I am attempting to import a race from Final Fantasy 14 into d&d. The race I want to make is Miqo'te. Miqo'te is the FF14 version of the Tabaxi, but they are much more human-like. Can I have your thoughts on what I have already come up with and suggestions on how I could make this a balanced, playable race, as well as using them for NPCs?
My thought on stats and abilities
Racial bonuses: +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence (western Miqo'te). +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (eastern Miqo'te).
Feline Agility: Takes no damage when falling up to 50 ft.
Speed: 60 ft.
Dark Vision: 60 ft. See in dim light as though it were bright light and darkness as though it were dim light (shades of grey).
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Dexterity and Wisdom (western Miqo'te). Dexterity and Intelligence (eastern Miqo'te)
Ability Proficiencies: Acrobatics and Stealth.
Languages: Common, Body Language (Miqo'te can communicate with each other through body language, in the same way that cats do. I haven't come up with a name for it yet.), +1 language of the players choice.
Life Expectancy and Maturity.
Miqo'te can live twice as long as humans; however, they mature at the same rate as humans, reaching adulthood by eighteen years old. Once they reach adulthood, Miqo'te doesn't show any ageing signs until the last few years of their lives. They can also remain physically active until the final months of their life when their health and physical ability decline quickly.
Miqo'te can sense when they are nearing the end of their lives, and putting their affairs in order and settling old arguments becomes an obsession in their waning months
Purpose of race and ideas I had for the lore
I want to make one of my NPCs, the Prophetess Safiyyah, into a Miqo'te; I also want them to be a playable race. I don't want them to be just a Tabaxi; I want her to be a Miqo'te, as in the final fantasy race. The story behind Miqo'te existing in my homebrew D&D world is that the high magisters magically created them to be servants during the 4th Celestial Era. During the Celestial Era, the Miqo'te served their masters. They had no culture of their own and no purpose other than to server their creators. Despite knowing that they were a created race, specifically designed to be servants of the magisters, the Miqo'te were happy and content with their lot in life. Having a Miqo'te servant was proof of your status and prestige, and so those they served spared no expense on their care and education. However, as time passed and more and more Miqo'te were born, their rarity, novelty, and prestige wore off. By the time even the lowest mage could have a Miqo'te servant, much had changed, and then with the passing of the laws that made all Miqo'te the property of their creators, they were no longer just servants, but slaves, who had no rights of protection under the law.
You can only push an intelligent sentient race, created or not, so far before they start to fight back and fight back, they did. At first, the Miqo'te fought through passive resistance and protest, but they were beaten down and clapped in chains and imprisoned time and time again. Eventually, passive demonstrations turned into violent ones, violent protests became more organised, and as more and more Miqo'te joined the resistance, the protesters' ranks grew. The more the authorities tried to quiet them, the more they fought back and the louder they became, and their struggle began to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary man, who took up arms to fight for the right of the Miqo'te to be free. Some, however, considered the Miqo'te to be traitorous heathens, anarchists bent on destroying their way of life, so they fought on the law's side. The Miqo'te were the topic of discussion on everyone's lips, and from the drunks in the taverns to the hight magisters court, everyone who was everyone had an opinion.
Tensions were high, the blood was running hot, and when several high magisters sided with the Miqo'te, the world fell into a long and bloody war between those who fought for the independence of the Miqo'te and those who fought to subjugate them.
The Miqo'te and their allies eventually won the fight; the laws repealed to bring an end to a long bloody war, and the Miqo'te officially recognised as free people. They had won their freedom but at a high cost. As free people, the governments no longer recognised them as official citizens; they became refugees in their own homes, bundled into refugee camps that were supposed to be temporary but became permanent. Faced with poverty, hopelessness, sickness and death, many Miqo'te choose to leave their ancestral places and become wanders, adventurers seeking land that they could make their own. The vast majority of Miqo'te disappeared into the west, never to be seen again. Over time, they developed a nomadic, tribal culture centred around gathering knowledge and the worship of the sun and moon.
