Introduction
Kalashtar are a race of humanoids bound to good-aligned spirits from theDreamlands, the plane where minds travel to when they sleep. The Kalashtaroriginate in Eberron, seeing their first appearance as a playable race in backin DnD 3.5 in the Races of Eberron supplement.
Kalashtar’s racial traits center around the mind, including increases toWisdom and Charisma, Advantage on Wisdom saves, resistance to psychic damage,and limited telepathy. While these capabilities are powerful, they alsopigeon-hole the Kalashtar into spellcasting classes.
With the custom origin rules in place, the Kalashtar becomes an effectiveoption for martial classes who are frequently vulnerable to mind-affectingproblems like spells and special abilities which might frighten or charm them,as well as to Psychic damage which is rare but basically impossible for mostmartial characters to avoid.
Regardless of whether you’re using the custom origin rules or now, theKalasthar’s capabilities are almost exclusively defensive. While they doprovide excellent benefits, they don’t help your character actively doanything (except potentially sneaking around language barriers withtelepathy), so be sure that your class features and skills offer enoughoptions to make you useful.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Disclaimer
- Kalashtar Classes (Customizable Origins)
- Kalashtar Classes (Default Rules)
Disclaimer
RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.
- Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
- Green: Good options. Useful often.
- Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.
We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.
The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.
Kalashtar Classes (Customizable Origins)
This section assumes that you’re using the option “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. If you’re not using those rules, scroll down to the next section.
Artificer
Between spells and infusions, artificers are generally very durable, but theydon’t have good Wisdom saves and they don’t have a way to get resistance topsychic damage. The Kalashtar’s additional defenses patch thosevulnerabilities.
Barbarian
Barbarians have poor Wisdom saves, and the conditions which target Wisdomsaves are typically very problematic for barbarians. Advantage on those savesprovides a significant defensive benefit.
Path of the Totem (Bear) offers resistance to every damage type exceptpsychic, so the Kalashtar neatly fits in to fill that defensive gap, makingbear totem absurdly difficult to kill.
Bard
While people generally worry about their front-line martial characters beingfrightened or mind-controlled or whatever, bards are just as vulnerable.Advantage on Wisdom saves is a good defensive benefit. Bards can also makeexcellent use of the Kalashtar’s telepathy, allowing them to serve as a Facewithout worrying about languages.
Cleric
Psychic damage is rare and clerics are already great with Wisdom savingthrows, so the Kalashtar adds very little.
Druid
Psychic damage is rare and druids are already great with Wisdom saving throws, so the Kalashtar adds very little. Telepathy appears to work while using Wild Shape, which is a nice convenience, but not enough to make the build especially effective.
Fighter
Fighters have poor Wisdom saves, and the conditions which target Wisdom savesare typically very problematic for fighters. Advantage on those saves providesa significant defensive benefit.
Monk
Psychic damage is rare and monks are already great with Wisdom saving throws,so the Kalashtar adds very little.
Paladin
One uncommon damage type isn’t a huge problem for the Paladin and their savesare already great thanks to Aura of Protection and proficiency in Wisdomsaving throws, so the Kalasthar adds very little to the Paladin.
Ranger
Despite their partial dependence on Wisdom, rangers’ Wisdom saves stillaren’t great so they face the same vulnerabilities as barbarians andfighters.
Rogue
The ability to communicate telepathically is nice for a class that typicallydepends on remaining undetected, and the Kalasthar’s racial telepathy is thebest available (there are many telepathic races, almost all of them withunique telepathy mechanics). Advantage on Wisdom saves coupled with theRogue’s Evasion provides broad defensive coverage. So as long as yourConstitution saves are decent you’re very resilient.
Sorcerer
Sorcerers aren’t proficient in Wisdom saves like warlocks and wizards, soconstant Advantage on those saves is helpful. Otherwise, there’s not muchhere.
Warlock
Warlocks are already proficienct in Wisdom saves. Advantage certainly doesn’thurt, and the Warlock’s saves won’t match a cleric or a druid, but it’s notuseful enough to make it a great build.
Wizard
Wizard are already proficienct in Wisdom saves. Advantage certainly doesn’thurt, and the Wizard’s saves won’t match a cleric or a druid, but it’s notuseful enough to make it a great build.
Kalashtar Classes (Default Rules)
This section assumes that you’re not using the option “Customizing Your Origin” rules presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything or the updated version of the race published in Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. If you are using those rules, scroll up to the previous section.
Artificer
No Intelligence increase.
Barbarian
Resistance to psychic damage seems really exciting for the Berserker becauseyou can have resistance to all damage. Unfortunately, that’s not enough tomake you a good barbarian.
Bard
While the Kalasthar’s Charisma increase isn’t as good as their Wisdomincrease, +1 is still plenty for any full spellcaster. The Kalashtar’stelepathy offers a unique tool, especially for a bard that does a lot ofsneaking, infiltration, or other subterfuge.
Cleric
The Kalashtar’s Wisdom increase and their defensive traits work great for theCleric. Between high Wisdom, proficiency, and Advantage on Wisdom savingthrows you’re all but guaranteed to pass Wisdom saves.
Druid
The Kalashtar makes a great druid for the same reasons that they make a greatcleric. Additionally, since their racial traits are all mental rather thanphysical they persist while using Wild Shape. For example: you can use MindLink while using Wild Shape, allowing you to communicate effectively withoutreverting to your normal form.
Fighter
No increases to physical ability scores.
Monk
The Wisdom increase helps, but it’s not enough to make you a good monk andnone of the Kalashtar’s other traits meaningfully support the Monk. This isprobably the Kalashtar’s best non-spellcaster class option, but it’s still avery hard choice, which is unfortunate because thematically I think akalashtar monk would be very interesting.
Paladin
The Charisma bonus is not enough on its own. The Paladin is likely theKalashtar’s best martial class option, but it’s still a bad option.
Ranger
Without a Strength or Dexterity increase, the Ranger is a really difficultoption. Wisdom adds to your spellcasting, but without an ability increase tosupport your damage output and Stealth you’ll fall behind on some of theclass’s biggest functions.
Rogue
Without a Dexterity increase, the Rogue is a difficult option. Still,Telepathy and a Wisdom increase are an interesting option for rogue subclasseslike the Inquisitive which emphasize Dexterity-based options less.
Sorcerer
While the Kalasthar’s Charisma increase isn’t as good as their Wisdomincrease, +1 is still plenty for any full spellcaster. Sorcerers don’t tend tobe stealthy, but you can rely on magical invisibility and telepathy to remainundetected in combat and still support your allies. If you use Sublte Spelland spells which don’t make attacks or require saves, you can remain invisiblefor long periods and still be effective by supporting your allies or actingindirectly.
Warlock
While the Kalasthar’s Charisma increase isn’t as good as their Wisdomincrease, +1 is still plenty for any full spellcaster. Telepathy is a neatoption, but warlocks aren’t skill-heavy like the bar so stealth is less of anoption (though it is still an option) and with limited spell slots you can’tmake invisibility a go-to tactic like the Bard or the Sorcerer could. TheWarlock is still a good option, but it lacks the synergies between racialtraits and class features which make the Bard a great option.
Wizard
No Intelligence increase.
