If half-elves and half-orcs exist, what if other races could mix? What strange and mysterious crossbreeds would populate a world where you can merge creatures, and races, with magic? Explore all of these potentials, where creatures born from magic and strange unions are unveiled. Expand your potential with any of these unique hybrid races. Compatible with Pathfinder RPG, any game could use this book, which gives massive amounts of options both for players and Gamemasters to expand their world with.
Bloodforge is a 110 page book that includes:
30 different half-breed races that are playable from the start. From the hybrid Lasher, to the halfblood Grendle, there are combinations and races for almost any concept.
Alternate racial traits and new favored class options for all of the 30 new races presented in this book!
New templates for creating monsters (and perhaps players) who straddle the really monstrous, from half-medusas to half-titans. Included are also different sample half-breed monsters to spice up your next adventure with!
Tons of new feats, including Heritage feats that allow you to explore your character’s mixed blood!
New prestige classes that explore the strange mixing of blood and flesh and what they mean.
New spells tied to the blood that courses through the veins of these strange hybrids.
New weapon enhancements & wondrous items that give you new options!
Suggestions and tips on how to mutate, hybridize and change other creatures!
This book is available as a full-color PDF with great full-color art!
Product Availability
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store@paizo.com.
This massive book clocks in at 98 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with a massive 93 pages of content, so let's take a look!
So, the first race herein receives +... Wait. Wait a second. My usual in-depth analysis, piece-by-piece approach doesn't work here. This is literally a huge book of races and if I go into that level of detail, we'll be here come next Christmas-season. So, I'll paint a picture in broader strokes than usual, all right? First, if you're not 100% sure what this book is - this is essentially PFRPG's update of 3.0's Bastards and Bloodlines - a book much lauded for its creative race, but also somewhat notorious as one of the many, many ones in the 3.X era that had no idea whatsoever what this "Bahlenz"-thing is.
Speaking of this dreaded concept - the pdf does one thing right from the get-go: It ignores the flawed RP-guidelines established in the ARG in favor of an individual balancing, which I applaud. Each race comes with a short guideline as per name, appearance, demeanor, background and their relations to adventurers, with a handy table explaining the crossbreed-relationships. A massive age table and its corresponding height & weight-table also can be found herein, satisfying that pet-peeve of mine. The pdf begins by establishing the respective crossbreed subtypes featured within its pages, which is similarly helpful.
Another component of the racial design I generally can applaud would be the equilibrium of racial bonuses/penalties - most, though, alas, not all races herein receive a bonus to a physical and a mental attribute and one penalty, resulting in races that are not by their design geared towards specific career paths. It should also be noted that the pd thankfully avoids attribute-bonuses of more than +2 per the base racial traits. Another pet-peeve of mine (and many a DM out there), races that can fly at first level, also are thankfully absent here - instead, a two feat-chain that begins with slow-falling via vestigial wings and ends with proper flight, tied to HD when applicable and thus circumvents this issue. Excellent work there. I do have something I'd like to mention - the pdf always uses the phrase "X can see in the dark out to 60 feet." for Darkvision. Something in me cringes when I read this sentence. It's usually "up to" as a wording convention. Personal nitpick, though, and will not influence the final verdict.
Bastards and Bloodlines also did not have to deal with favored class options - which this massive book thankfully provides for quite a few of the classes, notably often also for Psionic classes, Akashic classes or Path of War classes. The minor hiccups in formatting previously present have been dealt with.
The races generally sport a couple of alternate racial traits for further customization (with e.g. the elf/unicorn-hybrid alicorn also coming with alternate racial traits for evil brethren...)and each race comes with full-color art - which represents one of the most poignant and immediate changes the revised edition featured: The previously at times needlessly cheese-cake artwork (and the couple of truly horror-inducing ones) have been replaced. While not all artworks adhere to the level of awesomeness featured on the cover, the majority of them actually now are amazing, high-quality pieces.
Movement rate-wise, we run the gamut from slow land speed 20 ft. to 45 ft. The respective races now all have their respective speed values for their movement rates properly codified and presented.
