Deep Dive - The Tressym
Move over man’s best friend, there is a new contender in town! The Tressym, a winged cat, is here to supplant your normal household pets with something fresh and exciting. Not only can it fly, but it is fiercely loyal, can save you from poison, and is the best at hide-and-seek. So let’s take to the wing and find out what makes these winged cats such great familiars!
2e - Tressym
Climate/Terrain: Any temperate land
Frequency: Very rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Very (11-12)
Treasure: Nil
Alignment: Chaotic neutral
No. Appearing: 1 (1-4)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 2
THAC0: 17
No. of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 1-2/1-2/1-4
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Immune to all poisons and detection abilities
Magic Resistance: 40%
Size: T (up to 2’ long, including tail, up to 3’ wingspan)
Morale: Elite (14)
XP Value: 270
Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, 1992 TSR Inc. / Valerie Valusek
The Tressym is first found in Ed Greenwood's adventure Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (1992) and reprinted in Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994). This adventure might be a bit obscure, but if it brings one thing to the game, it’s the Tressym—a winged cat that only resides in Cormyr. As you might assume, many believe they were the results of a wizard experiment. (We refuse to say a failed wizard experiment because we want one really badly.)
But how do you know that the winged cat you are looking at is a Tressym and not a weird illusion or hybrid monster? Tressym usually appears as grey, tabby, or black cats—and if you read the Monstrous Compendium, they are very beautiful and very fluffy. In addition, they have two large wings sprouting from their shoulders that are described as batlike. The wings are leathery membranous appendages covered in fine feathers and divided into arc segments by hollow bones.
Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One, 1994 TSR Inc. / Tony DiTerlizzi
For cat lovers, Tressym are everything a cat is, but dialed up to 11 with wings. For everyone else, they are chaotic creatures who vandalize the areas they live in, tease dogs, and get into aerial cat fights. Most people put up with these aerial pussies because they are great at hunting and killing rats and other vermin, like owls and other birds of prey. Of course, the Tressym hunt those same birds, so someone had to pick up rodent duty.
Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, 1992 TSR Inc. / Valerie Valusek
For all their faults, the people of Northern Cormyr actively protect the Tressym from large-scale hunting and trapping. Some people are lucky enough to have a Tressym as their magical familiar, and we are insanely jealous. Tressym are very loyal to their people and have a high level of intelligence that makes them excellent companions. They know how to utilize delicate and complex items, can observe and report events diligently, and can even concentrate on tasks given to them, which makes them better helpers than most people we know.
There is more to Tressym than just their wings and brains. They have infravision and can detect invisible objects and creatures that are within 90 feet of them. Which makes them incredible scouts and sentries. Another unique aspect of the Tressym is that they are immune to poison. They can also detect poison by smell, taste, or touch; which gives them a wing up over normal cats who can only detect poison by knocking drinks off of tables.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 1996 TSR Inc. / Tom Baxa
Of course, Tressym have natural foes. Just like a cat’s natural enemy is a mouse named Jerry, a Tressym’s natural foes are stirges and manticores. While a manticore might be an impossible challenge for a single Tressym, the winged cats will gather in large packs to take down a manticore. They typically fight by utilizing their aerial abilities and going for the eyes with their claws.
But Tressym aren’t the only winged cats flying through the sky. In the Al-Qadim sourcebook City of Delights (1993), and reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One, are the Lesser and Greater Winged Cats. These Winged Cats, also known as jana-nimr for Greater and jana-qitat for Lesser, are large felines with wings covered in soft fur. Both flying felines look like desert cats with short brown to black fur. They can be found in grasslands and hills, hunting mammals and birds, but leave domestic animals alone.
Greater Winged Cats are large enough to become mounts with 15-foot wingspans. Of course, not anyone can jump on their back. Jana-mir only accept its trainer as its rider and you have to earn its loyalty before you can fly on a magic fur ride. Lesser Winged Cats, also known as fluttercats, only have 4-foot wingspans and can not be used as mounts unless you happen to be a rodent and in its mouth.
Both Winged Cats lack the intelligence and poison abilities of a Tressym, but they can speak their own language and there is a 10% chance that they can speak the languages of sphinxes or other catlike species. This means that you could potentially have a Tabaxi talking to a Greater Winged Cat who is talking to a Tressym who is talking to a cat for absolute catception. If only we could get a Tabaxi with wings to be the commander of a flying cat regiment!
