Tressym

[Ruethgar]

Sandstorm allows you to get these tiny flying cats as animal companions. They are far from physically impressive, but they have 12 int and 13 cha. I've only ever seen animal companions used as beatsticks, but what can you do with an intelligent one, just more tricks?

[Palanan]

They'd be much better as scouts, for one thing. A tressym could be multilingual, and could easily eavesdrop on the shipping traffic at a major port. That would get you a much more comprehensive report than you'd get from a typical owl--and of course a tressym would be a little less obtrusive than a fleshraker down by the docks.

[Ruethgar]

That seems like a fairly minor benefit for some major loss of damage potential versus the other cat, servals.

Edit: Especially considering you can warbeast servals but not tressym.

[Fouredged Sword]

Yes, but if you can get one as an animal companion, then it also is an option for a wild cohort. Anyone can get their hands on one. Then put a little hat of disguise on it and tell it to act like a seagull when spying on the docks.

Also, that is a positive cha modifier. That is just asking to get trained in UMD for cool abilities.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Ruethgar
That seems like a fairly minor benefit for some major loss of damage potential versus the other cat, servals.

Well, depends on the campaign, and what kind of character you want to play. There may actually be campaigns with storylines that require something more than raw damage output.

Is there a way to pick up a tressym as a familiar for a beguiler? Not sure how that would work, or if it even could, but I could see a beguiler and a tressym working as partners in crime.

.

[Ruethgar]

I think they were added to the Improved Familiar list somewhere.

Scouting ability is great, don't get me wrong, but unlike most other animal companion options tressym don't even have a full HD to start, they can't get a free HD +3 str, +3 con, +2 wisdom from handle animal, and they are tiny putting their combat potential outrageously low with an average of 2 health. Even in a more RP focused game, that is a lot to lose for a little bit more clarity in scouting reports.

UMD is always a chee- I mean good option. How would you go about getting it as a class skill?

Are there any feats that would give him spellcasting or pseudo-spellcasting that he could qualify for apart from Hidden Talent?

[Fax Celestis]

Tressym advantages:
Smart enough to understand two languages, even if they can't speak them
In fact, smarter than most people (Int 12)
50' fly speed with good maneuverability
Immune to poison
Huge stealth and balance bonuses, for a good scout
freaking adorable:
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m115/xXMajereXx/celine_by_tierafoxglove.jpg
http://images.elfwood.com/art/k/i/kirstiejw/tressym_forweb.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y210/Frukathka/Tressym.jpg

[Darrin]

The Sandstorm designers appear to be unaware that Tressym were updated in the Player's Guide to Faerun and Lost Empires of Faerun. They are magical beasts with human-like sentience (but "do not speak human languages"). Presumably, they have their own language, or speak some form of Feline. Add a Pearl of Speech (600 GP, MIC) and they could speak common.

Given their intelligence, it doesn't make sense to treat them as animal companions, and using Handle Animal or tricks would be pointless. Telling the Tressym to do something (assuming you shared a common language) would just be a free action, or if the Tressym needed some additional convincing, then you'd have to make a Diplomacy roll.



Is there a way to pick up a tressym as a familiar for a beguiler? Not sure how that would work, or if it even could, but I could see a beguiler and a tressym working as partners in crime.


Improved Familiar lists them as an option for a 5th level neutral arcane caster.

[Ruethgar]

As a tibbit I resent your calling a fellow sentient feline adorable, we and they are fierce like lions.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fDYdGuDjCBo/TWL6CLb1IvI/AAAAAAAAAB0/gG9i9UmJteY/s1600/258px-Aristocats128.jpg

If they were small and flying I could ride one. There are combat advantages of flight of course, but it also screams "target me I can dive bomb the melee and not get hit." The poison immunity is nice. Serval has some decent stealth and so can I. I am playing a tibbit so I can speak to them whether or not they know a normal language.

Gotta love WotC for their lack of knowledge of their own books. Magical beasty ftw! I already knew I would probably have to use the diplomacy skill instead of handle animal. The animal companion class feature also allows you to teach tricks and use handle animal with your companion, wouldn't that overwrite the tressym's magical beast status of being an invalid target?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Fax Celestis
Tressym advantages:
...


