U54 Preview 1: Tabaxi and Tabaxi Trailblazer

[Steelstar]

The Tabaxi Race and Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic have been added to the game!


A few Known Issues before we start:

• Tabaxi and Tabaxi Trailblazers still have lingering animation adjustments that need to be done. If something doesn't look right, please let us know exactly what you were doing, what kind of weapons you were holding, and whether your character was Male or Female!
• Recommendation text for Tabaxi and Tabaxi Trailblazers in character creation has not been added yet.
• Female Tabaxi do not have hair customization options yet in this build.
• Some Tabaxi and Tabaxi Trailblazer enhancements have not yet been moved horizontally in the tree to logically line up with abilities above/below them.
• A few enhancements are in the process of being replaced; they have been noted below.

Tabaxi are a base race that starts in Eberron. Resembling cats, Tabaxi are a dexterous race that are light on their feet. Their innate feat allows them to move quickly for a after spending a short time planning their next move. Tabaxi make good Rogues, Monks, and Bards.

Tabaxi Base Stats:

• +2 DEX
• Starting Feat: Feline Agility: After standing still for 6 seconds, when you move again you gain a +30% Action Boost bonus to Movement Speed for 6 seconds.

Tabaxi Racial Past Lives:

• +1 Tumble
  
• +1 Dexterity
  
• +1 Racial AP

Tabaxi Tree:
Cores:

• Core 1: +1% Dodge, +1 Maximum Dexterity Bonus in Light Armor
• Core 2: Multiselector: +1 DEX / +1 CHA
• Core 3: +1% Dodge, +1 Maximum Dexterity Bonus in Light Armor
• Core 4: Multiselector: +1 DEX / +1 CHA
• Core 5: +1% Dodge and Dodge Cap. +1 Maximum Dexterity Bonus in Light Armor

Tier 1:

• Sharp Claws: +1/2/3 to Attack.
• Cat Scratch: Active: +2[W] Single Target Melee Attack. 6 second cooldown.
  
  • This is a custom animation - A wide swipe with the offhand. With THF and SWF, you'll hold the melee weapon in just the mainhand. Uses your main hand weapon for damage unless you have an offhand weapon equipped.
  
  
• Acrobatic: +1/2/3 Balance, Jump, and Tumble. +2/4/6 Armor Class while Tumbling.
• Land On Your Feet: You don't take falling damage.
• Sneaky Strikes: +1 Sneak Attack Die

Tier 2:

• Sneaky Claws: +1/2/3 to Attack while Flanking.
• Hunt Down: Your Cat Scratch now Hamstrings opponents for 3 seconds, reducing their movement rate by 50%. Some creatures are immune to the Hamstring effect.
• High Places: After falling for at least 1.5 seconds, when you land you gain +2 Critical Hit Confirmation, +2 Critical Hit Damage, and +25% Armor Piercing for 20 seconds.
• Honed Reflexes: You gain the benefits of the Deflect Arrows feat, knocking aside one incoming projectile that would have struck you every 6 seconds.
• Slip Out of Danger: +2/4/6 Saves vs. Traps. Rank 3: You gain +1 to Reflex Saves.

Tier 3:

• Stabby Claws: +1/2/3 to Melee Damage.
• Corner: +1/2/3% Dodge Bypass
• Natural Climber: +50% Movement Speed while climbing Ladders and other climbable surfaces (such as Vines)
  
  • (Known Issue: This ability is being cut for technical reasons, but has not been replaced yet in this build. We are open to suggestions on its replacement).
  
  
• Focused Agility: Your Feline Agility now only requires you to stand still for 3 seconds, and lasts for 9 seconds.
• Sneaky Strikes: +1 Sneak Attack Die

Tier 4:

• Feline Versatility:
  
  • Lash Out: +5% Offhand Strike Chance if using a Light Melee Weapon or Rapier in both hands.
  • Rapid Scratch: +3% Doublestrike while Single Weapon Fighting
  • Quick Paw: +3% Doubleshot with Thrown Weapons
  • Vigor: Vigor SLA
  
  
• Deep Scratches: Your Cat Scratch now deals Bane damage to targets it hits that are vulnerable to Bleed. This damage is equal to 1d8 damage +1 damage per Character Level, and scales with Melee Power.
• Fast Sprinter: Your Feline Agility now grants 50% Action Boost Bonus to Movement Speed and lasts for 18 seconds.
• 9 Lives: You gain Rogue's Defensive Roll feat. (While below 20% HP, there's a chance equal to your Reflex save that attacks do half damage and have their effects negated.)
• Lucky Cat: (Req: 9 Lives) You gain Evasion.

