Jaguar Lord

Jaguar Lords, also known as Tabaxi Lords (their original monster name) and presumably also as Leopard Lords (see below), are an obscure monster of Dungeons & Dragons native to the Maztica subregion of the Forgotten Realms. They are similar to the "Lizard King" subspecies of Lizardfolk, in that they are inherently evil, possibly fiendish, variant tabaxi that exist primarily to parasitize their native race.

Nobody actually knows where tabaxi lords come from; they could be the result of a curse, or perhaps they were created by the meddling Zaltec, whom they worship as their patron deity. All tabaxi lords appear as giant, non-anthropomorphic male jaguars or leopards (depending on their precise region), but have full humanoid-level sapience and the ability to speak. They are inherent enemies of the couatls, which adds further evidence to their being created or otherwise connected to Zaltec, considering that this mirrors the war between Zaltec and his brother Qotal, the patron god of the couatls of Maztica. Despite their bestial appearance, tabaxi lords are highly intelligent, and decently powerful natural spellcasters; all tabaxi lords can cast Detect Good/Evil, Detect Invisibility, and the Hishna spells Bind and Hypnotism at will, with some being able to cast Dimension Door 3/day. Furthermore, 55% are 7th level wizards (Illusionists, Enchanters or Necromancers), 40% are 7th level clerics of Zaltec, and the remaining 5% are multiclassed Cleric 7/Wizard 7 casters.

Tabaxi lords are dependent upon conquering tabaxi tribes for the survival of their species; as an all-male species, they can only procreate by forcing tabaxi women to mate with them, resulting in a single tabaxi lord cub from each "bride". Whilst they certainly enjoy other benefits of leadership, and often turn their conquered tribes to Zaltec worship and cannibalism, this quest for pussy pussy is their primary reason to interact with them "peacefully" at all. Juvenile tabaxi lords are driven off as soon as they can fend for themselves, told to conquer their own tribe or die trying. What happens after the tabaxi lord gets his rocks off depends; some stick around to continue ruling, others decide they've had enough and wander off into the jungle to be alone for a while.

The first mention of this monster was in the original Maztica boxed set, where the entry on hishna mentioned the existence of a "Jaguar Lord" as a sacred animal of Zaltec and of hishnashapers. It subsequently appeared with a statblock for the first time in the adventure FMA1: Fires of Zatal, where it was renamed the Tabaxi Lord; it retained this identity when the tabaxi entry was reprinted in the Monstrous Manual. Tabaxi lords haven't reappeared since the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition; whether this is because of their being tied to Maztica or if it's just because Wizards of the Coast has deemed them irredeemable as a concept, who can say?