What if a nobleman cast Awaken on a kitten and then raised it to be his spy? Outwardly, he's just a nobleman travelling with his pet, but behind the scenes, his pet wanders the halls of the castles and estates he's visiting picking locks (with his claws?), rifling through papers and drawers, learning secrets to blackmail noble master's enemies, stealing valuable/magical items, squeezing into tight spaces, and pretending to be an ordinary cat when he gets caught. "How did you get in here, you silly kitty? Shoo! Shoo!" When the noble gets caught/arrested, the cat has to go on the run and joins an adventuring party.
Which character stats should be tabaxi and which stay cat? Intelligence is 10 because that's what the Awaken spell makes it. Movement stats stay Cat Walking 40/Climbing 30 because my character would be a four-legged cat, not a two-legged tabaxi. Charisma is higher than Cat 7 because Kitty was Awakened as a kitten and educated. Strength couldn't possibly stay Cat 3, right? But how high should it go?
What would Kitty's weapon be? Claws? Are there any Rogue subclasses that encourage melee combat?
How do I semi-accurately and realistically rp as an Awakened cat when I'm not someone who's actually using a build like this as an excuse to rp as a catgirl or furry?
Please offer your tips, suggestions, and ideas for..... everything! Mechanics. Roleplaying. Feats. Stats. Class. Gear.
What if a nobleman cast Awaken on a kitten and then raised it to be his spy?
How do I semi-accurately and realistically rp as an Awakened cat
This is the total relevance of your inquiry.
The initial question answers itself, and the second, with your implications that you're then playing that creature. You're using the statistics of awakened cat, not a Tabaxi, if you're playing a cat that's been awakened. Since that is not a playable race (or species, or whatever it is now) then none of the (irrelevant thereafter) mix-n-match will apply. No amount of self-background writing or justification, without your DMs consent, can help bypass this.
I don't know your game setting or your DM, but your DM determines the game, any UA, and any allowable homebrew. This is a great example of "Talk to your DM." to determine modifications which can be made.
Objectively: TBH...just RP as a cat if that's your interest, it's not uncommon and simplifies the process.
Judging from sposta’s post you weren’t happy with the answers the first time and almost certainly won’t be this time either. STATS: all cat stats except the 10 from awakened - no Tabaxi stats at all. Damage: 1 slashing from claws, or 1 piercing from bite - you’re still a cat not a lion or something else big and really dangerous. No weapon skills you have paws not hands. Skills: Stealth, nature survival, acrobatics, deception, investigation, perception and performance. Feat: alert. Tools: None, weapons: None, Armor: none HD: D4s Background: Criminal(Blackmaler)/Spy;
class & subclass: rogue is the only class that makes any sense. The phantom, inquisitive, mastermind and scout subclasses have potential but in each case some of the abilities would have to be dropped because of a lack.of hands. The same problem exists with sneak attack, since you can’t wield weapons either the damage should be reduced to 1 point per die or it should be eliminated entirely.
Bluntly it’s not really a very citing character or a very survivable character. What I could potentially see was such a cat becoming a roguish sidekick or high level mage’s familiar.
We did say stuff the first time you posted before you deleted it and started this one, you just didn’t like the answers you got.
you said I'd get better answers coming here, to Homebrew, but the mods kept deleting my post here because the same thread isn't allowed on multiple boards. I only deleted my original because I literally had to in order to post here, where I was told I'd get better answers, and instead have gotten more accusations than constructive feedback.
I even screenshotted and saved the two actually helpful replies I got from my first thread (one of which was yours). I'm trying to crowdsource ideas and perspectives from the internet, not trying to cherrypick answers I like.
instead have gotten more accusations than constructive feedback.
I'm trying to crowdsource ideas and perspectives from the internet, not trying to cherrypick answers I like.
I think the idea of this merits some creativity. I don't think anyone is or was attacking the creative thinking you've put toward this, they're just being truthful and/or blunt.
You've received constructive feedback on previous threads regarding this scenario, or at least a variation of this. In this thread, I gave you a definitive as constructive feedback. If it sounded accusatory then that's the mindset you chose going into this thread based on some previous experience dealing with it. Take a breath, re-read, absorb, analyze, repeat if necessary.
