Help me Build Salem the Cat

[SociopathFriend]

So with the new Sabrina show going I rewatched a few videos of the original puppet himself and... I find myself wanting to build the magical cat myself. And yes, there will be crying and a penchant for fish.

Assuming I somehow manage to hoodwink a DM into allowing me the physical stats of a cat, plus allowing me to cast spells in such a form- which actually does not strike me as impossible, plus allowing the mental stats of a sentient being (intelligence, wisdom, charisma) does anyone have ideas of which class would best capture the Salem spirit? Which subclasses? Spell selection? Can you help a poor guy out? (Collapses into cat sobbing)

[JakOfAllTirades]

Here ya go! I'd probably go with Sorcerer, for the Subtle Spell metamagic option. And take spells w/o material components.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DThqW1JX4AArKq0.jpg:large

[Aelyn]

So with the new Sabrina show going I rewatched a few videos of the original puppet himself and... I find myself wanting to build the magical cat myself. And yes, there will be crying and a penchant for fish.

Assuming I somehow manage to hoodwink a DM into allowing me the physical stats of a cat, plus allowing me to cast spells in such a form- which actually does not strike me as impossible, plus allowing the mental stats of a sentient being (intelligence, wisdom, charisma) does anyone have ideas of which class would best capture the Salem spirit? Which subclasses? Spell selection? Can you help a poor guy out? (Collapses into cat sobbing)

First, I wouldn't use actual cat stats, but something that fits the "feel" instead.

Using the standard array and approximates stats of -2 STR, +2 DEX, +1 WIS, +1 CHA (feels about right for a cat) gives you:

STR: 6
DEX: 16
CON: 12
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 16

Traits: Tiny size, Darkvision, Keen Smell, Lucky (as per halflings), Nimble Escape (as per goblins)

Unable to bear weapons or armour, but has natural weapons (claws) that start at 1d4 Slashing which use DEX and which increase in damage size at the same rate as a Monk. Still only one attack per turn (well, unless a class boosts it)

Class: Bard / Warlock, emphasis on Bard. His sassiness was one of the key parts of his character. Allow him to cast at all times as though he has a focus, but he'd need a friend to help with priced material components.

You'd need something to buff his AC though. Also, I am not saying this is balanced necessarily!

[SociopathFriend]

Here ya go! I'd probably go with Sorcerer, for the Subtle Spell metamagic option. And take spells w/o material components.

Wow- homebrew has some nice looking pages nowadays. That looks legit.




Class: Bard / Warlock, emphasis on Bard. His sassiness was one of the key parts of his character. Allow him to cast at all times as though he has a focus, but he'd need a friend to help with priced material components.

You'd need something to buff his AC though. Also, I am not saying this is balanced necessarily!

Does Bard / Warlock work? I've never seen such a combination suggested on the boards before.
I have a feeling both Lucky and Nimble on the same class might be pushing it- especially since the rest of it isn't actually all that bad.
I don't think buffing AC would be much of a concern. Most enemies would probably prefer to capture the talking cat for obvious reasons compared to killing it and Salem's hardly the type to run straight-blaster anyways. Playing tricks and the like.

[Dr. Cliché]

One thing I'll say is think carefully about this. I don't want to put you off, but it sounds like the sort of thing that would be fun for the first few sessions but then get tiresome after that. I hope I'm wrong, though, as I do love the idea.

Maybe you could convince your DM to let you play a Cat-Druid that can Wild Shape into a human? :smallwink:



Does Bard / Warlock work? I've never seen such a combination suggested on the boards before.

Bard with 2-3 levels of warlock works fine. It gets you the best offensive Cantrip in the game plus Agonising Blast, 2 more Cantrips, and an extra Invocation (maybe Beast Speech for flavour?).

Anyway, it basically gets your Bard a fantastic offensive Cantrip - something that they're otherwise lacking (they can get it with magical secrets but then they lose out on Agonising Blast). I've done this myself and it worked pretty well. I'd probably start out as Bard if you can, as they get more skills.

If you do become a Warlock, please do Pact of the Chain and choose a mouse as your familiar. :smallbiggrin:

[Damon_Tor]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DThqW1JX4AArKq0.jpg:large

Looks fun, but I'd go ahead and make them Tiny. There's very little mechanical reason not to in 5e. I think you'd be able to run between the legs of medium sized creatures (and they'd be able to run right over you). You'd suck at grappling I guess (but you'd suck at it anyway), and you'd have a 1/2 penalty to your carrying capacity. But all of those things make perfect sense anyway, and a 3 foot tall cat stops credibly looking like a regular cat. You can likely justify your armor weighing 1/4 of the weight of medium armor to your DM.

I would also clarify the anti-magic field interaction, expressing as a -8 penalty to intelligence and a loss of the ability to speak and cast spells.