Those few who remain in the east adopted a family-orientated life, focusing on the next generation and seeking ways of improving their children's future lives. Eventually, through much toil, they were reabsorbed back into society. They adopted the practices and culture of those they lived amongst, although they maintained their family-oriented approach, having few children, to focus all their attention and efforts on making sure that the next generation had the best start in life.
Due to their past, Miqo'te places a high value on their freedom. Their past stories stir up within them a genuine desire to be free, and restraint or confinement has an extraordinarily negative effect on the psyche of all Miqo'te, transforming even the most peaceful into a feral beast who will fight tooth and nail, even to the death.
Miqo'te would rather die on their feet than live on their knees, although it is the Miqo'te of the west, which is the most fierce in that regard and often considered by the east's people barbaric and uncultured, which could not be further from the truth. The Miqo'te of the east have more experience living alongside other races and maintaining relationships with none Miqo'te. That does not change the fact that all Miqo'te value freedom and cannot abide confinement.
1) Your speed is way overpowered up. No need to change it from Tabaxi's speed.
2) Giving proficiency to saves as a race is way screwed up to. Especially without explaining how it interacts with class based proficiencies. Worse, Dex and Wisdom are the 'common' saves' and therefore good. Replace with a simple advantage on Dex saves.
3) I can see switching cat's claws for a falling ability, but I would explain it better.
4) Language is a bit much also. 2 extra languages, one being silent is a lot.
This is what I would do for the stat block:
Racial bonuses: +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence (western Miqo'te). +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (eastern Miqo'te).
Feline Agility: Your reflexes and agility allow you to move with a burst of speed. When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns
Feline's Fall: Once per short rest you can slow your fall, acting as if you fell up to 45 ft less than your actual fall. i.e. no damage from anything upto a 50 ft fall. Falling 55 ft causes 1d6 of damage, 65 ft 2d6, etc.
Feline's Resilience: Advantage on all Dex saves.
Speed: 30 ft.
Dark Vision: 60 ft.
Ability Proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth.
Languages: Common, Miquote Body Language (non-verbal, no written form)
1) Your speed is way overpowered up. No need to change it from Tabaxi's speed.
2) Giving proficiency to saves as a race is way screwed up to. Especially without explaining how it interacts with class based proficiencies. Worse, Dex and Wisdom are the 'common' saves' and therefore good. Replace with a simple advantage on Dex saves.
3) I can see switching cat's claws for a falling ability, but I would explain it better.
4) Language is a bit much also. 2 extra languages, one being silent is a lot.
This is what I would do for the stat block:
Racial bonuses: +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence (western Miqo'te). +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (eastern Miqo'te).
Feline Agility: Your reflexes and agility allow you to move with a burst of speed. When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns
Feline's Fall: Once per short rest you can slow your fall, acting as if you fell up to 45 ft less than your actual fall. i.e. no damage from anything upto a 50 ft fall. Falling 55 ft causes 1d6 of damage, 65 ft 2d6, etc.
Feline's Resilience: Advantage on all Dex saves.
Speed: 30 ft.
Dark Vision: 60 ft.
Ability Proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth.
Languages: Common, Miquote Body Language (non-verbal, no written form)
Thanks for your suggestions regarding the speed and languages. Thinking about it, giving them base 30 for speed and allowing them to increase it momentarily using “Feline Agility” much more sense.
The reason I gave them racial save proficiencies was I wanted them to have abilities taught from.childhood, based upon the region of the world they come from; so, I thought it would make sense that they would have proficiency in those, and by extension, saves.
As.those abilities are common to all Miqo'te from that part of the world, I thought that would be better represented as racial saves. Their experiences since childhood, meaning that they have significant experience in those areas.
I see what you are saying, though. Proficiency in particular saves is acquired as part of a class, not a race. Especially since two save proficiencies from a race and two from a class would make them very OP, especially at low levels.