City of Delights, 1993 TSR Inc. / Karl Waller
3e - Tressym
Tiny animal
Hit Dice 1/2 d8 (2 hp)
Initiative +2
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
AC 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex)
Attacks 2 claws +4 melee, bite –1 melee
Damage Claws 1d2–4, bite 1d3–4
Face/Reach 2 1/2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks —
Special Qualities Scent, Poison Immunity
Saves Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1
Abilities Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 13
Skills Balance +10, Climb +5, Hide +17*, Listen +4, Move Silently +9, Spot +4
Feats Weapon Finesse (claw, bite)
Climate/Terrain Any temperate or warm land
Organization Solitary
Challenge Rating 1/4
Treasure None
Alignment Usually chaotic good
Advancement —
First appearing in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), the Tressym appears alongside common animals in Faerun like the Riding Lizard, Spitting Lizard, and the Winged Viper. It’s a bit of a shame that the Tressym is just lumped in with a bunch of animals, as it only gets a few short paragraphs that give us very little to work with (and has to share art space with a big dumb ox!). That said, let’s go over what we do learn for this edition.
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 2001 Wizards of the Coast / Sam Wood
Tressym are winged cats about the same size as the common, inferior wingless cat known as a housecat. They have feathered, leathery wings with a 3-foot wingspan. They are highly intelligent, immune to poison, can’t speak human languages, and many good-aligned wizards want them as a familiar. However, you have to be at least a 5th-level spellcaster or they straight up won’t be your familiar… they are willing to still be friends though (like we haven’t heard that one before).
And that’s it. That’s all the information we get in this sourcebook. But luckily, they re-appear in a few sourcebooks in this edition! Of course, none of those sourcebooks provide much to go off of and mostly they appear in charts, like in Unapproachable East (2003) or Player’s Guide to Faerun (2004).
In the Races of Faerun (2003) sourcebook, Ghostwise clans of halflings admire the Tressym for its cunning and stealth. They often seek these felines out as familiars, and even druids choose them as animal companions.
Lost Empires of Faerun, 2005 Wizards of the Coast / Beet
In the Lost Empires of Faerun (2005), they are given a few more sentences. It basically boils down to that they are skittish and don’t like conflict with creatures bigger than them. If they must avoid a larger flying creature, they go to ground and hide in holes, waiting for the danger to pass. Also, they gain their darkvision back in this book! So now they can mock dogs in the dark and not accidentally fly into a wall while doing so.
And that’s the Tressym in this edition. A bit of a letdown, but we can only hope that 4th edition has something incredible in store for them!
5e - Tressym
'Tiny beast, chaotic neutral
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 5 (2d4)
Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft., fly 40 ft.
Str 3 (-4) Dex 15 (+2) Con 10 (+O) Int 11 (+O) Wis 12 (+l) Cha 12 (+l)
Skills Perception +5, Stealth +4
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages understands Common but can't speak
Challenge 0 (10 XP)
Detect Invisibility. Within 60 feet of the tressym, magical invisibility fails to conceal anything from the tressym's sight.
Keen Smell. The tressym has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Poison Sense. A tressym can detect whether a substance is poisonous by taste, touch, or smell.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 slashing damage.
Well, that didn’t pan out as the Tressym does not return until the adventure Storm King’s Thunder (2016). The Tressym still doesn’t have a long description, but it is at least longer than anything we could find in 3rd edition (though, it’s art is also from 3rd edition so it’s a bit of a wash).
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, 2020 Wizards of the Coast / April Prime
Most of the information we already know from 2nd edition, like how they like to feed on small rodents, birds, and insects; and that they stalk their prey like a normal cat but include aerial tactics thanks to their wings. In addition, they don’t attack nestlings or despoil eggs, so it sounds like they are much nicer than regular housecats who kill anything and everything they can sink their teeth into.
Just as in 2nd edition, a Tressym can mate with other Tressym or with ordinary cats. In such a case, one out of every ten in the litter will be a Tressym, the rest are boring housecats. In addition, Tressym can remember that wizards holding sticks are bad and should be avoided, this is especially handy for them to avoid danger and evil wizards who want to fireball them out of the sky.
We are excited that they regain their Darkvision, to detect poison, and that they can see through magical invisibility. No more hide-and-seek using your invisibility spell wizards! The cat is out and it can see you trying to hide behind that bush!
One big change is that Tressyms can now understand Common, but can’t speak it. Before, they could only talk in cat and, we assume, understand certain phrases that they heard a lot like, “bad cat”, “drop the wizard’s mouse familiar”, and “pspspsps”. They probably also knew their name, they just don’t want you to think they’ll just come over whenever you want like they are some common, wingless dog.
The Tressym’s final appearance is in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus (2019), but all the information is repeated from Storm King’s Thunder. All that’s new is we get to visit Slobberchops, a grumpy and cranky Tressym who hates his current devil-worshipping family and will happily join the party if they feed him. Which roughly correlates to how we make friends, by giving them lots and lots of food.
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, 2019 Wizards of the Coast / Shawn Wood
The Tressym is an intelligent winged cat with a penchant for trickery. They like to cause a bit of good-natured mischief, eat rodents, and be fiercely loyal to their one person. We wished that they had a greater presence in Dungeons & Dragons, but maybe the scant information is similar to their aloofness. While you may not know much about them, the moment you befriend one, you’ll have a companion for life.
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