Dungeons and Dragons Lore: Tressym

[Music] hey there my name is aj and i make videos about role playing games and lots of them i upload twice a week with a live stream every weekend you can also find me on subscribe star patreon and discord facebook and twitter also there is an option to join the channel as a member and i welcome any suggestions you have in the comments section below as well as any questions if you like this video or this channel hit that like button if you would be so kind another requested video covering the ecology of one of the most iconic features of a well-known region of the forgotten realms if you ever happen to find yourself in the richly forested and history-laden lands of cormier the dales and cormanthor you'll have at some point encountered a tresem or two the wonderful winged cats of torrel while the exact origin of the tressom is more a matter of theory and debate than any recorded facts it is commonly thought that they are one of the few instances where the crazy experiments of some wizard actually produced a creature that although technically it counts as a monstrosity as it is not of natural origin the tressoms are so perfectly comfortable in their own fur and feathers that they do seem like a creature of the natural world a magical fantasy world certainly but the average faerunian doesn't consider a flying cat any more remarkable than an earth human considers a flying squirrel and considering that the world of torrel also has flying snakes which i may also make a video about the flying cat is almost normal there is further debate about how common the tressome are and whether their numbers are in decline or slowly increasing overall without benefit of things like genetic science and surveys nobody really knows what the first tressum looked like or if any of these that are alive today are still 100 original dressing and not the result of crossbreeding with the common house cat one thing is for certain though they are creatures that are magical in nature and when you compare them to the largest flying mammals of the planet earth it's easy to see why they simply must be magical in order for them to fly at all one of the largest species of bat on earth is the great flying fox an individual can weigh up to 1.6 kilograms or 3.5 pounds and has a wingspan of up to six feet by comparison the common domestic cat typically weighs between four and five kilograms or nine and 11 pounds the tressom is listed as having a wingspan of only three feet and since they interbred regularly with ordinary cats they most likely don't have the hollow bones and other adaptations to significantly reduce the body weight and so logically there must be a bit of magical grunt infusing them in order to allow them to fly at all much like the amazing bumblebee they not only fly they fly with grace and ease an adult pressum making allegedly flutter and glide from one spot to another over one combat round is able to move 40 feet which is about the same speed they travel on foot anyway plus they have an even better aptitude for climbing up objects such as trees but also the walls of buildings and such than regular cats do largely i think because they have absolutely no concerns about falling so their climb is basically a slightly more reckless scamper up the surface digging in their retractable claws at a rate of 30 feet per round they can make a dashing action on the ground in flight or while climbing doubling the distance they can cover in each round they do so it does occur to me though that there could be another explanation for the flight prowess and smaller than usual wingspan and looking at bumblebees and hummingbirds i think it might be that tressome can beat their wings faster to compensate and the idea of a tress and wing beats almost making a purring noise as they fly about or hover in place for a moment that's just absolutely gold well the new species has been around for centuries they are not yet present in all the places humans elves and dwarves halflings and gnomes have transported the domestic cats with them as all of these cultures commonly keep pets in and around their homes something many non-dwarves don't know about until they meet one of the large longfeared and stoic felines that can be found in the resplendent lavish feasting halls that the stout folk rarely invite non-dwarves into more than a few smithy cats do end up traveling with dwarven families and winding up curled around warm forges and clanging smoke-filled workshops utterly unconcerned with the soot and anvil hammering keeping an ever watchful eye out for scurrying varmints the hin or halflings also have a breed of cat that i think may be a cross between the elven cats and some miniature desert breed as they are thickly furred like the elfin cats but much smaller and they have quite distinctive large ears very cute the elven forest cats are of course thought to be one of the original lines of cats which most of the long-haired cat breeds are related to while in faerun short head cats are usually associated with human lands particularly the older empires of the east for the most part though cats of torrel look so similar to the cats of earth and other worlds that they can adapt and thrive on any world where other small felines can be found because tressome can and do interbreed with other domestic cats they can share the same traits of both parents and i'm not sure outside of old tapestry art how sure anyone is about the original breed and appearance of the tressomes an elf will tell you one thing a gnome will tell you another and most likely another because they simply love to talk about small fairy animals like humans like to talk about the