Unveiling a New Starfinder Race: The Vesk!

Qa pla'!

Looking cool and tough. Will there be a Vesk iconic?

Looking cool and tough. Will there be a Vesk iconic?

I'm betting the soldier iconic is a vesk.

The Gold Sovereign wrote:

Looking cool and tough. Will there be a Vesk iconic?

I'm betting the soldier iconic is a vesk.

That would totally fit their brief description here.

Interesting read, looking forward to seeing more of the Vesk and Starfinder!

So what do we have here, a Mechanic and... Solider or Solarion? the sword made me think Solarion but with the hilt as it is, it seems more like a tech weapon. And i would assume with their personal honor being such a focus that they would continue to develop lots of melee weapons as their tech advanced...

Going to have to keep myself from falling into a GM trope of Vesk tails constantly getting caught in auto-doors....

I Can't Believe It's Not Klingons™!

Can't wait for these guys to meet Tucker's Space Kobolds.

I wonder why Hobgoblins couldn't have just filled this role?

No bony crests ala Triceratons?

Going to have to keep myself from falling into a GM trope of Vesk tails constantly getting caught in auto-doors....

I suspect that after a few autodoors get turned into archways with slagged edges, other cultures would fix the bugs in their hatchway collision detection systems. The Ysoki would already have the tech and be good at refitting systems.

They look really cool. Awesome Art! :)

Another reptilian humanoid, kind of disappointed. I was hoping for something a little more out there.

I really like these guys. Lashunta were looking like a go to for me besides human, but these guys might give them competition. The culture may not exactly be original, but it still seems fun to play around in. I may just make a Vesk Solarion as my first Starfinder character.

I wonder why Hobgoblins couldn't have just filled this role?

Probably because they wanted "new" races for Starfinder.

So, so far we have...

Androids: Artificial in origin
Humans: Golarion
Kasatha: Kasath (extrasolar system)
Lashunta: Castrovel
Vesk: Veskarium (extrasolar system)
Ysoki: Akiton

...and one more to go.

Is this confirmation that the "home" system is called "the Golarion system", after the missing planet rather than the star?

ulgulanoth wrote:

I wonder why Hobgoblins couldn't have just filled this role?

Probably because they wanted "new" races for Starfinder.

Indeed. That's probably the same reason why we have Ysoki and not Dwarfs, or Lashunta and not Elves.

Would've liked to see the lizardfolk NOT be the militant/warlike race but still a cool reveal!

I... am just going to go giggle in the corner about the name.

(Vesk doesn't mean anything in Finnish, but conjugation is a thing in Finnish, "veski" is a colloquialism for bathroom, and "veska" is another for handbag. Puns will abound.)

Intoducing the "The Toilets!"

Nah, I'm just happy about space lizardfolk.

Here is yet another picture of them on the Paizo Twitter account. You can also see images of Starfinder mini designs (including ships) and a group shot of some Starfinder adventurers. The group shot has another alien in it that does not appear to be something we have seen before.

Is this confirmation that the "home" system is called "the Golarion system", after the missing planet rather than the star?

They do say that Veskarium (Vesk solar system) and the Pact Worlds joined forces, right? So that's probably how we are calling the "core solar system".

Calling it "Golarion system" was probably the best way to refer to it so that we would understand. But I don't think the inhabitants of Castrovel, for example, refer to it as "Golarion" solar system, not even in the pathfinder setting.

I... am just going to go giggle in the corner about the name.

(Vesk doesn't mean anything in Finnish, but conjugation is a thing in Finnish, "veski" is a colloquialism for bathroom, and "veska" is another for handbag. Puns will abound.)

It's eerie that it's close to a finnish word for handbag considering the usual insult to reptilian things about turning them into a handbag, or boots.

So, so far we have...

Androids: Artificial in origin
Humans: Golarion
Kasatha: Kasath (extrasolar system)
Lashunta: Castrovel
Vesk: Veskarium (extrasolar system)
Ysoki: Akiton

...and one more to go.

They are probably the Shirren, whatever they turn out to be. I am guessing that they will be the distinctly non-humanoid race, since all of the six races we know about are humanoid.