-------------------------------------------------------
Tabaxi Trailblazers are Iconics that start in Sharn with one level of Monk. Passed down between generations of Tabaxi, the title of Trailblazer represents this Tabaxi's ability to always find a way forward. Like standard Tabaxi, they can gain the ability to negate falling damage and move with quick bursts of speed. Tabaxi Trailblazers can gain True Seeing and can gain defensive bonuses when they dodge and tumble. They also use their expanded Dexterity to excel with Quarterstaves, gaining offensive bonuses with the weapons and the ability to use them to trip all nearby enemies.

Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic Base Stats:

• +2 DEX
• Base Feat: Feline Agility: After standing still for 6 seconds, when you move again you gain a +30% Action Boost bonus to Movement Speed for 6 seconds.
• Tabaxi Trailblazers use a unique set of Quarterstaff attack animations!

Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic Past Life Feat:

• Iconic Past Life Stance: +1 to Trip DCs per stack of this Past Life, up to 3.
• Passive Bonus: +1 to Saving Throws vs. Traps per stack of this Past Life, up to 3.
  
  • (Known Issue: The Iconic Past Life is not working yet, nor does it have the correct in-game text.)

Tabaxi Trailblazer Tree:

(Abilities in Orange are the ones that are different from the base Tabaxi.)
Cores:

• Core 1: +1% Dodge, +2% Dodge Bypass
• Core 2: Multiselector: +1 DEX / +1 CHA
• Core 3: +1% Dodge, +2% Dodge Bypass
• Core 4: Multiselector: +1 DEX / +1 CHA
• Core 5: +1% Dodge and Dodge Cap. +2% Dodge Bypass

Tier 1:

• Sharp Claws: +1/2/3 to Attack.
• Low Blows: +1/2/3 Trip DCs. Doubled if you have a Quarterstaff equipped.
• Acrobatic: +1/2/3 Balance, Jump, and Tumble. +2/4/6 Armor Class while Tumbling.
• Land On Your Feet: You don't take falling damage.
• Sneaky Strikes: +1 Sneak Attack Die

Tier 2:

• Surprise Claws: +1/2/3 to Attack while Flanking.
• Wayfinder's Weapons: Wooden Weapons you are wielding are immune to damage.
  
  • (Known Issue: In this build, Hunt Down appears in this spot. This is unintended.)
  
  
• High Places: After falling for at least 1.5 seconds, when you land you gain +2 Critical Hit Confirmation, +2 Critical Hit Damage, and +25% Armor Piercing for 20 seconds.
• Deflect Arrows: You gain the benefits of the Deflect Arrows feat, knocking aside one incoming projectile that would have struck you every 6 seconds.
• Slip Out of Danger: +2/4/6 Saves vs. Traps. Rank 3: You gain +1 to Reflex Saves.

Tier 3:

• Staff Adept: +1 to Damage with Melee Weapons.
  
  • (Known Issue: This ability is being replaced with "Attune: +1 Ki Regeneration on melee attacks, +1 Passive Ki Regeneration", but that is not present in this build.)
  
  
• Great Weapon Aptitude: +5/10/20% Strikethrough (req: Two Handed Fighting)
• Stealthy: +1/+2/+3 Hide and Move Silently. +20%/+35%/+50% movement speed while sneaking. Rank 3: While centered and Sneaking, your passive ki regeneration is increased by 1.
• Focused Agility: Your Feline Agility now only requires you to stand still for 3 seconds, and lasts for 9 seconds.
• Sneaky Strikes: +1 Sneak Attack Die

Tier 4:

• Wide Sweep: Melee Quarterstaff Trip Cleave Attack: +1/3/5[W] to all nearby enemies and trips them. Shares cooldown with Great Cleave. Uses Trip DCs and Dex for its DC.
• Staff Deflection: While holding a Quarterstaff, when Deflect Arrows triggers you gain a +10% Action Boost bonus to Doublestrike for 6 seconds.
• Cat's Eye: You have True Seeing, which cannot be dispelled from you.
• Fast Sprinter: Your Feline Agility now grants 50% Action Boost Bonus to Movement Speed and lasts for 18 seconds.
• Escape Artist: When you tumble, you gain 25% Incorporeality and 25% Concealment for 20 seconds. This can only trigger once per minute.

[Tianie]

They seem to REALLY hate Handwrap monks.
Staff monks are in a good place, lets help them, even though its handwrap monks that need the help.

[Tianie]

just make all the staff stuff a selector, with the other choice being for handwraps.

[droid327]

Thoughts before tomorrow's Public Preview...

- Another Eberron race...can we get another FR race at some point? There are some interesting possibilities with FR deities, but right now the options are so limited with ML being deity-locked and only really PDK having much synergy with Silvanus or Helm

- Another SWF-aligned race too...any chance Cat Scratch could gain a T4 multiselector with Deep Scratches that turns it into a cleave? Having a decent racial AOE attack is the prime reason SDK makes SWF more competitive...having one here would help bolster this race for its "intended" role too since rogue/swash doesnt have much for that. Not that a 6s 2W cleave is really that much anyway...

