Hey guys, I'm making a campaign for a group of fairly experienced pathfinder players, and I want to make things a bit unique to start by making character creation race options a choice between 7 homebrew races. I've made the majority of them and they all thus far fall within the 'standard' RP range - usually 9-10. Now I'm trying to build a construct race to go with them, but the Construct race type is a whopping 20 base RP cost.
I've considered just changing them to half-constructs, but it works a lot better within the world and their race history if I could avoid that, and I've instead brainstormed ideas for weaknesses that would work to balance a construct race against the ones that I've already made. What I was wondering was if you guys have experience with creating balanced races, and which ideas work vs should be tossed out, or even if you can think of other weaknesses of your own.
Thank you all in advance! :)
Weakness ideas:
Cumbersome: The Elderguard take a -2 racial to their Armour Check Penalty
Dense Body: Elderguard take a -20 to their swim checks. (Less of a save-or-die then it could be since they don't breathe, and this particular campaign takes place far from any oceans, but certainly still a cause for worry).
Class Restrictions: I've considered different versions of a class restriction, such as preventing them from taking levels in a divine spellcaster class. I think players could make the argument for a sorcerer or wizard Elderguard, but divine would be much more of a stretch.
Slow reactions: Initiative and reflex saves take a -2 penalty.
Most of the other ideas that I've had were too complex or too inconvenient for most players to still keep interest in trying them out, but maybe you guys can give me advice or better ideas!