6. Darkvision
7. Scent

:smalltongue:



EDIT: Also, I'm seeing a problem with Improved Familiar, at least where tressyms and beguilers are concerned. The first prerequisite for the feat is the ability to acquire a new familiar. Would this mean that the beguiler would need Obtain Familiar first?

And if so, is there some other way to do this?

.

[Fax Celestis]

Would this mean that the beguiler would need Obtain Familiar first?

Yup, so two feats. Or one, on Wild Cohort, and use the animal companion rules instead of the familiar rules.

[Jurai]

As a Sorcerer, I can swap my familiar a for half-back-sided Animal Companion Tressym, wait until third level to get Obtain Familiar (But not summon one yet), and then at 6th level, take Improved Familiar and Summon a Tressym? Kitties for everyone! Then get Dual Familiar, from Dragon something, and have three Tressyms. Now if only there was a dual animal companion feat.

[Segev]

Not allowed to play a bard with a hollowed-out golem he rides around in, Wild Cohort, Obtain Familiar, and Improved Familiar to have a white and a black Tressym who advise him in his hot-blooded battles.

>_> <_<


Although, a low-int Sorcerer with a Tressym (improved) familiar could be interesting; the cat's the brains of the operation. Could even start with a feline familiar from level 1 that "upgrades," fluff-wise, into the Tressym.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Fax Celestis
Yup, so two feats. Or one, on Wild Cohort, and use the animal companion rules instead of the familiar rules.

This brings up a pretty basic question: can a magical beast be taken as an animal companion? Darrin mentioned that "it doesn't make sense" to consider the tressym as animal companions, but in more general terms I'm wondering if there's a clear restriction anywhere.

The PHB says that an animal companion "is treated as a magical beast," but that by itself doesn't open it up to creatures who were already magical beasts. Not sure how this works. :smallconfused:

As for Wild Cohort--which would certainly be a better deal for the beguiler--I'm also not sure if that would work with a tressym, again because of the magical-beast issue. Wild Cohort doesn't seem to specify the creature type, other than "wild animal," but all the listed animals are decidedly non-magical-beasty.

[Segev]

I thought part of the point of this thread was that Sandstorm actually listed Tressym as specifically valid as animal companions. In which case, specific would trump general even if there were a general rule against magical beast companions.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Darrin
The Sandstorm designers appear to be unaware that Tressym were updated [to magical beasts] in the Player's Guide to Faerun and Lost Empires of Faerun.

When Sandstorm mentions tressym on p. 48, it specifically refers to the 3.0 version of tressym as presented in the FRCS, listed with a Type of animal. As Darrin mentions, they were updated in Lost Empires of Faerûn to magical beast. Darrin's point was that the writers didn't seem to catch the difference in types.

[Segev]

Fair enough. It would seem more likely that a Tressym is meant, then, to be a cohort (the way, say, a Petal or a Pseudodragon might be) than an animal companion.

Sticking to strict RAW, I think it still works under "specific trumps general," but when we start arguing that, we're in pure theorycraft. And I like my theoretical designs to at least plausibly make it to a gaming table.

[Darrin]

When Sandstorm mentions tressym on p. 48, it specifically refers to the 3.0 version of tressym as presented in the FRCS, listed with a Type of animal. As Darrin mentions, they were updated in Lost Empires of Faerûn to magical beast. Darrin's point was that the writers didn't seem to catch the difference in types.

Even if you use the 3.0 animal version, you'd think it would have occured to the designers that it's a bit daft to try and train a creature via tricks that is more intelligent, wiser, and more charismatic than the average human.

(This is pretty typical of the Forgotten Realms material: FANTASTIC ideas, very poor implementation. Although with the Tressym, they kind of dropped the ball twice: where are the rules for playing Tressym as a PC race?)

[Fax Celestis]

where are the rules for playing Tressym as a PC race?

-8 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, Size Tiny, Move 30', Fly 50' (good), can't speak, poison immunity, darkvision, +4 racial to Hide and Move Silently, +8 racial to Balance, scent.

[eggynack]

The PHB says that an animal companion "is treated as a magical beast," but that by itself doesn't open it up to creatures who were already magical beasts. Not sure how this works. :smallconfused:

This was errata'd away. Animal companions are just treated like animals.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Segev
Sticking to strict RAW, I think it still works under "specific trumps general," but when we start arguing that, we're in pure theorycraft. And I like my theoretical designs to at least plausibly make it to a gaming table.