- Likewise, I wonder if 1d8+clvl is really appropriate for a T4 racial, even if it is Bane. That's 34.5 average damage at L30. Scaled with Melee Power, that's maybe +100 damage, and cant crit. Even if it is Bane, that's not worth pushing the button, let alone spending the AP. Maybe if it was (1d8+1) per clvl damage, then you're talking 165 base, scales to ~500 damage at L30. That seems more appropriate.

- Req: 9 Lives...for a second I thought this meant you needed 9 past lives ...Evasion is a nice add-on for light armor classes.

- Vigor SLA - I really really like adding some (non-charge based, I'm assuming/hoping) self-healing into racial trees. This opens up a lot of build possibility. My only concern here is Vigor caps off scaling at clvl9...again, for a T4 racial that seems too limited. Any chance this SLA version could use the Mass Vigor scaling, even if it stays single-target?

- Natural Climber - any technical chance this could change to "While climbing, your Jump will propel you straight up instead of outward at an angle". This would let players "salmon" up a ladder, which would accomplish much the same intent, and also be fun and very feline!

- Trailblazer: I feel this really needed to be handcuffed to an overhaul of the Henshin Mystic tree, because its clearly designed to align into Staff Monk. As it stands, I worry it'll have an unavoidable pigeonhole into /1 Rogue for Thief Acrobat's 15% Speed boost. That probably should be mirrored into Henshin ultimately, but in lieu of that, there probably needs to be a (non-stacking) copy of that somewhere in the Trailblazer tree, just to preclude that pigeonhole.

Unless, of course the new animation doesnt work with that TA enhancement at all (like it doesnt work with while-moving Qstaff attack animations). In which case, that's a serious blow to the intended role of staff specialist...

- AOE Trip on a 5 sec CD? Dang...guess all Trailblazers are going to run T5 LD for that sweet spammable Helpless Trip

- 6 secs is still such a loooong time to be standing still...I made similar complaints during the HW preview regarding Archer's Focus stand-still delay. 3 secs is better, but still - the game actively discourages melees from standing still. Maybe 4/2 secs is a better way to make this ability more naturally integrated into the flow of gameplay. It might sound like a really short time on paper but that's an eternity in-combat. Plus it sounds like the whole point of the class is to feel fast and fluid, and that would help the effect feel more organic and less deliberate.

Edit: betting the meta for these is sorc for base race...sorc is already aoe zerg king, then add in evasion, a self heal, and 50% run speed too? As with shifter, the iconic seems less desirable than the base race...maybe an ek staff wiz, get the new animation and auto sprint?

[MistaMagic]

Good Evening/afternoon. Is the Core T4 Rapid Scratch compatable with a swashbuckler?

[voxson5]

Missed opportunity on the iconic, could have ripped off puss in boots (obvious fan favourite), or a final fantasy type mage/sorcerer.

I'd be a fan of a wraps monk as I could at least base it off Yoruichi from Bleach. We had a whole brony era before, so why not include some anime/manga nods?

IMO a ninjaspy thrower iconic would have been a better choice, a la cats throwing things off bookcases & being sneaky.

[Saekee]

Just going by OP not actual testing

There should be some base bonus to listing and spot, maybe search too (DDO does not use olfactory stuff so this is the substitute).

Please add something relating to FANGS and not just claws. Perhaps a boost to assassinate and not just movement in Feline agility (I would add +1 ki while using it too, and an untyped to hit bonus on the first target). Cats grapple onto things with a big bite and hold their prey by their throats. For DDO this could be related to assassinate, tendon slice on weapons option (maybe a multiselector with the paw thingy), or even some kind of dual-wielding special attack that if it crits, the target is immobilized/helpless against a Dex DC save.

suggestion:
Feline agility: ...and + insight bonus to your jump, spot and listen based on your dex modifier.

On your back: when knocked down, you can still scratch and kick somehow…translating this into DDO terms, if knocked down, you are able to move and act but slowed instead of knockdown. Or something like that, no idea honestly.

Is this race on all fours when it is in sneak mode?

9 lives and Lucky cat: I would like to see some extra bonuses if these things are already in one's possession, e.g. if one has evasion, then they get improved evasion; if they already have improved evasion, they get a +10% bonus to MRR and MRR cap or something like that as well as + some boost on reflex saves. 9 lives: if one already has this boost, it increases by another 15% over whatever it is (so one could take it up to 65% of one's health if using the TA enhancement).

