clerics are one of those classes that come with certain roleplay elements, given that each cleric serves a deity related to his or her chosen domain. This opens up some very interesting lore-friendly character builds when you consider that different races take preference to certain deities, and many even have unique racial deities. 

In any society, those who devote themselves to the service of their deity might aspire to become a cleric, and the tabaxi are no exception to this rule. You may have heard of the Cat Lord that created the tabaxi, but this entity is not necessarily one of their deities, but a mysterious being of power. 

The tabaxi do have other deities. The question is which, if any of them, will you serve?

The Tabaxi race can be found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Click here to pick up your own copy of Volo’s Guide to Monsters!

The Cleric class can be found in the Player’s Handbook. Click here to pick up your own copy of The Player’s Handbook!

How to Make a Tabaxi Cleric

There are fourteen cleric subclasses, and exactly half of those grants you heavy armor proficiency. Choosing one that does so feels like a bit of a waste of our natural +2 dexterity bonus, so we’ll choose one that doesn’t. 

The tabaxi deity Tezca is a chaotic evil god of the sun, fire, and heat. We needn’t pick a tabaxi deity mind you, but this is a good setup for a light domain cleric, so we shall choose this one. It will play as a more offensive class, which speaks to the versatility of clerics.

Clerics rely on wisdom in order to power their class features and spells, so this is our primary stat. Dexterity will be our second stat, both for our weapons and for our armor class, constitution third for our hit points and concentration checks. Finally, prioritize strength, charisma, and intelligence as you see fit, based on the sort of character you want to roleplay.

How to Play a Tabaxi Cleric

We can wield a shield, so with our relatively high armor class we should be difficult to hit, and if we stay within 30ft of enemies, Warding Flare allows us to give them disadvantage on attack rolls against us for even more protection. At 6th level we can protect allies with this too, and our cantrips gain our wisdom modifier as extra damage, meaning our Sacred Flame or Toll the Dead is even mightier.

Between an offensive selection of spells alongside the already support-y cleric spells, this build will allow us to tank relatively well, deal decent damage, and support our party in whatever way is needed most urgently. Furthermore, Feline Agility gives us a sort of maneuverability clerics don’t usually have, and being a cleric means we don’t have to move every round, so we can recharge it when we need to.

How to Roleplay as a Tabaxi Cleric

I mentioned earlier that we needn’t choose a tabaxi deity and this is true. Remember that the tabaxi are especially curious, and while this doesn’t mean that they would seek after the gods, some of them are likely to have done just that. Was that how your tabaxi became a cleric? Or did they go adventuring to spread the knowledge of their gods to the rest of the realms? Do they have malicious intent? Perhaps they don’t even believe fully in the deity they serve and are looking for answers beyond that. 

Speak to your DM about deity interaction and alignment, and ask how connected they want the relationship to be.