Since we have the kasatha in the core races, it looked like the door was open for aliens without the 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 head limit. I was hoping for something really weird and alien. These guys are OK, but they feel a little like lawful space-orcs (big, strong, militant and uneducated).

Where is my race of squid aliens? Amorphous blob aliens? Walking tripod aliens with 11 arms and 300 eyes? (OK maybe that last one is way too far)

I hope the last one is something really bizarre. :>

...what's the swarm and when can I use it to attack my PCs?

Since we have the kasatha in the core races, it looked like the door was open for aliens without the 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 head limit. I was hoping for something really weird and alien. These guys are OK, but they feel a little like lawful space-orcs (big, strong, militant and uneducated).

Where is my race of squid aliens? Amorphous blob aliens? Walking tripod aliens with 11 arms and 300 eyes? (OK maybe that last one is way too far)

I hope the last one is something really bizarre. :>

I too really want something that is an Amorphous blob or a plasma cloud in a containment suit, something non-humanoid for sure. Or a tiny race. :)

Paizo gave a presentation whose intro slide appeared to comprise an Ysoki ratfolk, an insectoid humanoid, a Small robot, a kasatha, a human, and an android. There is nothing on that slide that could possibly be a lashunta or a vesk. If we assume that the shirren mentioned in the compatibility license is a core race and that the intro slide shows no non-core races, then the robot would have to be a mechanic's robot companion and the insectoid humanoid would have to be a shirren.

Hopefully we get variants based off of some weird Earthly lizards (frill-necks, or horned toads, and those sorts). I really like lizards and lizard-folk by extension, so I like them!

Luthorne wrote:

So, so far we have...

Androids: Artificial in origin
Humans: Golarion
Kasatha: Kasath (extrasolar system)
Lashunta: Castrovel
Vesk: Veskarium (extrasolar system)
Ysoki: Akiton

...and one more to go.

They are probably the Shirren, whatever they turn out to be. I am guessing that they will be the distinctly non-humanoid race, since all of the six races we know about are humanoid.

In the most recent set of images on the paizo twitter, there is a new looking insectoid race standing next to some other races that have already been announced. I'd imagine that this is likely the Shirren. At least it appears insectoid. It has whiskers so my hope is insectoid, and not hyper intelligent catfish.

Erik Mona mentioned playing less humanoid races in a Know Direction interview a while back. If I recall correctly the plan was to introduce those options once the game was released and a bit more "settled," but I may be misremembering or misinterpreting.

Lord Fyre wrote:

ulgulanoth wrote:

I wonder why Hobgoblins couldn't have just filled this role?

Probably because they wanted "new" races for Starfinder.

Indeed. That's probably the same reason why we have Ysoki and not Dwarfs, or Lashunta and not Elves.

WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH, HANG ON HERE. I take offence to this on behalf of the Ysoki. They compare better to gnomes than dwarves, they are an engineering tinker-ey race, and gnomes' physique is more similar due to the lack of brawn. Ysoki are like jawas: they build crap to sell and mess with, not to go to friggin war with it.

The Gold Sovereign wrote:

Looking cool and tough. Will there be a Vesk iconic?

I'm betting the soldier iconic is a vesk.

Feeling pretty good about this prediction all of a sudden.

Garrett Guillotte wrote:

Is this confirmation that the "home" system is called "the Golarion system", after the missing planet rather than the star?

They do say that Veskarium (Vesk solar system) and the Pact Worlds joined forces, right? So that's probably how we are calling the "core solar system".

Calling it "Golarion system" was probably the best way to refer to it so that we would understand. But I don't think the inhabitants of Castrovel, for example, refer to it as "Golarion" solar system, not even in the pathfinder setting.

It sounds like in the centuries post-Drift that the empire of Veskarium isn't necessarily limited to their home system either.

I ask because this is the first time I've seen an official use of anything similar to "the _____ system" to refer to the home system from anything close to an in-universe viewpoint. Not everything in the home system belongs to the Pact Worlds, so calling it "the Pact Worlds system" seems off.

Lukewarm on this race. Seems too much like the Jem'Hadar.

The art is good, especially the skirt. Not too crazy about the mid-riff armour as that makes little sense to me. Otherwise well done.

Is there much difference between males and females? I'm going to assume we are looking at two males?

TerminalArtiste mentioned variants...I think that might make me more interested.

