While Tabaxi are a cat-like race, it needs to be said that more than a few likely take offense to the comparison, seeing it as something demeaning. Others still might take it as a compliment, considering they serve a deity known as the Cat Lord. 

In the end, it’ll come down to the individual, but however tempting I shall avoid the analogy of a catfight to describe what makes tabaxi exceptional fighters. 

What a fighter needs are quick wits and quicker feet, and luckily for you, the tabaxi have these in spades. Let’s turn the tabaxi into an apex predator.

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 Fighter 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 Fighter

There are a few different ways to build a fighter, depending on your preferred weapon arrangement. 

The fighter subclasses that will determine which stats you want to prioritize are equally varied and all very good. In order to make use of the tabaxi +2 to dexterity, we’re going to need to focus on finesse melee weapons and ranged weapons. The rapier is a good choice, and we can boost our damage with it by choosing the dueling fighting style, leaving our other hand open to wield a shield if need be. Samurai is a great subclass for this particular focus as it capitalizes on the tabaxi’s natural +1 to charisma.

With the subclass and weapon choice nailed, we can move to our stats. Dexterity will be our highest score. You can pump strength next if you wish to use heavy armor, but it’s definitely not necessary. I’d recommend focusing on wisdom second, as it works with Elegant Courtier and keeps us perceptive. Constitution is a good third choice, and charisma, strength, and intelligence afterwards in that order.

How to Play a Tabaxi Fighter

We’ve made a fighter with a martial prowess to be reckoned with. They should work wonderfully on the frontline, with high AC and potential to deal a lot of damage, especially when they use their action surge. 

Samurai’s Fighting Spirit feature can grant us temporary hit points.  This feature pairs well with Second Wind and gives us a much higher effective hit point pool. Our fighter can also use ranged weapons effectively if need be, but would perform best in the thick of the fight, especially with our tabaxi Feline Agility. 

Fighters get more ability score increases than anyone else, which means we can max out our dex pretty soon, and then we can take further feats to side-specialize if we wish to.

You could either make yourself better at what you already do, or take a feat like Arcane Initiate to have access to magic! Arcane Initiate – Cleric is especially useful, granting you access to spells like Bless or Shield of Faith, which grant a huge boon for the price of concentration, and you have nothing else to concentrate on.

How to Roleplay as a Tabaxi Fighter

Fighters can be made particularly interesting through the story of their training, for their strength is often truly their own and such strength does not come without any small measure of practice. 

Did your tabaxi hear of another culture’s fighting styles and seek them out in order to learn, or did they learn them from someone in their homeland? Perhaps they invented a style all on their own, based on moves and ideals they saw in their travels? 

Speak to your DM about your training and possible NPC that you consider mentors, this is something that really gives your character investment in the world and some characters you can call upon for advice.