weather and hen love to talk about what they had or are going to have for lunch even though they do interbreed with other cats most tressom are smaller and lighter than non-winged cats of those breeds even in a litter where some of the offspring are tresem and some are not which is quite normal you will almost never find a trestum that is larger than 2 feet or 61 centimeters from nose to tail even in a litter of elven cats with their siblings all growing larger than that also the wings of atresum are not like bird wings and they're not like bat wings but rather a blend of both they extend from very well-muscled shoulders of the tresem and are divided into arc segments of hollow elongated finger bones also a bit like a dragon's wing however the leathery membranes between those bones are also covered in feathers the closer the particular breed of chessum is to the region of cormier and north western shore nations bordering the central sea of fallen stars the more likely it is that they will have a distinctive peacock feather pattern on those wing feathers while those which have established populations elsewhere have often lost those patterns due to interbreeding so heavily with other cat varieties a very strong argument for the original crescent being one of the human bred short head breeds is that these splendid feathered tressum are almost always short-haired cats with black grey or tabby fur and the other feature usually present in tressum which is uh fur tufts on the points of the ears similar to a lynx cat generally speaking most people with any appreciation for cats do consider the tresem to be quite lovely in appearance and anyone who gets to know one will figure out very quickly they tresem are much more intelligent than regular domestic cats and they have sensors much keener than a regular cat as well some would say that they are they have the qualities of an owl the fifth edition dnd beyond website has a couple of listings for the tressom i'll use the one from boulder's gate descent into a venus because it's more recent you can find this on page 241 of that adventure book and it has this to say about them atresem is a mischievous winged cat intelligent and known to form strong friendships with humanoids particularly rangers and wizards while they get along well with others of their kind they rarely hunt or layer together they also don't hunt or bother bats fairy dragons sprites and such but they will go out of their way to kill sturges and will work with more formidable allies to bring down evil and monstrous manticores they also enjoy teasing dogs tressum do hunt rodents birds and insects they do not eat eggs or nestlings they have breeding seasons the same as other cats though they prefer to breed with other tresam they will breed with regular cats as well and they don't form relationships as in they don't breed for life nor do tressum have any advantage other than their intelligence when it comes to competing for mates with other cats considering this is largely just an equalizer that offsets the disadvantage they have in being smaller than other cats on average if they do breed with non-traceum there is only a one in 10 chance that any of the kittens in the litter will be atresum the rest will be regular cats while it is listed as an option most players and dms consider the tresem to be ideal as a form of familia able to be summoned by casting the fine familiar spell and just to clarify because this does need clarifying the familiar is not a normal trisome that hears the call of the spell and becomes bound in magical service a familiar is not a natural born creature it is conjured from a spirit that takes on the form of that sort of creature and shares some of the benefits of that form with the spell caster the casting of the spell is borderline a ritual if you ask me is it takes a load of charcoal of a brass brazier some incense and herbs that are not that easy to find and it takes a whole hour to cast with the summoned spirit basically popping out of the billowing smoke and having a mental conversation with the caster before it takes on the chosen form so i'm not sure if amelia can even breed with other living creatures of the same form it has taken it's more like a perfect living construct of a bat or a snake or a tresem or whatever it's not a born tressom tressum form familias are able to communicate with their masters that are within 100 feet telepathically they can share what they see in here as well if the master turns all their attention to it in this regard the tresem form has some great benefits as the senses of the tressom are remarkable they have 60 foot dark vision and plus five to active perception checks a passive perception score of 15 they have a keen sense of smell rolling with advantage on any perception checks they use that sense with and have a knack for identifying poisons whether that substance is poisonous by taste touch or smell a tressome form familiar can communicate that fact to its master and normal tresam can communicate that to their friends with an intelligence of 11 wisdom of twelve and charisma of twelve tresem are smart enough to actually understand what someone is saying to them though they only speak with their own tresom language among their own kind they find ways of communicating quite complex things to other species they get along very well with while they don't have opposable thumbs they are able to pick up and carry objects untie ropes or open or closed doors and windows plus abscond with a dog's dinner one hundred percent of the time hiding in places where the dog is going to follow sniff it out and then get in hilarious amounts of trouble though they tend not to