Very definitely agreed. :smalltongue:


Originally Posted by Darrin
This is pretty typical of the Forgotten Realms material: FANTASTIC ideas, very poor implementation. Although with the Tressym, they kind of dropped the ball twice: where are the rules for playing Tressym as a PC race?

Yeah...even though most of my 3.5 experience is with Forgotten Realms, a lot of their approaches and assumptions just make my head hurt. All I can guess is that most of what they were doing was first described in the novels, and they tried to emulate what the characters were doing in the game rules.

I suppose the question is, with the updated 3.5 tressym, is there any way to acquire one without squinting past the magical-beast part? Or is that less of an issue than I'm assuming?


Originally Posted by eggynack
This was errata'd away. Animal companions are just treated like animals.

Not sure what this means; is this from PHB errata, or some other source?

Not arguing, just got my brain in a pretzel this morning.

: /

[Nerd-o-rama]

Not allowed to play a bard with a hollowed-out golem he rides around in, Wild Cohort, Obtain Familiar, and Improved Familiar to have a white and a black Tressym who advise him in his hot-blooded battles.

>_> <_<


Although, a low-int Sorcerer with a Tressym (improved) familiar could be interesting; the cat's the brains of the operation. Could even start with a feline familiar from level 1 that "upgrades," fluff-wise, into the Tressym.

He'd be constantly getting lost, though.

[eggynack]

Not sure what this means; is this from PHB errata, or some other source?

Not arguing, just got my brain in a pretzel this morning.

: /
It's in the PHB errata. The line in question is, "Contrary to the text, a druid’s animal companion is not treated as a magical beast; it remains an animal."

[Fax Celestis]

I suppose the question is, with the updated 3.5 tressym, is there any way to acquire one without squinting past the magical-beast part? Or is that less of an issue than I'm assuming?

It's not really an issue. In core, animal companions are restricted to animals-only, but the more splats you add, the more magical beasts pop up on the list. Frankly, it's not that big a deal. Oh noes! Instead of something combat-monstery like a bear, you got a companion that's not going to invalidate one of your party members!

[eggynack]

Y'know, depending on how hard it is to get these things as familiars, we could always just get them as familiars. The urban companion ACF from Cityscape's web enhancement seems like it could bypass some aspect of this issue. I dunno which issue it bypasses, or to what extent it does so, but it's a thing that's worth consideration.

[Darrin]

-8 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, Size Tiny, Move 30', Fly 50' (good), can't speak, poison immunity, darkvision, +4 racial to Hide and Move Silently, +8 racial to Balance, scent.

Yes, but how do we determine LA?

+1 for unbalanced ability scores
+1 for caster-friendly stats
+2 for an unusual size (OMG! +2 AC is way OP!)
+1 for poison immunity (because that is way way WAY OP!)
+1 for racial skill bonuses (that's, like, 16 free skill points!)
+1 for scent (because no other LA +0 PC races are allowed to have that)
----
Level Adjustment: +7 (by WotC's reasoning)

[Segev]

Yes, but how do we determine LA?

+1 for unbalanced ability scores
+1 for caster-friendly stats
+2 for an unusual size (OMG! +3 AC is way OP!)
+1 for poison immunity (because that is way way WAY OP!)
+1 for racial skill bonuses (that's, like, 16 free skill points!)
+1 for scent (because no other LA +0 PC races are allowed to have that)
----
Level Adjustment: +7 (by WotC's reasoning)

Minor quibble over the reasoning provided for the bolded part: it's not a LA +0 race by the time you get to this one. So maybe that's okay, by WotC's reasoning even, to leave off the LA calculation. Still, +6 LA. Ouch.

[Ruethgar]

LA -1 for size, not +2. Still bad though.

[Fax Celestis]

Yes, but how do we determine LA?

+1 for unbalanced ability scores
+1 for caster-friendly stats
+2 for an unusual size (OMG! +3 AC is way OP!)
+1 for poison immunity (because that is way way WAY OP!)
+1 for racial skill bonuses (that's, like, 16 free skill points!)
+1 for scent (because no other LA +0 PC races are allowed to have that)
----
Level Adjustment: +7 (by WotC's reasoning)

They're listed as LA: +1 (cohort).