Before I go into the races: Please, read the whole review, don't just abort after a few lines. Why? Because I went very nitpicky on this one, showcasing some of the issues the races sport and you might construe that as problematic - however, there are concepts herein that warrant close scrutiny beyond the races and the flaws I'm about to point out. So, please - at least read the conclusion. Thank you.
So let's take a look at the races, shall we? These would be the elitist and proud hybrids of elves and giant eagles, the winged aellar - here, an interesting choice can be observed: Instead of providing Fly as a class skill via a racial trait, the race can opt into it via favored class options, many of which add the skill to the list alongside a bonus - though one that does feel a slight bit odd in the wording: "Gain Fly as a class skill and a +1/2 bonus." is okay wording-wise, but could have been slightly more elegant. On the plus-side, skill-starved fighters instead receive a full +1 bonus per FCO - I applaud that!
Where I get grumpy is with the option to use the fly-skill in lieu of their Reflex save when flying. Skills can easily be buffed through the roof. On the less nitpicky side, I do love how the previously slightly opaque ability to deal additional damage when charging while airborne has been made more precise. Similarly, the cool option to decrease miss-chances due to sight-based obstacles etc. now is as crisp and precise as it should be - kudos for improving it.
Instead of vestigial wings, some aellar receive claws, which, I assume, follow the default damage values for the type and scale up to d6 later - why "assume"? Because the ability does not specify the base damage value, nor whether they are treated as primary or secondary natural weapons - yes, one can assume the default, but from a customer's point of view the information still ought to be here, at one glance. This issue with natural weapons can be extended throughout the pdf, btw. The short fluffy write-up is inspiring and the revised edition, while still not perfect, is significantly improved.
So let's move on to the aforementioned alicorn, the first of quite a lot of fey-themed crossbreed races herein - the signature ability here being that the alicorn can transfer damage, diseases and poisons and ability damage to herself. The ability was a horrific clusterf*** before and has been significantly improved. However, it still has no daily cap, just begging an alicorn player to come up with a way to cheese it. I do believe that this may be an oversight, though, for the similarly fixed evil variant that can instead push these upon others now does have a daily cap.
Blinklings, the blink dog/halfling hybrids, on the other hand, are awesome all-around- 3/day reactive concealment as an immediate action? Yes, please! Extending their sight to the ethereal? Utterly unique and cool - and has some neat narrative potential. Seriously, I love this race and its write-up!
The ability that nets a blurring effect while moving has been reigned in and now is balanced versus the core ability - as a nitpick, its referred spell is not italicized, but oh well.
Decataurs, Elf/Centaur-hybrids sport a base speed of 45 ft., which seemed odd to me and they ignore movement and skill-check penalties caused by difficult terrain - which seems excessive to me - why not provide a scaling mechanic here instead of downright immunity? though, to be fair, the provided caveat versus damage-causing terrain helps. On the plus-side, the rest of the race is pretty much the best centaur-like race I've seen in quite a while. I feel obliged to mention that as per the writing of this review, the errata has not been incorporated into this book. Yup, this unfortunately means that the revised edition of this book does not contain the errata's information on hooves vs. feet. Oh, and as pretty much always (with ONE exception) when I review a centaur-ish race, I found myself shaking my head at the lack of notes regarding the handling of ladders and similar obstacles. On the plus-side, going for the 2-legged satyrkin alternate racial traits does alleviate this, so this kinda gets a pass.
The freedom-loving Dreigi, half-giants with an ancient grudge (against fey and chaotic outsiders) are flavor-wise one awesome piece of work, with an inspiring artwork etc. - but their massive scaling bonuses versus aforementioned creatures (+2 to saves, damage and atk, +1 more for every 4 levels), is too much in my book - though that one is easily scaled down, and it should be. Why? Because these guys get two damn awesome signature abilities: For one, their attacks count as cold iron; they may also create 1/day difficult cold-iron caltrop-y terrain. Secondly, they ignore the hardness of magical barriers and add their character level to damage versus them. Yes, this means they have a fighting chance versus walls of force and the like. I love this race and really would enjoy it more, had it not this one critical flaw that otherwise mars a superb example of race design - it's also unnecessary, mind you, since the theme of pro-freedom/anti-enslavement also is reflected in quite a few other racial abilities.
