"I would be remiss if I didn't mention the samurai jungle space cats on the lost moon" your ban list aside that's one of your best quotes, I always wonder how many times in settings like Mystara and Tamriel has a witch or wizard brought a kitten off an animal merchant as a familiar only to freak out when it starts talking to them.
I didn't quite catch if all Rakasta are afraid of water or just the lesser variety. Considering Tigers are known to take daily swims, it'd be weird of Greater Rakasta also doesn't like water. Also I started chuckling when you brought up my favorite Elder Scrolls race ( _I love both Wood Elves and Khajiit, and to a lesser extent Breton and Argonians_ ) alongside the image of a Mountain Lion being carried away by animal handlers / police. " _Khajiit did nothing wrong. Khajiit is innocent o' dis kreim._ "
It was simpler to apply the rule to all of them since there is no mechanical difference between a lion and a tiger variety. I didn't want to complicate the rules too much
I never originally imagined Rakasta as afraid of water and it seemed strange at first to me since I associate them with a humid island full of jungles and swamps and imagined them as more like tigers than any other cat.
@@BlackJar72 Run them how you like, they don't seem all that overpowered compared to other races so this is not like the Drow's sunlight sensitivity where it is arguably part of what balances the race statistically. It's just flavor.
Minor thing to add, the (Japanese version of) Myoshiman Rakasta are one of 3+ native cultures to Myoshima. and the only ones we are introduced to in the Voyage of the Princess Ark however 2 other nation states are mentioned. The Rakasta (Shogunate?) appeared to be at war with a Myoshiman Rajahstan (Indian?) and a third faction that sounds like the Majapahit Empire of Indonesia. As for the Thunderift scenario, it appears that the Rakasta there may have been a banished clan from the Shogunate, that emmigrated. And since the exit portal from Thunderift opens up in Karameikos, it may be a place on Mystara, that is simply much further way, although that's only speculation.
Actually very little. Most of the rakasta art I already had. Leonin art was just magic cards. Tabaxi art is all official. Only hit cringe looking for the sphinx at the end.
Khajit are actually extremely varied, coming in both humanoid and non-humanoid forms and even a form that can pass as an elf -- it just happens only one variant is available to players or commonly seen outside Elswyer.
@@joluoto Not really most of the breeds described in the books never appeared in the games at most you could say it's to explain them becoming Cat people in Daggerfall and full on furries in Morrowind. Morrowind is famous for establishing most of the series lore (before that point it was a fairly standard fantasy setting). So saying it's lore fluff to explain away changes falls flat since it's from the game that established the lore in the first place. Bare in mind Argonians similarly changed from Arena to Daggerfall (They became full Lizard people changing from Reptilian conspiracy meme people) and Morrowind also changed them (Gave them degitigrade legs) but Argonians haven't received any such retcon. It's completely unacknowledged that they used to look less Reptilian in the first game and that they tip-toed everywhere in the third so it's more of Mike Kirkbrine intentionally wanting to get weird
I would like to suggest a topic. Specularum. I just started a campaign that begins there, and I have discovered that the rabbit hole is deep! Aside from a mention in a Gazetteer, there are several modules, and an entire issue of Threshold magazine, and I don't yet know what else. I am comparing it to other famous D&D cities, and none of them come close. Specularum has it all!
@@Mr_Welch I am currently running a game in Specularum, and I was thinking of tossing in a Rakasta sidekick to an important NPC,. This will impress the PCs with the main NPCs influence and exotic connection, and will also convey the cosmopolitan flavor I am trying to invoke.
There is quite a few different breeds of Kahjiit. There is one that looks nearly human. Two humanoid cats one with human legs and one with more animal like legs. House cat sized Kahjiit, and a large quadruped that is used as a mount.
I'm organizing a lot of my miniature bookmarks on my browser, and having videos like these on in the background helps me out a lot with organization. Thank you so much for all of these videos and your hard work!
