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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Nac Mac Feelge home-brew race: is it balanced?



Vessyra
2018-08-23, 11:40 PM
A friend of mine has cooked up some home-brew traits for Nac Mac Feegle statistics. Since he doesn't have a Giant in the Playground account, he's asked me to ask whether or not it is balanced.

They abilities are as follows:
Size: tiny.
+2 strength, +2 con, -2 wisdom.
Speed: 40 ft.
Languages: common and sylvan.
Powerful build: you are treated as being one size category larger for the purposes of carrying capacity.
Craw step: at 3rd level, you can cast misty step 1/long rest.
Headbutt: Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 + your strength modifier.
Feelge talent: you are proficient in athletics.

Is it over/underpowered? Any abilities that seem abusable?

5e in case you didn't see the prefix.

Mourne
2018-08-24, 10:02 AM
Out of curiosity, what is the genesis of this race (folklore, mythology)?

Scoring "strict" with Detect Balance, the race scores a 20. The average for official races is around a 26, so a little under powered if anything. Of note, Detect Balance doesn't provide a value for tiny size so I assigned a -2 (one could argue that it should be even lower, depending on what the rules are for handling this size).

It's not normal to have a race with an attribute penalty. In this case, I assigned the Wisdom decrease a -2 but it might even merit a larger negative due to the importance of the stat. Also, while powerful build normally gives a +2 (which is the score I used), one could make the argument that it's less valuable moving from tiny -> small as it is medium -> large (maybe only warranting a +1).

Regardless, there's room to grow here.

Some questions...

Not that it has much bearing on the spell, but what is the casting attribute for Craw Step?

Also, is headbutt due to a natural weapon (horns) or is it -- as stated -- just a headbutt? If a Feelge is armed, is there any interaction between the attack modes (i.e. can make a headbutt as a bonus action in addition to their normal attack -- similar to fighting with two weapons)?

Vogie
2018-08-24, 12:16 PM
Out of curiosity, what is the genesis of this race (folklore, mythology)?
...
Not that it has much bearing on the spell, but what is the casting attribute for Craw Step?

Also, is headbutt due to a natural weapon (horns) or is it -- as stated -- just a headbutt? If a Feelge is armed, is there any interaction between the attack modes (i.e. can make a headbutt as a bonus action in addition to their normal attack -- similar to fighting with two weapons)?

The Nac Mac Feelge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nac_Mac_Feegle)are faries from the Discworld Series of books by Terry Pratchett.

They're tiny definitely-not-stereotypical-Scotsmen that are woad-adorned rowdy beings, and their headbutt is just with their head.

Grim Portent
2018-08-24, 12:39 PM
Probably a bit on the weak side from a mechanical standpoint if anything.

From a fluff perspective they're faaar weaker than the Feegle's were in the books. Four together can lift a cow and they could beat up trolls after all. I'd probably replace Powerful Build with something like;

Pictsie Power: You are treated as large for the purposes of determining how much you can carry, lift or push.

That would put a Str 20 Feegle at being able to carry 600 pounds in 5e, plenty enough that a quartet of more average Feegle's could steal the average cow.

Depending on which point in the series they're based on the Craw Step would also work better as Planeshift rather than Misty Step, though I will admit Misty Step is the more balanced and normal option of the two.

Ninja_Prawn
2018-08-24, 01:00 PM
Yeah, this is underpowered as is.

Also, what do you intend to do about weapons and stuff? It's not really feasible for tiny creatures to just pick up a human's greatsword and swing it around, even if they're strong enough to lift it.

I'd suggest something like...

http://i65.tinypic.com/6t0in5.png

Lalliman
2018-08-25, 03:24 AM
Beware that these guys can't shove or grapple medium-sized creatures, because you can only do that to creatures up to one size category larger. You might want to add that they count as larger for the sake of shoving and grappling.