- Wanderers from a far-off land,
precocious minstrels
and thieves, the Tabaxi
are the quintessential cat
folk of the DnD Multiverse
that we got introduced to
in Volos Guide to Monsters.
Tabaxi range from lionesque noble felines
all the way down to mangy alley cats
and everything in between.
- They can make for some
wonderfully flavorful
and fun characters.
So let's go over
everything you need to know
in this video about the Tabaxi.
Tabaxi Culture.
Wherever your adventure takes place,
the Tabaxi always come from
somewhere that's far away.
They're meant to be nomadic,
visiting the here and now
out of curiosity and wanderlust.
Tabaxi life in their distant
homeland is tribalistic
and simple, where their content
to honor their patron deity,
the Cat Lord.
Tabaxi put a lot of emphasis on stories.
They appreciate gold and trinkets
as much as the next race, of course,
but what they're really
after is a good tale.
The story of the Daring Dungeon Delving
is far more important to
them than the actual treasure
that's on the dungeon's end.
This is where a lot of chaotic nature
comes into their character
as they'll likely be up
for just about anything if they think
it'll make for a compelling adventure.
Tabaxi curiosity can
come in a lot of forms
and this gives you a plethora
of options to work with
when building your character.
Tabaxi have strong but fleeting obsessions
that can easily line up with the next leg
of just about any adventure.
Tabaxi are described somewhat
generically as cat folk
and there's a very good reason for that.
Everything under the
wide definition of 'cat'
is technically up for grabs
when designing your character.
Lions, tigers, leopards,
bobcats, pumas, panthers
or Jaguar as characters
are all at your fingertips.
5e races are better
thought of as templates.
where 90% of the finished
ideas are there but they left
all the fun customization
options up to you.
What is the color of your fur,
what are the lengths of your whiskers,
what kind of ears do you have,
are you low to the ground
are you poofy, do you have short hair,
these are all things that
you should take into account
when building your character
because that is definitely
the most fun avenue.
Let's go over some pop culture comparisons
because it might be
helpful to take inspiration
from similar races and characters
outside the confines of DnD.
There's quite a few options and variations
upon the theme of cat person
some of which are better
than others, admittedly,
but we're gonna go over three
of some of my favorites.
Khajiit from the Elder Scrolls franchise,
one of my personal favorites.
If you've ever heard Khajiit
has wares, if you have coin
then you already have
a pretty good concept
of Tabaxi characters.
Khajiit are pretty darn close
in terms of an approximation
of the Tabaxi, with maybe just
a bit more devious thievery
as opposed to innocent curiosity.
Most Tabaxi have fur that
resembles a lynx or a bobcat
but other than that,
they're pretty Tabaxi-like.
If you've ever wanted to play a Khajiit,
then this might be the best way to do so,
short of home-brewing one.
Neko/CatGirls from various anime.
From respectable shows all the way down
to the most cringy of the bunch,
you've almost certainly seen
one of these floating around
in an anime or two.
Neko cat folk are defined by
very light feline features,
usually only including something
like a set of cat ears,
maybe some paws and whiskers.
It should be beared in mind that Tabaxi
have significantly more
feline features than this.
So if you're coming at the character
from this creative direction,
be sure to check with your DM
and make sure that's fine.
They will probably allow it
and they might even like
the design as much as you.
Just bear in mind that this is not exactly
the most common
interpretation of the Tabaxi.
And finally the Thundercats
from Thundercats.
Strangely enough these 80s icons
aren't too far off the mark
when it comes to building
a Tabaxi character,
particularly if you go off the 2011 remake
rather than the original.
About the only thing missing is the faces
which in Tabaxi are very feline-like
but in Thundercats,
they're practically human.
If you've always wanted
to challenge Mumm-Rana
in 5e campaigns, you can
easily use the Tabaxi race
as your springboard.
They don't inherently gain
a bonus to their strengths
but that doesn't have to stop you
from creating your own
version of a Lion-O character.
So what should I name my
new cat folk character.
Well, Tabaxi have a
single gender-neutral name
that is chosen by their clan.
They're based on a wide range of factors,
typically including things
like astrology and prophecy
and typically take the form of
a short descriptive sentence
and most Tabaxi utilize a
shorter nickname as a result.
Try to think of both of these aspects
when creating your new
Tabaxi character's name.
And remember that the short nickname
is what most players will be calling you
throughout the campaign.
Following that, they have their clan name,
which is usually a simple description
of a geological feature in
or around their homeland.
We'll flash a few names
here on the screen for you
so that you can have a basic
idea of what you're going for.
Let's discuss your Tabaxi's traits,
starting with an Ability Score Increase.
They get plus two to dexterity
and plus one to charisma.
Dexterity is useful for
just about any character
and charisma is essential for
bards, paladins, sorcerers
and warlocks.
As for age, Tabaxi have
lifespans equivalent to humans
so nothing special here.
As for alignment, Tabaxi tend
toward chaotic alignments,
as they let their impulse and fancy
guide their decisions most of the time.
They are chaotic but
are not typically evil
and are prone to giving
in to curious fancies.
