The Phantom Thieves of Heart have become one of the most popular groups in modern video games, and it's possible to create them in . This week, we'll be creating Morgana the cat from Persona 5 as a full-fledged D&D character.
The Persona games often include a cute animal mascot as a member of the team, with Koromaru the dog filling the role in Persona 3, and Teddie the living bear suit filling the role in Persona 4. This role was filled by Morgana in Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, as he is a black & white cat in the real world, who transforms into an anthropomorphic & bipedal cat in the Metaverse. Morgana is one of the founding members of the Phantom Thieves of Heart, as he believes that he will discover his origins if he learns more about the Metaverse. Morgana is an amnesiac, and he believes that he used to be a human, but was transformed into a cat by som𒅌e unknown foe.
Morgana's Class, Background, And Ability Scores
The version of Morgana we have created uses material from the Player's Handbook, Volo's Guide to Monsters, and Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Morgana is a tabaxi druid who belongs to the Circle of Dreams. Morgana would be a Small-sized tabaxi, dropping his movement speed to 25ft per round, but granting a +1 AC bonus. Using the basic stat spread listed on page 13 of the Player's Handbook and taking his race into account, Morgana's starting stats would be STR 8, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 15, aꦓnd CHA 14.
Morgana starts out as an amnesiac, but his membership into the Phantom Thieves easily puts him into the Charlatan background. The fact that he can shapeshift into a regular house cat could be a new take on the Second Identity class feature, with Morgana living as a nondescript kitty by day, and turning into his regular form whenever it's time to go adventuring. His starting skills would be Perception, Stealth, Deception🥀, Sleight of Hand, Insight, and Survival. If the variant Feat rules are used, then Morgana would benefit from Actor, Defensive Duelist, Mobile, Sharpshooter, Skulker, Spell Sniper, or War Caster.
Like the other members of the Phantom Thieves, Morgana's alignment can be tricky to determiဣne. It's easy to just put them in Chaotic Good, as they have no respect for the law and are working towards the greater good, but there are higher ethical questions involving what they do. The Phantom Thieves use their powers to enter the minds of the enemies and force them to change their ways. Depending on your perspective, Morgana could easily fall into the Neutral or Evil side of the alignment spectrum.
Morgana's Spells
In Persona 5, Morgana's Personas (Zorro, Mercurius, and Diego) grant him magical spells that let him heal his allies, raise people from the dead, remove status effects, inflict buffs & status effects, and strike enemies with wind. Morgana is also a natural shapeshifter. These abilities can be accommodated by the druid class, and his spell list would benefit guidance, mending, poison spray, resistance, cure wounds, detect magic, entangle, goodberry, healing word, thunderwave, enhance ability, find traps, gust of wind, lesser restoration, pass without trace, protection from poison, dispel magic, protection from energy, wind wall, conjure minor elementals, freedom of movement, polymorph, conjure elemental, greater restoration, mass cure wounds, planar binding, reincarnate, scrying, conjure fey, heal, heroes’ feast, wind walk, regenerate, plane shift, control weather, feeblemind, shapechange, storm of vengeance, and true resurrection.
The Circle of Dreams is a subclass from Xanathar's Guide to Everything and it can easily be tied to the idea of the Metaverse, as people's opinions can be changed by dreams and omens. The Balm of🌞 the Summer Court class feature would make Morgana a more effective healer, while Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow can give him a good excuse to force party members to go to bed on time.
Morgana's playstyle as a swift druid with powerful spells is fairly standard, especially if he's paired with other agile characters, like bards and rogues. In terms of character, the most interesting thing about Morgana is his backstory and how it fits into his present view of the world. Morgana has lost his memories and is searching for answers about his origins, as he believes he used to be a human, but was transformed into a cat. This story could very well be true in a Dungeons & Dragons world, as there are a number of curses and spells that cou🔜ld inflict this ꦫeffect on a subject, including memory loss.
Morgana could join an adventuring party as part of a journey of self-discovery, as they attempt to learn the truth behind their origins. It's up to the DM whether this is something that can be resolved within the campaign, and they might be willing to write it in as a long-term goal for the character. If not, then it can simply be the driving force behind Morgana's character. The Charlatan background and secret cat identity would be especially useful if the players are facing an oppressive government (such as the one in Strahd's domain from Curse of Strahd). Even without the backstory, a ༺shape-shifting cat who can influence the dreams of living people (after forcing them to go to bed early) would still be a really fu🔯n character to play.