"Sure, I'll play a core only monk"Azlanti Human + Advanced is a +6 to all stats and a +2 Natural Armor.
Otherwise known as... yeah that 10 point buy didn't suck so bad.
I know right!
Hell give me Kasatha and Advanced and I will play a CRB Monk.
...That option was from an older 3.5Let's put it in prospective. the CR 1 template Advanced gives +2 to Natural Armor and gives a +4 to all stats. So when compared to that, I find the Azlanti is kind of mild, especially when most people want Azlanti as a backdoor option for getting Advanced on a human.What does that prove? The fact there are things out there that unbalance the game even worse is beside the point. They are also not allowed in my games. As I said I would not allow the +2 bonus to all stats unless I was running a game where all the characters got that. As I stated it is about fairness not the power level. Players are given a framework to build their characters and should expect to keep the character within that framework.
The alternative human racial trait Versatile Human trades out the extra feat and skill points. That is available for players to use. This is also the reason why trading out the human bonus feat is not good enough. I give a generous point buy to my players so they can simply use the points to purchase stats based on the concept.
Which is valid but as someone above has mentioned the Assimar can trade out a 1/day Light spell to gain an additional +2 to a useful stat giving them +2 to over half their ability scores.
So if someone at your table did that, and the rest where playing humans. What would you do to balance it?
My table does not use Point Buys, we roll dice. 4d6, Reroll 1s as we did in 3.5 where we all started. It is just tradition at our tables.
A Azlanti is a good way to equalize the party if someone rolls really poorly.We once had someone roll nothing below a 15 and in that same party was someone who rolled two 9s, giving them a +2 boost would have helped them balance out. So I think there is both a mechanical use for that as well as RP purposes for it without just saying shut it down.
That is not from the Advanced Race Guide. I have the book and it is not listed. I think it is from an older supplement in any case it is not something I use. It is also something on a chart you are supposed to roll for.
For the most part my rule is, if it says ask your GM then I will probably turn it down. Any standard option from a Pathfinder hard back book I own (Which is most of them) is considered fair game. I want my player to be able to build what they want, but at the same time I want to have a framework so when I create adventures I know what to work with.