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Races of Pathfinder Top of the Page Link
After I finish up all the races, I make a list of all of the Sky Blues, Blues, and Greens for each class to help with character creation. As in, if you are thinking about playing a Barbarian, consider these races! Sound helpful?
^Under Size and Speed, it says Changelings instead of Vishkanya. (Although I have to admit that the idea of a Changeling templated onto a Vishkanya or vice versa is cool; unfortunately Pathfinder currently doesn't have race templates.)
Also, I'd be inclined to bump Subtle Appearance up to Orange (think of a poisonous spy/assassin character, such as a Deadly Courtesan Rogue), especially (maybe even Green) if you manage to get Low-Light Vision or especially Darkvision through some other means. But Orange/Green for Cleric? On a 9/9 spellcaster, even with the bonus to Channeling, with a -2 to your primary spellcasting score, this just isn't going to work (unless you're just dipping and not progressing the spellcasting much), unless you have a high point buy or a super good roll to spare, and even then it's really inefficient (to get Wisdom from the default of 8 up to the minimum 15 that you really need, you have to spend 13 points, which is going to be really painful even with a 20 point buy, not leaving you room to do much of the other cool stuff you would want to do with a low-Wisdom Cleric, like Channeling and Reach tactics) -- I would say Red/Orange.
The Favored Class Bonus for Sorcerer is labeled Witch.
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Syrinx are owl-people who live in cliff-side monastery cities. They have an incredible 60 foot fly speed ... and not much else. They are very similar to the Strix.
RE: Vishkanya, fixed the typos. For Subtle Appearance, I only think it would be useful if you can get low-light vision from other means, and then, sure sub it out. Don't forget, it's only to look human. For Cleric, I can imaging a build that would appreciate the Vishkanya's talents - an archer healer build who only takes buffing spells and for whom the DC of his spells doesn't matter. If the character only goes up to level 12, then a starting Wisdom of 14 (12/16/10/8/14/16) would be enough with an eventual headband. But I'll bring it down to orange.
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Something worth mentioning, don't have to of course, but usually for races with penalty in wisdom or who don't get it, Ranger accommodate with the skirmisher archetype, as often mentioned in the pathfinder race guide, just to keep with the spirit of it and should be good enough to not make them an orange choice.
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Something worth mentioning, don't have to of course, but usually for races with penalty in wisdom or who don't get it, Ranger accommodate with the skirmisher archetype, as often mentioned in the pathfinder race guide, just to keep with the spirit of it and should be good enough to not make them an orange choice.
Yeah, I quite like the skirmisher archetype. It definitely diminishes the need for Wisdom, but it is worth noting that is does key a bit off of Wisdom. I may mention it for future races.
Something worth mentioning, don't have to of course, but usually for races with penalty in wisdom or who don't get it, Ranger accommodate with the skirmisher archetype, as often mentioned in the pathfinder race guide, just to keep with the spirit of it and should be good enough to not make them an orange choice.
I was about to say that Trapper Ranger also trades out spells, but upon reading the archetype and about traps again (have to look at 2 different pages to see everything you need), I see that their traps also rely just as much upon Wisdom.
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Shobhads are four armed giants who live in the deserts of a low-gravity planet. A bit underwhelming for 29RP, this advanced race has fairly broad bonuses and no real penalties. They are very similar to the four armed, desert dwelling Kasatha, right down to their ability scores and defensive training.
Below are my thoughts on having 4 arms - let me know if I am missing anything: Multi-Armed: What can you actually do with four arms, given that they don't grant you extra attacks? There are five things that stick out as options, but the rules get a bit muddled in these waters.
First, you can wield two-weapon fighting two different weapons with two hands each. However, wielding a light weapon with two hands gives no advantage on damage, so you'd want to wield two large weapons and take the penalty to attack. You could also potentially take two-weapon fighting and wield two projectile weapons.
Second, you have extra hands to reload firearms and crossbows, which is much more of a clear bonus.
Third, you can use a two-handed weapon and grab a shield as well. If you can't think of another use for them, I would highly recommend going the shield route.
Fourth, you can carry a litany of wands or metamagic rods for various uses, and be better able to choose on the fly without having to rifle through your backpack.
Fifth, if you grow two claws, you can use them in conjunction with two hands holding manufactured weapons. There's even an argument to be made for being able to gain four claw natural attacks.
Eltacolibre: Thanks, added in those Ogre feats!
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^Actually, what would keep a Shobhad from taking Multi-Weapon Fighting to be able to fight with 4 weapons?
You might want to push Magus up to Blue, despite the mediocre ability score synergy -- Magus generally doesn't work very well with two-handed weapons, but if you have 4 arms, you could wield a two-handed (especially Reach) weapon (which works well with the Strength bonus) and still have one hand free for Spell Combat and one hand free for Wands, Rods, and other items without needing to unhand your weapons; you could also wield at least one cestus so that you can wield a two-handed Reach weapon without losing the ability to threaten spaces next to you. Of course, this also works for other semi-spellcaster semi-combat classes, but thanks to Spell Combat and Spellstrike is especially good for the Magus. (This may also apply especially well to the Warpriest -- need to study this more.)
