Introduction
Hadozee are weird. They’re sort of like a primate mixed with a flying squirrel, gifted with both prehensile feet and the ability to glide using skin flaps. I’m perplexed by how they wear clothing because their skin flaps attach at their wrists, lower backs, and ankles, and official art depicts them as wearing the same pants that a human might wear. Try tying a string from your ankle to your wrist, then put on pants. That’s what we’re looking at here.
Mechanically, hadozee are very durable. Their Hadozee Dodge trait is basically the same as the Goliath’s Stone’s Endurance with a smaller die and different scaling, scaling on your Proficiency Bonus rather than your Constitution modifier. This makes it better at very high levels for characters who don’t invest heavily in Constitution, but if you compare two characters with 14 Constitution (which is a very common value), Hadozee Dodge won’t catch up until level 11, and many characters won’t make it that far.
Glide allows you to travel horizontally in a hurry, but its primary intended function is to allow you to avoid taking damage when falling or leaping from high places, and the ability to get extra movement is apparently an abuse case since WotC errataed Glide to nerf it. Dexterous feet is also a thing, but its capabilities are so limited that you can often forget about it.
The most difficult part of playing a hadozee is justifying playing a hadozee. Dexterous Feet is extremely limited, and, unless you’re fighting with an item in both hands, it’s largely useless. Glide is only useful if you can jump enough for it to matter (10 feet with the errata version), so you need high Strength. Climbing works, but you can’t always guarantee something climable will be nearby. Even when Glide works, it’s usually little more than a comical novelty in a game where magical flight exists. In the vast majority of cases, the Goliath is a better choice simply because Stone’s Endurance is a linear improvement over Hadozee Dodge.
Please note that WotC has issued changes to the Hadozee’s traits and lore, and has posted a statement regarding the controversy around the Hadozee. The current version on DnDBeyond cut much of the Hadozee’s lore and reworded the Glide feature, and those changes will be reflected in future reprintings of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space.
Table of Contents
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.
- : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
- : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
- : Good options. Useful often.
- : Fantastic options, often essential to 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.
Dexterous Feet
I can’t reproduce the exact text of the rules because the Hadozee isn’t included in the SRD. Grab your copy of Spelljammer: Adventures in Space, or check the Hadozee page on DnDBeyond. The precise text is important, so I encourage you to read the text of Dexterous Feet before continuing.
To paraphrase what your feet can do:
- Manipulate objects
- Open/close doors/containers
- Pick up or set down Tiny objects
There are several things which a character can typically do with their hands which are notably omitted. This isn’t a comprehensive list, but here are some noteworthy things that you can’t do with your feet:
- Anything that requires “a free hand”, such as Grapple or Shove
- Grapple or Shove a Creature
- Reload a weapon with the “Ammunition” property
- Perform somatic components
- Use a magic item
- Use a shield
- Use an Object (the Action)
- Wield a weapon
There’s an important distinction between the phrase “manipulate an object” and the Action “Use an Object”. “Use an Object” includes things like using alchemist’s fire. Manipulating an object just means to handle it, such as by turning it over, carrying it, poking it, etc. A hadozee could flip a table, but they couldn’t drink a potion with their Secondary Arms. I believe that this was a deliberate balancing decision to prevent hadozee characters from breaking the “hand economy” too much.
Glide
Since you can’t always rely on climbing, maximizing glide requires understanding the mechanics for both jumping and falling, which gets much harder with the errata that WotC issued almost immediately following Spelljammer’s release (you now need to fall 10 feet and can only glide an amount equal to your land speed). First, you need to get 10 feet into the air and fall. A character can high jump 3+Str with a running start, so aside from barbarians who have hit 24 Strength at level 20, your character will require magical assistance to reliably activate glide. Look for the Jump spell or magic items like Boots of Striding and Springing.
Provided that you can trigger Glide, doing so takes no action on your part and does not consume any of your own movement beyond potentially the 20 feet spent to trigger it (10 feet running start, 10 feet jump). Provided that your speed is 30 feet, and that you take a running start, jump 10 feet up and forward, and then walk 10 feet following your Glide, you can move double your walking speed every time that you move at the cost of your Reaction.
