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Alright, to start off I found a lot of the monster races just awesome! On some of them I had some issues as follows;
> Orc
> Goblin
> Kobold
They seem to be heavy sided in negative ability modifiers compared to all the others.
The races in Beastairy 2 are awesome as well, but they seem a little underpowered from the Beastairy counterparts.
I mean I think there should be so much more the following;
> Dhampir
> Fetchling
> Grippli
I think at least one of these or at least two of them should on par with a Drow Noble or a Snurfnibblin.
Maybe I am crazy...
Alright, to start off I found a lot of the monster races just awesome! On some of them I had some issues as follows;
> Orc
> Goblin
> KoboldThey seem to be heavy sided in negative ability modifiers compared to all the others.
The races in Beastairy 2 are awesome as well, but they seem a little underpowered from the Beastairy counterparts.
I mean I think there should be so much more the following;
> Dhampir
> Fetchling
> GrippliI think at least one of these or at least two of them should on par with a Drow Noble or a Snurfnibblin.
Maybe I am crazy...
They all fulfill certain roles. If they are outside of that role they don't do well. Many DM's use them a easy XP, but they can be made to be good with the right class. A hit from an Orc can take out a low level characters, and goblins make great rogues. Kobolds should not be used in straight up fights if you want them to be a challenge most of the time.
Races of the Dragon from WotC (along with its free web enhancement) really helps to flesh out kobold PCs with extra details, abilities and feats. I wouldn't play a kobold without it.
Dhampir was extremely disappointing. +2 dex, +2 cha, -2 con? Who in their right mind would want that? Possibly a sorceror but last I knew, con was important for them staying alive. And immunity to energy drain until it equals your level in drain? Thanks but thats no front page benefit. Immunity to energy drain completely? Sure, that would be great and would make sense due to the guy being...part undead anyhow...
Creative Director
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Dhampir was extremely disappointing. +2 dex, +2 cha, -2 con? Who in their right mind would want that? Possibly a sorceror but last I knew, con was important for them staying alive. And immunity to energy drain until it equals your level in drain? Thanks but thats no front page benefit. Immunity to energy drain completely? Sure, that would be great and would make sense due to the guy being...part undead anyhow...
It's important to keep in mind that none of the zero-HD races are designed with the primary idea that they're exactly equal in power to humans, elves, halflings, etc. They're CLOSE, but the #1 design goal for them was to make them fit their needed monster niche first. That means that there's quite a few that are, pound for pound, LESS powerful than humans. Why? Because 1st level adventures need monsters that you can use in numbers more than 1 at a time too.
If you want to use a Zero HD Race as a player character, scrounging for benefits is in my opinion the wrong way to go. The best reason to use a non-core zero HD race is because you are interested in the roleplaying implications of the race.
Furthermore, if you feel that a zero HD race is no good for a PC and you want to change it... do it! We'll probably, some day, "graduate" some of the current zero HD races to core PC races (especially if we explore other settings on Golarion apart from the Inner Sea), and we may well make adjustments to them then to bring them either up or down in power to more closely match the baseline of humans and the rest.
Now, in the specific case of the dhampir... I actually think that they are just about spot on in power. Sure, the negative bump to Con is scary, but their other abilities are on par or perhaps even a little bit above what other races get. They have solid skill modifiers, better senses than ANY core race, a pretty useful saving throw bonus, and a spell-like ability. And that immunity to energy draining effects is pretty awesome when it kicks in. And having played a character with negative energy affinity before... when you go up against monsters that do negative energy damage, such as liches or many undead, being healed by their attacks is pretty rad. They don't make the best front-line fighters, but they'd do quite well as a bard, or a sorcerer, or even a rogue who focuses less on melee and more on ranged stuff. It's worth remembering that just because you have a Con penalty, that doesn't mean you can't put your highest score in there to offset that penalty. Might mean you don't have an 18 or other super high stat... but folks are too obsessed with the 18 as it stands.
I agree.
I never considered that any of the non-core races were ever intended to be used as balanced PC races. They might get used as PCs, but none of my gamers ever thought that they would be balanced.
That beng said, we've had great fun in my last wo campaigns with a goblin in ROTR and a kobold ranger in the Absalom/Falcon's Hollow series (keeping the locals from killing him is a full time job).
And we've had characters reincarnated as goblins, bugbears, and lizarmen already.
I think that as long as you are prepared to play the race in character, even as an outcast, you can have fun with low stat characters. (And bugbears are just awesome)
In the FH campaign, Kegrap the kobold Ranger is NOT the party thinker or brick. He's the tracker and shooty git. And he acts as backup for the rogue when she goes sneaking. (Kobold stealth bonuses are awesome.)
And the party loves adventuring with him.