I’m putting this up here since the playtest is already over and, even if it wasn’t, I know that Paizo is going to keep with the system that they are developing now.
I don’t believe that point buy is truly a fair and equal way to design much of anything. I’ve been toying around with using a point buy since D20 Anime was put out in 3.0 and detailed the various races out of the PHB (IIRC Dwarves and Gnomes were around 5pts, Halflings were around 6pts, and Elves were around 7pts). I tried, for a time to work around with making a point buy system that worked and even put out a version to use as a guideline during a game that the setting was designed by all the players to try to balance out races the various players involved had come up with. While it helped some, it became obvious that it was also limited as some players used the points available to do some pretty horrendous things and remained within the same point scheme as a Gnome or an Elf.
A short time after the Eberron setting came out I abandoned the use of a point buy system and started working with in a general framework that emulated the basic setup for PC races but boosted to be more equal with the new and powerful Warforged and Shifter races. Working within a framework keeps the general feel of a PC race and keeps them closer to even in power level. I’m not saying it was perfect, as different bonuses are going to be more useful to some builds than others (i.e. a race with +2 to Perception and Stealth will probably get more use out of those bonuses than a race with bonuses to Heal and Swim). It worked a lot better than point buy for creating races that were fun and they ended up far more balanced than a point buy.
Below is an example of what I might do to make a race within the general power level presented in the CRB. Note that this is not completely form fitting to all races presented in the CRB but I believe it will get you close.
Stats: choose either:
+2 to one physical stat, +2 to one mental stat, and -2 to any stat that does not receive a bonus.
Or
+2 to any one stat of the player’s choice determined at character creation.
Size and Speed: choose either Small or Medium size. Small size creatures have a base movement speed of 20ft. Medium size creatures have a base movement speed of 30ft.
Talents: select or create three special talents for the race. In general, these should be useful but not nearly that of a Feat. If a talent is very specific (such as a Dwarf’s Hatred and Defensive Training) then then you may take an additional talent that is equally specific. Some talents might be worth a Feat by themselves (such as a Halfling’s Halfling Luck, which was also a Feat in 3.X called Heroic Luck in one of the many books) and be worth the equivalent of two talents.
Skill Bonuses: +2 to two skills appropriate to the race’s background.
Saves: +2 to two specific effects requiring saving throws.
Weapon Familiarity: Select three Martial Weapons that can be treated as Simple Weapons. Also any racial Exotic Weapons count as Martial Weapons.
Languages: Start with two base languages to start with, appropriate to the campaign. Default to Common and a racial language. Six additional languages should be selected as appropriate languages that can be learned with a high intelligence score.
What I personally prefer to use for races is a bit more powerful as it was developed originally with Eberron and Midnight as influences and it was easier to balance out against a Warforged or Shifter. I’ve updated it some for PF. Rather than give the full list here are the changes:
One Feat: This should not be a combat feat or spellcasting feat. For instance I give Dwarves Endurance as their feat as I think it fits well, with the option of upgrading to Die Hard if gained from another choice. Elves don’t get a Feat per say but gain the ability to cast two Cantrips as a Sorcerer of ½ character level for Elven Magic (Detect Magic and Read Magic, Light, or an Enchantment or Illusion based one). Gnomes I gave something similar to the Breadth of Knowledge Feat from the APG so I just switched to that for simplicity. Halflings got Heroic Luck.
Certain abilities might be worth more than a Feat so I tend to use Talents along with certain abilities. A Human’s Bonus Feat, which is not fixed and ignores the restrictions above, is worth a Feat and a Talent in my opinion (their other two talents go to their bonus skill points, which could be duplicated or doubled with a favorite Feat of mine, Fast Learner). Shifters and Changlings from Eberron with their Shapechange and Shifting abilities I also valued at a Feat and a Talent. The various immunities a Warforged got I found to be worth a Feat and two Talents. I would avoid anything that seems like it should be worth a Feat and all three talents.
Skills: I would give an additional skill at +2, largely due to the prevalence of 3 skills at +2 in 3.X.
Favored Terrain (Optional): This was in there before PF (I believe I stole it from AEG Publishing’s Mercenary title, originally). I’m unsure of this now as it is a Ranger class feature.
