While the many different breeds of cat make generalizing difficult, there are a few traits which pertain to all felines:
- Ability Score Increase. All cats increase their DEX score by 2.
- Age. Cats reach maturity between the age of 1 or 2, and live, on average to the age of 15.
- Alignment. Cats tend toward neutral alignments; they are very rarely wholly evil or wholly good. Their main preoccupation is themselves and the small circle of loved ones they seek to protect. This can occasionally seem like callousness or disinterest in the larger world. This is often misleading, however.
- Size. While there are larger and smaller cats, this variation in size and length is much more limited than it is in dogs. As a result, all cats are considered small.
- Speed. A cat’s basic speed is 30 feet.
- Language. A cat can speak and read Common, Feline and one other Language. Cats only use language with humans and other races; when with each other, they communicate entirely through gesture, small inflections of the face and eyes, and carefully modulated thrusts of the paw or flank. This language is called Feline and can only be spoken fluently by other cats.
- Darkvision. Cats have Darkvision up to 60 ft.
- Bite & Scratch. Sharp teeth, and claws which can be quickly unsheathed and used to slice through flesh - all cats possess these natural weapons. Cats are proficient with this attack, which counts as both a weapon attack and an unarmed attack. The attack does 1d6 damage plus the attacker’s STR modifier bonus.
- The Welcoming Dark. See below
- Hefty Cat. These big, substantial cats are the biggest of their kind and are tougher and more durable than their feline kin. If you want to play a Maine Coon, a Norwegian Forest Cat or just an unusually chunky version of your favourite breed, choose a Large Cat!
- Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
- Lap Cat. Smaller, more delicate and all the smarter for it, Lap Cats are experts at getting others to do the work for them. After all, when you’re this adorable, why wouldn’t you? Play a lap cat if you want to be a Persian, a sphynx or a ragdoll - or if you just want to be small, cute and loveable.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
- Regular Cat. The typical cat. Neither too large, nor too small. Purrfect, you might say. Play a medium cat if you want to be a tabby, a bengal or an American bobtail; you’re the kind of cat who knows how the world works. You can live in a home, or in the wild.
- Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Cat Abilities. Choose one ability from the list below. You may only choose one such ability.
- How Did They Get Up There? Moving with preternatural speed and grace, you scramble up sheer surfaces with ease. Reduce the difficulty of all climb tests by 2.
- Feline Intuition You know things. Even if you’re not entirely sure how sometimes, you just do...Gain +1 to INT score permanently.
- Gone! No thanks, you’re not sticking around to be smashed with a mace. You know how to stay safe and stay alive. When fleeing or escaping from combat, double your Base Speed.
- Attention Must Be Paid! Are they...ignoring you? Have they seen what you look like? Well, you’ll soon put a stop to that. Add Proficiency bonus to all Charisma checks.
- Skilled Hunter You can follow your prey through any terrain, no one is getting away from you! Add +2 to all Tracking rolls.
- Action Cat You’re always ready for what comes next; you’re poised, cunning and able to anticipate. Add +1 to your Initiative Modifier.
- Like Smoke The enemy flails about them, trying to hit you. But you’ve already gone, like mist in a strong breeze. Whenever attempting to move past an enemy, or disengage from combat, you may avoid the first Attack of Opportunity made by an enemy.
- Flower Marked Your distinctive patterned fur is actually highly effective camouflage, making you difficult to spot in the wilderness. You have advantage on all stealth rolls made in natural terrain, like a forest or a jungle.
- Lands on Feet You are incredibly agile, so much so that even falling from a great height seems to scarcely affect you. Whenever you take fall damage, it is halved.
- Good Luck Cat You’re just...lucky. You don’t know why, but you are. Once per session, you may reroll one failed test.
- Life in the Shadows Twilight is your element, your colouring and lithe form making you almost impossible to track as the light dims. Whenever you are in partial or reduced light, you gain a +2 to all stealth roles.
- Like a Wolf As you shed your fur, you begin to resemble a vicious wolf, teeth bared and hungry for blood. You know how to use this appearance to your own ends! Whenever making an Intimidate check, you may use your proficiency bonus on top of any other modifiers.
- Big Unit Hulking and mighty, it doesn’t matter that you aren’t as big as a Dragon...you pack just as much into a smaller package! Add +1 to your Strength attribute.
- Defensive Fluff Your fur is spectacularly fluffy, softening the blows of your enemies and protecting you against whatever forces you must confront. Add +1 to your Armour Class.
- Adaptation You were born in freezing cold conditions, you’re used to them, capable of putting up with anything. You are Resistant to Cold Damage.
- Go Limp You’ve spent a lot of time going limp and playing dead. You’re eerily good at it, in fact, but you’ve learned something more while lying there, unmoving. When knocked Prone, you suffer no disadvantages to avoiding or evading attacks.
- Everybody Wants to be a Cat You know it’s natural to envy your grace, your fur, your beauty. How could they not? They won’t get close, of course, but they can always watch you. Add +1 to your Charisma Attribute.