Awaiting the final race. :)

First of all, I love this. I've wanted a Large Reptile race in Pathfinder FOREVER.

Also, this is going to sound really weird, but I am noticing that all of the Vesk art so far trends toward the same general body type. Do the Vesk lack sexual dimorphism, or are they a hermaphroditic species? Cause that'd be WILD. I am very happy to not have to deal with Inexplicable Lizard T*~!.

I like them.
I know they are being compared to Klingons, being the originals on TV, but most Sci-fi shows these days have a "violent but honorable" race - the Neichiens (sorta) from Andromeda, the Luxans from Farscape, Jaffa from SG-1, The Narn sorta fit this archetype.

A welcome addition. Can't wait for the next race.

Should have seen this coming. Not disappointed.

Also, this is going to sound really weird, but I am noticing that all of the Vesk art so far trends toward the same general body type. Do the Vesk lack sexual dimorphism, or are they a hermaphroditic species? Cause that'd be WILD. I am very happy to not have to deal with Inexplicable Lizard T~*%.

Don't worry. I was wondering the same thing and read through the comments just to see if anyone else had thought about it. So yeah, are there male and female Vesk, or do they all look like this and essentially cover both sexual functions?

Eh. Interesting energy blade.

Kling-lizards are a bit... hm. I get why you'd do a warrior race that dismisses science and knowledge. I even get why they'd be reptile mercenaries that dismiss science and knowledge (Hi, Wrex!) But something beyond what has Gorn before would have been... nice. But really, we've just got a tentative peace with the Feder... no, Allian... er, Pact, and a tendency for their warriors to show up as mooks being employed by anyone with the coin to do so.

Need a hook to go with that trope.

Since there are pictures of buggy and his pals, when does their write-up go live?

we've hinted that the remaining two would be brand new races you've never seen before.

... and then precedes to reveal it's just a lizardfolk.

At least the other race seems to be an insectiod one.

Qa pla'!

These are so similar to Klingons!

It seems it's getting harder to please everyone nowadays...

I myself am pleased with this new reptilian race. Vesk aren't mere lizardfolks and I'm sure rules will prove it. Even if they were, seeing the vesk as core means we are getting lots of npcs and options for than. I hope Starfinder grows enough so that we might see an NPC Codex (And a space ship codex *-*).

Now, this insect like race seems interesting. I can't help but think that we are going to be able to use this races in Pathfinder as well, and an insect humanoid 0HD race is something I have been waiting for a long time...

I like them.

I know they are being compared to Klingons, being the originals on TV, but most Sci-fi shows these days have a "violent but honorable" race - the Neichiens (sorta) from Andromeda, the Luxans from Farscape, Jaffa from SG-1, The Narn sorta fit this archetype.

Absolutely, it's a niche I feel people expect in a sci fi setting. And it's nice to have the core races be cultural touchstones like that.

I'd rather have most of the core be recognizable rather than needing to introduce a bunch of really "out there" concepts to new players every time. I'm sure the non-Core races will throw some proper curveballs at us.

I also like their look a lot. They seem more bulky than "cut" which works well for lizards and is an underrepresented body type all around. I wonder if the scale coloration on the left vesk is dyed or racial/gender related.

Cheers!
Landon

Erik Mona mentioned playing less humanoid races in a Know Direction interview a while back. If I recall correctly the plan was to introduce those options once the game was released and a bit more "settled," but I may be misremembering or misinterpreting.

Well, that's disappointing. What's the point of going off into space if the aliens look like humans with slightly different skin?

I don't have a ton of experience with sci-fi RPGs, but I did play Star Frontiers back in the 80s. The starter box for that introduced five races, four of which were player races and one was the evil NPC enemy race. Only two of them were humanoid (humans being one). I was really hoping to see something like dralasites (amorphous blobs that can sprout limbs on the fly), vrusks (8 legged insectoids who have trouble swimming due to the placement of their air intake organ), or sathar (worm/snake like creatures with no legs).

First of all, I love this. I've wanted a Large Reptile race in Pathfinder FOREVER.

How'd you miss nagaji? According to the Advanced Race Guide, the males are 5'9" +2d10 inches. That means 6'10" average, maxing out at 7'7". Females are only 3 inches shorter. And they've got the racial strength bonus to prove it.

