Little Red Goblin Games—Racial Guide 2.5: Halfbreeds & Hybrids (PFRPG) PDF

Hi all!

I picked this PDF up on a whim, and I’ve got to say that I’m glad I did. It’s a good supplement, and hits on a few things that I feel people expected to see in Paizo’s recent Bastards of Golarion supplement but were disappointed to find were not included.

Overall rating (TL;DR): Racial Guide 2.5 isn’t perfect, but it has a lot of good things inside, and overall I’d recommend it for anyone who enjoys playing uncommon or just plain weird races! I give this supplement 3.5/5 stars.

I’m going to include details here about my rating of this PDF, so if you’re interested in learning more about what’s inside, here you go!

Racial Guide 2.5: Half-Breeds and Hybrids is 52 pages long, with five of those pages being non-content (cover, OGL page, etc.).

The first chapter of the PDF describes how to create new half-races. This is a useful and relatively straightforward system, allowing players and GMs to combine these rules with those detailed in the Advanced Race Guide. They give suggested trade-outs for specific half races, which seem to work well. The short section on humans and breeding is fun if not terribly scientifically sound (“resilience of human genetics”? As a geneticist, this made me cringe, but obviously I’m biased).

Chapter 2 is obviously the meat and potatoes of the book, with 30 new half-breed races fully described and statted out. Overall, this section of the book is well done, though I would have liked to see more art (I think only 2 or 3 of them have any art at all). I’d like to note here that there are several races mentioned in this section that I have never heard of before (probably from Little Red Goblin Games’ own racial supplements) so when I come to a reference to one of these, I won’t be rating that half-breed. The other thing I would like to point out is that these races don’t come with a race point total, which I feel like was a serious missed opportunity for the writers to tie this book in more strongly with Paizo’s Advanced Race Guide.

Alfars (Dwarf/Elf): This is a racial combination that many people feel should have always existed, as it feels like at some point an elf and a dwarf must have fallen in love in a fantasy world, right?
The Good: I like the inclusion of Great Destiny, which fits the flavor text very well.
The Bad: A few minor grammar mistakes,
Overall: I calculate a total of 11 race points on this race, so it’s well-balanced with its parent races. I give this race 5/5 stars.

Barghob (Hobgoblin/Barghest): This combination is tough to do because you’re combining two types (humanoid and outsider) without much mention of how these interact in this specific case. There are several missteps here that make this one suffer overall. I would have liked to see a bit more descriptive text instead of a mostly blank left side of the page.
The Good: The ability score modifiers given here make sense, and I like the chosen spell-like abilities and Stealth bonus.
The Bad: This race’s ability score modifiers don’t actually match up to any specific set of bonuses/penalties from the Advanced Race Guide, so that makes it tough to come up with a total on race points. Mixed blood doesn’t work the way it was intended here because hobgoblins and barghests are different base types, so the description should have been longer and more detailed. Sin eater is an EXTREMELY powerful ability… immunity to all spells with the evil descriptor is just insane, and is not balanced enough by the -4 penalty against good descriptor spells. This could have been better balanced by instead giving spell resistance against evil descriptor spells.
Overall: I can’t even calculate a total of race points on this one because Sin Eater is just too strange… if I had to guess I would give that ability alone a cost of 6 race points, making this a very strong race. 3/5 stars on this one.

Connives (Ratfolk/Halfling): I LOVE this racial combination, as it makes perfect sense that halflings and ratfolk would find themselves alone together in the gutters of big cities and make ugly little babies. I especially enjoy the description of their quick gestation times and the possibility of multiple pregnancies at once.
The Good: Ability score modifiers are spot-on. Carrier is a super crazy awesome ability that fits perfectly with the description of the race.
The Bad: The Mixed Blood ability should reference halflings, not humans. The Scummy ability gives +2 bonuses to three skills, which is worth a lot of race points, so it could use a slight scaling back when combined with the Skulk ability’s bonus to Stealth as well.
Overall: I calculate a total of 15 race points here, which might a tiny bit high. Despite a few hiccups, I love this race. 4/5 stars

Dareogs (Orc/Dwarf): The allusion to rape in the descriptive text made me squirm a little bit, but it’s fairly standard when talking about orcs, so I’ll let it go. This is obviously a slave race, so they’re hitting two warning lights for me in the descriptive text.
The Good: I like the Better World ability, giving these seemingly pathetic creatures a way to rise up against their oppressors.
The Bad: Lockjaw just doesn’t make make thematic sense unless the dareog is biting the opponent’s leg, so I have trouble with it.
Overall: I calculate around 12 race points here, so they’re just fine. Even though I’m not a fan of the descriptive text, this race gets a 4/5 from me.