I would also eliminate the literacy prohibition. Even a PC is assumed to have undergone basic training to become a level one character. Humans (and one presumes elves and dwarves and whatnot) don't have some inherent understanding of the written word, it's assumed they learn it. There's no reason we can't make the same assumption about an awakened cat.

And of course everyone is aware that +6 to dexterity is an absurdly overpowered racial trait, no matter what other downsides there are.

[Asmotherion]

I think remembering the original Salem being a Warlock who was polymorphed into a Cat as punishment for some criminal activities (The roles having been split between Salem and Ambrose in "The Chilling Adventures").

RAW the closest thing I can think of is a Tabaxi Spellcaster of choice; Add a cat familiar if you wish, for the "Catception". Or make him a Druid, who takes a Cat form casually. Seems to fit the trope (Both a Spellcaster, and has a Cat Form).

[Temperjoke]

I mean, Salem the Cat is largely a supporting character, he doesn't really demonstrate any sort of actual powers while he's a cat. So, you could either go with a wizard or warlock, with a Salem as a familiar, or you could make a character inspired by Salem, like a tabaxi spellcaster of some sort?

[R.Shackleford]

I mean, Salem the Cat is largely a supporting character, he doesn't really demonstrate any sort of actual powers while he's a cat. So, you could either go with a wizard or warlock, with a Salem as a familiar, or you could make a character inspired by Salem, like a tabaxi spellcaster of some sort?

Not sure about the new show but the old one (and comic) had it where Salem was a witch (male) and was being punished for trying to take over the world or ditching a head hancho witch at the alter (sitcom and comic is a bit different). He was polymorphed (not D&D style) into a cat for a century.

So if someone was going to play a Salem character, you should play some sort of Sorcerer who is the pre-cat or post-cat Salem.

Some notable aspects of Salem (via Wikipedia)

* Wants to take over the world
* Greedy
* Wants to be a celebrity
* Will give bad advice on purpose and accident
* Use magic first, second, and third as a means to deal with problems.
* Pride in his singing voice
* Motivated by greed, hunger, and ambition
* Is egotistical
* Generally loves his "family" and family.
* Is a bro (to Harvey)
* Wears an outfit similar to Fidel Castro and was a friend of his (in a flashback)

Honestly, for a side character, Salem has a lot of depth. From being friends with a not-so-nice guy to generally loving his friends and family. Sure he wanta to take over the world and he's greedy, but he will give himself up in order to save Sabrina.

Chaotic Evil, but not completely chaotic stupid. He will break the laws, will gladly see someone go down in flames, and will con you... But to the people close to him, he has their back and will take a punishment for them.

He's definitely a Charisma caster. But I don't think the bard spell list fits. I think Sorcerer with the Actor feat works well for him. He should have the ritual caster feat as he's able to cast rituals in cat form (with no access to his own magic, he needed Sabrina's help).

[JakOfAllTirades]

Looks fun, but I'd go ahead and make them Tiny. There's very little mechanical reason not to in 5e. I think you'd be able to run between the legs of medium sized creatures (and they'd be able to run right over you). You'd suck at grappling I guess (but you'd suck at it anyway), and you'd have a 1/2 penalty to your carrying capacity. But all of those things make perfect sense anyway, and a 3 foot tall cat stops credibly looking like a regular cat. You can likely justify your armor weighing 1/4 of the weight of medium armor to your DM.

I would also clarify the anti-magic field interaction, expressing as a -8 penalty to intelligence and a loss of the ability to speak and cast spells.

I would also eliminate the literacy prohibition. Even a PC is assumed to have undergone basic training to become a level one character. Humans (and one presumes elves and dwarves and whatnot) don't have some inherent understanding of the written word, it's assumed they learn it. There's no reason we can't make the same assumption about an awakened cat.

And of course everyone is aware that +6 to dexterity is an absurdly overpowered racial trait, no matter what other downsides there are.

There are a few breeds of domestic cats that might get large enough to be considered "small" sized in D&D 5E terms.

https://cattime.com/cat-facts/11475-who-is-the-worlds-biggest-cat

[Vogie]

The good part is you can easily do it with RAW, no homebrew required. The bad part is that doing it that way requires you to start with 20 levels in Druid.

[SociopathFriend]

The good part is you can easily do it with RAW, no homebrew required. The bad part is that doing it that way requires you to start with 20 levels in Druid.

I considered a reverse-Druid but I know a few spells Salem uses in the series are Invisibility and the ability to phase through matter (Ethereal for D&D purposes) and I don't believe those are Druid spells. Also given how much he generally hates nature and his cat form is a punishment- Druid never really made sense.

Also yeah, the level 20 barrier kinda blocks it being usable in most campaigns.