These two races are incredibly flexible and can really do well with any class. Because of this I rarely play any of the other (more interesting) races.
What are some interesting/fun builds that are only viable (or just made much better) by choosing a race other than them?
one thing would be look for stat boosts to good stats for you.
Like oread make good Monks and warpriests since they boost str, wis and dump cha, which is what those classes are doing anyways.
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Halflings are fun for Flavor and are one of my favorite races due to Kender from Dragonlance.
Kitsune are fun races for pranksters and I dislike Gnomes.
Half-Orc is my favorite Half breed race. Flexible +2, +1 to all saves Sacred tattoo trait, and Darkvision are all very good tools the race provides. Also the Ability to use the Human FCB.
I have a soft spot for Grippli. I love the little guys.
Kitsune is (in my opinion) the most interesting race mechanically speaking. There are three major unique things you can do. A feat to turn into any human you've seen before at-will without the pathetic will save and ten-minute refresh time of a Hat of Disguise. There's an entire line of SLA feats- a bit much to take normally, but a trait lets you get them in place of combat feats and Oracle has a curse to get them in place of bonus spells. Finally, hitting BAB +3 lets you take a feat to turn into a fox at-will, which is great on psychic casters and certain Dex-based martials.
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Surprised no one has said Aasimar yet.
With there various different heritages and NO PENALTY to any stat they can be ideal for various class builds, especially those that are mad.
The scion of humanity alternate trait allows them to pick up human favored class bonuses.
The crusading magic alternative trait gives them a +2 bonus to beat spell resistance which makes them excellent spellcasters.
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Play a 9-tailed Kitsune build.
Be a fighter. Use bonus combat feats to take improvements to your weapon style of choice (probably 2-h). Use regular feats to take magical tail.
It won't be the best fighter build. Won't even be top 5 fighter builds. But, it'll be aight, and you will almost certainly be the most flexible fighter you or your friends ever saw.
The name says it all man.
I think any Core race offers a wealth of options nowadays. Opposed to Fruian, I like gnomes - they come with a lot of crazy flavor, flexible spell-like abilities and some unusual melee options.
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Full Orc/ Goblin/ Kobold
Full Orc's makes great Full BAB no casting options. +4 to Str means the highest starting Str of any race.
Most fun Build: Two Handed Fighter (Fighter Archetype). At 2nd level get double your Str Mod, which is already higher than anybody else's, to damage with 2 handed weapons. Couple that with the Orc Weapon Expertise, racial feat that allows you to get +2 AC when wielding an Orc weapon and you can have some fun builds. Specifically the Orc Double axe and Orc Ram. The double axe is a double weapon d8/d8, and the ram is a d10 that gets free bull rush on crits.
Goblin's are to Dex what Orc's are to Str, +4 to Dex and +8 to Stealth leaves goblin's quite a few strong builds
Most fun Build: Slayer, ok hear me out on this. Select these feats, Dervish Dance, Improved Feint, Greater Feint, Slayers Feint, Wave Strike, and Accomplished Sneak Attacker. Ok thats a lot of Feats, but Slayers can get Ranger style feats every other level to help with half of those. The end result, Dex to Feint as a swift action, Dex to hit, Dex to Damage, full rogue level sneak attack damage added to every hit. Ohh and you're a full BAB fighter with 6+int for skills, you'll never want to be a rogue again.
Kobolds are the lowest RP score of any race which is what makes them fun to be. It is still possible to build them to be as strong as any other race
Most fun Build: Barbarian or Ranger, build one as a natural attack fighter. With the racial options and feats available you can have a Kobold with 1 bite and 1 tail attack at first level. Then get Class feats from the Barbarian or Ranger to add 2 natural claw attack's. You may only d3's and d4's as damage per hit, but you get 4 attacks to do damage with. You'll buff that up as you level with feats, and eventually add a dragon breath weapon from racial feats.
I've definitely wanted to try playing a small race, as I haven't since the start of 3rd edition.
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Tengu.
Not for the sword-trained benefit, which is kind of handy.
Not for the Natural Linguist aspect, which gives Linguistics more 'bang' for the buck.
Not even because they're shifty sneaky and amazingly perceptive folks.
Play tengu, because they are pure AWESOME and WIN.
*coughs*
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A quick look at my aliases tell me I have a problem with Half-Orcs...
I use them because I like skills and use the alt. racial trait. I refuse to use humans because this is my escape from reality.
Gnomes aren't normally crazy. They like to experience the world and it's wonders, and like joking around with friends.
Kobolds are real good for...
Goblins are great scouts between 30 ft. Movement speeds, +4 dex, +4 racial Stealth, ans +4 size stealth.
When I go optimization mode I default to Half-Orc. Try deciding flavor first, and make the mechanics suit that.
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A few ideas:
Gnome skald, the illegitimate offspring of Lars Ulrich and Danzig!