But remember you don't
have to play it this way,
if you wanna play a lawful
evil necromancer bill,
that's still totally valid.
As for their size they're
medium-sized, nothing special here
and for their movement speed,
they have a solid but
respectable 30 feet of movement.
This is significant
because the other common
plus two dexterity race,
the Halfling
is kind of hindered by their
25-foot movement speed.
If you wanna play a character
with plus two dexterity
that has a full running speed like this,
you're basically choosing
between the Tabaxi and the Kenku
Next up is Darkvision.
This is a common one, but
it's always nice to have,
especially if you wanna
play a more stealthy build.
And then we have feline agility..
This is probably the most unique
tool in the Tabaxi arsenal
and it's a good one at that.
It lets you double your speed in a turn,
without using any kind of action cost,
but at the cost of staying
still on another turn.
This lets you close the
distance amazingly quickly,
when you really need to
take down an extra opponent
or if you wanna get the jump in combat.
There are a couple important
things to note here.
First, doubling your
movement speed is different
than just doubling plus 30 feet.
If you were to move and
then use an action for dash,
that speed is still doubled,
meaning you'd move a whopping
120 feet in a single turn.
Second, it also applies to any speed,
not just your natural movement speed
so that absolutely works on Magical flight
or other spells that give
you magical movement speed.
A Tabaxi with the fly spell
using feline agility and dashing
moves 240 feet in a single round.
And all this gets way
crazier with the haste spell
or expeditious retreat.
At a certain point you
become less of a cat
and more along the lines of
a vaguely cat-shaped blur.
Next up are your cat's claws.
Now these are particularly
useful as a natural weapon
but they're nice to have in a pinch.
The climbing speed is worth
keeping them in mind though
as having a natural climbing speed
means you automatically
pass a lot of checks
that you would normally need
an athletics check to pass.
Particularly nice for any character
that's ignoring the
Strength Stat altogether.
Next up we have Cat's Talent.
Two skill proficiencies in the first place
is nothing to sneeze at
and stealth and perception
are absolute top-shelf picks.
Getting these two vital
proficiencies really frees you up
and allows you to
specialize in other options
And then finally we have your languages.
You know common and a bonus
language of your choice
rather than a racial
language of some kind.
This is potentially quite
useful as you can pick one up
that would more than likely show up
in your following adventures.
And finally let's close this video out
with some Tabaxi builds.
5e is amazingly flexible
and you can make just about anything
you can think of in this game.
But here's a few bills that take advantage
of the Tabaxi's natural abilities
and might spark some inspiration for you.
Let's start with the Lion Knight.
With the bonus to Dexterity and Charisma,
Tabaxi make for the ideal
dexterity-based paladins.
Dexterity paladin builds can
be surprisingly effective
by taking medium-armored
dueling style with a shield
and a rapier, you statistically
do the same damage
as a strength-based paladin
but at slightly less AC.
Literally just one AC lower.
But in exchange, you get a
high initiative and as Tabaxi,
your feline agility trait
will let you get stuck into
combat just about instantly.
Next up is the literal Cat Burglar.
Tabaxi work fantastically
for the charming rogue type,
particularly if you take
the Swashbuckler Archetype
and take full advantage of that
plus one bonus to charisma.
Almost everything the Tabaxi
gain slot pretty nicely
into the road build, the
climb speed for scaling walls,
the skill proficiencies are perfect
and the dark vision is a nice touch
for those late night robberies,
I know that some of you are interested in.
Feline agility also comes
into play here yet again.
Getting you out of a tight spot
fast or maneuvering yourself
into a perfect sneak attack position.
Next up we have the Poetic Puma.
Tabaxi bards gain a huge
boost over other bards,
particularly if you're taking
more combat-oriented bard at college,
like the College of Whispers
or the College of Swords.
Your plus two bonus to dexterity
is extremely helpful for any bard
that's looking to get into
a little bit of combat.
Specifically the College of Whispers bard
can use a bow to deal psychic
damage from way down range.
And with feline agility
in their back pocket,
they can easily escape a situation
that might involve an opponent
getting a little too close.
And finally, Whiskered Warlock.
Tabaxi warlocks
get quite a bit of use,
out of the Tabaxi traits,
especially if you go for
the Pact of the Blade.
The plus two dexterity bonus is essential
for warlocks getting in
and swinging a sword around
and doing the maximum amount of damage.
And again, it's the feline agility
that really clicks here, as your warlock
will get a lot of mileage
out of the speed boost
when they really need
to escape a situation
or position themselves
perfectly to get maximum value
out of their spells.
Sneaky warlocks are also a viable build
and you'll be hard-pressed
to find a better fit for one
than the Tabaxi.
As you can see the cat
folk of the DnD Multiverse
have a lot of leeway in
terms of creative license.
I hope that I've given you
enough information in this video
so that you can create
a really great character
as opposed to something that resembles
Cats 2019, the film.
Thank you guys so much for watching,
I really appreciate it, my
name is Patrick Ferguson
and I'll see you guys in the next one.
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