The way you presented your questioning assumed a great deal of allowance; you are searching for specific answers with those questions, based on the assumption that any of this is actually allowable in your game, and by answering even one of the irrelevant questions all must be accounted for and answered.
By virtue of the fact you want to play a non-playable race while also being a playable race: Cherry Picking. The presupposition of playing as an Awakened Cat is the catalyst to bypassing rules and game mechanics when you mix it with the backstory you're using to justify the character's habitation in the story. You're inviting that your loose-particle backstory must be accepted, thusly resulting a lot of "freebies" as to what your then-character would be capable of doing, to obtain cohesion, whilst being allowed to simply ignore rules and mechanics players are subject to. That is going to happen. It's happened at my tables, it's happened at a myriad of other tables. Stacking the benefits of a playable race on top of that by cherry picking what gets changed and what gets to stay, and you're looking at an improperly balanced player character that doesn't suffer the penalties players would for things such as failed skill checks.
If you chose to ignore the constructive feedback it in light of "better" answers, here or in other threads, that's definitively cherry picking as well. You can't mask it as something else ("crowdsource") because that's just what it is.
It also poses a problem for you, as the player, because you're going to be stuck with a character that has little-to-no true interaction outside of "Go fetch!" or "Go Spy!". Solo-venture's aren't terrible, but that's not what your backstory implies.
As I said initially, it's going to be easier if you just RP as a cat. There's nothing wrong with that, and it simplifies the playability in the game. Your DM is the adjudicator, they're more important than what we will have to say here because they get to determine the Yes and No of the game, period.
I would do this by playing something like a Beastmaster ranger. The ranger can be your noble master, you can be the pet, and you can RP both as appropriate. The only change you would need to make is adjusting the pet's INT up.
So, the fundamentals of getting your homebrew PC to be accepted by the DM: 1) Start with something you know they'll accept. 2) When you make changes, make them *against* your own power level.
Example: Tabaxi exists and I don't think it's likely that a DM would disallow Tabaxi. Let's make some changes to it, against our own power level. First, you obviously gotta be tiny. But tiny has benefits -- for example, we would be allowed to move through the spaces of medium sized enemies in combat. So instead of making us tiny, let's just tack on all the downsides of being tiny: We can't (or, if you prefer to think of it this way, we won't) use medium-sized gear, we can't/won't carry hardly anything, and medium sized enemies can move through our space in combat, unless the DM thinks that's weird or something. Second, we really shouldn't be a humanoid, we should be a beast, but that also has benefits -- for example, we'd be immune to Charm Person. Instead, let's add all the downsides of being a beast. We're now eligible targets for anything an enemy does that targets a beast, while still being eligible for things that target humanoids. I think the rest of the Tabaxi will work just fine unmodified.
Present that to a DM, and I expect they'll approve it. I'd expect that most DMs would say, "go ahead and make yourself tiny," and some might even say "go ahead and replace the humanoid type with the beast type." A select few might go as far as to give you some additional benefit, perhaps to counterbalance the fact that you can't use most magic weapons or armor.
After that, just pick Thief because, I mean, you're a thief, and get goin'. That's still a solid Rogue subclass even 9 years after its release.
As for RP, as with all things, try to focus on helping your party members shine. If you're going to knock things off tables, don't do it while the Bard is haggling with the seller of said items, lol. If the Wizard has a bird familiar, don't kill it, obviously. Only pee in the shoes of the bad guys. Standard stuff.
Why do we like cats? Raw visual appeal doesn't really translate to verbal descriptions, so we'll have to dig deeper. Personally, I think it's very funny how one of my cats always has this air of cool, intelligent superiority, while also being a total moron. She'll strut around like the coolest critter on earth, and then miss a step and nearly fall off whatever tall thing she's decided she has to be on top of.
Still its humanoid. Cats and Catacombs or Animal Adventure Secret of Gullet Cove gives real dogs and cat breed to plays as characters, with a lot of customizations and easy to use.
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What if a nobleman cast Awaken on a kitten and then raised it to be his spy? Outwardly, he's just a nobleman travelling with his pet, but behind the scenes, his pet wanders the halls of the castles and estates he's visiting picking locks (with his claws?), rifling through papers and drawers, learning secrets to blackmail noble master's enemies, stealing valuable/magical items, squeezing into tight spaces, and pretending to be an ordinary cat when he gets caught. "How did you get in here, you silly kitty? Shoo! Shoo!" When the noble gets caught/arrested, the cat has to go on the run and joins an adventuring party.
