Talk:Mimikyu (5e Race)

Musicus Meter Score: 4

This race has a score of 4 according to the Musicus Meter race guidelines. With this metric, first-party races' scores range from 4.5 to 8. This is a guideline, not a rule, and it's important to use your own judgment alongside this scoring.

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Mimikyu

Cost	Racial Trait
1	Wisdom score increases by 1.
2	Charisma score increases by 2.
-2	Tiny
-0.5	-5 feet walking speed
0.5	Darkvision
0.5	Disguise
0.5	Shadow Claw
1.5	Nightmare
-0.5	Shadow Skin
0.5	Fey Ancestry
0.5	Extra Language
4	Total.

Well, I never expected my very first race to score so low... Then again, it could be because I either missed something or I might need to beef up the little guy. Shadow Skin is practically Sunlight Sensitivity under a certain condition (being out of your costume), so I kept the original score of 0.5. Nightmare was given a 1.5 because of it's range and effect of causing the Frightened condition of multiple creatures (similar to Frightful Presence). It probably ought to be rated higher because of that, but I didn't want the little guy to be considered viable by the Meter thanks to just one ability. I may consider giving it another ability or editing something else, but for now maybe this lonely little aberration can make friends with the Kobolds. --MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 03:08, 20 March 2018 (MDT)

Edit: Made Mimikyu an Aberrant-Fey hybrid instead of Aberrant-Humanoid and added Fey Ancestry. --MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 02:47, 27 February 2019 (MST)

Original Post:

(The original post is responding to a notice about balancing issues from when the race was first submitted)

---

"At-will 2d6 damage that grows to 5d6 at high levels. Might, might be more okay if it imposed recoil damage like in the home game, but still needs tweaking."

Ironically, I actually did consider adding some form of recoil damage, but decided against it. I suppose, if anything, it could impose recoil like this:

2d6 = 1d4 3d6 = 2d4 4d6 = 2d4 5d6 = 3d4

You'd pretty much be halving the number of die rolled and rolling one damage die lower for recoil (I hope I worded that right).

I will admit, I got the idea from how certain spells and cantrips work since some will grow stronger depending on your level. Then again, these are traits, not spells. If anything, I probably should have made Wood Hammer just do 1d6 + Strength or Dexterity modifier with 1d4 recoil with no level up damage increase. I'll let you guys decide which one sounds better.

"Nightmare looks strong but probably isn't that bad if you have to spend your action to use it. "

I should have written that you did have to spend an action to use it, as that was the intent. I also had an idea for a drawback (in addition to Shadow Skin) but was unsure if it would work. Instead of having Nightmare impose Frightened on just enemy combatants, I originally thought it should impose Frightened on EVERY creature that can see it in range, including your own allies. This is because of the fact that, given what is written in the Physical Description, no one has seen what a Mimikyu looks like without dying of fright or becoming violently ill, so it would make no sense if your allies would be cool with seeing you in all your mysterious horrificness.

Aside from that, I'm unsure how else to balance it aside from maybe reducing the range.

Tiny size also needs codification.

Pardon my ignorance, but I'm unsure what you mean. - (MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 12:21, 27 July 2017 (MDT)) (I had no idea how to "sign" posts, but, after fidning out how to, I figured I'd sign this even though I wrote it hours before).

As it stands right now, Wood Hammer is one of the strongest at-will damage dealers in the game. I would run Shadow Claw instead, and just give the Mimikyu a 1d4 slashing unarmed strike, similar to the Aarakocra and Tabaxi.

Like I said before, Nightmare looks strong but I don't think it's broken. Having everyone within range be affected makes sense in terms of the fluff, and could lead to interesting tactical decisions in combat.

Tiny size has a longer explanation that I don't have time for at the moment, but basically NPC creatures smaller than Small and larger than Medium are affected by the rules differently. I think there might be something on one of the help pages; I know we have one for Large races. — Geodude671 (talk | contribs)‎ . . 08:50, 27 July 2017 (MDT)

I suppose that works. I mostly wanted to include Wood Hammer because I thought it was amusing that GameFreak added a move that took something as simple as Mimikyu's tail into consideration. (Then again, you're talking to someone who easily figured out that the reason Alolan Vulpix/Ninetails has Fairy typing is to protect it from natural predators like Sneasel/Weavile, but couldn't figure out that Wood Hammer was related to Mimikyu's wooden tail until someone suggested it. XD Yeah, I can be a dumbass like that sometimes.) Alright, Shadow Claw it is, then!

Oh, I know you didn't say Nightmare was broken. I said what I did because I wondered what people would think about the other idea I had involving allies being affected by it. I did fix the text to say that it does, in fact, require an action, and I'm thinking I'll change it further to include all creatures as well. Like you said, it does sound like it would make for some interesting combat situations.

Is this the page you're talking about? https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Tiny_Player_Characters_(5e_Variant_Rule) If so, what do I need to do? - (MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 12:21, 27 July 2017 (MDT))

Just put a design note asking players to reference that page. Alternatively, you can do what I did for Meloetta (5e Race): make them Small-sized and give them the opposite of the Goliath's Powerful Build. — Geodude671 (talk | contribs)‎ . . 12:26, 27 July 2017 (MDT)

How do you feel about changing the damage you take from Shadow Skin to be a fixed amount? Say, radiant damage equal to your level? — Geodude671 (talk | contribs)‎ . . 12:46, 27 July 2017 (MDT)

That was a fast reply. XD I change up everything and put the design note in. I was going to change Mimikyu's size to Small before because the design note made the page look ugly, but that was because the picture I chose was so big (it caused a large gap between the section title and the Design Note box), so I grabbed a smaller one.

A fixed amount? That'd be fine. It would help simplify things.

By the way, thanks for all the help! Is there anything else you think needs to be done? -(MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 12:50, 27 July 2017 (MDT))

I would probably rename Shadow Skin to something like "Sunlight Hypersensitivity," but it's not necessary. I don't think there's anything that needs to be done other than going over the page for spelling and grammar. — Geodude671 (talk | contribs)‎ . . 12:57, 27 July 2017 (MDT)

Alrighty then. Thank you very much for the help! -(MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 13:07, 27 July 2017 (MDT))

On a side note, is this race even humanoid, or would monstrosity or aberration work better?--Blobby383b (talk) 14:28, 7 August 2017 (MDT)

Sorry for the late response.

Huh, good question. I mean, it's technically not humanoid since it doesn't (appear to) have legs (let alone humanoid ones), plus it has a horrific visage under it's disguise, so maybe one or the other could work. MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 17:31, 8 October 2017 (MDT)

The race would make more sense as an aberration, but I'm leery about changing the type away from humanoid since that gives it immunity to a lot of lower-level spells that target only humanoids; eg, hold person. Perhaps we could do something similar to what I did for Manakete (5e Race) and give it both the humanoid and aberration types? In fact, I'll make that edit now. — Geodude671 (talk | contribs | email)‎ . . 17:44, 8 October 2017 (MDT)

Thanks, but Aberrant Nature doesn't have a description. MetalShadowOverlord (talk) 23:53, 10 October 2017 (MDT)

I put a 3 where I should have put a 2. Fixed. — Geodude671 (talk | contribs | email)‎ . . 00:08, 11 October 2017 (MDT)