Also, this is going to sound really weird, but I am noticing that all of the Vesk art so far trends toward the same general body type. Do the Vesk lack sexual dimorphism, or are they a hermaphroditic species? Cause that'd be WILD. I am very happy to not have to deal with Inexplicable Lizard T%@&.

That I agree with completely. That sort of thing really bugs me. Though I did actually see it explained in a surprisingly good way in a comic book series once. In CrossGen's Sigil comic, the lizard people were intentionally taking on human characteristics, by stealing DNA from the humans they were at war with.

I like them.

I know they are being compared to Klingons, being the originals on TV, but most Sci-fi shows these days have a "violent but honorable" race - the Neichiens (sorta) from Andromeda, the Luxans from Farscape, Jaffa from SG-1, The Narn sorta fit this archetype.

Which is why it's a trope that I would have hoped they'd avoid, now that it's become such a cliche. I was hoping for something more original.

While the artwork is fantastic, I'm kinda underwhelmed by what I've seen of the Starfinder races so far.

With the core races, I think a part of the intent was to fill all the primary niches that a player would want to play. The heavy strength type was missing a race, and I think that often times, people like to play what they can see themselves being. So mostly humanoid races are easy to start out, with more complex races coming later on. They don't necessarily have to be humans in a different color, but it helps for the first few races to be relatable, for new players. More experienced roleplayers will find races that fit them later on, but a new player may have a hard time putting themselves into the mindset of a sentient cloud or an organism made out of several tiny organisms.

...what's the swarm and when can I use it to attack my PCs?

Not soon enough.

So, so far we have...

Androids: Artificial in origin
Humans: Golarion
Kasatha: Kasath (extrasolar system)
Lashunta: Castrovel
Vesk: Veskarium (extrasolar system)
Ysoki: Akiton

...and one more to go.

Well, Kasatha probably deserve a question mark. They might be from Kasath (if it's actually nearby and not in Androffa's galaxy), but they might be from the bunch stranded in Numeria, and they had some sort of population boom in the intervening years and spread from Golarion into the local system. So they could be natives at this point.

While the artwork is fantastic, I'm kinda underwhelmed by what I've seen of the Starfinder races so far.

/nod. I suspect I'll usually just autofill race with 'human' at this point.

Andrew Mullen wrote:

Erik Mona mentioned playing less humanoid races in a Know Direction interview a while back. If I recall correctly the plan was to introduce those options once the game was released and a bit more "settled," but I may be misremembering or misinterpreting.

Well, that's disappointing. What's the point of going off into space if the aliens look like humans with slightly different skin?

I don't have a ton of experience with sci-fi RPGs, but I did play Star Frontiers back in the 80s. The starter box for that introduced five races, four of which were player races and one was the evil NPC enemy race. Only two of them were humanoid (humans being one). I was really hoping to see something like dralasites (amorphous blobs that can sprout limbs on the fly), vrusks (8 legged insectoids who have trouble swimming due to the placement of their air intake organ), or sathar (worm/snake like creatures with no legs).

I believe he was pretty emphatic about folks getting to play out there stuff e.g. floating sentient orb, so I definitely wouldn't write anything like your above examples off. They just seem to be starting with more relatable races, which I think makes sense.

Also, same disclaimer: I listened to the interview a while ago, I'm not Erik Mona, etc etc

With the core races, I think a part of the intent was to fill all the primary niches that a player would want to play. The heavy strength type was missing a race, and I think that often times, people like to play what they can see themselves being. So mostly humanoid races are easy to start out, with more complex races coming later on. They don't necessarily have to be humans in a different color, but it helps for the first few races to be relatable, for new players. More experienced roleplayers will find races that fit them later on, but a new player may have a hard time putting themselves into the mindset of a sentient cloud or an organism made out of several tiny organisms.

Couldn't have said better. This dragon fan here is waiting for the rules to play as a dragonkin that are included in the Alien Archive.

I never dreamed about seeing something completely non humanoid as a core race - mainly because of the reason you just pointed - but I know there will be many options to play as dozens of creatures.

People are too focused on the cosmetic aspects and are forgetting the mechanical aspect of a role playing game. They have to go easy on beginners, specially non rpg players.