"Crab people, crab people..." err, I mean Mirelurk stats

[Arkhios]

I'm sure many of you know the hideous humanoid mutant crab-like creatures from the Fallout series. My better half made me watch the South Park episode with the Crab People song, and I had an instant association with Mirelurks (I know, I know, I had a huge hole in my "Common Knowledge").

It had me thinking though... what if I made stats for the thing so I could "pay back" someday when they end up face to face with a group of "crab people".

I'm just not sure how should I progress with this idea. Maybe make an amalgamation of some humanoid creature and crab stats?

Spoiler: MIRELURK!

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[Shadow_in_the_Mist]

First up, you need to figure out just what do you want to do - a humanoid crab, ala the Fallout 3 Mirelurk and AD&D's Crabmen? Or something closer to the Fallout 4 Mirelurks, which are more bestial in appearance?

Although hopefully another user here has a better grasp of the rules to help you with, for the Crabman style, I'd personally start from a basis of:

• Medium Size
• Monstrosity type
• High Armor Class
• Claw Smack Attack - Decent but not especially high damage bludgeoning attack
• Pincer Attack - Less accurate than the Claw Smack, but a much higher amount of Slashing damage and perhaps can chain into a Grapple check; if you want to really make these guys nasty, consider adopting the decapitation rules from the Vorpal Sword
• Rending Pincers - Can inflict constant Slashing damage on a grappled victim, representing the pincers pulling & cutting whatever they've seized

But I've never really studied the monster-making rules for 5e, so I can't say how helpful this is.

[Arkhios]

First up, you need to figure out just what do you want to do - a humanoid crab, ala the Fallout 3 Mirelurk and AD&D's Crabmen? Or something closer to the Fallout 4 Mirelurks, which are more bestial in appearance?

Although hopefully another user here has a better grasp of the rules to help you with, for the Crabman style, I'd personally start from a basis of:

• Medium Size
• Monstrosity type
• High Armor Class
• Claw Smack Attack - Decent but not especially high damage bludgeoning attack
• Pincer Attack - Less accurate than the Claw Smack, but a much higher amount of Slashing damage and perhaps can chain into a Grapple check; if you want to really make these guys nasty, consider adopting the decapitation rules from the Vorpal Sword
• Rending Pincers - Can inflict constant Slashing damage on a grappled victim, representing the pincers pulling & cutting whatever they've seized

But I've never really studied the monster-making rules for 5e, so I can't say how helpful this is.

Any help is welcome, and even if it only means compiling "iconic" abilities, it's still help.

So, thanks for your thoughts. I suppose I could make two variations of the same creature. The bestial, nigh mindless creature that looks more like the ones in Fallout 4, and the more humanoid-like from Fallout 3, which could be nesting in a tight-knit community, like primitive people might.

[Kaskus]

I don't personally have much to offer on this but there was a fan-made playable race with a similar concept that can be found at http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Brachyura_(3.5e_Race).

I think they even used the Mirelurk image for them. Im not sure if you are wanting something playable. The example cited above is LA +2 but there is a lot of superfluous stuff that could be cut to bring that down. I think the stat mods are a bit much as well.