Davi (Elf/Tiefling): This is a cool combination of races, though I was surprised to not see Elf/Celestial as well.
The Good: The racial ability modifiers make sense (though there theoretically could be a bunch of different combinations that would make sense thanks to alternate racial backgrounds for tieflings). I love the mindslip ability, and I could see this making for an excellent spy-type character.
The Bad: The Elven Blood ability doesn’t work… when can Davi choose to count as outsiders? All the time? Only when it’s good for them? At character creation? The wording definitely needs fixed here. They should also have gotten Infernal or Abyssal as a free language option, in my opinion.
Overall: This is a good race that would definitely be used in my games. 5/5 stars

Deepbrood (Aboleth/Gillmen): This race is another tough one because of the combination of creature types, but the authors have decided to just count them as humanoids, which is smart. This is another slave race, but it makes sense based on the description, so it’s cool.
The Good: The racial ability modifiers are great. I also like the slow land speed but normal swim speed. The Reactant Tentacles ability is flavorful and awesome. I like the inclusion of the alternate racial trait here, though dropping Reactant Tentacles for it seems harsh.
The Bad: The tentacle natural attack description should have specified whether these tentacles can manipulate objects like hands, or if they’re JUST attacks (probably the latter). The mucus could is pretty cool, but 3 hours is a LONG time for it to last. What happens if your allies come in contact with it and then you need to leave the water? I would have said that this would last only 1 hour and can be suppressed by the deepbrood. The aboleth language should have been included instead of “aquatic” (which I assume should say aquan).
Overall: This is a fun race, with only a couple little flaws. 4/5 stars

Egrets (Strix/Tengu): Two birdlike humanoids mating makes all of the sense. A bit more detail on what they look like would have been nice though.
The Good: Good racial modifiers. I like the morale bonus to Ref and Will saves when flying.
The Bad: Powerful Flyer is way overpowered… no penalties at all on Fly checks from encumbrance or armor is too much. I would have said they could wear medium armor and have a medium load without penalties, but heavy load/heavy armor should still have a severe penalty, if not cause flying to fail completely.
Overall: This one is fine, but nothing amazing. 3/5 stars

Fair Orcs (Orc/Elf): This race is another one with allusions to rape and slavery, so that makes me feel squicky inside. They’re stated to be very rare, though, and I can imagine a strange beauty in the offspring of such a union.
The Good: Honestly, not a lot. This one could have used some more thought. The ability score modifiers are kinda fun, I suppose.
The Bad: There’s nothing new here! Tossing Orc Ferocity and Keen senses onto an otherwise featureless race is BORING.
Overall: The authors had a chance to do so much more with this race, but their description severely outstrips their stats., as I’m only seeing at most 6 race points here. 2/5 stars

Fakelings (Doppleganger/Human): I like the idea of part-doppleganger offspring being dropped off to unknowingly infiltrate a settlement, and the description of what happens to them when they’re old is pretty sweet.
The Good: A change-able ability score modifier? Really cool idea! Changing subtypes? Wow, also really cool idea! The bonus to Disguise makes perfect sense as well.
The Bad: I’m worried that changing both the ability bonus and the character’s subtype is overpowered, but otherwise this is a great race.
Overall: Seriously, whoever wrote this one up, great job. I love the adaptability of the race and all of the abilities make sense. I have no idea how to calculate racial points here, but this is probably my favorite half-race yet. 5/5 stars!

Fangborn (Elf/Vampire): This race is obviously meant to be a half-vampire vampire-hunter (wonder where they got that idea?? LOL) and it works well at that role.
The Good: Bloodborne Frenzy is cool, giving the race a minor rage-like power that isn’t a morale bonus, so it will actually stack with Barbarian rage. The Vampire Senses ability is also very flavorful and cool.
The Bad: Not much, actually. This one is well-done, though having negative energy affinity might have been a good inclusion.
Overall: My first thought when I saw Blood Bound was “OP!!” but then I realized that you’ve got to be bleeding to get the fast healing, so it really just ends up being a minor resistance to bleed damage in the end. It also only works on the first round that you BEGIN bleeding, so actually it’s probably a bit underpowered. This is a well-written race that I would probably make use of. 4/5 stars

Galvani (Human/Thunderbird): I have no idea what a thunderbird is, so I can’t rate this one.

