How To Play As A Tabaxi Rogue In 5e?
Ever heard of the phrase- curiosity killed the cat? Well, the Tabaxi surely have not! This race of rat people from Volo’s Guide to Monsters is driven by their curiosity and wonder about the world at large. Be it for artifacts, stories, mystery, religion, or otherwise, these migrating spectacular humanoid-felines are always on the lookout for something or the other.
This means they are forever ready to join in on an adventure, and more so if they are allowed a pass for sneaking around. This guide will combine two great choices culminating in the ever-so-famous Tabaxi Rogue. Read on to know more!
What Is a Tabaxi & What Are Its Traits?
A Tabaxi is a bipedal cat-like humanoid who is extremely reclusive, traveling in tribes and rarely interacting with the external world. Sure, they trade between tribes and other such groups, but this is largely considered a negative mark against the tribe since they prefer self-sufficiency. The Tabaxi are essentially the Cat God’s servants, blessed with a special skill. Every Tabaxi you meet away from their tribe has been blessed with curiosity as a gift from the Cat God.
This curiosity compels them to wander from their homes in the formative years to bring back tales and information from faraway lands. They are almost always chaotic with little care for the world’s ways. They are rarely evil, though they do go above and beyond to satisfy their curiosity for artifacts and tales of other places.
But in this reckless curiosity, most of the compelling Roleplay for the Tabaxi Rogues lie! They are well within their right to work outside the law to attain what they desire, and they rarely take no for an answer if they are already decided on a tale or an object.
What is a Rogue & What Are Its Traits
Rogues are basically the sneaky edgelords of the shadows. A Dexterity-based damage class with a lot of support and utility, Rogues, is easily one of the best classes to pick. Especially assassin rouge subclass is a great pick for tabaxi.
There is rarely anything in the DPS wheelhouse that they cannot do! If you do not know what you want to do yet, this is a great option to pick and have fun. Rogues are not evil at anything. Even if you, as a Rogue, do not want to cross-class Wizards, you can take the Arcane Trickster archetype to get access to 5+ level Wizard spells minus the capstone sacrifice.
Sneak Attack
Sneak Attack is their primary damage-dealing trait, offering bonus damage when an attack has an advantage. The damage scales up with each level and represents the Rogues’ primary way of dealing damage.
Expertise
Expertise lets you double your proficiency bonus in the specific chosen skills. You can get Expertise options for skills you have proficiency with. You get 2 Expertise skills at level 1 and 2 more at level 6.
Reliable Talent
If you reach level 11, you will not be able to roll lower than a 10 as long as you possess proficiency in any skill. Rolls of a 9 or lower will be treated as a 10.
Slippery Mind
You will get proficiency in Wisdom Saving throws beginning at level 15.
Stroke of Luck
This one is the Rogue’s capstone ability, starting at level 20. If you miss an attack, hit instead; if you fail a skill check, take a natural 20 instead! This can only be done once every long rest, but it is great nonetheless.
How To Make a Tabaxi Rogue?
Rogues are masters of sneaking, tricking, and stealing, but only if you know how to play it right. It is good to have an idea if you do not want to have your whole party coming at your throat instead of the enemies. Rogues are great at being independent, but when duty calls and a party without a subordinate or leader is involved, they have to work together.
- Stat Bonus: +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma
- Normal Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
- Lifespan: Human-Length
- Size: Medium
- Darkvision: 60 ft in pitch darkness
- Speed: 30 ft
- Cat’s Claws: 20 ft Climb Speed + slashing unarmed attacks dealing 1d4 + Strength
- Feline Agility: Double movement speed till the end of the turn.
- Cat’s Talent: Proficiency in Stealth and Perception
- Languages: Common + 1
Arcane Trickster
This subclass, with a knack for enchantment spells and illusion, this subclass brings to the table magic as an additional benefit to being a Rogue. Here are what you can expect out of it:
- Spell casting– No more going to the Wizard school to know their spells
- Spell slots
- Cantrips
- Spell Thief
- Mage Hand Legerdemain, or magic hands!