You may have noticed something - no Tanis-syndrome race so far. And indeed, you will not find mopey, angsty half-breeds herein. Take the Grendle, combining the best of parent race and troll, these guys are hardy and charismatic - and heal as if they had rested every hour. Apart from an unnecessary and imho rather OP ability to demoralize foes at +2 as an immediate action after being hit (or first level AoE-demoralize), the grendle is stylish and works very well. Strange, considering the revisions made to the book: The alternate racial traits still feel confused: One mentions "increasing a morale bonus to Str to +4" - a morale bonus thankfully cut in this iteration of the book, thus leading me to believe that we have a remnant of a previous iteration here. The ability the trait references simply does not exist. On the plus-side, gaining swim speed, but requiring 1 hour submersion in water to benefit from their healing each day is a pretty cool alternate racial trait, as is gaining a climb speed, but also fire vulnerability.
Half-Gnolls are glorious - powerful, but lacking any issues (apart from once being called "It", to which some gnoll-aficionados will vehemently object) - scent and claws plus pack hunting - exactly what you'd want and expect! Hunting down fleeing foes is also neat, though an ability that automatically deals bonus damage versus foes suffering from "a condition" should a) be more limited and restricted to the half-gnoll and b) once again, specify the damage type as belonging to the weapon used to execute the attack. Finally, since ranged builds already are pretty adept at the whole damage-dealing, I'd restrict the ability to melee - it's called Born Predator, not "I shoot you from behind my allies." ;) Still, all in all, a great race, though the alternate traits can use some finetuning.
Speaking of finetuning - the half-goblinoids, while melee-centric, all can generally considered pretty cool - though again, the alternate racial traits and what they replace does not always match power-wise: What would you take: A +2 bonus to Perception and taking 20 for 30 ft x 30 ft as a full-round action or +8 (!!!) to Stealth and +4 (!!!) to Escape Artist plus the option to squeeze through tiny-sized areas? Yeah, the fast search is awesome - I like it. But I don't see these two line up - the bonuses of the latter are too pronounced in my book; I'd cut them in half AT LEAST.
Half-hobgoblins still see better in the dark than their parent race (90 feet that pretty sure should be 60 instead...), but apart from that, both they and the half bugbears are pretty damn glorious! Also on the strong, but cool side, half-sahuagin may be slightly too well off on the winner's end-side regarding bonuses, at least for my tastes, but in groups that sport powerful races, the will fit in perfectly. Thankfully, the previously rather ill-conceived 4-arjm option has been purged.
The Hexbreather, heirs to the dreaded hags, have some nice hex-related abilities in the base form and yep, the revised book does fix some minor hiccups, making me generally more than okay with the result. One alternate racial trait also refers to the cursed condition, now properly defined (reference to Path of War Expanded, fyi).
The half-nymph Houri are a gorgeous example (literally) of this book's tricks - no issues, functional, versatile and unique signature abilities (debuff-beauty 1/day or friend to all animals...) -oh, and the new artwork rocks. The same can be said about the Kestrel - good, positive halfling/harpy-hybrids that use their powers for good- generally speaking, at least. The Kijin are the elf/oni crossbreeds and hit two rough spots for me - one, they have a per-encounter ability. You all know how much I love those. Secondly, they essentially cover the same niche as Rite Publishing's wyrd - and the wyrd benefit from a much more detailed and for me, compelling, cultural background courtesy of the expanded room within they can operate - full pdf versus couple of pages. I don't consider them perfect either, but in direct comparison, the wyrd are superior by a long shot. The same applies for the direct comparison of Rite's take on the lurker versus the one herein, though again, I consider both to fall slightly short of what they could be.
Nevertheless, this pdf does manage an utterly admirable job at rendering the respective halfbreeds distinct and culturally unique - to the point where some of the brief fluff-write-ups actually captivated me enough to make me consider playing the half-breeds - and that coming from a guy who went out of 3.X with a distinct oversaturation regarding fiendish/celestial creatures and half-dragons as well as a distinct dislike for mopey halfbreeds. So yeah, this pdf can be considered inspired in that regard - from the roper/dwarf bio-weapons created by the phrenic hegemony to the love-conquers-all children of merfolk and men to the inspired and monstrous ornibus, suffused with the essences of howlers, the halfbreeds manage to avoid thematic redundancy.