As to what else you'd want to do with 4 arms, musician comes to mind -- especially keyboard instruments, especially organ . . . Of course, this doesn't fit very well with the Shobhad barbarian culture (maybe not for Kasatha either), but the thought is just too cool to pass up.
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Gargoyles are a race of winged stone statues. At 36RP they are incredibly overpowered, boasting +5 AC, DR 10/magic, a fly speed of 50, and four primary natural attacks. Their mental penalties prevent them from being absolutely bonkers at everything - but they are still pretty bonkers at most things.
RE UnArcaneElection: AS I understand it, the Shobhad can fight with four weapons, but they don't grant him extra attacks, just more options. Good point on the magus, I've adjusted that.
4-armed creatures have a main hand and 3 off-hands so they can make 4 attacks and the penalties are reduced with Multiweapon Fighting in the same way the TWF Feat does.
If such a creature then takes Improved and Greater it does not grant an extra attack for each off-hand, just one but they can choose which off-hand use for that attack.
In order to not be able to gain an extra attack from an extra limb it has to be specified in the feature that provides that limb like Vestigial Arm does.
The link above to the Gargoyles page works, but the main guide page doesn't have a link (still has Gargoyles in the to-do list).
I wouldn't put Cleric and Oracle at green -- these are stil 9/9 casters, and you just aren't going to be able to get your casting stat high enough without hosing most of your other stats. I would make them Orange, although as you said not Red due to the insane survivability and Fly speed.
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Re Entryhazard: Doing some more research into it, I think you may be right. I've adjusted it.
Re Cleric and Oracle at Green: Let's compare the human oracle of battle vs the Gargoyle oracle of battle at level 1.
The human starts out with a lovely point buy of 14/14/12/10/8/18. He is a bit concerned about survivability, so he grabs dodge and spell focus (necromancy). He's got 5 skill points, 9 hp, puts on chainmail for a 19 AC, and attacks with a spear at +2 for 1d8+3 damage. His level 1 spells have a DC of 15 (or 16 for necromancy).
For the sake of argument, the gargoyle puts everything he has into Charisma and starts out with a point buy of 14/11/14/8/8/16 (though I would recommend 14/13/16/8/8/15 instead). He's not remotely concerned about survivability, so he takes his feat and grabs spell focus (necromancy) to help with those DCs. He's got 4 skill points, 10 hp, puts on chainmail for a 21 AC. He doesn't bother with a spear, attacking a +2/+2/+2/+2 for 1d6+2, 1d4+2, 1d4+2, 1d6+2 with his natural weapons. His level 1 spells have a DC of 14 (or 15 for necromancy). He's also got a permanent fly speed of 50 and DR 10/magic.
In comparison, the human Oracle has one more DC to his spells (+5%), and one more skill point a level. However, the Gargoyle has 2 more AC, one more HP a level, massively more damage dealing potential, DR 10/magic, and a fly speed (as well as darkvision). That 1 DC sacrifice is well worth it to me, particularly if you focus on spells that target allies and don't require the enemy to make saves. I would take the gargoyle Oracle over the human Oracle every day of the week (and would probably take his 14/13/16/8/8/15 point buy instead for a much more effective version). That's just what happens when you have a RP36 race.
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yeah on every races, you will see them but basically.
on human for example it replaces skilled:
Fey Magic (2 RP): The character has a mystic connection to one terrain type, selected from the ranger's favored terrain list. The character selects three 0-level druid spells and one 1st-level druid spell. If the character has a Charisma score of 11 or higher, when in the selected terrain, she gains these spells as spell-like abilities that can be cast once per day. The caster level for these effects is equal to the user's character level. The DC for the spell-like abilities is equal to 10 + the spell's level + the user's Charisma modifier. These spells are treated as being from a fey source for the purposes of the druid's resist nature's lure class feature and similar abilities. In addition, select two of the following skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Diplomacy, Disguise, Escape Artist, Fly, Knowledge (nature), Perception, Perform, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Swim, or Use Magic Device. The selected skills are always class skills for the character. Lastly, the human also gains low-light vision. This trait replaces skilled. Source Heroes of the Wild
The new options are fey magic, fey thoughts which can be seen on the core races, I believe human don't get fey thoughts as an option.
The new options are fey magic, fey thoughts which can be seen on the core races, I believe human don't get fey thoughts as an option.
Humans don't get Fey Thoughts because it's included in his Fey Magic along low-light vision, I think the authors deemed Fey Magic alone too little to compensate for Skilled.
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Drider are giant centaurs - if you replace their horse half with a spider and their human half with drow monsters. They are big and freaky. With 35RP they are squarely a very powerful race, gaining SR, an AC bonus, lots of ability score bonuses, and no ability score penalties. As a result, they can handle quite a variety of classes.