- Spells are known for level 1 and higher.
- Spellcasting ability- Intelligence
- Spell save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Intelligence modifier
- Versatile Trickster
- Spell attack modifier = proficiency bonus + Intelligence modifier.
- Magical Ambush
Assassin
This one is the edge lord’s archetype. A subclass made of hired hitmen, spies, bounty hunters, and even priests trained to slay their deities’ enemies.
- Assassinate
- Bonus Proficiencies
- Infiltration Expertise is mastery in catfishing and scams.
- Impostor: a change of outfit, mimicking a person’s writing, voice, and behavior. Use Charisma to fool if anyone is suspicious, even if your disguise is only a clip-on mustache.
- Death Strike: An attack or hit from you can immediately kill them
Thief
A vanilla subclass to roleplaying as a Rogue but not a terrible one if your character is cunning and into street crime. Tabaxi’s knack for “borrowing” objects makes this very suitable.
- Fast hands- Pickpocketing, lock picking, using tools and weapons, and disarming
- Second-story work: Climbing ability and running jump that helps you get to the 2nd or upper floor/story of a building
- Use magic devices
- Supreme sneak
- Thief reflexes
Tabaxis qualify as great Rogues for their +2 in Dexterity and +1 in Charisma and their feline abilities. Make your Dexterity the highest, followed by Constitution, and then Intelligence. Right afterward comes Wisdom and then Charisma. Keep Strength as your dump stat.
How To Play as a Tabaxi Rogue?
It does not get any more straightforward than Tabaxi Rogues. You could start with 20 Dexterity for those rolling their stats if you rolled a whopping 18. Point Buy and Standard Array either put a 14 into Dexterity and start with a 16 or put a 15 into it and begin with 17. Make sure your starting stats are even numbers instead of odd ones since you only get modifier points on an even number while choosing your stats.
If you are cool with sinking more Ability Score Increases into your Dexterity, start with a 14, which shall be boosted to a 16 by your racial trait. But if you want to attain your Ability Score benchmark faster and begin sinking into feats, start with a 15 (increased to 17) to get there with just 1.5 ASIs rather than needing 2 full ones.
There will be a need to wield weapons, for the Tabaxi’s claws rely on Strength. A finesse weapon that lets you use your high Dexterity score as your damage modifier directly will also be needed. This makes the Tabaxi race mesh better with the Monk class, as Natural Weapons such as claws are considered Monk Weapons.
Daggers are your best bet, along with short-swords and rapiers. Looking to deal more damage at a range? Think crossbows or even a regular longbow. Swashbuckler is the Rogue’s most comprehensive archetype pertaining to combat. With melee weapons, there is little room for error.
Thief is a great choice for a Tabaxi, roaming the market to separate some shinies from the corresponding owners. Want to get some spellcasting ability? The Arcane Trickster is the way to go!
How to Roleplay as a Tabaxi Rogue 5e Character?
As we discussed, Tabaxi is curious, forever looking for brand new information or a brand new item to fascinate them. Hence, make sure you play this to your advantage! It could be that you are looking for an ancient artifact, and your campaign party is there to shield you till you find it.
Or it could be that you heard the party’s bard narrating stories, and you end up hanging around to get information. Always play to your race’s natural interest when it comes to new things, and your Rogue can be a party favorite.
Ensure you add some of your own ideas into the character’s backstory; curiosity should not be the only thing! Maybe your hometown did not follow Tabaxi rituals, and you can go deeper into that. What made you want to explore so much? Did a fellow Tabaxi teach you how to be a Rogue? These quirks can help make up your character’s arc and overall personality.
Conclusion
Choosing a race and class combination that suits you is an essential part of tabletop gaming. Everyone wants their character to represent them and assist them in fulfilling the fantasy role they wish to explore. The most crucial factor to think of is whether something will be fun for both you and your allies.
The amount of time and thought you put into the character is all for naught if you end up hogging the spotlight and making it miserable for your allies! It is best to talk to party members and the DM to have a good idea of whether your character will fit the tone and atmosphere of the upcoming campaign.