And, if the above exercises in racial nitpickery were not ample clue for you - over all, they tend to be *almost* awesome - during my analysis, I regularly found myself enjoying myself and getting ready to write a recommendation for a race, only to have some ability overextend what I consider viable. It should be noted, however, that the revised version does eliminate a couple of the big issues.
Generally, about 1 ability among the racial traits, more often among the alternate racial traits, can be considered too strong and in need of nerfing - or its balancing versus its replacement feels like it is wonky, but there are similarly races that work well. To give you an example - both the ornibus and the half-satyr pipers can be considered generally well-crafted. Similarly, the ophidian halfbreeds rana now have a scaling trick that lets them expend their psionic focus for better disarming...and they increase their AC in each round where they manifested something, providing a nice, built-in flux. And yes, if that and the examples above were not clue enough for you - there is yet another thing I need to address regarding the races - and it's a HUGE plus!
Know how the ARG-races tend to feel somewhat sameish? How many races are just a recombination of the same tools, again and again? Not so here - every race herein has at least one unique trick that sets it apart - a racial signature ability, if you wish. I *love* this general idea, if not always the execution of them. - the half-gargoyles may e.g. use their wings to take 1/2 damage of an adjacent ally - think of it as a limited, immediate action-based shield other and yes, the wording has been improved in the revised edition. It is an ability like this that really sets the race apart and makes it feel distinct - also in a mechanical way.
I have mentioned the tentacle-faced obvious heir to the half-illithids, haven't I? Yeah. The woodborn, which are just the race for anyone who ever wanted to tackle playing Pinocchio? Yeah, awesome. Even better - an alternate racial trait that nets you an assassin vine symbiote that deals more damage on a grapple just oozes style and its wording has been similarly improved.
My review is organized based on each chapter. The total PDF page count is 101 with 98 being content.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Some words from the authors and an introduction to the new subtypes introduced in the book.
Chapter 2: Specific Half Breeds
Includes explanations of the format, a multi-page entry on each race, alternate racial traits, and various charts detailing “at a glance” information.
Positives:
-How the races feel legitimate. They are not balls of stats thrown together; a lot of care was put into making each race believable and unique
-Well Organized. It’s easy to find what you want
-The majority of the races are well balanced to the Paizo races.
-There is art of each race
-Favored class options!
Negatives:
-A few races are a little too strong. This is most obvious in the Dreige entry which has too many strong and useful racial traits. EX
Quote:
benefit from a +2 bonus
on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws made
against fey and outsiders with the chaotic and/or evil
subtypes. This bonus increases by +1 every 4 character
levels.
A few of the other races are also quite strong.
-Any other negatives I found are nitpicks that shouldn’t be mentioned in the review
Chapter 3: Making More Crossbreeds
TEMPLATES. Umm err excuse me. I love templates. This section has several CR raising templates that can be used to create new and interesting encounters. Some favorites include “Bipedal” which can be used to turn a simple Polar Bear into the mighty VOLIBEAR! Other fun templates are included too.
Positives:
-10 new templates, though 4 of those are Half-Elemental templates.
-They do a good job are realizing several monster concepts that the bestiaries and templates don’t cover
Negatives
-Nothing actually wrong here.
Chapter 4: Using the Blood
This section includes feats, 4 Prestige Classes, spells, and magic items.
Positives:
-Most of the feats are actually worth taking and work well to expand your characters ability to interact with the world outside of numerical boosts
-They can help you feel more crossblooded
-Includes a super cool feat called “Mixed Blood” that gives you a subtype and add-on such as dark vision. This useful for characters who only want to role play a distant relationship, want to try out some of this book’s material without using a new race, or who want to play a mad scientist who splices the traits from various creatures !
-The Prestige Classes have really cool themes. Two are 5 levels PrC that, depending on the build, will offer a lot of cool stuff to a half blood character. All the PrCs interact with the player and parties type and subtype, which usually includes Humanoids, to produce awesome effects.
-14 new spells. All of them fulfill different niches and many offer bonuses depending on the race casting them. A standout is “Strength in numbers” that gets progressively more powerful the more allies you have and works great for Kobolds or other small menaces.
