Well the page says custom races are for GM's and players with GM oversight. As such anything created by a player should reasonably be expected to be vetted by the GM prior to acceptance. And while it is first party Paizo, custom races are more like 1.5 party content, it is easy to abuse the point system to create terrible monsters with laughable penalties for amazing strengths.
If they wanted a custom race, they should have said "I am not going to use the approved, pre designed list of playable first party races, instead I am going to use the GM tool to make my own. After which you will vet and permit or deny based on it's relation to core races and the story (or AP) as appropriate."
He could have easily used advanced monster races as PC's, still first party but also not generally allowed by GM's.
Also this should go in a different forum than Rules.
You made a mistake due to the terminology involved. No big deal. Advanced races on the srd and making yourself a custom advanced race are two very separate things, though.
Personally, due to the mixup being on my part I would have given him the chance to resubmit following the rules as laid out with no custom built race. Wouldn't be fair to the other players if I allowed him as the only one with a custom one. Would reconsider his character if changed to fit the criteria though.
Wasn't hypocritical. Just a mistake.
Custom races aren't Paizo races even if made via Advanced Race Guide optional race point system. He should have told you about the race specifics ahead of time. The race point system allows one to build boat load of stuff most GMs won't allow, and ones that do, definitely would want to look them over first. If a GM says "advanced races allowed" most people would assume races from the Advanced Race Guide, not "make up whatever you want using rules in the Advanced Race Guide".
The RP system is cute, but potentially EXTREMELY abusable, and existing races don't necessarily deserve their rankings based on RP.
Case in point, the Wyvaran race's most-powerful feature is that it has a fly speed of 30ft (Clumsy).
That very, very quickly becomes a moot point as other methods of flight come to pass; much better than a Clumsy rating at that.
Everything else is basically on-par with an Elf, as the Wyvaran's Dragon Creature Type grant it very-similar immunities and senses.
Yet the Wyvaran is a 17 RP race, while the Elf is considered 10 RP with a whole host of more abilities than the Wyvaran, including Weapon Familiarity.
To add insult to injury, the Aasimar, a heinously more-powerful race with the option of counting as a HUMAN of all things for prerequisites and effects, is 15 RP.
And then there're Drow... Drow have 14 RP and are quite possibly one of, if not THE, most powerful race available to players.
All Advanced Races are not created equal.
I don't allow custom-made races in my games, although my group has never really had a problem with that.
There are over 30 Races in the PRD alone ranging from 0 RP to 20, and very many of those races have alternate racial features to customize those races to your needs.
There's almost no reason players should ever absolutely HAVE to make an entirely-new race, or at the least they should have you oversee it's creation, rather than simply present you with a sheet that has a final tally to it.
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Best part of all that is human is better than every race chb describes, at much lower points cost. Race builder is not a tool for players.
This sounds like either a classic case of miscommunication or, a peeved player that thought he could sneak one by you.
When you said yes to the advanced races you must have meant: "yes, all races that paizo have made and said can be played"
While he either though or wanted to belive that you meant: "yes, all races paizo have made and said can be played. you can also make your own using the books"
Now, reason for the vetting of characters you do is (I'm guessing) so you can make sure that they fit each other/the theme/the setting and that nobody made any mistakes(/cheated).
If I wanted to play with you and made and elf gunslinger, you would know what that race and class can do and you would easily make a ruling if you'll allow it (some people don't like gunslinger and don't allow them) and that would be fair.
But if I said I was making a 'Flem Magus' your first qustion might be "What the hell is a 'Flem'?"
And I would answer that it's a race of four-armed swordspeople that have +4 to int AND dex, a +2 to natural AC, and a pile of immunities and some DR on top, and they also have a very complicated backstory involving different planets, skyships, comsmic territorial wars and a made up caste system that is to complicated for it's own good.
