Residing in the Astral Sea, the githyanki are a fearsome group of dragon riders determined to rid all planes of aberrations while serving the lich-queen, Vlaakith. Introduced as a playable species in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, this group of psionic warriors can be an intimidating option forDungeons & Dragons.
Related:Dungeons & Dragons: Best Monsters For A Old Western Setting
While an intense choice for a first character, seasoned players might see them as an opportunity to try something most players would avoid. Either way, their unique abilities give them a wide range of applications when adventuring that will require some planning to get the most out of.
8Which Version Is Right For You
Despite being introduced in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, the githyanki species was heavily changed in the updated Monsters of the Multiverse. If you want to build a gith with a martial focus, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foe’s gives automatic proficiencies to light and medium armor and a number of sword types if you don’t plan on choosing a martial class.
Before choosing, consult your DM on which version is allowed or if you can pick specific abilities from each sourcebook to make something unique. The rest of the tips will use the Monsters of the Multiverse version, as it contains more versatile abilities focusing on psionics.
7Plan How to Use Your Astral Knowledge
By utilizing the collective astral knowledge of the gith, you’re able to adopt temporary proficiencies with skills, tools, and weapons. The best part of this feature is that it can let you use certain weapons,especially magic ones, that your class would otherwise not allow.
To get the most from this ability, consider what the following day of traveling or adventuring will look like and make up for proficiencies in skills or tools that your party lacks. If your party doesn’t have a rogue, you can gain proficiency in thieves' tools if you plan on breaking into the lich’s keep or a herbalism kit should you need to craft healing potions.
6Use Your Psionic Telepathy
The most complex trait of the githyanki is their inherent psionics which gives them access to the Mage Hand, Jump, and Misty Step spells while buffing Mage Hand to appear invisible. It is worded this way to give a mechanical excuse to flavor your gith mage hand as telepathy.
Related:Dungeons & Dragons: Tips For Running A Pirate Campaign
You can take advantage of this wording with features like a Sorcerer’s Subtle Spell to interact with objects without anyone noticing, even if they are aware of you. While unnecessary to be considered in the same feature, the other spells offer some very useful mobility, even for your party, when navigating battle maps or treacherous terrain.
5Remember Your Psychic Resistance
While seemingly extremely situational, a githyanki’s resistance to psychic damage becomes useful as there are a number of psychic effects and damage sources that are spread across dozens of creatures and spells and will likely be used a few times across a campaign. You will want to be careful not to metagame this information, however, as it will not be appreciated by your DM or even fellow players.
If you want to build a githyanki as the party’s tank, you can take advantage of the bonus resistance while adding additional ones, like from a Barbarian’s Rage and Storm Soul features or spells like Fire Shield and Protection from Energy, potentially making you resistant to all damage.
4Consider Your Role In The Party
Because of their movement and interactive abilities, githyanki are more than handy dungeon explorers. Being able to trigger traps or pull levers at a safe distance or jump across long gaps can help reduce the risk for the rest of your party from being crushed by boulders or falling into a pit of lava.
With your movement and psionic abilities, look for opportunities to set up ambushes while the face of the party distracts a group of enemies, jumping into the fray and perhaps initiating combat with a handful of surprise conditions. Either way, you will be the most useful when assuming the most risk while outright avoiding it.
3Decide How You Will Use Githyanki Lore In Your Backstory
As unique as githyanki are, their origins and story are heavily tied to the astral plane and will make it difficult when building one that lacks this history, especially in cannon settings like Spelljammer. If you are looking to build an accurate gith from the astral sea, then Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes has loads of lore on their culture and history.
Related:Dungeons & Dragons: Best Uncommon Magic Items
However, not everyone wants to play the stout-nosed dragon rider with a burning hatred for mind flayers. verify to work with your DM to establish the gith in their campaign setting if you want to make sure your character remains unique while still being tied to the world and story.
2Recommended Class Options
Despite both sourcebooks describing githyanki as martial fighters when compared to their more arcane counterpart, the githzerai, their abilities could be more useful when applied to classes with a mix of spellcasting and martial prowess.
Wizard
With the additional spells from the psionics feature, you will have access to spells that do not require preparing via your spellbook while saving on spell slots by free casting them once per day. Also,as a bladesinger wizard, you can use the Astral Knowledge feature to gain access to additional weapon proficiencies since you are only allowed one from the school.
Warlock
While useful to have additional spells as a wizard, gaining access to additional spells that don’t require spell slots as a warlock is like opening presents on your birthday. Since Hexblade warlocks almost require Misty Step as a spell, this frees up an additional spell tovary your character’s build.
1Recommended Feats
Because of the inherent spellcasting ability of gith, some feats are unlocked for you even if you take classes with zero spellcasting options. For instance, Metamagic Adept will allow you to choose Subtle Spell or Twinned Spell to buff your psionics.
If you want to enhance your psionics even further, you can choose feats like Telepathic or Telekinetic, allowing you to play the Jean Grey or Sylar you’ve always dreamed of. While there isn’t a feat that you can’t justify to strengthen a class combo, these feats will also focus on your githyanki features.