I would probably let it slide at that. There are some terrifying things you can do while Tiny. But you aren't a valid target for humanoid-only buffs, can't wear humanoid-only equipment, and can't communicate with anyone unless you spend money or magic on it.

[Darrin]

They're listed as LA: +1 (cohort).


I should have checked the 3.5 stats more carefully before ranting about LA.

Where'd you get the "LA: +1 (cohort)", though? Lost Empires of Faerun lists them as LA: +0 (cohort).

Fax, weren't you at one point putting together a ranger skiurd PC riding around on a dire tressym with a pixie lance (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95567)? (2008-ish... although I'm rather curious if this ever actually got played.)

[Fax Celestis]

I should have checked the 3.5 stats more carefully before ranting about LA.

Where'd you get the "LA: +1 (cohort)", though? Lost Empires of Faerun lists them as LA: +0 (cohort).

Fax, weren't you at one point putting together a ranger skiurd PC riding around on a dire tressym with a pixie lance?

Poor memory.

And yes, that was me. Solomirathius the Tiny Knight rode a bald eagle (Small size) instead of a tressym, though.

[Palanan]

Wow, try to get a little work done and the thread goes nuts.

:smalltongue:



So, with the LA+0 as a cohort...does that imply Leadership? Does my meager understanding extend that far?

[Fax Celestis]

So, with the LA+0 as a cohort...does that imply Leadership? Does my meager understanding extend that far?

Basically, yes. An argument could also be made for other cohort-like features (like paladin mount or animal companion) using it as an effective class level adjustment.

[Darrin]

So, with the LA+0 as a cohort...does that imply Leadership? Does my meager understanding extend that far?

Yep. Or add Half-Dragon and pick it up with Dragon Cohort instead. Because if there's anything a flying housecat needs more than poison immunity, that would certainly be a breath weapon.

I'd still love to use it as a mount, but I'd need something diminuative... like an Hengeyokai Crab. Add some Hellfire Warlock for flavor. So the flying fire-breathing housecat can carry around a crustacean that shoots flaming deathray lasers out of its claws. And we need a good battlecry: "WARNING: A TINY BATTLEKITTEN CRAWFISH IS APPROACHING!"

[Palanan]

Sorry, you just fused my Silliometer.

:smalltongue:

[Fax Celestis]

Yep. Or add Half-Dragon and pick it up with Dragon Cohort instead. Because if there's anything a flying housecat needs more than poison immunity, that would certainly be a breath weapon.

I'd still love to use it as a mount, but I'd need something diminuative... like an Hengeyokai Crab. Add some Hellfire Warlock for flavor. So the flying fire-breathing housecat can carry around a crustacean that shoots flaming deathray lasers out of its claws. And we need a good battlecry: "WARNING: A TINY BATTLEKITTEN CRAWFISH IS APPROACHING!"

"Shining Sea Rim" doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Palanan
So, with the LA+0 as a cohort...does that imply Leadership?


Originally Posted by Fax Celestis
Basically, yes. An argument could also be made for other cohort-like features (like paladin mount or animal companion) using it as an effective class level adjustment.

The more I think about it, the more Leadership sounds like the best approach for my beguiler idea. A creature as intelligent as a tressym would need to be impressed, rather than simply tamed, as Ruethgar alluded to earlier.

But if you have a tressym as a cohort, what do you get for followers?

:smalltongue:

[Fax Celestis]

But if you have a tressym as a cohort, what do you get for followers?

Tressym kittens.

[Palanan]

Heh.

More seriously, on the cohort angle...since the tressym has an LA+0, does this mean the tressym would gain class levels if taken as a cohort?

I have very little experience with cohortomancy--I've only had one, briefly, ever--so not too familiar with all the ins and outs.

[Fax Celestis]

Heh.

More seriously, on the cohort angle...since the tressym has an LA+0, does this mean the tressym would gain class levels if taken as a cohort?

I have very little experience with cohortomancy--I've only had one, briefly, ever--so not too familiar with all the ins and outs.
It could, I guess. Most class features require things that tressym don't have: speech and hands, for starters.

[Palanan]

I'm thinking a couple levels of feat-rogue would suit a tressym perfectly....

[Darrin]

More seriously, on the cohort angle...since the tressym has an LA+0, does this mean the tressym would gain class levels if taken as a cohort?