Kuru are red-eyed barbarians with filed teeth and disturbing facial tattoos. Their ability scores prepare them for martial prowess, but overall their traits are a bit lackluster.
yeah the Kuru don't appear to exist in your blog, all of the links I could find don't work
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Link should work now. I published that in a hotel room with crappy internet, so it didn't seem to go through. Fixed now.
Re: Centaur, yeah, they are pretty fantastic. If you can get your GM to allow very advanced races then go for it. Just make sure that your GM is giving equal bonuses to everybody else so you don't overshadow them.
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Aquatic elves are basically elves that can breath water. They have many of the same abilities as their land-locked cousins.
And that's the last race! What else am I missing? There's a few races that I need to edit, and I need to go through and add the ACG classes (as well as the Empyreal Sorcerer and Siege Gunner) to all the races, but besides that I think I'm set!
Inner Sea Monster Codex has a couple new faces.
If you're going to put in Empyreal Sorcerer, might as well do Sage Sorcerer while you're at it (this is good for races as common as Elves). Too bad Witch doesn't have anything other than Scarred Witch Doctor that changes changes the primary casting stat -- Changelings oddly end up being only so-so Witches (and what's up with no Changeling jinx, anyway?).
While we're on the subject of new classes (ACG/ACO and eventually Occult Adventures and Ultimate Intrigue), I wonder if Pathfinder Unchained will need an update to any of the entries in the Guide to Races. In most cases, I think probably not, but Unchained Monk might be a sticking point (not only loses compatibility with all Monk archetypes, but no longer having a good Will save might make a significant difference, making things like Elven Immunities (good) and Wisdom penalties (bad) more important.
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Wyrood have the lowest health in the game, dying at zero is super red imo
Consider a constitution 10 human fighter at level 1. He's got 10hp, and dies at -10. He can take 10 damage before he is incapacitated, and a total of 20 damage before he dies permanently.
Now consider a wyrwood fighter at level 1. He's got 20hp, and dies at at 0. Exactly like the human, he dies if he takes a total of 20 damage. Unlike the fighter, he is never incapacitated. Compared to a constitution 10 human, the wyrwood is strictly better.
If the fighter's constitution goes up, to say 14, then the fighter has a 2 more hit points before he can be incapacitated, and 6 more total hit points before being killed. Still, the wyrwood has the big advantage of never being incapacitated by damage. So he's strictly better vs. Constitution 10 (or lower) creatures, and arguably better against medium-range constitution creatures.
A pack of errata was released recently that affects some things in this guide. Notably, Scarred Witch Doctor had its casting stat changed back to Intelligence, which semi-hoses Orc Witches (knocking out some interesting builds in the process), but makes otherwise conventional Half-Orc witches seriously overpowered (did they forget that Half-Orcs can put their bonus +2 anywhere?).
Also need to add Fey Magic/Fey Thoughts as alternate racial traits to at least all the Core Races (not sure how many other races also get this from Heroes of the Wild).
. . . And, of course, Inner Sea Races added some stuff (although the amount of new stuff I have actually found from this on d20pfsrd.com is surprisingly not very much).
Occult Bestiary also has some 0-HD races
I noticed a small "taht" misspelling in Undine.
(Oh, and fantastic guide BTW.)
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Occult Bestiary also has some 0-HD races
Could you list them? I'd love to look at them but it's hard to find things like that on the pfsrd site without knowing the names.
@BZ: you're amazing... you've gotten so much updated on the guide! You should really change the name to BZ's Guide at this point!
Duergar Tyrant, Munavri, and Reborn Samsaran are the Occult Bestiary races.
Welp, those are really strong.
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Duergar tyrant isn't a player race, lol
Neither Munavri, Drider, Wyvaran...
the setting book Distant Shores added the Ganzi who are the equivalent of Aasimars and Tieflings but of chaotic ancestry
Some updates are needed for material from Blood of Shadows (also Heroes of the Wild and the regrettable Scarred Witch Doctor Errata).
^Said updates have been now applied to the Core Races and in a preliminary fashion to Orc (which got note of the Scarred Witch Doctor errata but not yet the other new material). Core Races have received both new Race and Class information.
Known bugs: The Shadowhunter alternate racial trait for some of the Core Races needs errata, but fixing this is going to have to wait until I get the corrected text (and resolve computer problems so that I don't have to compose on a phone -- this last is also needed to continue beyond the Core Races). (Amazingly, even with the wrong text, it actually works sort of okay and is only mildly overpowered.)
^Shadowhunter alternate racial trait errata'd thanks to Archives of Nethys very recently getting the Blood of Shadows text (www.d20pfsrd.com STILL has it wrong in some places). This only affects Core races (apparently, none of the other races have this alternate racial trait, not even the ones having a connection to Darkness or Shadow).
