A few things occurred to me while looking at some of the planned races in the 'Advanced Race Guide' being released in the spring of 2012. First, I am very happy to see some of the races I read about in 3.5 making a reappearance as well as some new additions. Second, the point system for designing races will be fantastic, this will allow my players a whole new level of design for their characters. I may even go as far as to let them design the flavor of the race and it's presence in Golarion, including their history, deities, common social practices etc...
This however led me to the only real problem I have with some of these additional races as well as some of the more intelligent 'monsters' in the bestiary. With clearly superior traits, in many cases, to those of the 'core' humanoid races how is it that these beings have not become much more prolific?
I am certain that this would be answered in different ways depending on the creature being discussed; however, I think more detail is needed than:
(paraphrasing) 'dhampir's are rare due to a fearful reaction by the members of the community that they are born into and thus often meet with an early demise at the hands of said community'.
If a vampire can in fact impregnate a human, I would think by the very nature of this type of intelligent undead that this would occur more frequently. With a greater success for that particular race to be more present than the description states.
Another example might be why a race like the giants haven't bred to the point that the vast resources in Golarion would allow and than simply conquered the more diminutive races. Same for dragons and so on.
Perhaps this information is found somewhere within a Pathfinder splat book on the races and monsters of Golarion, if anyone might know where I can find that information within a purchasable Paizo resource, or might have a link to a general guide or discussion about the history and presence of races, I would appreciate the help.
good points, be aware that giants at one point where the empire in golarion and the rune lords enslaved them with epic magic
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This however led me to the only real problem I have with some of these additional races as well as some of the more intelligent 'monsters' in the bestiary. With clearly superior traits, in many cases, to those of the 'core' humanoid races how is it that these beings have not become much more prolific?
Humanity in most fantasy settings seems to have a leg up on other races, and not without reason. I'm going to ramble a bit here, so lets tackle dhampires and other "off-human" races first.
There's an important thing to remember about the dhampir: They're not a true species. Dhampires are not created by vampire/human mating, as vampires, like all undead, are sterile. Dhampires are most often created when a pregnant woman is bitten by a vampire. If the women survives long enough to give birth, a dhampir is born (i.e., "Blade). That's what I assume.
Even if vampires could produce dhampirs the old-fashioned way, I don't know why they'd bother. Why go about creating a pitiful half-breed infant, when you could create a full-fledged vampire spawn with the uncanny power they deserve (and who is also a puppet under your control)?
I also believe that dhampir creation is left purposefully vague, so players can create their own origins. An dhampir may be the child of a vampire and a human, a bitten human who's turning was interrupted, the end result of an ancient curse, and so on. Even in the same campaign, dhampires may have differing origins.
I doubt that dhampirism is a dominant trait. If a dhampire did manage to procreate with a human, the offspring would likely be human (albeit a with a few creepy traits, possibly a good candidate for the undead sorcerer bloodline).
The above goes for the human/planar crossbreeds as well. An Ifrit may be the offspring of a genie and a mortal, but it's unlikely that that Ifrit's children are also Ifrits (although they may have other traits that betray their lineage, or become sorcerers with the fire elemental bloodline).
Moving away from the PC-ready Bestiary races: Why do humans and humanoids outnumber more powerful races and monsters?
(I'm going to focus on humans here for a few reasons. Elves and dwarves live very long times and do not have very large populations at the moment. Pathfinder gnomes are a strange lot, being "naturalized" fey-like creatures. Halflings, Half-elfs and half-orcs are mostly human, with a few strange traits.)
Simply put, humans breed A LOT. Way more than the other core races. Elves can take decades just to court a potential mate, giants can take years to carry a child to term, and don't even get me started on dragons. Giant dire pandas get together more frequently. Plus, human lives as pretty short, and as a result, humans move very quick. A dwarf sees no problem digging a tunnel through a mountain for fifty years, and an elf may spend a hundred trying to perfect that special poem. Dragons sleep for centuries. In that time, whole human empires can rise and fall.
Humanity has civilization. Cities, armies, invention, etc. There's no dragon cities, because dragons never had to create agriculture. There's no dragon armies, because no dragon needs help defending itself. There's no (or little) dragon invention, because they can already fly, burrow, swim, breath fire, and use magic. But humans, being comparatively soft and weak, have developed all kinds of "tricks" to survive.
There's a reason you don't see many monsters with class levels. Most monsters don't need them. No reason spend years practicing spellcasting so you can cast Burning Hands when you can just breath fire. But humans lack tooth and claw, so they forge weapons and learn magic to compensate.
Lastly, humans are the chose ones. Presumptuous-sounding, but true. Gods are constantly intervening on behalf of humans, and five out of the twenty major deities were formerly human. Monsters rarely become clerics, for the same reasons they rarely become wizards or fighters. They've already got power.