Classes
Artificer
If you have 12 or more Strength, casting Jump makes Glide usable, and at level 10 you can infuse Boots of Striding and Springing so that you’re not spending a spell slot every time you use it, making Glide an effective way to get around. Infusing Winged Boots is arguably a better choice, but it’s certainly not as fun.
Barbarian
Hadozee Dodge provides excellent protection when combined with Rage’s damage resistance. Dexterous Feet might be useful if you fight with an item in each hand. Glide won’t be useful for most barbarians until level 20.
Path of the Beast gets the ability to leap incredible distances, allowing you to leap high into the air and trigger Glide.
Bard
You’re basically only here for Hadozee Dodge and Dexterous Feet. Unless you can find a way to make Dexterous Feet matter, just play a goliath.
Cleric
You’re basically only here for Hadozee Dodge and Dexterous Feet. Unless you can find a way to make Dexterous Feet matter, just play a goliath.
Druid
You’re basically only here for Hadozee Dodge and Dexterous Feet. Unless you can find a way to make Dexterous Feet matter, just play a goliath.
You could use Wild Shape combined with Glide to fly high into the air before reverting to your natural form to use Glide, but why go to the trouble? Wild Shape lasts for an hour. Turn into a fast bird if you need to travel long distances.
Fighter
You’re basically only here for Hadozee Dodge and Dexterous Feet. Unless you can find a way to make Dexterous Feet matter, just play a goliath.
The Eldritch Knight can cast Jump, but you don’t have enough spell slots to justify doing so in order to trigger Glide.
Monk
Even if you can somehow trigger it, Glide is less useful for the Monk since monks already get Slow Fall. Hadozee Dodge is nice, but at that point play a goliath. You can get closer to trigger Glide by using Step of the Wind (it doubles jump distance), but you still need much more Strength than the Monk can afford in order to do so.
Paladin
You’re basically only here for Hadozee Dodge and Dexterous Feet. Unless you can find a way to make Dexterous Feet matter, just play a goliath.
Ranger
Dexterous Feet is occasionally useful for rangers relying on two-weapon fighting. You’ll get some use out of Hadozee Dodge, but at that point just play a goliath.
Rogue
Rogues don’t have the Strength to make jumping and gliding useful, and if you want to use items as a Bonus Action the Thief makes Dexterous Feet entirely obsolete with Fast Hands. Hadozee Dodge is still good, but Uncanny Dodge is both more effective and not restricted by a daily usage limitation.
The Thief’s Second-Story Work feature adds your Dexterity modifier to the distance covered when you make a running jump. With 14 Strength and 20 Dexterity, you can hit the 10 feet required to trigger Glide.
Sorcerer
If you have 12 Strength and cast Jump, Glide provides an inexpensive substitute for flight and teleportation in some situations. Hadozee Dodge is an excellent pad to the Sorcerer’s d6 hit dice.
Storm Sorcery also allows you to move yourself 10 feet into the air, allowing you to Glide without relying on Jump or a magic item.
Warlock
Warlocks have no use for Strength and can’t cast Jump, unless you use the Otherworldly Leap invocation. Even then, you need 12 Strength to get high enough to trigger Glide. That mildly annoying investment is the easiest and most accessible way to reliably use Glide, making the Warlock a go-to option for the Hadozee. Other classes should strongly consider a class dip or the Eldritch Adept feat if they can’t guarantee access to Boots of Striding and Springing or a similar item.
The Ascendant Step invocation allows you to cast Levitate on yourself at will, allowing to move yourself arbitrarily high into the air. It’s not entirely clear what happens when you end the spell and attempt to Glide, but the vertical movement is so slow that this isn’t really useful so much as it is mildly entertaining.
Otherwordly Leap makes Jump free, but you still need 12 Strength to jump high enough to trigger Glide.
Wizard
If you have 12 Strength and cast Jump, Glide provides an inexpensive substitute for flight and teleportation in some situations. Hadozee Dodge is an excellent pad to the Wizard’s d6 hit dice.