At which point your reaction would possible range from "get the f+*~ out of here!" to "this is a local LOTR-inspired fantasy game, not a cosmic john carter-rippoff, also I think those stats are Op, make something else please (You bloody twink)"
tl;dr I don't think you're a hypocrite, he either misunderstood you or is pouting because he couldn't sneak his ubermench into the game. It's a shame that the possible misunderstanding led to that he couldn't play but sometimes accidents happen and you seem to have no intention to 'sabotage' his participation.
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Any player that throws a tantrum with someone isn't worth playing with. Even if there was a simple misunderstanding, throwing a tantrum isn't the way to resolve it.
he, even though using paizo rules, became a third party when making his race so he still technically broke your guide lines.
This player was trying to abuse the system and making a fit for being caught. Advanced races also doesn't mean you can apply the advanced simple template to a race.
what class was he i wonder.
You only need eight points (flexible bonus feat, advanced stat array) to create something strictly better than basically any existing race. Another twelve points on top of that means that balance just ceases to exist.
Just a random comment, but you actually only need six points (static bonus feat, advanced stat array). If you're cherry-picking the race builder, there's no real advantage of having a flexible bonus feat vs. a fixed one that you can choose anyway.
A few samples of what someone can build with the race builder, though, and why you're definitely justified in banning him:
Sorcerer/Oracle God (20 RP)
Advanced Stat Array (4 RP)
Advanced Charisma (4 RP, 5 RP, 6 RP)
Lucky (1 RP)
Nets you +10 Racial Bonus to Charisma (and +2 to all physical stats) as well as a +1 to all saving throws.
*
"Super Half-Elf" (20 RP)
Advanced Stat Array (4 RP)
At-Will SLA [Paragon Surge] (6 RP)
Static Bonus Feat (2 RP)
Flight (4 RP)
Natural Attacks:
- Gore (1 RP)
- Talons (1 RP)
- Slam (1 RP)
- Wings (1 RP)
Nets you paragon surge as a SLA so you can have free flexibility, as well as an advanced stat array and six natural weapon attacks in addition to your normal melee. Plus, flight.
First: Made a mistake is not the same as hypocrite.
Second: I would say that it would generally be understood by most people that 'advanced races' does not mean you can make up whatever you want. Having said that, I can see where the confusion might have arisen. I have met a very few people (including a GM) that have thought 'any paizo source' obviously meant they could use the custom race builder rules, the custom magic item crafting rules, the custom spell rules, etc...
Third: I will always try to be more specific on exactly what I am allowing and what I am not. (The engineer in me.) I will have a statement like:
Fourth: Now if I were in your situation, where I would feel that it might have been partially my fault, I would have given him a day to remake it and just sent an apology to the everyone for the delay.
In a case like this, I would have said a prayer of thanks to any and all applicable deities that this person showed what a jerk they were before the game started, not during when it would be truly disruptive.
Most players with these kind of social problems have developed a low cunning that allows them to pass for decent human beings at least until a game has already started, lucky for you this one hasn't acquired that skill yet so you were able to detect him early.
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At this point I'm just echoing but you absolutely made the right decision here. The fact that he threw a pissbaby fit about it is proof that this was not a simple misunderstanding and that he was trying to pull the wool over your head. If he had reacted differently then maybe you could have given him a brief opportunity to rebuild, but he did not so you should not.
@Feylindra, technically, at-will SLA requires a monstrous race. But it has huge possibilities for abuse.
From an intellectual property perspective, if a custom race made using Paizo's rules is "Paizo content", then Paizo could technically claim ownership of any concept built using their ruleset. So unless he intends to give Paizo the copyright on every character or race he's ever created for Pathfinder, things built using Paizo's rules do not count as "Paizo content."
I really wouldn't worry about it.
You are running games that have like 6 players that don't get in for every 1 that does. I think you must be doing something right. If there is that much demand for a game it really doesn't matter why a given character is rejected, there were six I liked better is a perfectly legitimate reason. It doesn't sound like an enviable position to turn away that many people.