Homebrew Dreamlands Cat Species Details
History
Cats traveling the Dreamlands run the full gamut from feral to domestic. However wild they might be, almost all player character cats have lived or currently live in and among humanoid communities because such cats are likeliest to get along with other species and be willing to adventure with them.
Unlike other companion animals, cats almost certainly took the first step toward domestication, so it is arguable that cats actually mastered humanoids, rather than the other way around. It has certainly been a successful partnership. In return for protection, shelter, and food, cats keep down the population of rodents and other pest animals in humanoid areas, which helps ward off both disease and famine. In addition, cats provide affection, companionship, elegance, and beauty to their humanoid families—at least on their own terms. and during their languorous periods of rest, they can walk the Dreamlands with enhanced mental acuity and reason.
Occasionally, a cat decides that it wants to spend its waking hours as a fully sentient being, as well as when it sleeps. When this happens, it becomes what is known as a Dreamlands cat, and is, in effect, a player character. Any cat may decide it wishes to be a Dreamlands cat and then take on that role for a period of time: sometimes just a few days, sometimes the rest of its life. Likewise, a Dreamlands cat may decide to return to its normal status of being just a cat. For those who know cats well, it will come as no surprise that such decisions seem to be made capriciously.
Humanoids cannot tell whether a particular cat is a Dreamlands cat based purely upon outward appearances. Typically, either the cat has to inform them somehow, or the humanoid has to figure it out by watching the cat take on tasks that would be impossible for a normal cat of animal intellect and awareness.
Playing a Cat
Cats are pretty much a “love ‘em or hate ‘em” type of creature. While some people can’t stand them, others can’t live without them, but few are neutral on the subject. Some people are even ailurophobes, making them neurotically afraid of cats. Even those who dislike or fear felines are willing to admit that cats are graceful, nimble, and often adorable.
If you’re a Dreamlands cat, you likely:
- …are busy, active, and aloof.
- …are energetic when interesting things are going on, but sleep soundly for hours when no action is afoot.
- …occasionally force other party members to carry you. They may or may not mind, and you may but probably don’t care.
- …are quiet, curious, and interested in new things.
- …hate cats’ natural enemies (dogs, mice, birds, whirring machines, etc).
- …are easily distracted.
- …are highly athletic and can move fast when you want to.
Others probably:
- …are not always sure if you are sentient or not. (“Is it a normal cat? Can I talk to it?”)
- …think you are cute, but possibly useless.
- …try to pet or otherwise annoy you when you are busy.
- …do not understand you or your thought processes, such as they are.
Physiology
Unlike many other predators, cats are exclusively carnivorous. Their teeth are designed only for cutting and devouring flesh, so while they can clumsily chew up bread or vegetables, these are poor sources of nutrition. Their digestive tracts are not adapted to process such food either, and a cat deprived of meat will quickly suffer significant health issues.
Cats have extraordinarily keen senses. Their one defect in this regard is an inability to taste sweetness.
When a cat eats cantaloupe or other sweet items it does not taste the sugar, and instead is reacting to whatever savory elements are present. Cats can’t see in complete darkness, but they can rely on their sense of touch, which is amplified by their whiskers, to feel their way around an area.
They do not have rigid collarbones, so they can squeeze through any space through which their heads will fit. Because they are as long as the cat’s shoulders are wide, their whiskers also serve an additional purpose in indicating whether the cat can fit through a particular opening.
Cats are highly vocal when needed. Normal cats have more than 100 different vocalizations for various purposes. of course, Dreamlands cats have the same vocal apparatus, but with their greater intellect, they can string different sounds together to create other meanings.
It is said that cats have nine lives, which is due to having a Dreamlands self. When a cat is killed, its dream self is still alive and can return to the waking world, restoring that cat to life. For a cat to die or be destroyed in a single event, both its dream and waking world self must die at the same moment.
When a Dreamlands cat is killed, its normal, nonsentient self returns from the dream world, where it has been relaxing. This typically takes 4d6 hours, and the result is a normal cat. of course, that cat may then decide (once more) to become a Dreamlands cat, resulting in the effective resurrection of the character.
Cats can only do this self-resurrection eight times (hence “nine lives”). Players should keep track of this on their character sheets.
Note that when a cat is resurrected by a spell or an item, this does not use up one of its lives. Only purposeful self-resurrection increases the count.