-Magic Items include some cool weapon enchants that are priced as +1s and +2s, which is usually a negative for me, but in this case I think the opportunity cost is appropriate for the benefit. Various wondrous items offering boosts to skills that don’t yet have magical boosts or augmenting features found in this book.
Negatives:
-Some feats skirt the edge of what I consider allowable. One feat can be taken by certain subtypes to grant permanent fast healing.
-Personally I think some of these new and awesome spells are on too many spell lists. A lot of these spells are on literally all the spell lists, except Shaman and Bloodrager. Some of these spells fit Shaman quite well and should be transferred over.
Overall
I like the book a lot. For the most part everything is fun, cool, thematic, and balanced to the point I would allow it in the games I GM. A few things standing out as too good, a few cases where editing is needed, and some classes being overlooked on the spells section are what drop this down to a 4/5.
•30 different half-breed races that are playable from the start, with more than half having a stronger variant more in line with their ancestry. From the Dwarf-Roper hybrid Lasher, to the Human-Troll halfblood Grendle, there are combinations and races for almost any concept.
Ooh, from the sounds of Lasher and Grendle, this sounds like the races from Bastards & Bloodlines!
I loved the Aellar, Blinklings, Sthein, Trixie, Watchers and Wendigo, particularly, and the potential for there to be 'LA +0' versions of them playable as starting races is very cool as they were mostly priced out of being playable in an LA +0 game in 3.X.
There were only 28 races (although half goblinoids and jovians included three to five sub-races) in the original book, and some, like the burrower, half-kuo-toa and mind ripper, are likely to be sir-not-appearing-in-this-book anyway. So I'm intrigued as to what new faces will appear!
Quote:
•Alternate racial traits and new favored class options for all of the 30 new races presented in this book!
Excellent, the races being even more versatile shows promise!
Well this book came out of nowhere! I had no idea DSP was doing anything like this, and I stay pretty up to date on their products. Nice surprise though! :)
This book came out of a special project, where we took a look at great books from previous editions that the original companies hadn't updated and showed no interest in updating either - and we decided that it would be a great loss to not have these fantastic books for Pathfinder.
Part and parcel of this project was to give new talent a chance to shine, so everything in the book is done by new talent (pretty much) - Matthew Medeiros, the main author has done a few smaller books for other companies, but this is his first time "stretching his legs" with a big book. Levi Hinton has done some work for DSP some 6-7 years ago, for Mind Unveiled, but returns in force here. Layout, proofing, editing and feedback was also done by new talent, so IF it is a little rough around the edges, take this chance to give good feedback and we'll do our best to help (and give the new talent a break).
We will have this book prepped for print, but right now our schedule is a little tight and the original layout talent isn't available anymore. So, the answer is YES, just not right now.
Ooh, from the sounds of Lasher and Grendle, this sounds like the races from Bastards & Bloodlines!
I loved the Aellar, Blinklings, Sthein, Trixie, Watchers and Wendigo, particularly, and the potential for there to be 'LA +0' versions of them playable as starting races is very cool as they were mostly priced out of being playable in an LA +0 game in 3.X.
There were only 28 races (although half goblinoids and jovians included three to five sub-races) in the original book, and some, like the burrower, half-kuo-toa and mind ripper, are likely to be sir-not-appearing-in-this-book anyway. So I'm intrigued as to what new faces will appear!
I am concerned that they took too much from Bastards and Bloodlines and from non-open sources -- each and every one of the races named above appears in this PDF. There is also a Satyr hybrid called a Piper (Is that familiar to anyone?).
It's complicated and I don't have access to the PDF yet (on the road and busy) but they might be based on DSP's psionic monsters revisited, which also had mind flayers. They were completely reworked and while the art was similar, the mechanics and flavor were not. I suspect it's those plus the name "illithid" that are WotC's IP.
The book does indeed have half-variants of certain creatures, but when I verified the OGL it does state that it is indeed open.
Should WotC tell us that this wasn't their intention and ask us to remove it, we'll naturally redo those particular half-templates immediately.
You might want to clarify this for certain, and double check which Open Game Content statement that you're looking at gives you permission to base your work on their IP.
