5e pixie race: needs balance

[Night Eternal]

hi

I have been trying to find a pixie race that similar to the one I have read in books. Cant really find any so I decided to try my hand at making one by combining some I found and adding concepts from the book. this is my first time making a race and it need major balance I think. I have added a lot of disadvantages to try and balance things out. I appreciate any help.

edited: version 2 with thanks to ninja prawn for some suggestions. ( more changes to come)

Pixie Race

Size: tiny ( can occupy same position as another creature small or med)
Movement: 10ft walking, flying 35 ft ( can hover)

Asi: +2 dex – 2 strength

Fae sight: 60 dark vision + see through magical darkness

Fae scout: you have proficiency in perception, and advantage on any stealth rolls



Wee form:
You cannot wear medium or heavy armor
You must you pixie weapons and armor.. Which can be seen below
Generally pixe armor is twice as expensive as normal armor due to the minute nature if not bought in a pixie village.

Weakeness: You have Disadvantage on strength checks and saving throws.
All spells you cast have the distance cut in half.

Hard to hit: +1 ac







Standard pixie weapons:

All weapon use the dex modifier to add damage

Needle: 1d3 piercing
Great sword: 1d6 ( two-handed )
Fae bow: 1d6
Fae dagger: 1 slashing




Invisibity: You can use an action to cast the Invisibility spell with yourself as the target. You can use this Spell once per short or long rest.


Subrace


Magical

Magic Resistance: You have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Innate Spellcasting: Your wings grow loose scales which are imbued with magical properties. This pixy dust can be used to generate several magical effects . Your innate spellcasting ability is Charisma. You can innately cast the following spells, requiring only your pixie dust as a component: At first level: Dancing Lights, Entangle, and Sleep. At 10th Level, Fly.
 


War superior

Dimensional magic: You have studied vigorously in dimensional magic to gain an edge in the fae world. You have learned these Specific abilities.

-You know a special ritual that lets skink and adapt items to tiny size. Ritual can only be cast during a long rest.
-As a bonus action you may change your size to medium. You lose you ability to fly and your wings disappear. You walking
speed increases to 35. Any advantages or disadvantage gained from wee form do not apply when in medium form

Battle experience: you fought long and hard and have gained the knowledge of where to strike to do the most damage.
You may add a 1d3 to your damage rolls when using a melee weapon.
(if using a needle or equivalent damage weapon you may role 1d6 instead of 2d3)


Colossal

Through an explosion of magic and will, you channel all of your bodies magic into yourself changing your shape to large and gaining the following benefits:

Resistance: you gain resistance to all melee attacks and standard elemental energy ( fire, cold, force, lighting, acid,)

Magical weapon: your weapon is imbued with energy and turns into a great sword ( 2d6 damage) you gain proficient with this weapon in
this form. And damage counts as magical for purpose of overcoming resistance and vulnerability .

Because all pf your magic is being channeled into this form, to protect you from damage, you may not cast any spells in this form or use any other magical ability that you have.

This form can only be taken once per rest and for is considered a concentration spell with all that restriction and effects that go with that. Your duration for this form is 1 minute.



Scout

Innate casting : Your wings grow loose scales which are imbued with magical properties. This pixy dust can be used to generate several magical effects . Your innate spellcasting ability is Charisma. You can innately cast the following spells, requiring only your pixie dust as a component.

At 1st lvl you can cast Detect Evil and Good and entangle.
At 5th lvl Detect Thoughts,
At lvl 15th Confusion

Ranged attacks: you don’t suffer from the halved range penalty
Super fae sight : you have 120 dark vision.

Superior speed: Your speed increase by 5

[Ninja_Prawn]

*Ninja_Prawn's Obligatory Post*

I assume this is for 5e?

First impression: that's way too much magic. Cut it down to what you consider essential. I went with Dancing Lights, Druidcraft, Entangle, Sleep and Invisibility.

At-will invisibility is probably a no-no for PC races.

You're welcome to use my tiny weapon list (page 10 of Forests and Faeries (https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3crmpfdbc5u5x5/Fey%20Creatures%20Complete.pdf?dl=0)) if you like. It'd save you some effort.

More detailed thoughts to follow...

Just saw the 45 foot fly speed. You might want to cut that down; flight on its own is good enough, without being able to outpace everyone else as well.

The non-magical form seems poorly-thought-out and much weaker than the magical one.

As usual, you need to be careful; when throwing tiny and large sizes around. They have all sorts of implications that need to be considered.

In general, I'd say this needs a lot of cleaning-up in terms of its presentation and grammar. In many places it's almost impossible to read.

[Night Eternal]

*Ninja_Prawn's Obligatory Post*

I assume this is for 5e?

First impression: that's way too much magic. Cut it down to what you consider essential. I went with Dancing Lights, Druidcraft, Entangle, Sleep and Invisibility.

At-will invisibility is probably a no-no for PC races.

You're welcome to use my tiny weapon list (page 10 of Forests and Faeries (https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3crmpfdbc5u5x5/Fey%20Creatures%20Complete.pdf?dl=0)) if you like. It'd save you some effort.