Here is some extra details for you regarding Pathfinder catfolk, they are SOMEWHAT similar to rakasta in that they are meant to be widely varied in how they look. Most major difference is this primarily is meant to apply to arguments regarding "how furry are they?" The original PF Catfolk art drew some rather vocal complaints regarding how whimsical and animeish it looked while having PLENTY of equally vocal defenders who more or less were of the opinion "but this makes it actually DIFFERENT from other Catfolk and not just another Khajiit which you guys want." So to compromise JJ just threw up his hands and said, "EVERYTHING is canon for them." And indeed if you find every bit of official Catfolk art I'm PF books you will find all forms of styles for them including the most extreme "not that furry" being thundercats style but most of them being not!khajiits to appease the common denominator ground of players being use to Skyrim as their primary source of fantasy at the time. Of course a strong side effect of this is you also get no major unifying rule on what species of cats they look like on top of all that, so you get tigers and leopards as well as more house cat looking Catfolk. Of course I have no idea if they changed their mind with second edition and unified their style. Been years since I closely followed PF. Unfortunately a LOT of Pathfinder lore AND game design more or less follows the tune of the original creator James Jacobs having to concede ideas and plans to the very vocal minority on the official forums, so it's possible they eventually just made them all not!khajiits. Examples include them screaming about him wanting to put more detail and depth to the Asian expys in his world, so he was never able to attempt properly expanding the setting beyond the inner seas aside from the dragon empires book. Or the time they forced a retcon of one of the deities because he was too traditional lifestyle focused. PF was designed for the fans and essentially by the fans at the end of the day.
To be perfectly blunt, having read Mr. Welch's 5e Mystara PHB... I would say the Leonin's roar racial trait in 5e is actually a lot more powerful and useful to players than his Greater Rakasta's version. At the very least, the fact that the leonin roar is a bonus action rather than an action means players aren't put into the position of having to choose between an always useful, reliable weapon or spell attack and a very situationally useful roar attack, which is the exact same issue that makes the 5e dragonborn so damn terrible.
@@Mr_Welch That seems to be the case. I did think that the version I was reading seemed to have different art to the pieces you had been displaying on your videos. I found it at glen.stelio.net/
@@Mr_Welch I see. That was the first version I found when I tried to look for it after discovering you had created it, I didn't know there were other, more recent versions elsewhere.
Kajeet have many subraces, and vary from full cat to just an elf. Also housecat up to lion. You just don't see those in the games because Bethesda is trash
kajiit are actually ridiculously varied in the lore, though not well represented in the games because a single race with like 12 major biological morphologies based off the cycles of the moon would be a nightmare to design for. they can be effectively cat girls, 3 different kinds of standard cat men, a few variations of beast like man-cat hybrids, literally giant quadrupedal great cats, or literally just a talking house cat, all based on the phase of the moon. they love and have religious uses for moon sugar which is just a normal spice for them but a hard drug for every other race in the world, which happens to make them highly susceptible to drug abuse (doubly so since skooma, the biggest narcotic in the world is refined moon sugar) your description of them is plenty accurate for the depictions in game though tbh
For the people bitching about Kahjiit having a lot more lore and backstory... Who cares? You can only ever play one of the dozens of sub-races nor are the others even seen outside Elsewere. Until a single player Elder Scrolls game comes out that lets you play as one of the various sub-races (a snowball's chance in the 9 hells), all that lore means dick all.
Actually you play 4 across the mainline series. One in Arena, a different one in Daggerfall, A different one in Morrowind and a different one after that. Oblivion and Skyrim share the same type. Outside of the main series Elder Scrolls online let's you see some of the other types and even have one of the "battle cat" breeds as a mount
Will not lie, Rakasta are inarguably superior to all comers. You are technically wrong about them being the only race with sub-races, but considering that you only ever see one breed of Khajit in any given Elder Scrolls game you are effectively correct. Admittedly I like the Khajit lore more, but in practice it rarely manifests any if at all aside from them being skeevy drug dealing gypsies, so in practice Rakasta are probably a lot more fun to play with. On top of that you can do a lot more with them both as a player, and a world builder so that's a huge edge.
I mean looking back at it You got the most Human/Elf looking breed in Arena the Cat-girl-ish variation in Daggerfall, Morrowind made them full Cat people with degitigrade legs, Oblivion and Skyrim used a similar breed but with normal legs. But I can see people not knowing that the ones in Oblivion and Skyrim are different from the Morrowind ones instead of the same race being retconned because that's what happened to the Argonians. They just had their legs changed (which tbf Morrowind did first since Daggerfall and Arena had them with normal legs).
"I would be remiss if I didn't mention the samurai jungle space cats on the lost moon" your ban list aside that's one of your best quotes, I always wonder how many times in settings like Mystara and Tamriel has a witch or wizard brought a kitten off an animal merchant as a familiar only to freak out when it starts talking to them.
Kajheet is innocent of this vote
"Everything has darkvision that isn't human" *cries in dragonborn*
I didn't quite catch if all Rakasta are afraid of water or just the lesser variety. Considering Tigers are known to take daily swims, it'd be weird of Greater Rakasta also doesn't like water. Also I started chuckling when you brought up my favorite Elder Scrolls race ( _I love both Wood Elves and Khajiit, and to a lesser extent Breton and Argonians_ ) alongside the image of a Mountain Lion being carried away by animal handlers / police.
