosing the Rune Knight subclass at 3rd level and was leaning towards tavern brawler feat at 4th. I currently fight with chainmail, sword and shield, but have been dropped to zero in every fight so far. The artificer has been kinda forced into a healer role with the paladin helping out. The setting of Drakkenheim is interesting, but tough and the DM also established in session zero that long rests do not restore hit points. At this point we do not have any NPCs in the party, but we have been asking around about a cleric. The cost of basic items and crafting materials are quadruple the book price, since we are living in a boom town, also making healing potions all but out of reach. LOL

I briefly considered taking a level of cleric instead of 2nd level fighter, but as the tank decided to stay single classed for now. I have also read other threads and learned more about the aberrant dragonmark feat and magic initiate feat which are both interesting options. Anyways, it has me second guessing my initial plans and I am looking for a little advice on sub-class and Feats. Any suggestions? We are not limited from any books as far as I know.

(The monk is probably going to be Kensai as he has Sharpshooter. The paladin is probably going to be Oath of Vengence. Not sure what the Artificer has planned. The sorlock and I have talked about using spike growth with grappling in the future, but that is a couple levels away.)

[J-H]

How frequent are your short rests? Purple Dragon Knight is often maligned, but does get the ability to do a mass healing word 1/SR with Rallying Cry. It's not huge but by 10th level you'll heal yourself 1d10+10 and 3 allies for 10 as well. That's about the only healer option. Inspiring Leader prevents damage with THP, but you don't have the charisma to truly benefit from it. You don't have a Rogue to really benefit from the 10th level feature, though. Rune Knight is a fine and versatile choice.

Going to 0 a lot means you're getting hit, so you want to keep your shield. You can do sword & board, then drop your sword if you want to grapple someone, and pick the sword up afterwards... carry a spare sword maybe? Alternatively, with Spike Growth, you don't need a hand free to Shove.

Why did you take the Unarmed fighting style? It doesn't seem very beneficial. Dueling gives you more damage, or you might want the blindsight one if you expect invisible enemies or difficult environments, especially on a Human with no Darkvision.
Interception (reduce damage to an ally) is also good for helping keep others alive.

Have you considered switching to warhammers and getting the Crusher feat? It would even out your strength to 18 (letting you take it to 20 at 6th level), and gives you a 5' push into Spike Growth on hit without any action cost. Alternatively, Heavy Armor Master gives you 3 DR against weapon damage and +1 str.

[saucerhead]

How frequent are your short rests? Purple Dragon Knight is often maligned, but does get the ability to do a mass healing word 1/SR with Rallying Cry. It's not huge but by 10th level you'll heal yourself 1d10+10 and 3 allies for 10 as well. That's about the only healer option. Inspiring Leader prevents damage with THP, but you don't have the charisma to truly benefit from it. You don't have a Rogue to really benefit from the 10th level feature, though. Rune Knight is a fine and versatile choice.

-We usually take 2 short rests per day, 3 rarely. I will have to take a look at Purple Dragon Knight, as I haven't read it in a long, long time. I also don't know if Drakkenheim has a campaign specific fighter sub-class at this point. I had not planned on multiclassing unless we get past 12th level, but I don't recall if the DM said how far he expects this campaign to go.

Going to 0 a lot means you're getting hit, so you want to keep your shield. You can do sword & board, then drop your sword if you want to grapple someone, and pick the sword up afterwards... carry a spare sword maybe? Alternatively, with Spike Growth, you don't need a hand free to Shove.

Why did you take the Unarmed fighting style? It doesn't seem very beneficial. Dueling gives you more damage, or you might want the blindsight one if you expect invisible enemies or difficult environments, especially on a Human with no Darkvision.
Interception (reduce damage to an ally) is also good for helping keep others alive.

-I took the unarmed fighting style because it worked with free grappling damage at the start of my turn and I also haven't played a grappler before and it seemed appropriate. I thought if it wasn't working I would change it out at 4th level. The paladin took blindsight, and you are right, interception is good, so that might be a better way to go.

Have you considered switching to warhammers and getting the Crusher feat? It would even out your strength to 18 (letting you take it to 20 at 6th level), and gives you a 5' push into Spike Growth on hit without any action cost. Alternatively, Heavy Armor Master gives you 3 DR against weapon damage and +1 str.

-Crusher feat is on my radar, along with most of the half feats, but after getting worked by 5 kobolds with pack tactics for multiple rounds HAM is looking really good. LOL Thanks for the response.