- And…Push Things need pushing! That’s what they’re there for! Just give them a little nudge and see what happens! Whenever attempting to move a stationary object, you may add your Proficiency bonus to the roll.
- Stubborn You don’t go down. You’ve been in a lot of fights and you don’t like losing. You don’t like doing anything unless you want to do it. When you’re reduced to 0 hit points in combat, make a DC 14 Constitution save. If you succeed, you are not knocked unconscious but remain standing, on 1 hit point. This ability can only be used once per combat.
- Light Sleeper You don’t need much in the way of recovery time. You can get by in a way others can’t. When Short Resting, determine the number of hit points regained in the normal fashion (roll a Hit Dice and add the Constitution modifier), then add an additional 1d4+2 hit points to the total.
- Slippery Customer Someone with your dignity is, most assuredly, not going to be manhandled! Whenever an enemy attempts to grapple you, you make your opposing Dexterity roll at Advantage.
- Nine Lives Everyone knows that cats are too fast for death to catch. You make all death saves at advantage.
The Welcoming Dark.
Ever wondered how it is that cats can seem to be there one minute and gone the next? How it is that they can disappear for hours at a time in a room with nowhere to hide? Between worlds, outside of time, beyond the wit of any mortal species save other cats, lies the Welcoming Dark. It's presence is felt by all cats at all times, an ancestral home, a place of respite from the harshness of the world which treats animals so cruelly. The welcoming Dark manifests itself differently for each cat who visits, swaddling them in the contents of their dreams and nourishing them in the fashion each cat requires. All cats are conscious of the presence of their brothers and sisters in the Welcoming Dark, but only as a vague ephemeral presence; a comforting reminder of the link they all share, but remain able to heal and replenish themselves independently.
The welcoming Dark functions in the same was as a Long Rest, restoring all lost Hit Points and spend Hit Dice (upt o a number of dice equal to half the character's total number of them) and requireing a cat to spend at least 8 hours in the Welcoming Dark, not undertaking any strenuous activities. A cat also cannot visit the Welcoming Dark more than once in a 24-hour period and must possess at least 1 hit point at the start of it's rest to gain it's benefits. However, the welcoming dark is a physical space, a place apart. When a cat enters the Welcoming Dark, they are gone from the game world and cannot be attacked by any monsters or creatures near to where they previously were. They have vanished entirely and only return when the individual cat chooses. However, while the Welcoming Dark is safe from terrestrial threats, curious and dangerous things do lurk there. Each time a cat enters the Welcoming Dark, roll a d20.
On a 1, the following occurs: the Welcoming Dark suddenly opens and
spits you out! you cannot re-enter for 24 hours and only gain the
benefits of a short rest.
On a 20, the following occurs: The
welcoming Dark grants you a vision of things to come, warning you of the
threats you'll face. Gain one point of inspiration, which can be used
to re-take any failed test of the player character's choice.
5e Class Options. The following gives a brief overview of how the cat-versions of the individual classes manifest themselves and provides a unique class feat. A player may elect to take this feat instead of one of the standard first-level class feats.
- Barbarian - Ferocious Attack. Lunging towards the enemy, claws extended and fangs gleaming, you inflict massive damage as you attack. Whenever rolling for damage following a successful attack, roll two damage dice and choose the highest result.
- Bard - High Pitched Screech. While a Cat Bard can use it's voice to achieve the most beautiful, musical effects, they can also do substantially less pleasant things. A bard can unleash a hideous screeching noise as an attack (using Charisma), targeting one enemy within it's line of sight. This enemy is afflicted by the fear condition for the next turn.
- Cleric - Subtle Domain. (Feline Only)
- Druid - Wild Cat. You can Nature as a starting skill, for free. This does not replace any of the other two skills you may take at first level.
- Fighter - Cat's Paw. Whenever you roll a critical hit on a natural 20, you may make a second attack, as well as rolling additional damage. This attack may be on the same target or on a different target, provided they're within range.
- Monk - Nothing In The Laws of Physics. When making a dexterity test to overcome any difficult terrain or jump over a gap, you make the test at advantage.
- Paladin - Defender of the Furth. Cat Paladins are fortified by their belief in the Ailurokin and, as a result, are immune to the Frightened condition.
- Ranger - Urban Explorer. City can be chosen as a favored terrain and treated accordingly.
- Rogue - Light on Your Paws. Cat Rogues are agile even for cats. As a result, you may reroll one failed DEX save of your choice. This ability can only be used again after a visit to the Welcoming Dark.
- Sorcerer - I'm Sure I Live Here. Cat sorcerers retain an essential feline confidence, which they cannot help but project onto those who meet them, luring them into a false sense of security. As a result, you gain Friends as a free additional cantrip.
- Warlock - Cat Nap. Cat Warlocks are ablet o use their powers to send their enemies into a deep slumber. You can cast Sleep as a 1st level spell without expending a spell slot.
- Wizard - Hit the Lights! A Cat wizard may take Dancing Lights as a free Cantrip.