be malicious dogs have a good reason to be very wary of tresam and the people of the land of cormier are very tolerant of the creatures antics and frequent vandalism due to well-known instances where the creatures have saved the lives of their companions even at the expense of their own so while they may be a pain in the ass at times they are excellent at keeping down the rodent population and are considered noble good luck and even the mascots of a town or a holding in cormier they are quite common but mostly concentrated in the star water gorge and around the town of evening star which is renowned for them and the locals there are quite protective of them opposing any would-be exploitation of the creatures any trapper that shows up with the tressom fur and cormier or the surrounding regions will be lucky not to be arrested although i don't think there's any specific bylaw it's just generally known you don't do that the elusive ghost-wise halflings consider the tresem to be sacred animals embodying the essence of stealth and cunning they so greatly admire and aspire to so the druids and mages among them often have a tressome as an animal companion not a familiar and the leaders of those halfling clans typically have a distinct lineage of tressom that have lived with that family for a long time the religions of charas goddess of cats obviously has a very strong association with tressum as does larue goddess of intelligent animals and the many names of cirolla lee the halfling goddess of friendship the elven deities oh i always have trouble with their names eerdry fairinear goddess of air and flight era van illa sierra god of mischief and hanalei goddess of love is also known to hold the tresem in high regard while these animals sometimes serve as messengers or show up as signs and portents of these gods showing displaying always their favor a group of tressome will travel together in a group known as a clouder and one such was known to dwell in the leaves of learning temple of ogma in high moon within the dalens cormerian traders had brought with them from evening star to dipping dale to sell in the high market but the winged cats escaped and flew to the temple they layered in the temple's inner court becoming beloved companions of the priests and monks and were allowed free access to the kitchens and pantry to hunt mice and rats the tressome would alert the temple staff if they spied a visitor acting suspiciously or a thief climbing over the walls and there are a number of tressam in the city of ankipur and an important trading village across the waters of the lake of steam from the border kingdoms in southern faerun curiously on the one day before high summer each year every tressam in the city of uh anchorpoor mysteriously disappears and only returns three days later i don't actually know why this is but i'll be keen to find out you can also find tressam wandering the settled lands of aglarond and al tumbril really most lands bordering the sea of fallen stars where they've traveled aboard ships which greatly appreciate the effect they have on ship rodent populations trisum love to perch on tree branches high window ledges sun warmed awnings and crossing spas on sailing ships they're smart enough to know the difference between a magic wand and a pointy stick and much like nick fury you had best watch out for your eyeballs if you piss them off there are more than a few one-eyed manticores in the world thanks to the efforts of the tressome statwise they count as tiny monstrosities with an armor class of twelve two to eight with an average of five hit points a strength score of three so they can't so much as carry a noma loft though they can slow the fall of a no more halfling a little bit if they are falling to their doom it wouldn't be enough to save them from the bulk of the damage but a little bit they have immunity to poison completely immune and have a general proficiency bonus a plus two for any tasks they put their mind to in combat they attack once per round with their claws with no bonus to hit and inflict only one point of slashing damage they are smart enough to work in groups to take down formidable threats and also wise enough to keep out of harm's way and do everything they can to hamper distract and harry an enemy in order to assist a stronger ally so two tressam are smart enough to lay rope and tie it around things in order to trip up an opponent outside of mishap and illness a healthy tresem can live a life expectancy of up to 20 years while they can occasionally be purchased in cages in the thronging markets of kalumshan and really the shady port dealerships in sembia and other places there's no way in hell short of despicable measures that a buyer is ever going to keep on as a pet tressam may be similar to the so-called domestic cat but cats are really not domesticated they just happen to find the sort of environment humanoids foster to be ideal for their lifestyle please hit the like button if you made it this far subscribe if you like what i do check out my subscribe star or patreon links for the full scripts for these videos buy some teespring merchandise from me if you will we're your geek with pride and as always thanks for listening and i'll be back with more for you very soon [Music] you

Channel: AJ Pickett

Views: 47,404

Keywords: aj pickett, the mighty gluestick, TMG, dungeons and dragons, roleplaying, tabletop, 5E, 5th edition, faerun, toril, forgotten realms, eberron, greyhawk, dark sun, ravnica, AD&D, pen and paper, Dungeons and dragons lore, monsters, magic, magic items, monster ecology, D&D, D&D5E, D&D Lore

Id: 0O6rFT5HIjY

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 22 2020