Are there any adventure paths that encourage playing as an uncommon race? I find playing as the core races so boring by this point. I've made custom races and stuff before for homebrew stuff ,(unicorn bard) but I want to know if any offical pathfinder campaigns encourage it.
Skull and Shackles, Serpent's Skull, and Strange Aeons can do it easily.
Mummy's Mask, Shattered Star, Jade Reagent, Kingmaker and Giantslayer would probably work decently since the PCs are typically wandering to begin with.
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When I ran Legacy of Fire, I opened up the racial options to any humanoid race since Katapesh is sort of the one place where you can find anything. We ended up with a Gnoll (reformed follower of Sarenrae)Barbarian, Medusa (scaled down to PC race level)Sorceress, Kasathan Fighter, Goblin Alchemist, Kitsune Ninja, Serpentfolk (HIGHLY nerfed)Oracle of Sarenrae and a Skinchanger (bat) Investigator.
We had a great time, and remember.....
"Welcome to Katapesh!, where everything is allowed!......except that which is forbidden"
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This makes me want to play a pugwampi... just kidding, nobody's that sadistic.
I'll second Mummy's Mask; although I don't think the Player's Guide specifically calls out anything beyond the core races, it seems to me that the lottery would draw a pretty large and diverse crowd to Wati.
Depending on the backstory of the characters I'd say most APs have room for uncommon races. In my RotRL group I have an Oread, a Kitsune and a Changeling and it works without problems.
I always thought it'd be great fun to play a party of Sootscale kobolds in Kingmaker out to create their own empire. :)
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I'll second Mummy's Mask; although I don't think the Player's Guide specifically calls out anything beyond the core races, it seems to me that the lottery would draw a pretty large and diverse crowd to Wati.
I did allow any race for my Mummy's Mask campaign. The grippli, tiefling, crocodile skinwalker, and Tian human have been getting along fine. Well, until the reincarnated druid skinwalker came back as a human and decided to build a new character. ;-)
When running an AP I usually just go for the "Core+3" rule when it comes to playable races, anything else the player has to run it by me first. Though due to personal tastes any humanoid animal race (ie. Kitsune) will very rarely, if ever, get an ok from me.
When running an AP I usually just go for the "Core+3" rule when it comes to playable races, anything else the player has to run it by me first. Though due to personal tastes any humanoid animal race (ie. Kitsune) will very rarely, if ever, get an ok from me.
Please explain this mindset. I truly don't understand it. Why are humaoid animal races bad? Playing as a fox person just sounds awesome. Why is it so bad that people play as them? GM's that lock out so many potential races and archtypes just seem overly controlling and restrictive.
I just don't like them, never have and most likely never will, just something about them rubs me the wrong way I guess.
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Actually, almost all of the races in most of my games are non-core. Personally I find humans boring. The only core races I've seen in my games are human and elf. Most are races like orcs, aasimar, Wood Elf (custom elf suited to archery), hobgoblin, etc.
This concept that races must be limited to core rulebook races I think sucks.
That said, I don't allow certain races and classes in my games since they kinda ruin the mileu. They're rare, though, so most players don't want them much anyway, and I make them clear at the outset.
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I generally am cool with all the different races so long as there is a good story behind them I can work off of. As a GM all I really want is for my players and myself to get an immersive experience. Lucky for me most of my players are happy to go along with such choices. So if the player can make the case for a grippli to fit into the Worldwound in Wrath, or a Catfolk to cross the deserts in Mummy Mask, then I'm down for it.
To be honest, I don't like that most AP's seem to wildly favor humans. I'd like more non-human races in AP's, so that players can feel free to blend in with other races.
I don't really care what they do with NPCs in APs, I would like more suggestions on how to use more of the races from the ARG. Other than APG, UE, and OA, the ARG is the hardcover book we use the most.
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When running an AP I usually just go for the "Core+3" rule when it comes to playable races, anything else the player has to run it by me first. Though due to personal tastes any humanoid animal race (ie. Kitsune) will very rarely, if ever, get an ok from me.Please explain this mindset. I truly don't understand it. Why are humaoid animal races bad? Playing as a fox person just sounds awesome. Why is it so bad that people play as them? GM's that lock out so many potential races and archtypes just seem overly controlling and restrictive.
Being of a similar mindset, I'll say I think an "interesting" race can distract from an interesting character. Basically, I tend to try to inhabit the skin of my character and think, what would be like to be this person (human or not).
Meanwhile, I think fans of stranger races tend to make race front and center more than character. The further you get away from human or close to human, the more Jar Jar Binks I tend to encounter rather than the Han Solo, or the happy medium of Chewbacca.
This is not always the case, but it is how I prefer my game flavored.
Dot
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I just statted a Strix swashbuckler for Hell's Rebels.. but at the last minute I switched it to halfling... the +2 dex and +2 cha is just too darn hard to ignore when you're making a swashbuckler... :P
...that, and Adaptive Luck alternate halfling trait.... it's funny... in my case, I always gravitate back to Core races due to the tons of alternate options available to them. The funky races are cool, and give you something unusual like a fly speed, but I find they sometimes come at a big cost...
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Sounds like that cost is character concept, certainly not mechanical advantage.
I don't know. Unsually, a character concept can go with any race. What I've seen more often with unusual races verses core is race replaces character concept. This is not universal but let me give illustrate with two conversations of what I tend to see.
Example 1
Player: "This is Joe, he's a kitsume rogue."
GM: Tell me about him.
Player: "Well, he's a Kitsume....and a rogue."
GM: Does he like or hate anything.
Player: Uhhhh well, I guess he hates the bad guys.
Example 2
Player: I've got a half elf rogue named Tamarie Jain. She grew up in Kyonin, she lied her way into classes that were for people who were "older" even though she was ready for them...typical Elven bias. That's why Bluff is her skill focus.
GM: Why is she in the Pathfinder society?
Player: Thought about it but, I figure she's an "offical observer from Kyonin", which sounds like an important post but it's her father dumping her. She's Soverign Court because she figures she has to kiss up to those in power, but I thought of making her Liberty's Edge out of rebellion. Kinda wish Shadow Lodge was still a playable faction.
Basically, I see race as an excuse for characterization rather than part of characterization in more cases than I like. That's why core+ a couple is what I prefer.
Unusual races are sometimes central to the (mechanical) concept of the character. Some options require a specific combination of racial abilities and class features that can't be adequately realized any other way; i.e., ifrit oracle for the synergy between the Fire-Starter alternate racial trait and Burning Magic revelation of the Flame mystery.
Other times, the unusual race is primarily background that ties into the AP even better (in some ways) than a "core" race: androids in Iron Gods have already been mentioned; also, tieflings in any of the Chelliax APs, a fetchling from Nidal in Hell's Vengeance, changelings in Carrion Crown or Reign of Winter, etc.
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androids in Iron Gods have already been mentioned; also, tieflings in any of the Chelliax APs, a fetchling from Nidal in Hell's Vengeance, changelings in Carrion Crown or Reign of Winter, etc.Strix in Hell's Rebels (assuming your GM knows about Golarion!)
Also Tengu in that AP, and in Skull and Shackles.
Or you can play an uncommon race with a disguise (when possible) and fit it in any AP.
the mummy's mask AP player's guide does call out geniekin as being a possible race option.