Tabaxi are agile and enigmatic, their selection of backgrounds setting the stage for a thrilling adventure filled with cunning and curiosity.
Explore the five most captivating backgrounds meticulously tailored for Tabaxi characters in D&D 5e.
Contents
What Are Backgrounds in D&D 5e?
Backgrounds are more than simple stat boosts in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They reveal where your character came from, why you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.
Before choosing your Background, ask yourself a few questions:
- What was I before I became an adventurer?
- Why did I stop doing what my Background explains and become an adventurer?
- Where did I get the money to buy my starting equipment?
- Where did I learn the skills used in my class?
- What’s different about me compared to others with the same Background?
Best Backgrounds for Tabaxi
5. Far Traveler
Skill Proficiencies – Perception, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – One musical instrument or gaming set you choose (most likely something native to your homeland)
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – Set of traveler’s clothes, one gaming set or musical instrument you are proficient with, a small piece of jewelry worth 10GP in the style of your homeland’s craftsmanship, poorly wrought maps from your homeland depicting where you are in Faerûn, and a pouch with 5GP.
Why the Far Traveler?
Far Traveler gives you the All Eyes on You feature, marking you as foreign and garnering attention from everyone, including commoners, scholars, nobles, merchants, princes, and kings.
Tabaxi hail from dense jungles and forests far from civilization, making their appearance in cities and towns a rare sight to behold, garnering many questions and gasps from commoners and nobles alike.
4. Spy
Skill Proficiencies – Stealth, Deception
Tool Proficiencies – Thieves’ tools, One type of gaming set
Languages – None
Equipment – A set of dark common clothes, including a hood, a crowbar, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Spy?
Spies aren’t much different from normal Criminals or Smugglers, but they have practiced in vastly different ways.
In fact, most spies are trained espionage agents. Many work as sanctioned agents of the crown or sell uncovered secrets to the highest bidder.
Tabaxi have incredible agility and enjoy acrobatics, making them perfect Spies. This allows them to enter and escape near-impossible situations with the information their contractor wants!
3. Faceless
Skill Proficiencies – Intimidation, Deception
Tool Proficiencies – Disguise kit
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A costume, a disguise kit, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Faceless?
Faceless characters have the Dual Personalities feature, where you have a persona that most of the world knows you by, even your fellow adventurers.
Everything about you is different than your true self, and once you wear your disguise, all similarities of your true self are hidden. Removing your disguise makes you unidentifiable as your disguise.
This means you can change your appearance between your personalities as you wish, one serving as your camouflage and the other to hide.
Note: If someone realizes the connection between your true self and your persona, your deception could lose its effectiveness.
Tabaxi may not have to hide their true identity, but when they become trained assassins, or if you want to play a Face, it’s nice to have a disguise to hide yourself from the people who want you dead.
2. Entertainer
Skill Proficiencies – Performance, Acrobatics
Tool Proficiencies – One type of musical instrument and a Disguise kit
Languages – None
Equipment – One musical instrument you choose, a costume, the favor of an admirer (trinket, love letter, or lock of hair), and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Entertainer?
Entertainers have the By Popular Demand feature, allowing them to perform in places like taverns or courts for free lodging and food.
This stay can be lengthened by performing for the owners every night, and with each performance, your fame with the locals will increase.
Tabaxi, much like Satyrs, can use their unusual looks and acrobatic dexterity to bring about awes among tavern goers and noblemen alike!
1. Outlander
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies – One type of musical instrument
Languages – One you choose
Equipment – A trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler’s clothes, a hunting trap, a staff, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Outlander?
Outlanders have the Wanderer feature, giving them an excellent memory for geography and maps. Allowing them to always recall the general layout of settlements, terrain, and features around them.
They can also find fresh water and food for themselves and up to five others every day if the land offers water, small game, berries, and other things.
Tabaxi come from wild jungles far from civilization, often having to rely on the wild when they journey long distances in search of long-lost treasures.
Final Thoughts
Whether embracing the nomadic spirit of the Outlander or the charisma of an Entertainer, players are presented with a diverse array of choices to shape the identities of their Tabaxi characters.
By carefully selecting the most fitting background, players can infuse their Tabaxi characters with complexity and a captivating backstory.