Grippli caster druid "save the rainforest!" or commando style hunter with a giant chameleon companion.
Ratfolk alchemist, little, sneaky, bombchucking rat, what's not to love?
A swaggering halfling daring champion cavilier. Stab em in the knees.
Wayang str based fighter type, they don't get a str penalty, and can be invisible once a day.
Halfling Swashbucklers are boss. Ratfolk aren't bad either with inspired blade. Mouser builds can be crazy.
Gnomes make pretty good sorcerers and oracles.
Any small sized race can pull off a mounted build that can go anywhere, halfling and gnome cavaliers can be pretty epic, you're really just losing ~2 damage and gaining lots of swagger.
You can play small sized Aasimar, Skinwalkers and Tieflings.
Grippli bad touch cleric killing with his tongue, free net proficiency for shenanigans in combat.
Kobolds for hard mode. Love me some Dragon Disciples though... Especially the Flame Oracle ones. Yeah.
A Rogue3-4/Fighter x Halfling Dagger specialist with Startoss Style Feats and Dex to Damage, Risky Striker, Piranha Strike and whatnot might be groovy.
Halfling Master of Many Styles 2ish/Underground Chemist x with Slipslinger and Startoss Style feats.
Halfling Urban Barbarian 6/ Shadowdancer 10 Use Spirit Totem to heal your Shadow. Halfings make great Urban Bloodragers too.
Gnomes make great illusionists and Kineticists. Halfings do good with psychic magic due to their save bonus against fear, go with one of the charisma casters for all of these.
Small characters have a lot of options. This doesn't even scratch the surface.
Pale King, what class would you want to try playing with a small race?
I did once play a Halfling Cavalier and it was one of the funnest characters I have ever played. Another of my favourite characters was a Dwarf Bard. So I definitely think I have more fun when I do step outside the box, I just have a hard time doing so. So really I'd like to go against expectations at least a little bit, no Halfling Rogues or Gnome Illusionists for me.
@Oterisk: Now that Shadowdancer build sounds like a lot of fun. As does making an Urban Bloodrager. Is there any way to build a reasonable Barbarian or Bloodrager archer?
Small races are great for Kineticist. You've got a bonus to attack and AC (more or less counting as an extra +2 in Dex when it comes to your point buy), and your damage is independent of your size.
Ratfolk Alchemist. Size does not matter with bombs!
Dwarf Druid with the Earth Domain is fun also - dirty, stinky dwarf that only takes dust baths!
Dwarves are great for any build involving great resiliency. Bonus to CMD (or CMB), WIS/CON, and a bonus on saves vs. spells-- that can be increased to a whopping +5 with a trait and the feat mentioned above.
There's a fun trick you can do with gnomes for touch attack sneak attacks. The Pyromaniac alternate racial trait grants Produce Flame as an SLA. With a wand of this spell you can always have a touch attack with scaling damage (albeit subject to fire resistance and SR).
Goblins can be good Mad Bomber Alchemists -- that Dex bonus is awesome, and the Goblin Fire Bomber archetype adds some pretty good options.
Halfings can be good debuffing Witches -- use the Halfling Jinx alternate racial trait (Jinx is like a really long duration Charisma-dependent mild but broad debuffing Hex, except that things immune to Hexes are not necessarily immune to it, and you can improve it with feats -- build around this to debuff enemies even more), and this could be even better with the recent (Horror Adventures) Creepy Doll alternate racial trait (no penalty on using Intimidate no matter how much bigger your opponent is . . . Mmmmmmm . . .).
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Dwarf Spellbreaker Inquisitor
Hear me out!
* Racial Feats
- Unstoppable (Toughness Feat, +1 Fortitude)
- Stoic Negotiator (+2 on bluff, diplomacy and profession merchant)
- Stability: Dwarves gain a +4 racial bonus to their Combat Maneuver Defense when resisting a bull rush or trip attempt while standing on the ground.
- Greed (+2 appraise for metal and gems)
- Darkvision (60ft)
- Always 20ft movement regardless of armor
* Class Abilities
- Conversion Inquisition (use Wis instead of Cha for diplomacy, bluff and intimidate)
- Strong Willed: At 1st level, a Spellbreaker is able to stand strong against magical effects that seek to control, compel, or persuade her. The Spellbreaker rolls twice and takes the best result when making a Will saving throw against a mind-affecting effect.
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1d8 Class, but you start off with Toughness giving you +3HP. As a dwarf, you also get +2 Con for extra HP as well. So HP wise, you are set.
It is a casting class that uses Wis. As a dwarf, you get +2 Wis.
You now use Wis for talking, so you can dump Cha down to 5 without any ill effect.
And while you lose out on the dwarf magical resistance, as a spellbreaker you get to re-roll almost all will saves. That is the best magical defense you can get, given that you'll have great will saves already.