With regards to the languages, I wanted the Miqo'te to speak in their language, which is essentially the body language that they communicate with each other in, and then one different language of the players choice to represent which race the character grow up surrounded by. However, I thought, what if players do something stupid and decide that their character can't speak common. They wouldn't be able to talk to others, and that would cause issues with playing the game. That's why I also added common. So players couldn't then say, “my character can't speak to this person, or doesn't understand etc.”
Thinking about it now, though, growing up around certain races is what backgrounds are for and not something that should be part of a race. Which thinking about it, is also where they need to get their childhood experiences from.
I have tried to add things as racial features, which better belong in other parts of character creation, and the reply and helped me to realise that.
Thanks for your reply and your thoughts; they have helped me out a lot.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Mog_Dracov already pointed out the obvious flaws. A base speed of 60 is just too much. Giving them two free Svaing throws is also over-powered especially if you combine it with boosts to those particular abilties. The "abilities taught from.childhood" are the abilitiy bonuses. You don't need to give them anything more than that.
I honestly think that even the suggested change to Feline ability is a bit much. Being able to move 120 feet per turn at level 1 is really powerful. It gets even worse if they become rogues or monks. As for the whole falling thing, just advantage on Dex saves to avoid damage from falling, tumbling and similar is enough. If you desperately want to reduce fall damage, I'd say that no damage up to and including 30 feet is well enough. 30 feet is a lot.
I don't see a problem with Body Language as a third language. Half-elves also get a bunch of languages and presumabely they can only talk to other catpeople who also know the same body language.
As for the fictional background, only you can decide if it fits into your own personal setting. The whole "created race just to be pets to magicians" is a bit weird and has been done to pieces so it's not really something that intrigues me. It's a bit too much "look at us, we are special and oppressed mary sues" for my taste. Just a personal preference though. And unless everyone in place were rich and powerful enough to have their own catperson, I find it hard to believe that they would be numerous enough to stage revolts and gain popular support the way you describe. But again, your world, you know what suits it best.
Personally though I'd probably just use reflavoured elves or possibly Shifters.
I think you could just re-skin Tabaxi as miqo'te, no additional work necessary. That way you know you're getting something that's tested and balanced, while still on-theme. Just like how in Elder Scrolls, khajiit can range from humanoid vaguely elven looking folk to full-on cat people (in the lore; you only ever see the full on cat people in the games).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Hi, everyone,
I am attempting to import a race from Final Fantasy 14 into d&d. The race I want to make is Miqo'te. Miqo'te is the FF14 version of the Tabaxi, but they are much more human-like. Can I have your thoughts on what I have already come up with and suggestions on how I could make this a balanced, playable race, as well as using them for NPCs?
My thought on stats and abilities
Racial bonuses: +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence (western Miqo'te). +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (eastern Miqo'te).
Feline Agility: Takes no damage when falling up to 50 ft.
Speed: 60 ft.
Dark Vision: 60 ft. See in dim light as though it were bright light and darkness as though it were dim light (shades of grey).
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Dexterity and Wisdom (western Miqo'te). Dexterity and Intelligence (eastern Miqo'te)
Ability Proficiencies: Acrobatics and Stealth.
Languages: Common, Body Language (Miqo'te can communicate with each other through body language, in the same way that cats do. I haven't come up with a name for it yet.), +1 language of the players choice.
Life Expectancy and Maturity.
Miqo'te can live twice as long as humans; however, they mature at the same rate as humans, reaching adulthood by eighteen years old. Once they reach adulthood, Miqo'te doesn't show any ageing signs until the last few years of their lives. They can also remain physically active until the final months of their life when their health and physical ability decline quickly.
