Unqualified Experts #5: Roleplaying Tabaxi and Kenku Like a Pro
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- Опубликовано: 11 окт 2020
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We've got a soft spot for most, if not all, of our own D&D characters, but there are always some that jump into contention when deciding which is our favorite. Whose favorites are truly the most memorable ones though? Braden and Shane feel that good roleplaying is what separates a good character from a great one, so today they're going over tips for making the most of a couple races found in Volo's Guide to Monsters - the Tabaxi and the Kenku!
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Also, as a kenku, there are so many situations where your mimicry can do what no other character can.
As an example, I was DMing in a table with a kenku assassin rogue/shadow monk. Pretty dark stuff, you can say. But the character had travelled enough to develop itself to a point of not only being a total loner.
The apex of such character was in a situation where the party were trying to follow the tracks of a full scale war happening between orcs and other mortals (forgotten realms setting). In a attacked village, they found a half-elf children, which was scared, lost of her parents, all that trauma stuff.
The party got hooked by the idea of protecting the child (there were a LG paladin so no trouble on that) until her parents were found. But, on the meantime, the kid not necessarily trusted the group. They were strangers, after all. So both the paladin and the cleric were trying to make the child comfortable.
The first night at camp, the half-elf just didn't sleep. She was too scared of everything, and cried a good portion of the night. The next day she was pretty much a handicap to the group, cause she had to be carried, didn't accept the food offered easily, and eventually just fell on the road, out of exhaustion.
Paladin and cleric spells kick in, restore the girl, but not enough to gain her trust, nor to make her perfectly comfortable. As a DM, I imagined the whole situation to be a challenge on itself, to be rewarded with XP, after all. So it just couldn't be just easy.
The next night, as the paladin was trying to put the children to sleep, the kenku player just came up and asked me a question, on private. I let his idea roll, as follows:
The kenku approaches the kid, and asks "song?", on the sweetest voice one could've ever heard. The kid hugs the paladin's arm, but nods.
Then, the player put a song on youtube, voice and lute, with both a soothing melody and elven voice. The kenku didn't understand elvish, but he was a kenku, after all. I ask him to roll for performance, and he nails a nat 20.
The kid, the paladin, and everyone else who was awake, just fell asleep. It was a perfect mimicry of a perfect song. Any encounters I had planned for the night (they would be attacked) were scratched. I just couldn't ruin the moment.
With such twist, the kid starts to trust the group, but gets really interested in being friends with the assassin monk, and gets closer and closer, seeing him both as a father and a friend. The character had more chances to flourish his personality, as well, something I highly value.
Three sessions later, they found the kid's parents, after freeing them from slavery. Half the players had tears on their eyes, as they saw the impromtu family split their paths.
So, yeah, mimicry is though to deal with, as players, but definitely, in the hands of a creative enough player, will create moments your group will certainly talk about
That is a wonderful story, and sounds like a really cool experience all around. Thanks so much for sharing!
I try to remember and take note every situation my kenku is in so that i can pull it out whenever we might need evidence or distraction. Mimicry is great when used right with the right timing.
That brought a year to my eye while also bringing to mind my Warforged Bard concept. His name is Boombox.
That opening was just so great. Nailed it. Also I can't wait to play the Kenku who is not a glorified parrot. Nice work.
We had a deaf player sign all of his interactions to another who was the kenku's "interpreter"
This is an incredibly clever cross between roleplaying and inclusivity. D&D players are truly the best humans.
Thank you so much! I am playing with my sons (all grown up) and I was looking for more insight into Tabaxi and how to make my character fun. This was awesome info!
Thanks for the wonderful compliment! Braden plays a pretty incredible Tabaxi, and it is pretty amazing how the little "cat things" can really make them come to life as a distinct character. Happy adventuring!
I played a kenku once, had a blast buy I've noticed that most other people assume they only started to learn to talk when meeting the party for the first time.
That's when you use your backstory to really start messing with them! "We never said anything like that in front of you..."