Family
While cats often regard a particular other cat as a friend or recognize it as a relative, they do not have a true family life. Tomcats wrangle over desirable mates, then depart to live alone. A mother cat has a powerful love of her kittens and will die to protect them. But even for her, once a kitten grows up and moves on, that consuming love fades and is replaced by a lower level of affection.
The mother trains and teaches her kittens how to hunt, where to hide, and all about her habitat, so the kittens reach adulthood with a near perfect understanding of the area around their home and the creatures and wildlife that populate it.
Life Cycle
The age of sexual maturity varies from cat to cat, and can range from 4–10 months. Most cats are considered to have reached adolescence by the age of 5–6 months.
A cat’s pregnancy lasts 64–67 days, at which time she gives birth to a litter of kittens. The young cats are born blind, deaf, and helpless. At about two weeks, their eyes and ears open, and the kittens begin to react to their siblings and others. Usually, the kittens are weaned around the age of six weeks, though they still stay with their mother. At 12 weeks, though they are not fully grown, they are fully socialized and able to leave their mother.
A Dreamlands cat often mates with normal cats, and any kittens it produces are normal kittens, though the kittens, as with all cats, may later become Dreamlands cats themselves.
Society
As normally solitary and often capricious hunters, cats don’t really have a society in the humanoid sense of the word. Cats are able to live in large groups, but do not cooperatively hunt or organize. With their greater intelligence, Dreamlands cats can work together to go to war, gather for raids, and hold celebrations.
Dreamlands cats have been known to form a militia of sorts, including having military ranks, to proactively defend themselves as a race. An example of this is when the Dreamlands cats’ militia preempted an attack by the zoogs. Dreamlands cats can very effectively fight in a coordinated fashion as demonstrated against moonbeasts.
The cat vocal apparatus is not built very well to speak humanoid languages. However, cats are perfectly capable of understanding these languages, and they can learn any of the languages spoken in their home area. Other people must learn the cat language to communicate with their fickle feline companions.
Fortunately, the cat language is fairly easy to learn. In fact, most people who own a cat are probably halfway there already. A one-week association with a specific cat allows a character to understand that specific cat without needing to learn the Cat language. This does not allow them to understand other cats unless they spend a week with those cats as well. The character can spend one week with multiple cats and understand them all after that week.
When a cat speaks, it meows or caterwauls, but when humanoids speak to cats, they speak in their normal tongues. It is quite a different situation from most communication, in which both parties must speak the same tongue to get anything done.
Communicating with cats is a combination of learning what some of their meows and whines mean and also understanding patterns of behavior. A cat understands what party members are saying, and soon enough those party members usually learn how to talk with the cat.
Cats do not have any sort of written language, but a Dreamlands cat is able to learn how to read or even write, though its lack of thumbs does handicap it somewhat in this regard.
Otherworld Cats
Many other worlds have cat-like organisms of their own. This is so common that many researchers theorize that somewhere there exists a sort of ur-cat, the basic cat upon which all other cats are based. Cats from different worlds are often unfriendly with one another.
In fact, it is quite common for them to live in a state of low-level warfare.
Faith
Cats have a spiritual nature, and often seem to commune with the beyond. They have gods, of course, but instead of worshiping them, they try to live in harmony with them. Usually, these gods are known to and sometimes worshiped by the local humanoids, particularly if they value cats for religious reasons. For example, Bastet is a well-known goddess of cats, but other worlds (and other cultures) have these as well.
Cats sometimes feel a pull toward spiritual life, and are known to serve alongside priests of compatible gods for their purposes. Many worship sites have a cat that keeps out vermin and accompanies the priests on their rounds. These cats, when they choose to be Dreamlands cats, often become clerics.
Culture
Cats don’t have a true culture in the sense that humanoids do. Instead, cats live for the now and participate in the culture of their owners. Even the intelligent Dreamlands cats use their greater brain power to simply adapt to their environment to better enjoy their lives as cats.
Cats are unable to create material objects since they lack prehensile hands or any real means of manipulating objects. They can only carry small objects for short distances in their mouths.
Cats who do not live with people may have a den, but even this is not constructed by the cat itself: it is merely a hole or hollow tree in which the cat finds shelter from the elements.