In the past some companies had limited permission to use some closed content. I believe the psionic monster book that Green Ronin put out has some closed content in it but it was spelled out that those pieces were not OGC. Likewise, Goodman Games has a limited license for Beholders and there were a few others but those were not transferable I believe.
I can't remember what Bastards and Bloodlines had in it and my game collection is currently packed for renovations.
In the past some companies had limited permission to use some closed content. I believe the psionic monster book that Green Ronin put out has some closed content in it but it was spelled out that those pieces were not OGC. Likewise, Goodman Games has a limited license for Beholders and there were a few others but those were not transferable I believe.
I can't remember what Bastards and Bloodlines had in it and my game collection is currently packed for renovations.
I think Bastards & Bloodlines was from the early 3.0 era which did not exclude certain monsters from the SRD (which is how Green Ronin published their illithid book).
Okay, doing some rooting around in my garage I found my copy.
It says...
The following text is designated as Open Game Content: The name, racial traits, and any bracketed text of each half-breed in Chapter 2, plus the half-breeds at a glance section (including Tables 2-1, 2-2, and 2-3); Chapters 3 and 4.
However... in the previous paragraph it says...
Beholder, kuo-toa, mind flayer, and umber hulk are copyright Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and are used with permission.
My take, IANAL, is that you can't use those terms without receiving permission from WOTC.
I would rework the Burrower to be a gnome/tunnel brute, half koa-toa as a half-(whatever paizo uses for kuo-toa), mind ripper as a humanoid/phrenic scourge, half-beholder as a half-evil eye, and so on.
And it's alive again! It's been a serious ride, but Hybrids and Halfbreeds has now officially transformed into Bloodforge. Those who snagged the original Hyrbids and Halfbreeds should be able to just download the new book without a difficulty.
The Ragi: All races are fully illustrated, in color.
Geppou: We're hoping to give it a print release, but that takes a little time and we need to see if the full-color art translates into a B&W release or if we need to go color on it (in which case it becomes more expensive).
The Ragi: All races are fully illustrated, in color.
Geppou: We're hoping to give it a print release, but that takes a little time and we need to see if the full-color art translates into a B&W release or if we need to go color on it (in which case it becomes more expensive).
Not to derail, but Anguish had some questions about DSP's print run policies over in the Akashic Mysteries product thread that kind of relate to this.
One flavor text: Are most race breeding hybrids? I remember one person's criticism of Bastards & Bloodlines was there this seemed to be common when one could imagine more creative (and potentially less squicky) origins for how two very different creatures could hybridize (such as the backstory for the Blinkling). Also how often are hybrid parents described as tragic romances? That was another criticism: that somehow "this leads to heartbreak" was annoyingly common.
Practical question: Why is the price a dollar less on Paizo than RPGnow?
One flavor text: Are most race breeding hybrids? I remember one person's criticism of Bastards & Bloodlines was there this seemed to be common when one could imagine more creative (and potentially less squicky) origins for how two very different creatures could hybridize (such as the backstory for the Blinkling). Also how often are hybrid parents described as tragic romances? That was another criticism: that somehow "this leads to heartbreak" was annoyingly common.
Much fewer of these races are breeding hybrids, and several are mysteries lost to time (Blinklings debate their origins at storytelling competitions, f'rinstance). Tragic romances were something that no one involved in the re-write wanted at all, and have been avoided in their entirety...which is not to say that none of these half-breeds are tragic. Half-sahuagin have the weight of the world on their shoulders; Thrallspawn are slaves unable to remember a time when they were free. But as far as the relationship between the half-breed and the parents go, I think the worst one could talk about is the Merg's persistent convenience problem with visiting both parents regularly (to wit: the sea is full of horrible lethal crap, which makes visiting the land-bound parent complicated).
Quote:
Practical question: Why is the price a dollar less on Paizo than RPGnow?
Can some post the names of the thirty species and one-sentence descriptions of what they are?
I got'cha covered.
Aellar: Originally created from elves and giant eagles to fight an invasion in the skies, Aellar are a proud race of airborne warriors.
Alicorns: The rare children of elves and unicorns, Alicorns wonder if their virtue is truly real or a blood-borne compulsion.