Half-Gnoll (Gnoll/Human): This one was an obvious choise, and would fit well in Katapesh or similar parts of non-Golarion worlds.
The Good: Pack Hunter makes thematic sense, and since it’s just a +1 damage bonus isn’t OP. The chuckle ability is brilliant, and would be awesome on an Intimidate or debuff build. I also like the Drifter ability allowing them to make Kn. (local) checks untrained with a +2 bonus. The Manic and Savage alternate racial traits are also both excellent.
The Bad: I’m not a huge fan of the wording on Team Player, but otherwise this one’s flawless.
Overall: Seriously great job on writing up this race. I absolutely love it! 5/5 stars!

Half-Trolls (Human/Troll): I really liked the description of this race until I saw that they essentially have no discernable gender… this means they can’t reproduce! Oh well.
The Good: Limited Regeneration is a good ability and isn’t a overpowered as a true fast healing would be. Fire Vulnerability is super painful for the character but makes perfect sense. The bonus to identify giants is also excellent.
The Bad: I’m not a fan of the Genderless ability, because this would (as far as science is concerned) mean that they must be sterile. I suppose magic trumps all, but I have trouble with this race existing as a race of its own if there are no genders.
Overall: This is a good one, with only minor issues. 4/5 stars

Hellwrit (Tiefling/Flail Snail): I… what? A snail… mixing with a Tiefling? What? I just… what? LOL
The Good: The racial ability modifiers fit the description well. Getting IUS as a bonus feat is a cool choice. Abjurant Force is really flavorful and a strong ability without being overpowered. Optimistic is also cool.
The Bad: This is another time when Mixed Blood just doesn’t work… if they’re outsiders, they can’t also count as magical beasts.
Overall: Though I have trouble with this race conceptually, if you can get past that it’s well-written and has fun abilities. I’ll give this one a 4/5 stars rating

Honegs (Elf/Mercane[Platonic]): No idea what Mercane are, so I can’t rate this one.

Humanzee (Human/Chimpanzee): Nope. Just nope. We’ve already got a monkey-based humanoid race in Pathfinder (the Vanara) and having a race that’s half humanoid and half unintelligent animal just brings up too many questions that shouldn’t be answered. 0/5 stars. Period.

Imperial Elves (Fey/Elf): This combination makes perfect sense, and the description makes sense. I like that they’re ageless creatures, so you could imagine an Imperial Elf rising to become the ruler of any given society over thousands of years, especially a society of elves.
The Good: I like the Ageless feature, but it’s the only feature that is unique to them, so there could have been more interesting things done here.
The Bad: The penalty to Charisma doesn’t make sense to me based on the description. I would have given them a penalty to Int instead. Mixed blood doesn’t work as written, just like in a few other of these races. Elven Immunities and Fey Magic are too similar to standard elf abilities… they could have used something more unique.
Overall: The lack of uniqueness in this race’s abilities can be overlooked… this is a pretty good entry overall. 3/5 stars

Luxa (Elf/Merane [Hateful]): Again, don’t know what Mercane are.

Molemen (Buggane/Dwarf): Oh man, I love this. What Dwarf would mess around with one of these things? The picture on this page is excellent as well.
The Good:Good ability modifiers, great choice including a burrow speed and a core attack, blindness is really tough but a fair option. All three alternate racial traits are also excellent.
The Bad: I’ve got nothing. This one is flavorful and well-written. (I found a single spelling error in the Claws entry, but that doesn’t reduce the score).
Overall: Great job on this one! 5/5 stars!

Mules (Human/Dwarf): Mules? Really? I absolutely hate this name for this race. It’s way too derogatory. It’s also another slave race, which I’ve voiced my concerns about previously.
The Good: Good racial modifiers, good choice on the speed, and hardy makes sense. I like the mechanical bonus from Manual Labor but would have preferred it not be tied to slavery.
The Bad: Dull and Manual Labor abilities are just too tied to the enslavement of this race. Boo!
Overall: Can’t give this one a very high score… it’s just too tied to enslavement and leaves no room for character development in my opinion. 2/5 stars

Nacritoi (Oread/Rakshasa): Another backstory tied to slavery! However, at least this race has escaped their tormenters. I like the idea of earth genie and rakshasa traits coming together.
The Good: Good choices on the ability score modifiers. Having them count as a type of tiefling makes sense, though I would have liked to see them also counted as oreads. I like slipshape, though an at-will ability might be too much power. The other racial abilities seem good, as well.
The Bad: Slipshape is probably too powerful. 3 times per day would be a good limit.
Overall: This is a well-written race with just a hint of overpowered-ness. 3.5/5 stars

[Continued on the discussion forum]