[Dragonlover333]

[*]Great Weapon Aptitude: +5/10/20% Strikethrough (req: Two Weapon Fighting)

Two *Weapon* Fighting? I hope that typo is only in this post, not the code :P

[Moribund_the_Greater]

The Tabaxi Race and Tabaxi Trailblazer Iconic have been added to the game!
[*]Great Weapon Aptitude: +5/10/20% Strikethrough (req: Two Weapon Fighting)

Should the req here be 2HF instead of 2WF? It seems most of these are qstaff related and requiring 2WF makes no sense in this context.

[Steelstar]

Should the req here be 2HF instead of 2WF? It seems most of these are qstaff related and requiring 2WF makes no sense in this context.

Correct. I have fixed the post text, will fix it in-game as well.

[SlowDM]

What a lump of cat fur

[Aaabbbcccddd]

For the Natural Climber Enchantment you could put in something that is good for Handwarp monks. For example Ambush Hunter: While you are dual wielding weapons, your Melee attacks deal an additional 5/10/15% damage to helpless opponents. I thing that would also be "easy" to implement.

Else as an active ability, Intuitive leap: You make a quick dash backwards, to avoid danger. When used after standing still for 6/3 sec you also gain + 10 AC, +20 MRR +20 PRR Action Boost Bonus for 10 sec .(30 sec cooldown) Could also have other small benefits than ac, prr and mrr that fit the theme. This would be usefull for ranged builds that get to close to the action, or to avoid circles, aoe spells, etc. You could also yeet yourself of a bridge by mistake, or be a pro and use it mid air with a 360° to propel you forward.

That would be my suggestions. All in all I like the trees, they look solid and sound very feral felinish.

[Halciet]

[fatherpirate]

Replace Natural climber with Pouncing adding +5/+10/+15 to jump

[fatherpirate]

I really do not get the monk choice for a cat race.
I have owned cats all my life, and not one of them could be
called 'lawful' anything.

[LeoLionxxx]

Hopped on for a quick run around after work. Generated the following pieces of feedback:

# Character creation
- On the iconic char selection screen, the Tabxi model is moving too fast for me to stop and admire it. I suggest adding more time between the animations (having a "movement" toggle on the char selection screen)
- On a Female Tabaxie, I see no additional hair options, which is disappointing
- I LOVE THE BIG BUSHY TAILS!
- The Marking and Wrinkle settings are hidden under the colour selections, such that you need to scroll down. It would be nice to have a better indicator that there is content down there to scroll down for. Otherwise, I suggest placing these more important features closer to the top so the player is sure not to miss them

# Trailblazer
- I don't like the hood cosmetic, especially with it being auto equipped; I chose my big poofy mane and want to see my big poofy mane
- While running and making unarmed attacks, my character's butt moves up and down in a manner that would put Nicki Minaj to shame. I then stop running while still attacking and my body does a funny stretch
- Following the iconic path, I had 0 point invested in Tumble. This feels like an oversight for a Monk build.
- TAIL IS SO BIG AND BUSHY I LOVE IT!
- Cat Scratch attack appears to be absent from the Trailblazer tree (yet is still referenced in the T2 "Hunt Down")
- Dance animations look great. (both currently stop after 1 cycle)

# Dinosaur mounts look amazing
- No dance animation for them yet
- The featherless one looks better IMO


Test dogo stuck spot: (Standard): You are on server 12 at r1 lx2008 ly32 i2050 cInside ox-38.12 oy39.37 oz-288.17 h302.3. Game timestamp 12708.133.

[GramercyRiff]

Default of standing still for the racial passive ability needs to be decreased otherwise it's pretty useless. I dislike that there is an AP tax to make it ok. Dislike Deep Scratches. It's not interesting at all and doesn't make much sense.

Love High Places if simply jumping with max jump and having ff activates it.

I like that the iconic makes sense unlike the shifter iconic. Making sense relative to shifter iconic isn't a very high bar though is it. I don't really care about any of this stuff. There's not much here that makes me want to play the race or the game for that matter. If I'm not playing I'm not spending money on the game. I'm of the opinion that new stuff needs to be interesting enough so that it inspires people to play the game. That's not happening here for me.

[TFerguson]

A 4th DEX race when we're only at 1 for STR is BS.

[Zuldar]

Natural Climber: +50% Movement Speed while climbing Ladders and other climbable surfaces (such as Vines)
(Known Issue: This ability is being cut for technical reasons, but has not been replaced yet in this build. We are open to suggestions on its replacement).

Natural Leaper: +(arbitrary large number) racial bonus to jump while sneaking.

[Monkey_Archer]

Overall I like it.

Balance-wise its about right: Obviously stronger than the F2P races (it basically takes all the best stuff from elf and halfling and removes negative stat penalty), but at least its not obscenely overpowered like shadar-kai or aasimar.

A 4th DEX race when we're only at 1 for STR is BS.

this. obviously.