One last thing: You'll note I haven't mentioned goblins, orcs, and the like. These evil humanoid races are actually one of the biggest threats to humanity, as they breed quicker and are even more aggressive.
OK, I've rambled on for long enough, but it's something I've thought about for previous campaigns.
good points, be aware that giants at one point where the empire in golarion and the rune lords enslaved them with epic magic
That is exactly the kind of history I am looking for thank you.
One thing of interest to me is the survival of the giants post Thassilon. A player in our group has suggested that magical restrictions may have been placed within the race so that only a few could breed successfully and thus their fewer numbers might be explained.
Wow...thank you brreitz! I think a large part of just about every question I wanted answered was handled in that post. Details aside, this actually helps me conceptualize the inter-workings of the species and races in Golarion far better than I previously had. As a new dm who only played a bit in 3.5, this was immensely helpful.
generally speaking the one race I've always thought should be more successful I'n fantasy games is the hobgoblin. though for whatever reason they tend to only be successful I'n fantasy games when humans decide to behave likevthem.
generally speaking the one race I've always thought should be more successful I'n fantasy games is the hobgoblin. though for whatever reason they tend to only be successful I'n fantasy games when humans decide to behave likevthem.
Well for the Hobgoblin case here are my thoughts : first they are isolated, few other races will make treaty with them, deliver them goods etc. That mean they have to attack other to find things they cannot produce themself or they have to pay at blackmarket price...
Second : Politics and Corruption. A LE society will be flowed with corruption, and with people seeking power and people in power will fear those under their orders to take they place. That'll mean that people in charge will not be there because of merit, but most of them will be there because they are effective but because they have paid, pleased their superior, or, at least, because those superior think they are no threat.That mean, a lot of times the general in charge of a battle will not be the most efficient tactician and that mean that people in front line will not be the people who should be there but the one you want to be killed first, and there's chance they know it so they won't fight as efficiently as they should... ;)
Third : You need a lot of people to maintain the order, these people cannot fight, 'cause if you send every soldier in war you've got great chance your politic opponent will take this chance to make a putsch...
Well it's just mu thoughts so... ;)
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Hobgoblins are an interesting case. A lot of people dislike them because they're yet another evil humanoid race, and they are unlike all the other evil humanoid races in that they are highly militarized. So why are they so marginalized? Everything Loengrin says is valid.
The Inner Sea World Guide mentions that Hobgoblins have suffered huge losses from many recent military conflicts. I picture the recent history of the hobgoblins as like this: A massive army of hobgoblins attacks every nation in reach. They are terrifying in their command of tactics and have weaponry and skills rivaling that of humans.
(They would likely attack the nations of the north, and the people there have seen war by an evil humanoid race before - the orcs. But an orc "army" can barely be called that, it's more a massive raging mob.)
So the armies of hobgoblins start attacking everywhere they can, but they've made a huge mistake. After the initial shock wears off, the nations ally and fight back. It's a difficult battle, but the hobgoblins have spread themselves thin, and are eventually pushed back. They regroup and begin planning their next attacks on the human nations...
However, hobgoblins have a critical weakness. They are addicted to war. Their whole culture revolves around war, it's all they know. They don't make alliances (only slaves or corpses) and they don't take the proper time to recover. They strike back at the human nations far too soon, and suffer even greater losses. They keep attacking, and keep losing. They can't help themselves, as surely as bugbears are addicted to fear and goblins are addicted to havok, they are addicted to warfare. Eventually, all that's left of their greatest armies is raiding parties and mercenary platoons.
However, hobgoblins are mentioned as having their own nation on the Tien side of the world (I assume it plays a similar role as the orc's Belkzen). I'm expecting to see that this is where the smarter hobgoblins have decided to build their army, and wait until the time is right.
Unrelated: Anyone remember the Scro from Spelljammer? I loved those guys. Kinda like these guys.
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In human history, the vast majority of standing armies have required supply lines. That means they require agriculture. So for most hobgoblin armies, they either have a bunch of goblin farmers back at home, keeping the armies fed, or they have to scrounge and hunt as they march--which works, but is not great for discipline. It's possible to imagine hobgoblin armies as more closely resembling the Mongol hordes, but all you'd need to do is limit their animal husbandry, and the range of the armies drops considerably. You end up with a situation where the army has the potential to consume all available resources in the area, and without sufficient agriculture to replenish, the army would break apart and starve.
Also remember that we view our world through the lens of our species' activity. By mass, the Earth is really an ant's planet, and there is evidence that the chemicals produced by ants have and do affect the environment. From a dragon's point of view, perhaps they see the world as already conquered by dragons--they just let the little races roam free on it.