Material Culture and Artifacts Dreamlands cats are perfectly capable of understanding the uses and purposes behind magical items, and sometimes find these to be practical adjuncts to their adventuring. In the Dreamlands, there are smiths and magicians who specialize in transforming magic items into forms usable by cats.
Here is how it is done: the cat takes the item desired, which must be small enough to be carried in its mouth, to the Dreamlands on one of its forays. The cat then visits one of these enchanters, who works the magic.
For full rules, see the Feline Item Focus feat.
Relations
Fundamentally, cats are friendly to humanoids—or at least those who keep cats as companion animals. of course, even within these societies, there are those who dislike cats, and cats are usually keenly aware of who likes them and who does not.
Adventurers
Cats like body heat and cuddling and are easy to take care of when on an adventure. They cost nothing when staying at an inn and can often feed themselves, catching small rodents, bats, insects, or birds. They are clean and neat and take up little space. When traveling in areas where cats find it hard to go (such as up sheer cliffs), the cat can be easily carried in a pouch or on a shoulder. They are incredibly convenient as companions, and of course, a cat that can cast spells or scout and communicate has obvious value.
Dreamlands Cat Traits
Everyone knows about cats. They’re small, sometimes obnoxious predators that people often keep as pets or exterminators. Cats are not a sentient species. Like humanoids, they have a dream life, but unlike most people, cats are aware of this dream life. Furthermore, while in their dreams, cats are as intelligent as people, sometimes more so. of course, they are still cats, with cat personalities and traits. Even more remarkable, cats are able to freely pass physically from the waking world to the Dreamlands and back again. This means that a cat can either transfer between the dream and waking state in the normal humanoid way, by falling asleep and waking up, or it can physically move to the Dreamlands and back.Darkvision
You have Darkvision 60 ft.
Keen Smell
You have advantage on Perception checks that rely on smell.
Risky Explorer
You gain proficiency in Stealth.
Natural Weapons
Claws:
1d4 + Dexterity slashing damage
Bite:
1d4 + Dexterity piercing damage
You can make two claw attacks when you take the Attack action.
Land on Your Feet
When you fall, treat the fall as 30 feet shorter.
If the fall becomes 0 damage, you land gracefully and take no damage.
Nimble Body
You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for Athletics checks made to climb or swim.
Dreamlands Travel
Dreamlands Travel
You can slip between the waking world and the Dreamlands.
You gain the following abilities.
Dream Projection
When you take a Long Rest, your mind may travel to the Dreamlands while your body sleeps.
While projecting:
• Your body is Unconscious but stable
• Your dream-self acts normally in the Dreamlands
• Your DM determines what you encounter there
You can return to your body at any time.
Physical Dream Passage
Once per Long Rest, if you are completely unobserved, you may physically slip through a Gate of Slumber.
You cast a special version of Plane Shift that can only travel between the Material Plane and the Dreamlands.
Restrictions:
• You must have free movement
• You must be unobserved
• When returning, you appear within 1 mile of where you left
The DM determines the exact location of Gates of Slumber.
Moon Jump
While in the Dreamlands, you can leap vast cosmic distances.
Once per Long Rest you may cast Dimension Door without components, flavored as a massive dream leap.
If three other Dreamlands Cats participate in the leap, you may bring one Small creature with you.
Nine Lives
Dreamlands cats are notoriously difficult to truly kill.
When you drop to 0 HP but are not killed outright, you may instead drop to 1 HP.
After using this trait, you cannot use it again until you finish 1d3 Long Rests.
Additionally, if you die, your spirit reforms in the Dreamlands. After 3 days, you may return to life at the location where you died. Once this resurrection occurs, it cannot happen again until the DM determines enough time has passed (usually a major story event).
Languages
You know the following languages:
• Common (understand but cannot speak)
• Cat
Creatures who spend one week interacting with you can learn to understand your Cat speech.
You can read languages you know.
Spellcasting Adaptation
You can perform spell components despite lacking hands.
• Verbal components are yowls and meows
• Somatic components are tail, whisker, and paw movements
Material components must be adjacent to you unless worn as an item.
Equipment Limitations
Dreamlands cats cannot use most humanoid equipment.
You can use:
• Rings (worn on the tail)
• Neck items
• Special feline armor
• Custom magic gear designed for cats
You cannot normally wield weapons.
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