One thing that surprises me about the Kenku, is that no one literally no one! Has pointed out that you can speak with sign language!
I feel like a genius! But I know it's not that ground breaking.
It's a great idea! Given how prevalent sign language was in 3rd edition, I am shocked this hasn't come up more.
@@AssortedMeeples RIGHT!, Technically you're not speaking you're just waving your hands so technically that's body language and last I checked Kenku weren't emotionless. They Caw triumphantly when victorious and the coo when satisfied. I suppose if I'm gonna mention body language then stomping and flapping is on brand.
You know I'll admit it: I didn't even think of this. That's a great detail to keep in mind, and helps tackle the problem some kenku players run into of feeling gimmicky or repetitive when trying to communicate in campaign.
My DM made Thieve's Cant sign language in his campaign.
So I came up with a concept for both, but deviated a bit from the stereotypical classes for Tabaxi or Kenku.
Maximus the Tabaxi Warlock, his Fae Patron is an obsessed cat lady who insists on dressing him up and pampering him with food and trinkets.
And mimicking some of these ideas in true Kenku fashion....
Poe the Raven, a College of Spirits Bard who tells the best ghost stories.... In the first person, in the voice of the ghost. Yes, he is a former member of a circus.
Thanks guys! I subbed.
Braden here, and I LOVE the cat lady Patron idea. I wish I could claim credit for thinking of that myself! Also a big fan of Poe the Raven, and I know Shane would be as well since we both have English degrees!
And thank you for the sub - glad to hear you are enjoying our content!
i just made a kenku ranger for a one-shot. i'm planning on having a text file open where i can write down phrases me or other party members say so i can reuse them, because otherwise i'll forget.
As someone who is literally doing an episode zero tomorrow as a Kenku, thank you, i almost changed my character last minute because i got in my head and was unsure on how to play my character, call me inspired! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I’m playing my first campaign as a Tabaxi sorcerer that uses hemocraft. Trying to nail it down. Thanks abunch!
This episode was a ton of fun to film and edit. Definitely digging Shane's Kenku idea - I think that'll be hilarious to observe at some point in the future.
i made a Kenku that i can't wait to play, he was kidnapped when he was young (around the age of 4) buy a criminal guild, where he was trained how to be an assassin, and as such was forced to train against random adults off of the streets. this gave him a very suppressed personality and has learnt 10 different voices. resulting in him believing that everything revolves around payment (like the right for him to listen to you). but this also gave him an incredible fear of the undead and spirits, this actually can get my kenku to cry.
About to be a Tabaxi rogue, and new to role playing so this was super helpful and fun to watch! Thank you!
You bet! Feel free to share how that goes!
Had a chaotic kenku moment in the last session: as a rogue - a class who has to stay unnoticed as much as possible, you know, - I had to endure the presence of several normal stray cats “squatting” in the abandoned house the party and I “broke into” with its owner in the middle of the night; while owner and everyone else in the party was or tried to pet and hug the vagabonds, I was making Wis saves in order to stay professional and *not* try and pull the tails of those cats like normal crows usually do. What’s worse is that two of the three saving throws were NAT 1 without modifiers - que my Kenku going “full primal” and trying to pull the tails not with his hands but with his beak; luckily, Dex checks for tail-pulling were almost as bad as the saving throws, so the whole ordeal didn’t end up producing enough noise to alarm the neighbors.
Almost relieved there’s no tailed player characters - especially Tabaxi ones, - in the group, though after the session DM did express an urge to add a Tabaxi npc into the story despite the fact that his homebrew didn’t include this kind of beast folks from the start; hope his Wis saving throws will be better than mine, lol…
That is an excellent tale :D. Braden knows the struggle of resisting impulses as a Tabaxi character, particularly in one campaign where a gnome tinkerer sold one of his fellow party members what was effectively a laser pointer. He failed both his Wisdom saves to resist going after the little red dot and his intelligence saves to figure out what was causing the little dot to appear for so long, it influenced the spells his warlock took. This lasted for several levels until he finally took True Seeing, coincidentally passed his Intelligence save to realize the truth of the laser pointer, and accidentally saw someone invisible who was observing the party's antics in the process.
