A Tabaxi Wizard combines careful spell preparation with the ability to reposition quickly when a fight shifts. This guide uses the 2024 Wizard class and the Tabaxi from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (MPMM); ask your DM whether the supplemental species option is available.
Rules edition: 2024 Wizard class with the Tabaxi species from the 2022 MPMM. Tabaxi is supplemental species content, not one of the 2024 Player’s Handbook core species. The older 2014 Tabaxi has fixed ability-score increases; this guide uses 2024 character creation and does not add those older bonuses.
What Tabaxi Traits Add
Feline Agility lets you double your Speed until the end of your turn when you move on that turn. After using it, you cannot use it again until you spend a turn moving 0 feet. It can help you reach cover, escape a threat, or cross a dangerous room, but it does not grant an extra action, teleport you, or make it safe to end your movement beside an enemy.
The MPMM Tabaxi also has Darkvision, Cat’s Claws, and Cat’s Talent. Cat’s Claws offer a natural weapon and climbing speed; most Wizards will still rely on spells rather than claws in combat. Cat’s Talent provides proficiencies in Perception and Stealth, useful for scouting and noticing details. These features give the character options without replacing the Wizard’s Intelligence-based spellcasting.
Ability Scores and Background
Intelligence is your priority for spell attacks, save DCs, and Arcana. Constitution increases hit points and concentration reliability, while Dexterity improves initiative, Stealth, and Armor Class. Under the 2024 rules, ability-score increases come from your background, so choose one that supports Intelligence and either Constitution or Dexterity. Do not add the 2014 Tabaxi’s fixed bonuses to the background increase.
Build the 2024 Wizard
The revised Wizard gains Spellcasting, Ritual Adept, and Arcane Recovery at level 1. Scholar arrives at level 2, and your Wizard subclass begins at level 3. Use the 2024 class table and revised subclass progression; older Wizard articles may place the subclass at level 2 and use different feature wording.
Prepare a mix of spells: a dependable cantrip, a way to control enemies, an area option, and a defense or escape spell. Ritual Adept makes eligible rituals valuable when the group can investigate or prepare without spending a spell slot. Arcane Recovery returns a limited number of eligible spell-slot levels after a Short Rest once per Long Rest; it cannot recover a slot of level 6 or higher.
Use Mobility to Protect Concentration
A Wizard’s best defense is often not being where the enemy expects. Begin combat near cover and leave room to retreat. When a foe closes in, Feline Agility can create distance or take you to a better angle before you cast, but remember that you still have the same action and spell limits. A long move does not let you cast two spells, and speed does not break an enemy’s line of sight unless terrain does.
Use Stealth when the party is scouting and the situation gives you a real hiding place. Perception helps notice danger before it reaches you. Cat’s Claws and climbing speed may create a route other characters cannot take, but check the surface and the scene rather than assuming every wall is climbable.
Choose a Wizard Subclass
Pick a 2024 Wizard subclass that fits the campaign. Abjurer supports defense, Diviner rewards planning and foresight, Evoker focuses on area damage, and Illusionist supports misdirection and creative problem-solving. Your subclass does not change the basic value of Intelligence or the need to manage concentration and spell slots.
Character Hook
Tabaxi curiosity can mean more than collecting curios. Your character may map dangerous routes, seek a lost spellbook, study how magic changes a place, or feel compelled to understand one unanswered question. Give the Wizard a reason to stay with the party when the next discovery points somewhere dangerous.