(Awakened animals can talk.)
Which character stats should be tabaxi and which stay cat?
Intelligence is 10 because that's what the Awaken spell makes it.
Movement stats stay Cat Walking 40/Climbing 30 because my character would be a four-legged cat, not a two-legged tabaxi.
Charisma is higher than Cat 7 because Kitty was Awakened as a kitten and educated.
Strength couldn't possibly stay Cat 3, right? But how high should it go?
What would Kitty's weapon be? Claws? Are there any Rogue subclasses that encourage melee combat?
How do I semi-accurately and realistically rp as an Awakened cat when I'm not someone who's actually using a build like this as an excuse to rp as a catgirl or furry?
Please offer your tips, suggestions, and ideas for..... everything! Mechanics. Roleplaying. Feats. Stats. Class. Gear.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16820-cat
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/awaken
https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/1026403-tabaxi
it's been a week and no one ever said anything.......... is my idea really that bad?
We did say stuff the first time you posted before you deleted it and started this one, you just didn’t like the answers you got.
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This is the total relevance of your inquiry.
The initial question answers itself, and the second, with your implications that you're then playing that creature. You're using the statistics of awakened cat, not a Tabaxi, if you're playing a cat that's been awakened. Since that is not a playable race (or species, or whatever it is now) then none of the (irrelevant thereafter) mix-n-match will apply. No amount of self-background writing or justification, without your DMs consent, can help bypass this.
I don't know your game setting or your DM, but your DM determines the game, any UA, and any allowable homebrew. This is a great example of "Talk to your DM." to determine modifications which can be made.
Objectively: TBH...just RP as a cat if that's your interest, it's not uncommon and simplifies the process.
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Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
Judging from sposta’s post you weren’t happy with the answers the first time and almost certainly won’t be this time either.
STATS: all cat stats except the 10 from awakened - no Tabaxi stats at all.
Damage: 1 slashing from claws, or 1 piercing from bite - you’re still a cat not a lion or something else big and really dangerous. No weapon skills you have paws not hands.
Skills: Stealth, nature survival, acrobatics, deception, investigation, perception and performance. Feat: alert. Tools: None, weapons: None, Armor: none
HD: D4s
Background: Criminal(Blackmaler)/Spy;
class & subclass: rogue is the only class that makes any sense. The phantom, inquisitive, mastermind and scout subclasses have potential but in each case some of the abilities would have to be dropped because of a lack.of hands. The same problem exists with sneak attack, since you can’t wield weapons either the damage should be reduced to 1 point per die or it should be eliminated entirely.
Bluntly it’s not really a very citing character or a very survivable character. What I could potentially see was such a cat becoming a roguish sidekick or high level mage’s familiar.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
you said I'd get better answers coming here, to Homebrew, but the mods kept deleting my post here because the same thread isn't allowed on multiple boards. I only deleted my original because I literally had to in order to post here, where I was told I'd get better answers, and instead have gotten more accusations than constructive feedback.
I even screenshotted and saved the two actually helpful replies I got from my first thread (one of which was yours). I'm trying to crowdsource ideas and perspectives from the internet, not trying to cherrypick answers I like.
I think the idea of this merits some creativity. I don't think anyone is or was attacking the creative thinking you've put toward this, they're just being truthful and/or blunt.
You've received constructive feedback on previous threads regarding this scenario, or at least a variation of this. In this thread, I gave you a definitive as constructive feedback. If it sounded accusatory then that's the mindset you chose going into this thread based on some previous experience dealing with it. Take a breath, re-read, absorb, analyze, repeat if necessary.
The way you presented your questioning assumed a great deal of allowance; you are searching for specific answers with those questions, based on the assumption that any of this is actually allowable in your game, and by answering even one of the irrelevant questions all must be accounted for and answered.