Miqo'te can sense when they are nearing the end of their lives, and putting their affairs in order and settling old arguments becomes an obsession in their waning months
Purpose of race and ideas I had for the lore
I want to make one of my NPCs, the Prophetess Safiyyah, into a Miqo'te; I also want them to be a playable race. I don't want them to be just a Tabaxi; I want her to be a Miqo'te, as in the final fantasy race. The story behind Miqo'te existing in my homebrew D&D world is that the high magisters magically created them to be servants during the 4th Celestial Era. During the Celestial Era, the Miqo'te served their masters. They had no culture of their own and no purpose other than to server their creators. Despite knowing that they were a created race, specifically designed to be servants of the magisters, the Miqo'te were happy and content with their lot in life. Having a Miqo'te servant was proof of your status and prestige, and so those they served spared no expense on their care and education. However, as time passed and more and more Miqo'te were born, their rarity, novelty, and prestige wore off. By the time even the lowest mage could have a Miqo'te servant, much had changed, and then with the passing of the laws that made all Miqo'te the property of their creators, they were no longer just servants, but slaves, who had no rights of protection under the law.
You can only push an intelligent sentient race, created or not, so far before they start to fight back and fight back, they did. At first, the Miqo'te fought through passive resistance and protest, but they were beaten down and clapped in chains and imprisoned time and time again. Eventually, passive demonstrations turned into violent ones, violent protests became more organised, and as more and more Miqo'te joined the resistance, the protesters' ranks grew. The more the authorities tried to quiet them, the more they fought back and the louder they became, and their struggle began to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary man, who took up arms to fight for the right of the Miqo'te to be free. Some, however, considered the Miqo'te to be traitorous heathens, anarchists bent on destroying their way of life, so they fought on the law's side. The Miqo'te were the topic of discussion on everyone's lips, and from the drunks in the taverns to the hight magisters court, everyone who was everyone had an opinion.
Tensions were high, the blood was running hot, and when several high magisters sided with the Miqo'te, the world fell into a long and bloody war between those who fought for the independence of the Miqo'te and those who fought to subjugate them.
The Miqo'te and their allies eventually won the fight; the laws repealed to bring an end to a long bloody war, and the Miqo'te officially recognised as free people. They had won their freedom but at a high cost. As free people, the governments no longer recognised them as official citizens; they became refugees in their own homes, bundled into refugee camps that were supposed to be temporary but became permanent. Faced with poverty, hopelessness, sickness and death, many Miqo'te choose to leave their ancestral places and become wanders, adventurers seeking land that they could make their own. The vast majority of Miqo'te disappeared into the west, never to be seen again. Over time, they developed a nomadic, tribal culture centred around gathering knowledge and the worship of the sun and moon.
Those few who remain in the east adopted a family-orientated life, focusing on the next generation and seeking ways of improving their children's future lives. Eventually, through much toil, they were reabsorbed back into society. They adopted the practices and culture of those they lived amongst, although they maintained their family-oriented approach, having few children, to focus all their attention and efforts on making sure that the next generation had the best start in life.
Due to their past, Miqo'te places a high value on their freedom. Their past stories stir up within them a genuine desire to be free, and restraint or confinement has an extraordinarily negative effect on the psyche of all Miqo'te, transforming even the most peaceful into a feral beast who will fight tooth and nail, even to the death.
Miqo'te would rather die on their feet than live on their knees, although it is the Miqo'te of the west, which is the most fierce in that regard and often considered by the east's people barbaric and uncultured, which could not be further from the truth. The Miqo'te of the east have more experience living alongside other races and maintaining relationships with none Miqo'te. That does not change the fact that all Miqo'te value freedom and cannot abide confinement.
------
Looking forward to reading all your thoughts.
Thanks, everyone.
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
1) Your speed is way overpowered up. No need to change it from Tabaxi's speed.
2) Giving proficiency to saves as a race is way screwed up to. Especially without explaining how it interacts with class based proficiencies. Worse, Dex and Wisdom are the 'common' saves' and therefore good. Replace with a simple advantage on Dex saves.
3) I can see switching cat's claws for a falling ability, but I would explain it better.
