Tabaxi
Tabaxi Upbringing
A Tabaxi not raised by or among their people may have different traits than those described below. If you wish to have a different upbringing for your character—a Tabaxi raised by Humans, for example—consult with the DM.
- Cat Lord’s Luck – When a Tabaxi rolls a 1 on a saving throw, they can reroll the die and must use the new roll.
- Effortless Grace – Tabaxi are Proficient in Acrobatics.
A Tabaxi raised among their own kin can speak, read, and write Common and Tabaxi. Tabaxi is a growling language of alternately rolling, sharp, and sibilant consonants. It is derived from an ancient form of the Payit language of Maztica, and its original written form is pictographic. Tabaxi who have learned to read and write in Faerûn tend to use a variation of the Iokharic script designed for the Draconic language, as both languages are spoken with a mouth which is similarly-shaped and sharp-toothed.
Tabaxi Names
Tabaxi who are raised by their own kin have descriptive names, often reflecting an auspicious event, object, or figure which was witnessed at or near the time of their birth. While this name is frequently given in the Common tongue, some Tabaxi prefer to give their name in Tabaxi despite the difficulty many humanoids have with the pronunciation.
Names: Birdsong, Chioptl, Dappled Water, Flask of Wine, Moon Over the Mountain, Nahauati, Ocean Breeze, Red Morning Sky, Speaker of Many Stories, Talissarob
Created by the Cat Lord—a divine being of the Upper Planes—to blend the qualities of humanoids and cats, Tabaxi are a varied people in both attitude and appearance. In their homeland, Tabaxi often live much like the cats they resemble, being naturally curious and at home in environments with plenty of vertical surfaces to traverse, but they are also known for being reclusive. In lands populated by other humanoids, Tabaxi tend to be much more reserved in their exuberance, and behave much as any other humanoids do.
Tabaxi in Faerûn tend to have short fur no longer than a few inches and two main types of coat patterns: the leopard-folk who have solid spots or narrow stripes, and the jaguar-folk who have rosette spots or marbled coat patterns. Both subtypes favor hues of light yellow, brownish red, or silver-grey, but their coats can also come in darker or melanistic hues. White fur is unheard of, though some scholars have speculated that if there are any Tabaxi tribes which dwell in arctic or mountainous climates, they may have long-ago adapted to their colder homes with lighter-colored—and likely longer—coats.
Tabaxi of the Sword Coast
Tabaxi are not technically native to the Sword Coast, as they originate from far across the Trackless Sea on the continent of Maztica. Many of the Tabaxi who have come to call the Sword Coast North their home have in their ancestry a similar tale of woe—an abduction and harrowing journey across the ocean by slavers—but others followed their innate sense of curiosity and willingly left their homeland to seek out new stories, experiences, and knowledge. Regardless of how they reached Faerûn, Tabaxi are often viewed as rare and exotic by other humanoids, and they rarely have trouble stepping into whatever roles they choose for themselves, whether that be as artists and musicians, explorers and sellswords, or as farmers and fishermen.
Tabaxi Traits
All tabaxi, regardless of subtype, have certain characteristics in common.
Age
Tabaxi mature at the same rate Humans do and reach adulthood by age 20. Their lifespans are roughly similar to Humans.
Size
Tabaxi are generally slender and often taller than Humans, ranging from 5½ to 7 feet tall. Their size is Medium.
Speed
A Tabaxi’s base walking speed is 30 feet, and they have a climbing speed of 30 feet.
Darkvision
A Tabaxi has Darkvision to 60 feet.
Cat’s Claws
A Tabaxi is able to use their claws to make Unarmed Strikes. Upon making a hit, they deal 1d6 + their Strength modifier in Slashing damage, rather than the Bludgeoning damage normal for an Unarmed Strike. A Tabaxi can deal Bludgeoning damage as-normal with an Unarmed Strike simply by choosing not to unsheathe their claws.
Feline Agility
A Tabaxi’s reflexes and agility allow them to move in bursts of speed. When a Tabaxi moves on their turn in combat, they can double their speed until the end of their turn without taking the Dash action. However, they can’t use this trait again until after they have moved 0 feet in one of their turns.
Nine Lives
When a Tabaxi is reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, they can drop to 1 Hit Point instead. A Tabaxi can’t use this feature again until after finishing a Long Rest.