" _Khajiit did nothing wrong. Khajiit is innocent o' dis kreim._ "
It was simpler to apply the rule to all of them since there is no mechanical difference between a lion and a tiger variety. I didn't want to complicate the rules too much
I never originally imagined Rakasta as afraid of water and it seemed strange at first to me since I associate them with a humid island full of jungles and swamps and imagined them as more like tigers than any other cat.
@@BlackJar72 Run them how you like, they don't seem all that overpowered compared to other races so this is not like the Drow's sunlight sensitivity where it is arguably part of what balances the race statistically. It's just flavor.
Minor thing to add, the (Japanese version of) Myoshiman Rakasta are one of 3+ native cultures to Myoshima. and the only ones we are introduced to in the Voyage of the Princess Ark however 2 other nation states are mentioned. The Rakasta (Shogunate?) appeared to be at war with a Myoshiman Rajahstan (Indian?) and a third faction that sounds like the Majapahit Empire of Indonesia.
As for the Thunderift scenario, it appears that the Rakasta there may have been a banished clan from the Shogunate, that emmigrated. And since the exit portal from Thunderift opens up in Karameikos, it may be a place on Mystara, that is simply much further way, although that's only speculation.
Be real with me, how much terrifying furry art did you have to sift through?
Actually very little. Most of the rakasta art I already had. Leonin art was just magic cards. Tabaxi art is all official. Only hit cringe looking for the sphinx at the end.
Rakasta are definitely the race I am going with when I can finally get my hands on a physical copy of your 5E book
Khajit are actually extremely varied, coming in both humanoid and non-humanoid forms and even a form that can pass as an elf -- it just happens only one variant is available to players or commonly seen outside Elswyer.
in fact a total of four variants are available, only one in each game
Or basically lore flum to cover up that the Khajit has been retconned several times.
@@joluoto Not really most of the breeds described in the books never appeared in the games at most you could say it's to explain them becoming Cat people in Daggerfall and full on furries in Morrowind. Morrowind is famous for establishing most of the series lore (before that point it was a fairly standard fantasy setting). So saying it's lore fluff to explain away changes falls flat since it's from the game that established the lore in the first place.
Bare in mind Argonians similarly changed from Arena to Daggerfall (They became full Lizard people changing from Reptilian conspiracy meme people) and Morrowind also changed them (Gave them degitigrade legs) but Argonians haven't received any such retcon. It's completely unacknowledged that they used to look less Reptilian in the first game and that they tip-toed everywhere in the third so it's more of Mike Kirkbrine intentionally wanting to get weird
I would like to suggest a topic. Specularum. I just started a campaign that begins there, and I have discovered that the rabbit hole is deep! Aside from a mention in a Gazetteer, there are several modules, and an entire issue of Threshold magazine, and I don't yet know what else. I am comparing it to other famous D&D cities, and none of them come close. Specularum has it all!
I can add it to the list
@@Mr_Welch I am currently running a game in Specularum, and I was thinking of tossing in a Rakasta sidekick to an important NPC,. This will impress the PCs with the main NPCs influence and exotic connection, and will also convey the cosmopolitan flavor I am trying to invoke.
There is quite a few different breeds of Kahjiit. There is one that looks nearly human. Two humanoid cats one with human legs and one with more animal like legs. House cat sized Kahjiit, and a large quadruped that is used as a mount.
I stopped playing DND a couple years ago, and I never miss one of your videos. Keep up the great content
I'm organizing a lot of my miniature bookmarks on my browser, and having videos like these on in the background helps me out a lot with organization. Thank you so much for all of these videos and your hard work!
2:22 ! Excellent picture!
Here is some extra details for you regarding Pathfinder catfolk, they are SOMEWHAT similar to rakasta in that they are meant to be widely varied in how they look. Most major difference is this primarily is meant to apply to arguments regarding "how furry are they?" The original PF Catfolk art drew some rather vocal complaints regarding how whimsical and animeish it looked while having PLENTY of equally vocal defenders who more or less were of the opinion "but this makes it actually DIFFERENT from other Catfolk and not just another Khajiit which you guys want."
So to compromise JJ just threw up his hands and said, "EVERYTHING is canon for them." And indeed if you find every bit of official Catfolk art I'm PF books you will find all forms of styles for them including the most extreme "not that furry" being thundercats style but most of them being not!khajiits to appease the common denominator ground of players being use to Skyrim as their primary source of fantasy at the time. Of course a strong side effect of this is you also get no major unifying rule on what species of cats they look like on top of all that, so you get tigers and leopards as well as more house cat looking Catfolk.