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Ex:
Str16 Dex14 Con14 Int12 Wis16 Cha5 HP14
(Unstoppable basically makes this Con16...)
* Deity-Torag (gives proficiency in all hammers)
* Feats and Class Abilities
- Power Attack
- Conversion Inquisition
- Strong Willed
- Divine Magic (lvl 0 and lvl 1 spells)
- Stern Gaze (+1 intimidate)
- Judgements
* Skills lvl 1 (7 per level)
- Diplomacy: +8
- Bluff: +8
- Intimidate: +7
- Sense Motive: +6
- Perception: +6
- Stealth: +6
* Skills lvl 2
- Knowledge (arcana): +5
- Knowledge (dungeoneering): +5
- Knowledge (nature): +5
- Knowledge (planes): +5
- Knowledge (religion): +5
- Spellcraft: +5
- Survival: +6 (eventually get 1/2 level on following tracks)
(So at lvl 2, you've got decent bonuses in just about any skill that the party will need. This'll let you take part in all parts of a module. At later levels, given that your knowledge skills won't catch up...grab breadth of experience (+2), dilettante (+2 once you put 1 more skill point in each) and pathfinder chronicles (50gc each, +2). That'll get you to +11 in all of those knowledge skills, which is enough to successfully aid someone else whenever needed, or to step up for skill checks if nobody in the party is prepared)
* Traits
- Defensive Strategist (Torag Religion Trait, can never be flat footed)
- Armor Expert (-1 AC penalty for armor. Good for you, as you'll be able to stealth and will be rocking medium armor)
* Equipment (lvl 1)
- Earthbreaker (2d6 dmg, x3 crit)
- Chain Shirt (+4 AC, -1 AC penalty)
* Equipment (upgrade)
- Masterwork Earthbreaker
- Masterwork Agile Breastplate (make it Mithril as soon as you can, so it only has a -1 AC penalty)
* lvl 1 Saves
- Fort: +5
- Reflex: +2
- Will: +5 (roll twice on almost all saves...better than a re-roll)
- Defense Against Magic (+1 on saves against one school of magic, pick more schools and it gets better as you level up)
* Initiative
- +2
- +5 at lvl 2 due to cunning initiative
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And there you go. A short character who can fight in close combat, can off-tank, cast spells, has an amazing will save, and is actually a party face as well.
For PFS, you can also change one of your skills to profession-merchant and join the exchange. You'll start off with a very nice +8 to profession-merchant. It'll help you get your faction points for the bonuses.
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Play a small cleric (halfling, gripplis, gnome, or etc.) of gorum - x, dragoon -1. Ride, spirited charge, destruction Domain, evangelize for the deific obedience.
Or go gnome for a hooked hammer-er with a few level of dragon disciple to up the strength. Ftr 1, S1, Rogue 3, DD4 - then decide the rest.
Either way play up the attitude, "you want some of this?" Like Joe Pesci in Casino.
I concocted a ronin-type Halfling Unchained Rogue-4/Urban Bloodrager-X I've yet to play, but am excited to here soon. Took the alternate racial for faster movement speed so he's really quick with Bloodrager bonus.
Finessed an Elven Curve Blade, Arcane bloodline
I've wanted to play this guy for a while.
Dwarf
Alternate racial trait - Rock Stepper
Class Barbarian
Rage power - Ground Breaker
Weapon of Choice
Any of the dwarven reach weapons (dwarven longaxe or longhammer)
Take combat reflexes. In combat you position yourself and use Ground Breaker, potentially topple opponents. Attack next turn, Rock-step backwards, and make tons of AoOs since opponents can't 5ft step to get into position and attack you. It might be a really fun reach build, and it's a really minimal investment (one rage power, lose stonecunning) which means you can choose to build him any way you'd like.
Breaking out of the molds can be fun. My last character was a hobgoblin cleric of Abadar, who eventually, after his whole family was murdered and turned twisted and undead, retrained into a paladin (oath of vengeance).
But in general I tend to love taking monstrous races, goblinoids in particular, and making unexpected concepts out of them. So maybe that's just me.
We once had a Barbarian archer. She had a high Charisma and was somewhat focused on intimidation such as using Dazzling Display and then Terrifying Howl to send enemies running and then shoot them as they fled.
If you want a reason to play as a certain race I suggest looking at the various racial archetypes and favored class bonuses. I have an Orc Dirty Fighter who is a master of Dirty Tricks and a Goblin Feral Gnasher who defeats enemies by eating them. Playing a goblin who runs around talking kind of like Beavis, setting stuff on fire, and eating people alive has been a lot of fun. The fact that he's a 16th level martial PC who rarely uses the full attack action also makes him unusual mechanically.
If you'd like to be a tough halfling who acts like Joe Pesci I suggest using the name Harold Balzano.