Why Did It Have To Be Snakes? - the Making of the Mikori
It’s Mikori time, nerds. Keeping with my habit of making a thing that already exists kind of but differently (everyone who said the Iphik were just Thri-kreen may as well have personally jabbed me in the liver. Just saying) I made some snake people. Not Yuan-ti, not Nagas, not lizardfolk - Mikori. Different. There are similarities of course, but there’s similarities between all sorts of races and monsters, so I don’t really mind that - and neither should you. More things is good if those things are good, right?
Right.
So I made snake people. Serpent lower bodies, muscles upper bodies, city-state culture. Grecian styled aesthetics implied, but not explicit. To be honest, the Mikori were not entirely my creation - besides the input of the other Gelatinous Cubicles design team I mean - because I made them for a player. A friend of mine, Vee, is a prolific player of Pathfinder, Edge of the Empire, Shadowrun, and plenty of other games that are not 5e Dungeons and Dragons, and she wasn’t especially fond of the racial options 5e provided. She wanted to play something more bestial, with the physical abilities to subdue enemies. Ideas went from dwarf-Driders to multi-armed beasts, but eventually we honed in on a powerful race of warrior-snakes that wielded spears and shields like a Greek phalanx of ancient times. A fun, and to D&D, relatively novel idea.
From there it wasn’t all that difficult to work out some cultural aspects represented by proficiencies and a mostly flavorful movement advantage due to their snake like bodies. The major features that took some rounds of revisions were Serpentine body and Constrict. Balancing the ability to restrain a creature as a racial ability demands a lot of considerations, so it was important that Mikori not be naturally good at grappling itself - besides perhaps the +1 to strength they get. This works best on martial classes who can use one attack to grapple, and their extra attack to restrain, if so desired - and given how much of an investment and risk using Serpentine Body is, a bonus action d4 option is a fun, flavorful, and impactful bit of bonus damage that rewards using the feature but doesn’t make the Mikori death-dealers all around.
So that’s where the Mikori come from and what they do that is interesting. As you can see, that was a pretty short article - really, most races aren’t that complicated in D&D. It’s not too hard to see which ones are quite strong (Like Elves) and which ones are a bit lacking (Like Orcs, specifically before the update in Eberron). So I think I’ll take this opportunity to talk about something I’m quite fond of: Personalized Homebrew!
So, yes, all homebrew is personalized, that’s what the ‘home’ means. But in this case I mean homebrew made for a specific person! It’s a very common situation; a player has an amazing idea for something they want to use in a campaign, they have some vague concept of how it should work, and usually the balance of their ideas - if they’re even accompanied by actual rules - is questionable. That’s where experience, perspective, and patience come in quite handy. I’m going to explain to you my basic thought process when making homebrew that isn’t made for public release, but slapped together and made good enough for a player at my table - and maybe it’ll help you keep Tim from killing your Big Bad with a hidden synergy or vague rule wording.
It’s important to remember that most homebrew isn’t made for publication like we do here at Gel Cubicles. Most homebrew exists to serve a single purpose, or perhaps exist within a single DM’s setting, or repertoire. As such, there’s no harm at all in riffing from existing content if that content is useful to you. If another player race or monster stat block has something useful - like a grapple attack you want to riff from, for example - go for it! Balance is relative, and you can always tweak things in the numbers, durations, and opportunities to make something weaker or stronger if you need to.
In the same vein, make sure you’ve considered similar content that already exists. If you want your Race to have a damage option, look at what other races have for damage options and ask yourself why those options are structured the way they are. Then, consider the impact those options have on the game in your (and ideally, other’s) experience - and decide whether your damage dealing ability is too strong, too weak, or just about right for your purposes.
When working with someone else to make something, it’s important not only to be considerate of what is balanced or good for a campaign setting, but that the homebrew does something the intended user wants - or something close to it at least - and that it, most importantly, is fun to use. An ability that is theoretically very strong, but is an absolute headache to run or track, isn’t the most ideal way to implement homebrew. If you can’t come to an agreement on an implementation of a player’s ideas (and don’t give up too quickly, browse other content that exists and explore other media, see what sparks your creative juices) it may be necessary to shelve or scrap the project. Sometimes giving your snake people the ability to paralyze people is just too strong to be fair.
All in all, Homebrew should be enjoyable for everyone at the table. It’s there to expand the play experience and tailor it to our tastes - experiment, come up with new ideas, try things that seem weird or a little strong or a little weak. Half the fun, for me anyway, is seeing what you can make work under the pressure of combat and roleplay alike.
I hope my short little ramble was helpful to you!
-Jon the Kobold Wrangler
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