Yes. If you take Leadership, your Cohort's ECL is generally equal to your own ECL - 2. So if you take it at level 6, your cohort should have 4 class levels (I'm assuming the 1/2 racial HD gets replaced by the first class level).

As you level up, your cohort levels up along with you. There's a formula that gives the cohort XP based on the XP you earn, but essentially what it does is level up your cohort at the same time you do (assuming you don't lose XP due to magic item crafting or spells with XP components).

[Palanan]

Aha, thank you. I'd just been half-thinking that a beguiler who takes Leadership at sixth level would gain a tressym with four class levels. Glad to know that graduates to a full thought.

:smalltongue:

[Segev]

This leads to the amusing mental image of a Tressym cohort Wizard or Sorcerer with a Tressym Improved Familiar.

[Fax Celestis]

This leads to the amusing mental image of a Tressym cohort Wizard or Sorcerer with a Tressym Improved Familiar.

I played in a dragons game once and took Draconic Familiar. One of the other players played my familiar because he didn't want to deal with statting a dragon.

[Segev]

That actually sounds pretty cool.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Segev
This leads to the amusing mental image of a Tressym cohort Wizard or Sorcerer....

...presumably with Silent Spell and Eschew Materials.


Originally Posted by Fax Celestis
One of the other players played my familiar because he didn't want to deal with statting a dragon.

One senses hilarity in roleplaying.

:smallbiggrin:

[Segev]

...presumably with Silent Spell and Eschew Materials.

I could easily be forgetting a rule somewhere, but does it anywhere say that you have to have human hands and speak Common to be able to be a spellcaster? I know it says under some shape-changing effects that you lose that ability, but this is with the presumption that you're a humanoid-ish thing to begin with and thus learned your spellcasting with human-ish words and gestures.

I am not convinced a Tressym is anywhere prevented from being a caster without any special rules or requirements; they have language already, so Silent Spell shouldn't be needed, and unless the somatic component rules specifically state you must have human-like hands to perform them, neither should Still.

[eggynack]

I could easily be forgetting a rule somewhere, but does it anywhere say that you have to have human hands and speak Common to be able to be a spellcaster?
Well, you don't need human hands, but, "A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand." Also, you don't need to be able to speak common, but you, "Must be able to speak."

[Segev]

Tressym, IIRC, can, in fact, speak. Still may still be needed, though, depending on whether their paws can count as "hands" for this purpose.

[Fax Celestis]

Tressym, IIRC, can, in fact, speak. Still may still be needed, though, depending on whether their paws can count as "hands" for this purpose.

No they can't. It's explicitly called out in their stat block that they can't speak humanoid languages but can understand them.

[eggynack]

Tressym, IIRC, can, in fact, speak. Still may still be needed, though, depending on whether their paws can count as "hands" for this purpose.
As an addendum to what Fax said, paws definitely don't count as hands. Natural spell makes that clear enough. You need actual hands. Gloves of man from Savage Species might theoretically help with that though. I don't know for sure. Actually, could you duplicate natural spell with gloves of man and a pearl of speech? I dunno the answer to that one.

[Fax Celestis]

As an addendum to what Fax said, paws definitely don't count as hands. Natural spell makes that clear enough. You need actual hands. Gloves of man from Savage Species might theoretically help with that though. I don't know for sure. Actually, could you duplicate natural spell with gloves of man and a pearl of speech? I dunno the answer to that one.

Actually, somatic components are performable in your natural shape without feats. Otherwise, how does the Celestial Charger in the MM-I cast spells? It's a unicorn, it doesn't have hands, nor does it have Natural Spell.


A spellcasting creature that lacks hands or arms can provide any somatic component a spell might require by moving its body. Such a creature also does need material components for its spells. The creature can cast the spell by either touching the required component (but not if the component is in another creature's possession) or having the required component on its person. Sometimes spellcasting creatures utilize the Eschew Materials feat to avoid fussing with noncostly components.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_spell&alpha=

[Fouredged Sword]

There is a feat that lets you do somatic components with whatever appendages you happen to have at the moment like claws, tentacles, ect.

[Ruethgar]

Savage Species: Surrogate Spellcasting, no need to Silent/Still

Quintessential Aristocrat(Mongoose): Subordinate, leadership without the followers at level 3 instead of 6. If yoou only really want the more powerful minion, this is nice. There are also leadership boosters in that book as well as a Followers feat to match Subordinate.