Of course I have no idea if they changed their mind with second edition and unified their style. Been years since I closely followed PF. Unfortunately a LOT of Pathfinder lore AND game design more or less follows the tune of the original creator James Jacobs having to concede ideas and plans to the very vocal minority on the official forums, so it's possible they eventually just made them all not!khajiits. Examples include them screaming about him wanting to put more detail and depth to the Asian expys in his world, so he was never able to attempt properly expanding the setting beyond the inner seas aside from the dragon empires book. Or the time they forced a retcon of one of the deities because he was too traditional lifestyle focused. PF was designed for the fans and essentially by the fans at the end of the day.
The Rakasta seem like the most ideal form of feline folk, seriously they seem perfect for any setting by far,
What the hell wizards
First adventure i ever played was Rage of the Rakasta! Love them
Rakasta? It means "to love" in Finnish.
To be perfectly blunt, having read Mr. Welch's 5e Mystara PHB... I would say the Leonin's roar racial trait in 5e is actually a lot more powerful and useful to players than his Greater Rakasta's version. At the very least, the fact that the leonin roar is a bonus action rather than an action means players aren't put into the position of having to choose between an always useful, reliable weapon or spell attack and a very situationally useful roar attack, which is the exact same issue that makes the 5e dragonborn so damn terrible.
You must be looking at version 27. The roar ability has been changed to a bonus action in the current version
@@Mr_Welch That seems to be the case. I did think that the version I was reading seemed to have different art to the pieces you had been displaying on your videos. I found it at glen.stelio.net/
@@MrNetWraith that version I believe is 4 years old now. There were over 80 revisions since then.
@@Mr_Welch I see. That was the first version I found when I tried to look for it after discovering you had created it, I didn't know there were other, more recent versions elsewhere.
The sphinx cat girl is going to haunt me
You have shit taste.
Where are the B/X statistics for Rakasta located?
Champions of mystara boxed set. That's as close as you're going to get
"Remember, friends don't let friends play sphinx cat girls".
Shit taste Welch.
What ever happened to Tibbits?
I guess I can see how Tabbit don't count.
Kajeet have many subraces, and vary from full cat to just an elf. Also housecat up to lion.
You just don't see those in the games because Bethesda is trash
wheres the dnd 3.5 tibbit race?halfings who can transform without amgic in house cats.
kajiit are actually ridiculously varied in the lore, though not well represented in the games because a single race with like 12 major biological morphologies based off the cycles of the moon would be a nightmare to design for. they can be effectively cat girls, 3 different kinds of standard cat men, a few variations of beast like man-cat hybrids, literally giant quadrupedal great cats, or literally just a talking house cat, all based on the phase of the moon. they love and have religious uses for moon sugar which is just a normal spice for them but a hard drug for every other race in the world, which happens to make them highly susceptible to drug abuse (doubly so since skooma, the biggest narcotic in the world is refined moon sugar)
your description of them is plenty accurate for the depictions in game though tbh
For the people bitching about Kahjiit having a lot more lore and backstory... Who cares? You can only ever play one of the dozens of sub-races nor are the others even seen outside Elsewere. Until a single player Elder Scrolls game comes out that lets you play as one of the various sub-races (a snowball's chance in the 9 hells), all that lore means dick all.
Actually you play 4 across the mainline series. One in Arena, a different one in Daggerfall, A different one in Morrowind and a different one after that. Oblivion and Skyrim share the same type.
Outside of the main series Elder Scrolls online let's you see some of the other types and even have one of the "battle cat" breeds as a mount
Will not lie, Rakasta are inarguably superior to all comers. You are technically wrong about them being the only race with sub-races, but considering that you only ever see one breed of Khajit in any given Elder Scrolls game you are effectively correct. Admittedly I like the Khajit lore more, but in practice it rarely manifests any if at all aside from them being skeevy drug dealing gypsies, so in practice Rakasta are probably a lot more fun to play with. On top of that you can do a lot more with them both as a player, and a world builder so that's a huge edge.
I mean looking back at it You got the most Human/Elf looking breed in Arena the Cat-girl-ish variation in Daggerfall, Morrowind made them full Cat people with degitigrade legs, Oblivion and Skyrim used a similar breed but with normal legs. But I can see people not knowing that the ones in Oblivion and Skyrim are different from the Morrowind ones instead of the same race being retconned because that's what happened to the Argonians. They just had their legs changed (which tbf Morrowind did first since Daggerfall and Arena had them with normal legs).