More detailed thoughts to follow...

Just saw the 45 foot fly speed. You might want to cut that down; flight on its own is good enough, without being able to outpace everyone else as well.

The non-magical form seems poorly-thought-out and much weaker than the magical one.

As usual, you need to be careful; when throwing tiny and large sizes around. They have all sorts of implications that need to be considered.

In general, I'd say this needs a lot of cleaning-up in terms of its presentation and grammar. In many places it's almost impossible to read.


thanks for the advise will defiantly cut down the magic and change the invisibility. Also thanks for the weapons that's a lot of help .

[Night Eternal]

*Ninja_Prawn's Obligatory Post*



Just saw the 45 foot fly speed. You might want to cut that down; flight on its own is good enough, without being able to outpace everyone else as well.

The non-magical form seems poorly-thought-out and much weaker than the magical one.

As usual, you need to be careful; when throwing tiny and large sizes around. They have all sorts of implications that need to be considered.

In general, I'd say this needs a lot of cleaning-up in terms of its presentation and grammar. In many places it's almost impossible to read.

I will cut down the speed, that does seem to be excessive compared to what I have seen in comparison.

Yeah it does need cleaning up. I hope to work on that this weekend. I just wanted to see what people basic thoughts where.
Can you expand on non magical form seeming weak.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Can you expand on non magical form seeming weak.

Well, it's mainly a problem of synergy. This race is not built for weapon-based fighting, which is fair enough, so no one's going to play a pixie fighter. A 1d3 bonus to weapon damage won't sway them, even if it still applies in medium form; they'd still be inferior to any of the 'real' medium races (because the race has to be generally balanced around the flight ability, so losing that must put them below the level of a race that is still able to use all of its features).

It's hard to illustrate or explain properly at the moment because the rest of the race needs to be brought into line first, but when everything is properly balanced, I'm sure you'll find that a boost to weapons damage doesn't work for this race.

[Night Eternal]

Well, it's mainly a problem of synergy. This race is not built for weapon-based fighting, which is fair enough, so no one's going to play a pixie fighter. A 1d3 bonus to weapon damage won't sway them, even if it still applies in medium form; they'd still be inferior to any of the 'real' medium races (because the race has to be generally balanced around the flight ability, so losing that must put them below the level of a race that is still able to use all of its features).

It's hard to illustrate or explain properly at the moment because the rest of the race needs to be brought into line first, but when everything is properly balanced, I'm sure you'll find that a boost to weapons damage doesn't work for this race.

One of the books I read ( Vesik series by Eric Asher) have pixie being the fae who regular form is a pixe. They can transform to a warrior form which they are 7 feet in. They fight in both forms flying in and then changing to warrior form that attack. In another series called the Hollows by Kim Harrison their is a pixie called Jenks who is a sword fighter and is actually able to hold of people in a fight. A friend of mine wants to play a swordmage pixie. And im trying to create something that might work with that. Hence the war superior form. Any ideas to make it better or have better synergy. Thanks for your help so far :)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Any ideas to make it better or have better synergy.

Not at this point. I'll have to see where you go with the base race and tiny bonuses/penalties before I can really know what we're working with.

[Stan]

I think pixies are going to have low base weapon damage if you're at all realistic. The way to get around that, if you want them in melee, is to have bonuses and/or more attacks. I haven't read any of the source material you mentioned, so I'm just throwing things out there.

I would give pixies something like +4 dex, -4 str, plus maybe +1 to a mental stat. I'd also raise their max dex to 22.
Maybe all pixie weapons use dex for attacks/damage. Then you're always adding a high dex to attacks. Conceptually, the way pixies hurt larger creatures isn't to chop at them with puny strength, it's to stab them in the eye, slice at their throat and tendons, and that sort of thing.

Maybe pixie warriors are so freakin' fast that they get one more attack than normal when they take an attack action. I haven't done the math on this on how it pans out over all the levels as it depends on other details but it might work. They'd be adding their high dex to 2 attacks early on (3 with a 2nd weapon). If they make use of something that adds to every attack (like hex) or use multiple attacks to increase their chance of getting sneak attack damage, it would make up for their low base damage.

[JNAProductions]

I think pixies are going to have low base weapon damage if you're at all realistic. The way to get around that, if you want them in melee, is to have bonuses and/or more attacks. I haven't read any of the source material you mentioned, so I'm just throwing things out there.

I would give pixies something like +4 dex, -4 str, plus maybe +1 to a mental stat. I'd also raise their max dex to 22.
Maybe all pixie weapons use dex for attacks/damage. Then you're always adding a high dex to attacks. Conceptually, the way pixies hurt larger creatures isn't to chop at them with puny strength, it's to stab them in the eye, slice at their throat and tendons, and that sort of thing.