By virtue of the fact you want to play a non-playable race while also being a playable race: Cherry Picking. The presupposition of playing as an Awakened Cat is the catalyst to bypassing rules and game mechanics when you mix it with the backstory you're using to justify the character's habitation in the story. You're inviting that your loose-particle backstory must be accepted, thusly resulting a lot of "freebies" as to what your then-character would be capable of doing, to obtain cohesion, whilst being allowed to simply ignore rules and mechanics players are subject to. That is going to happen. It's happened at my tables, it's happened at a myriad of other tables. Stacking the benefits of a playable race on top of that by cherry picking what gets changed and what gets to stay, and you're looking at an improperly balanced player character that doesn't suffer the penalties players would for things such as failed skill checks.
If you chose to ignore the constructive feedback it in light of "better" answers, here or in other threads, that's definitively cherry picking as well. You can't mask it as something else ("crowdsource") because that's just what it is.
It also poses a problem for you, as the player, because you're going to be stuck with a character that has little-to-no true interaction outside of "Go fetch!" or "Go Spy!". Solo-venture's aren't terrible, but that's not what your backstory implies.
As I said initially, it's going to be easier if you just RP as a cat. There's nothing wrong with that, and it simplifies the playability in the game. Your DM is the adjudicator, they're more important than what we will have to say here because they get to determine the Yes and No of the game, period.
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Chief Innovationist, Acquisitions Inc. The Series 2
Successfully completed the Tomb of Horrors module (as part of playing Tomb of Annihilation) with no party deaths!
I don't think that 8t would work maybe make a deal with your dm for tha character to be part of the party as an npc
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FYI: The mods had already moved your post to homebrew, you didn’t need to post it again.
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I would do this by playing something like a Beastmaster ranger. The ranger can be your noble master, you can be the pet, and you can RP both as appropriate. The only change you would need to make is adjusting the pet's INT up.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
So, the fundamentals of getting your homebrew PC to be accepted by the DM: 1) Start with something you know they'll accept. 2) When you make changes, make them *against* your own power level.
Example: Tabaxi exists and I don't think it's likely that a DM would disallow Tabaxi. Let's make some changes to it, against our own power level. First, you obviously gotta be tiny. But tiny has benefits -- for example, we would be allowed to move through the spaces of medium sized enemies in combat. So instead of making us tiny, let's just tack on all the downsides of being tiny: We can't (or, if you prefer to think of it this way, we won't) use medium-sized gear, we can't/won't carry hardly anything, and medium sized enemies can move through our space in combat, unless the DM thinks that's weird or something. Second, we really shouldn't be a humanoid, we should be a beast, but that also has benefits -- for example, we'd be immune to Charm Person. Instead, let's add all the downsides of being a beast. We're now eligible targets for anything an enemy does that targets a beast, while still being eligible for things that target humanoids. I think the rest of the Tabaxi will work just fine unmodified.
Present that to a DM, and I expect they'll approve it. I'd expect that most DMs would say, "go ahead and make yourself tiny," and some might even say "go ahead and replace the humanoid type with the beast type." A select few might go as far as to give you some additional benefit, perhaps to counterbalance the fact that you can't use most magic weapons or armor.
After that, just pick Thief because, I mean, you're a thief, and get goin'. That's still a solid Rogue subclass even 9 years after its release.
As for RP, as with all things, try to focus on helping your party members shine. If you're going to knock things off tables, don't do it while the Bard is haggling with the seller of said items, lol. If the Wizard has a bird familiar, don't kill it, obviously. Only pee in the shoes of the bad guys. Standard stuff.
Why do we like cats? Raw visual appeal doesn't really translate to verbal descriptions, so we'll have to dig deeper. Personally, I think it's very funny how one of my cats always has this air of cool, intelligent superiority, while also being a total moron. She'll strut around like the coolest critter on earth, and then miss a step and nearly fall off whatever tall thing she's decided she has to be on top of.
I'll just put that here.... I think you might be interested... https://assets.ctfassets.net/soohq95nmhpl/33JwskYG1h2I9fmiIRHlPL/27ebd464f2f944a8ad33051d5f84ba7e/AA-CC-Rules-Companion.pdf
Its cats and catacombs, you can easily brew something about awakened cat
(Sorry, it probably too late but still useful)
I’ll just drop this here: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/1551698-catfolk).
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Still its humanoid. Cats and Catacombs or Animal Adventure Secret of Gullet Cove gives real dogs and cat breed to plays as characters, with a lot of customizations and easy to use.