4) Language is a bit much also. 2 extra languages, one being silent is a lot.
This is what I would do for the stat block:
Racial bonuses: +2 Dexterity and +1 Intelligence (western Miqo'te). +2 Dexterity and +1 Wisdom (eastern Miqo'te).
Feline Agility: Your reflexes and agility allow you to move with a burst of speed. When you move on your turn in combat, you can double your speed until the end of the turn. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns
Feline's Fall: Once per short rest you can slow your fall, acting as if you fell up to 45 ft less than your actual fall. i.e. no damage from anything upto a 50 ft fall. Falling 55 ft causes 1d6 of damage, 65 ft 2d6, etc.
Feline's Resilience: Advantage on all Dex saves.
Speed: 30 ft.
Dark Vision: 60 ft.
Ability Proficiency: Acrobatics and Stealth.
Languages: Common, Miquote Body Language (non-verbal, no written form)
Thanks for your suggestions regarding the speed and languages. Thinking about it, giving them base 30 for speed and allowing them to increase it momentarily using “Feline Agility” much more sense.
The reason I gave them racial save proficiencies was I wanted them to have abilities taught from.childhood, based upon the region of the world they come from; so, I thought it would make sense that they would have proficiency in those, and by extension, saves.
As.those abilities are common to all Miqo'te from that part of the world, I thought that would be better represented as racial saves. Their experiences since childhood, meaning that they have significant experience in those areas.
I see what you are saying, though. Proficiency in particular saves is acquired as part of a class, not a race. Especially since two save proficiencies from a race and two from a class would make them very OP, especially at low levels.
With regards to the languages, I wanted the Miqo'te to speak in their language, which is essentially the body language that they communicate with each other in, and then one different language of the players choice to represent which race the character grow up surrounded by. However, I thought, what if players do something stupid and decide that their character can't speak common. They wouldn't be able to talk to others, and that would cause issues with playing the game. That's why I also added common. So players couldn't then say, “my character can't speak to this person, or doesn't understand etc.”
Thinking about it now, though, growing up around certain races is what backgrounds are for and not something that should be part of a race. Which thinking about it, is also where they need to get their childhood experiences from.
I have tried to add things as racial features, which better belong in other parts of character creation, and the reply and helped me to realise that.
Thanks for your reply and your thoughts; they have helped me out a lot.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Mog_Dracov already pointed out the obvious flaws. A base speed of 60 is just too much. Giving them two free Svaing throws is also over-powered especially if you combine it with boosts to those particular abilties. The "abilities taught from.childhood" are the abilitiy bonuses. You don't need to give them anything more than that.
I honestly think that even the suggested change to Feline ability is a bit much. Being able to move 120 feet per turn at level 1 is really powerful. It gets even worse if they become rogues or monks. As for the whole falling thing, just advantage on Dex saves to avoid damage from falling, tumbling and similar is enough. If you desperately want to reduce fall damage, I'd say that no damage up to and including 30 feet is well enough. 30 feet is a lot.
I don't see a problem with Body Language as a third language. Half-elves also get a bunch of languages and presumabely they can only talk to other catpeople who also know the same body language.
As for the fictional background, only you can decide if it fits into your own personal setting. The whole "created race just to be pets to magicians" is a bit weird and has been done to pieces so it's not really something that intrigues me. It's a bit too much "look at us, we are special and oppressed mary sues" for my taste. Just a personal preference though. And unless everyone in place were rich and powerful enough to have their own catperson, I find it hard to believe that they would be numerous enough to stage revolts and gain popular support the way you describe. But again, your world, you know what suits it best.
Personally though I'd probably just use reflavoured elves or possibly Shifters.
I think you could just re-skin Tabaxi as miqo'te, no additional work necessary. That way you know you're getting something that's tested and balanced, while still on-theme. Just like how in Elder Scrolls, khajiit can range from humanoid vaguely elven looking folk to full-on cat people (in the lore; you only ever see the full on cat people in the games).