Maybe pixie warriors are so freakin' fast that they get one more attack than normal when they take an attack action. I haven't done the math on this on how it pans out over all the levels as it depends on other details but it might work. They'd be adding their high dex to 2 attacks early on (3 with a 2nd weapon). If they make use of something that adds to every attack (like hex) or use multiple attacks to increase their chance of getting sneak attack damage, it would make up for their low base damage.

I think he's looking for a balanced race. That... Is not.

[Stan]

I just threw out a bunch of ideas, not a whole package. How can you say if it's balanced until a specific package of perks and flaws are chosen and the details of being tiny are worked out?

[JNAProductions]

I saw two ideas there. +4 Dex/-4 Str, which is much too good.

Or a bonus attack-which is also much too good.

[Stan]

Suppose a first level pixie would have 18 dex, instead of 16 for a typical dex based fighter.

Pixie attack with a rapier would do 1d3 +4 damage = 6
A medium character with a rapier would do 1d8+3= 7.5
That's weak, though the extra +1 to hit helps some.

Two attacks would do quite a bit more, though at 5 level 18 vs 15 isn't that much off. If they can do two attacks, drop the dex to +2, leave str at -4.
Then it would be 10 vs 7.5 at first level, 15 vs 15 at 5th level. Still a bit too good at first level but it could be balanced by other things.

I'd probably also penalize tiny creatures by reducing their hit die a step or giving them a -2 con penalty, especially if they can do more attacks.

Honestly, it's hard to get tiny creatures to be effective unless they're casters who use their high dex and possibly flight to stay out of melee.

[Night Eternal]

Well it is definitely true most pixie would probably not make the best fighter in terms of dnd. they seem more designed to be caster with the ability to hit hard and not be hit due to a higher ac and choosing a spell caster class. With that said I'm trying to make a sub race that excels at fighting. Im definitely adding the dex mod to weapon attacks. what do you guy think about adding this

war superior gets:

+1 to ac
Dex capp at 22

Maybe even a superior flight: your wings are imbued with magic for extra strength and dexterity. you can now use medium or heaver armor as long as you have casted the special ritual on them.

Colossal get:

4d6 great sword instead of the classic 2d6.

this way the war superior get a bonus to damage in either form and higher ac capilities which should balance out the low damage. the average weapon is a 1d6 and with the damage bonus that brings the pixie attack to a 1d6. if that get a cantrip like green flame blade at lvl 5 then can put some decent damage. They may not make the best straight out fighter but a pixie eldritch knight should be effective. I actually think it might be a bit over powered.

colossal form is suppose to be a last ditch effort to kill. It suppose to consume all of you magic to give you this " fighter form"
with the increase damage how realistic is that?

Also do you think there should be a step down in hit dice. So if your class is 1d10 then your is 1d8 etc. That would make sense and add some balance right?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Also do you think there should be a step down in hit dice. So if your class is 1d10 then your is 1d8 etc. That would make sense and add some balance right?

On this: I use it, as a counterbalancing factor. If you were more restrained that I was with the positive features, it might not be necessary. I wouldn't necessarily say it 'makes sense', because all medium NPCs are d8s, while a medium PC could have anything from d8s to d12s - and there's no distinction between small and medium PCs like there is for NPCs. It doesn't not make sense either, though.

It's a lever you can pull if you need a counterbalance.

[Stan]

I don't think the ability to wear heavy armor is going to be very helpful as almost all tiny creatures are going to be a dex build and heavy armor eliminates the dex bonus to armor studded leather and 20 dex = 17 AC, which is as good a splint mail. Medium armor might help for some builds but not many.

Doubling weapon damage for colossal is quite a bit. For comparison, look at the spell enlarge, which gives weapons and extra 1d4 damage per hit. That's a 2nd level spell. Doubling weapon damage (compared to medium) is the equivalent of ~4th level spell and not something to be lightly handed out to an entire race. You could delay the ability to to that until 5th level or so. Maybe also add exhaustion after doing it. For simplicity, you could just give them enlarge 1/long rest with the understanding that it goes from tiny to large.

[Night Eternal]

I don't think the ability to wear heavy armor is going to be very helpful as almost all tiny creatures are going to be a dex build and heavy armor eliminates the dex bonus to armor studded leather and 20 dex = 17 AC, which is as good a splint mail. Medium armor might help for some builds but not many.

Doubling weapon damage for colossal is quite a bit. For comparison, look at the spell enlarge, which gives weapons and extra 1d4 damage per hit. That's a 2nd level spell. Doubling weapon damage (compared to medium) is the equivalent of ~4th level spell and not something to be lightly handed out to an entire race. You could delay the ability to to that until 5th level or so. Maybe also add exhaustion after doing it. For simplicity, you could just give them enlarge 1/long rest with the understanding that it goes from tiny to large.

Stan thank you for you advise those are great points with colossal. I probably address that tonight maybe adding use once per long rest, and 5th lvl twice. How does exhaustion work. That actually what I original want to do but couldn't figure out how to structure it.

[Stan]

In the back of the phb, there is a box in the conditions section that explains exhaustion. It has 6 levels of incapacitation. A long rest or greater restoration removes one level.