Blinklings: Claiming heritage from halflings and blink dogs (details vary from story to story), blinklings love an active lifestyle.
Decataur: The intellectual children of elves and centaurs, decataur run in their own herds and favor razor wit over brute force.
Grendle: The children of trolls and humanoids, Grendle are raised to rulership over savage tribes and seem destined for greatness.
Half-Gnoll: The spawn of slaves in a society defined by murderous sloth, Half-Gnolls must fight or die.
Half-sahuagin: Created to stabilize the corrupted bloodlines of the sahuagin, these half-breeds have the fate of their people in their hands.
Hexbreather: The half-breed spawn of orcs and hags, Hexbreathers are created to enforce their mothers' wills.
Houri: The children of elves and nymphs, Houri yearn to escape the shadow of their mothers' greatness.
Kestrel: Kestrel are the legacy of a great act of redemption that brought a settlement of halflings and a murder of harpies together, and are a living reminder of the power of good.
Kijin: Claiming heritage from elves and oni, Kijin leave a society that rejects them and thirst to punish the wicked.
Lasher: These profane dwarf/roper hybrids are created as footsoldiers for the Phrenic Hegemony.
Lurker: A failed attempt at replicating the success of the lashers, Lurkers hide in the shadows of Material Plane worlds, preparing them against the coming invasion.
Merg: The children of merfolk and landwalkers, Merg learn a sense of wonder and beauty in a deadly world.
Murk: The spawn of orcish conflicts with troglodytes and other races, Murks temper savagery with unusual perception and empathy.
Oggr: Children of ogres and humanoids, Oggr carve out niches in the edge-places of society, thriving through pragmatism and cunning.
Ornibus: Created as slaves by a demon lord looking to cheat his way into divinity, Ornibii are insane, savage, and more than a little lost.
Piper: The children of satyrs, Pipers spread joy where they go and walk the line between responsibility and exuberance.
Rana: Born of ophiduans and lizardfolk, Rana join the societies of other humanoids looking for someone to converse with as an equal.
Spring Child: The sons and daughters of dryads, Spring Children delight in the best of both untamed wilderness and civilization and live in the flower of eternal youth.
Sthein: Born of royal naga and the elves that aid them in guarding their charges, Sthein are driven from their homes to give them a choice in their own future.
Thrallspawn: The sinister verizals' answer to both elans and the horrors of the Phrenic Hegemony, Thrallspawn are reborn as slaves and sent to infiltrate mortal society.
Trixie: Magical children of deep friendships between gnomes and pixies, Trixies delight in creating beauty and inspiration from raw magic.
Watcher: The legacy of an act of heroism, Watchers are born into dwarven societies as the favored of the mountain gods.
Woodborn: Created as living power sources for an enchanted forest, Woodborn are growing far beyond anything their creators intended or expected.
Wulfkin: The murderous cubs of winter wolves and humanoids that prove their place as part of the pack, Wulfkin grow up lonely and savage.
Great now yet another PDF I Just Have To Get, if only for the wulfkin and half-gnolls. It'd be interesting to see how they're all done as playable races.
I have the PDF and I will say that each race is worth playing as.
Compared to say... Advanced Race Guide you can expect
-less underpowered races
-more useable racial feats
-a few races on the level of Aasimar/Tiefling/Human
-very cool PrC
I'm still making an official review, but I'd give it about 4/5 stars. Currently I have a placeholder review up.
Much fewer of these races are breeding hybrids, and several are mysteries lost to time (Blinklings debate their origins at storytelling competitions, f'rinstance). Tragic romances were something that no one involved in the re-write wanted at all, and have been avoided in their entirety...
First off, the Grendle...are interesting. I can't help but notice that Imperius Bearing is objectively better then Mocking Call with no disadvantage whatsoever. Has this been errata'ed?