I played my tabaxi characters differently. It was brought to light when meeting a new tabaxi PC. Mine was disgusted at "this housecat pretending to be predator." Theirs was based on a pet. Mine was based on a cougar or panther.
You took true sight because of a laser pointer XD I love it! Hope my party does something similar at somepoint. I would really reward it.
I currently play a non-standard kenku who just entered his backstory's climax.
He had a master who had him use his forgery to reproduce scrolls and books, and developed creativity from it. He was taught to read and write and form sentences but since he still doesn't have his own voice, he mimics other peoples' voices. I can't do it in real life so I used a ransom note generator I found online to at least give his changing voices at every word some visuals.
His master being a former adventurer, he taught my kenku techniques, methods and strategies his party used. They were drilled into him so much, that they became second nature. The kenku's party found this weird since he's a kenku, but his ideas comee in handy.
Because of the story's progression he now borrows his master's voice as a tribute to his sacrifice.
In the surface, he would feel like any other character, until I tell people he's a kenku.
I really like the idea of expanding on the kenku's mimicry here and tailoring it for character structure and development. Thanks very much for sharing!
@@AssortedMeeples
Thanks. He's my first character and I really love how the DM integrated his backstory into his campaign.
I wanted to have the full experience by building a character around roleplay and ended up with him becoming a beastmaster - celestial chainlock - knowledge cleric of Akadi. So many skills.
I've also been looking for ideas how to play a kenku properly and my only issue about this video is the audio :3
Thank you so much for this!!! im actually trying to create and play a half Tabaxi-half kenku and this helps a ton!!
That sounds like an awesome character concept!
@@AssortedMeeples Thank you so much!!! :D
That moment when a character chasing it's own tail gets serious.
Playing a Kenku that uses a haughty professor's voice of his, among several others. He uses voices he heard around campus, sounding like a blatant edit of dialog. Or a YTP. Basically, he speaks in several voices. It's disturbing to people, but he likes wielding terror
That's a really cool angle! You've inspired an idea for a Kenku that mimics the sounds of choirs from me (Braden), and I'd be hard pressed to find something more disturbing coming from a single being!
@@AssortedMeeples I was just thinking of Kenku communicating in memes and clichés they've heard! I never would have thought of choirs! Ingenious!
about to play a kenku assassin. 3 sessions in my gnome bard died. had a great backstory. family that work as hitmen for the mob, she hangs out in the sewers w rats, stray cats and dogs w names like mad dog magee, street cat named desire, 2 toes tommy, and the rats were havarti mascarpone head of the Mascapone family of king pin rats. she learned music from sammy garganzola the boss mans bestie who would keep an eye on me growing up when daddy had meetings w the head mob. anyways story goes I took in this kenku and now that my 1st character is dead they sent my kenku "pet" to avenge my death. so my party will still hear my 1st characters whitty Brooklyn style accent every now and then and my quirks of spouting out random rat facts or death/dying facts my kenku will repeat when she feels sad. or mobster one liners. when she thinks something Is pretty or handsome she will whistle and say "hey, how you doin", all flirty like my first character. if it is a fancy doodads or trinket she will then put it in her bag. she will growl like a dog if she doesn't like something/someone, purr when happy, After a rough fight will be mimic my first character with "boy I could really go for an eclair right about now." make snoring noises when a rest is needed. and "there now don't you look pretty" when she wants her companion to clean her up using presadigitation. it is a way to still get to sort of play my orriginal character while not really playing her. an idea the DM CAM UP WITH.
Guys you really need a better microphone
We hear you loud and clear! Our sound equipment was actually updated early in Season 2 of Unqualified Experts - I think if you give that a listen, you'll hear things much more clearly :).
Yup - thanks for the feedback and you are correct. This was our early "Jump in and learn" and upgrading sound was a big, BIG focus for us for later episodes. Learn by doing :)