[Palanan]

Surrogate Spellcasting does look like it would do the trick, although it doesn't seem to have been updated to 3.5. Not sure if that makes a difference here.

[Fax Celestis]

Surrogate Spellcasting does look like it would do the trick, although it doesn't seem to have been updated to 3.5. Not sure if that makes a difference here.

Once again, you don't need it. You can cast in your natural shape.

[Palanan]

The quote from the glossary addresses somatic and material components, but what about verbal?

According to Lost Empires of Faerûn, "Tressyms are highly intelligent, though they do not speak human languages." There's no racial language listed, and the implication is that they don't use spoken language at all. Seems to me that would complicate things with verbal components.

[Fax Celestis]

The quote from the glossary addresses somatic and material components, but what about verbal?

According to Lost Empires of Faerûn, "Tressyms are highly intelligent, though they do not speak human languages." There's no racial language listed, and the implication is that they don't use spoken language at all. Seems to me that would complicate things with verbal components.

The implication is that they have a language that isn't able to be spoken by humanoids. "Do not speak human languages", after all.

[Segev]

Notably, elven is not a "human" language.

Less notably but equally true, same can be said of dwarven and draconic, among many others. ;)

[eggynack]

Notably, elven is not a "human" language.

Less notably but equally true, same can be said of dwarven and draconic, among many others. ;)
That's not really accurate. Every language, save for secret languages like druidic, can be learned by a human as a bonus language. Such is the extent of their power.

[Segev]

But that doesn't make them "human languages." Just "languages humans can learn." I mean, the Orc Double Axe isn't a "human weapon," is it?

[eggynack]

But that doesn't make them "human languages." Just "languages humans can learn." I mean, the Orc Double Axe isn't a "human weapon," is it?
That seems like a different thing. Dwarves can access a list of languages because they're dwarves. I can assert that those are dwarven languages. It just so happens that the human list includes every language, so all languages are human languages. If you gained access to the orc double axe by virtue of the features of being a human, I might call it a human weapon.

[Segev]

*shrug* Sure. I was mostly being light-hearted. (To continue the word-play, however: Humans get a bonus feat. EWP: Orc Double Axe, by virtue of being a human!)

[sreservoir]

Well, depends on the campaign, and what kind of character you want to play. There may actually be campaigns with storylines that require something more than raw damage output.

Is there a way to pick up a tressym as a familiar for a beguiler? Not sure how that would work, or if it even could, but I could see a beguiler and a tressym working as partners in crime.

.

for a beguiler beguiler, surely.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Fax Celestis
The implication is that they have a language that isn't able to be spoken by humanoids. "Do not speak human languages", after all.

I think we're drawing different inferences from the same very limited source text. :smallamused:

Usually when a creature or monster has a racial language, it's explicitly noted with their other known languages. From the first entry in the MM: "Aboleths speak their own language, as well as Undercommon and Aquan." At the other end of the book: "Yuan-ti speak their own language, plus Common, Draconic, and Abyssal." This is a consistent pattern with creature entries: if they have a unique language, it's specified as such.

Since tressym are given no racial language, and there's no mention of any other languages that they speak, it seems pretty reasonable to infer that they don't use spoken language.

[eggynack]

Since tressym are given no racial language, and there's no mention of any other languages that they speak, it seems pretty reasonable to infer that they don't use spoken language.
They could always do that thing where they speak a language unique to them. It shows up on sporebats from the Fiend Folio, though they explicitly mention it in that creature's entry. It's a thing worth considering.

[Fax Celestis]

It's a smart cat with wings. Dumb groundpounding cats speak all the time, even if it's not a language we can learn. I don't think it's a stretch to think that the smarter cat that flies around a little can meow once in a while to cast fireball.

[Wallraven]

Since tressym are given no racial language, and there's no mention of any other languages that they speak, it seems pretty reasonable to infer that they don't use spoken language.

The FR Wiki (forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Tressym) says they have their own language, "Tressymspeak". (Original source, the novel "Blackstaff").

It's not a canon rules source, but it is an indication of intent.

[Rakoa]

The FR Wiki (forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Tressym) says they have their own language, "Tressymspeak". (Original source, the novel "Blackstaff").

It's not a canon rules source, but it is an indication of intent.

That would have been good to know two years ago, when this thread was last posted in. Bad necromancer, bad!