Secondly, what does the evil subtype of the Ornibus entail? Can they only be evil-aligned? Also, they're covered in chitin, spikes, and the text mentions that they usually only wear loincloths and leather armor. Can they still wear armor without penalties? I suppose that this is one of my problems with the book; some of these species are so bizarre it's kind of hard to imagine them wearing armor. Like the Lurker and Lasher for instance. The cool thing about the Ornibus is, and I'm not sure if you guys noticed this, is that there's a demon lord in Golarion canon who would be a perfect "fit" for them. You know, this guy?. And they have +2 str and cha. I can just imagine an army of freaky insectoid antipaladins charging across the Worldwound. It's enough to make any Mendevian crusader go, "Screw it, I'm headed for the Elfgates!".
First off, the Grendle...are interesting. I can't help but notice that Imperius Bearing is objectively better then Mocking Call with no disadvantage whatsoever. Has this been errata'ed?
The current errata out for testing is a few posts up in this thread; feel free to offer suggestions!
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Secondly, what does the evil subtype of the Ornibus entail? Can they only be evil-aligned?
It means the same thing it does for all other creatures with the evil subtype; ornibii are treated as being evil in addition to all of their other alignments when resolving spells and abilities. The way an ornibus is raised makes them incredibly likely to be evil, but they're free-willed moral actors with all that entails.
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Also, they're covered in chitin, spikes, and the text mentions that they usually only wear loincloths and leather armor. Can they still wear armor without penalties? I suppose that this is one of my problems with the book; some of these species are so bizarre it's kind of hard to imagine them wearing armor. Like the Lurker and Lasher for instance.
It's true that creating armor for these races is difficult, but it's far from impossible. Concessions will need to be made, but PF already has rules for armor for unusual creatures (which I encourage you to ignore, because it's a needless penalty). Ornibii use piecemeal armor; Lashers don't cover their arms. Etc, so forth.
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The cool thing about the Ornibus is, and I'm not sure if you guys noticed this, is that there's a demon lord in Golarion canon who would be a perfect "fit" for them. You know, this guy?. And they have +2 str and cha. I can just imagine an army of freaky insectoid antipaladins charging across the Worldwound. It's enough to make any Mendevian crusader go, "Screw it, I'm headed for the Elfgates!".
so aellar wizards can have a +8 caster level to air spells by 18th before feats huh, seems like a lot but ill reserve judgement since ive havent tried it out yet. I dont particular dabble in air spells so out side of some river of wind shenanigans i dont know if the +3 caster level at level 3 is a big deal.
This will be a silly question but with 'beastfolk' races like the alicorns, half-gnolls, and wulfkin, just how animal-like do they look? In the end it's all a question of group and individual player preferences, of course (I assume that the 'wolfscarred face' oracle curse from Blood of Angels leaves you looking like a gnoll or original Howling-style werewolf, when the actual intent is probably more 1941's Jack Pierce Wolf Man), but an official answer would be helpful.
This will be a silly question but with 'beastfolk' races like the alicorns, half-gnolls, and wulfkin, just how animal-like do they look? In the end it's all a question of group and individual player preferences, of course (I assume that the 'wolfscarred face' oracle curse from Blood of Angels leaves you looking like a gnoll or original Howling-style werewolf, when the actual intent is probably more 1941's Jack Pierce Wolf Man), but an official answer would be helpful.
Not very, usually. Half-gnolls and blinklings look the most animalistic; wulfkin can be mistaken for non-cold humanoids (right up until they ice breath your ass), alicorns mainly resemble slightly gangly elves, aellar appear mostly as winged elves.
So I edited my review, it turns out "Type or Subtype" included HUMANOID, derp. All the PrCs work as long as your party has HUMANOIDS (AKA everything except most Aasimar and Tieflings.)
I have a question about the Sthein. What is their movement rate...30ft? The Alternate Form Ability says:
"Alternate form (Su): As a full-round action a sthein may
switch between her serpent form and a fully humanoid
form. In humanoid form a sthein has the same facial
features and coloration but develops two normal legs in
place of her long tail. A humanoid sthein is Medium-size
and has a base speed of 30 feet. She retains all her normal
abilities in this form but cannot make bite attacks."
Does that mean the Sthein has a 30ft movement rate in both their Serpent and Humanoid forms? I was also wondering if the Sthein in Serpent form would have the Legless quality(i.e. Legless: have no legs, and cannot be tripped)?
Thanks in Advance; and I have to say this is one of my favorite Race Books for Pathfinder!
