Hey guys, I'm just curious as to what all your guys' favorite races are, and why that might be. Also, I figured it's an ok opportunity to voice our opinions to the devs, so why not. I'll start.
As you can probably tell by my profile picture, I love Tengus. I like playing rogues and ranger types, and oddly enough Tengu culture outside of cities is actually pretty peaceful, and nature-loving (well, more like oriental, but still). Tengus also have pretty cool racial stuff, like swordtraining and being great linguists (12+ languages at lvl 5, easy). Moreover, their advanced feats unique to them give them the ability to fly in the mid-game levels! Last couple things I like about them are their unique items that are available from their race: Signal kites (leisure or strategic uses, I prefer leisure cause in game when you're out camping somewhere, waking up and seeing this ranger dude calmly flying a kite is cool for roleplaying), their drinking jugs (purifies/cleans all liquids that enter it so they are safe to drink, can also transform water into wine, sake [Japanese alcoholic drink], or tea, which is also cool for roleplaying purposes), and their black bird statues which name I cant remember at the moment. Will edit later once I have it. It can be transformed into a crow for 24 hours a week, which can follow simple instructions.
So yeah. Tengus. Anyone else have any cool favorites? (NOTE: PLEASE don't feel like you have to pick something uncommon or exotic, half the guys in my group play dwarves because they love dwarves waaay too much. Every session we have at least one pc getting drunk, usually during combat.)
Humans, because it's easiest to overlay personalities of people I know on them, which is something I do often. Call me weird, but I love RP-ing as a fantasy (in this case sci-fan) version of one of my friends.
So I figure I'm safe with the SF chosen races, no matter what.
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My off the wall hopes:
Awakened Owlbears
Kobold that are a balanced race
Sentient Tribbles
...
I'll come up with a few more eventually.
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By far I most often play humans, though that's partially to be an anchor in human-centric worlds for the unusual races my friends play. Humans are the most supported race in Paizo products, so there's also just a lot more to dig into. I end up running them as NPCs way more often than any other race.
Of races I love to have as PCs when I'm GMing? Can't really go wrong with dwarves. They're a well-built race with lots of roleplay hooks besides "who is this strange monster in my village???" or "who is this beautiful, exotic stranger in my village???"
Goblins are a lot of fun to GM for as the ultimate in sanctioned chaotic murderhoboes. They don't really offer diverse options, though. Kobolds, because they offer a lot more options, but then they have the drawback of being extremely death prone.
My favorite Pathfinder-only races are triaxians and the shobhad, though there's veryyy little info about them.
Humans, goblins, kobolds, tieflings, in more or less that order.
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Humans for no really good reason I can discern - I just like my human PCs better than anything else.
For Starfinder though? Ratfolk - the moment I saw the concept art I wanted to be one. :)
Humans - they're solid mechanically, easy for me to relate to, and usually have the least racial issues to deal with in any setting.
Well we have ratfolk, so we can make Rocket, then we just a plant race. (although what class Groot is is a question) (And maybe some greenish people if we want to make the entire guardians i guess)
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Kitsune is my favorite. I like foxes, and I think that change shape is among the most dynamic racial ability that any race gets. Few racial traits offer the roleplaying potential that change shape has.
Along those same lines, I like skinwalkers.
I'm a big fan of halflings because its fun to be short, scrapy, and kick butt anyway.
I like elves, but only in settings where there are a billion of weird "races" that are really just minor cultural shifts. (Example: I like Golarion elves well enough, but I don't like Faerunian elves.)
Humans are a perfectly fine race—I just tend to avoid playing them because I always feel like I'm min-maxing when I play human because of the strength of their racials. Also, I'm a human all day every day, so playing human isn't really all that appealing to me. Even when we're talking made-up ethnicities.
I like GMing gnomes, but I don't like playing them. Too much of an assumption that you're just going to be a hyper little weirdo.
Dwarves are awesome. Its fun to be a badass who doesn't give any fudge, plus the accent is pretty easy to pull off..
Kitsune, Wyvaran, and Skinwalkers are my favorites. Honorable mentions go to half-elfs, tengu, and undine.
Kitsune are my favorite simply because of the real-life lore behind them, and their shapeshifting means they can blend in when they need to. They open up a lot of roleplaying opportunities for me.
Wyvaran have become interesting to me lately after legacy of dragons and I really needed a dragon race to play. The lack of a real dragon themed race in pathfinder has always bothered me, and I am glad to finally have one available.
I'm a fan of Skinwalkers simply because I like Lycanthropes. The execution of the races abilities leave much to be desired, but they have a lot of thematic powers that are fun to build a character around. I am always looking for a way to play one of these because I like the idea of Lycanthropes that aren't a danger to society.
The chances of me playing starfinder will go up significantly of one of these races gets included somehow.
Think Ogre kin would be a decent fit - isolated frontier clans imbued with mutant deformities from decadent inbreeding and the harsh environments they eke out a living in.
I am a big fan of Orcs and half-orcs. Great for playing against type with and with a lot of potential. Granted I'm a fan of strong and perceived as savage races (whether they actually are or not) - Wookies in Star Wars, Klingons in Star Trek, Weren in Alternity's Star*Drive.
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I am a big fan of Orcs and half-orcs. Great for playing against type with and with a lot of potential. Granted I'm a fan of strong and perceived as savage races (whether they actually are or not) - Wookies in Star Wars, Klingons in Star Trek, Weren in Alternity's Star*Drive.
This is me also. I like characters that favour a "direct" approach. I play a lot of evocationists and barbarian types. Hitting things isn't the only thing they do by a long shot, but it the thing they're best at. That said, while I like orcs, dwarves and oreads my favourite race is probably kitsune or gnome, though I'm not really sure why. Sadly it doesn't seem as though either will turn up in Starfinder :(
Still glad Ratfolk made it though, and I'm psyched for a (hopefully) balanced Kasatha.
Well, in Pathfinder, my favorite races are probably androids, dhampirs, kitsune, lashunta, nagaji, skinwalkers, tengu, tieflings, and vishkanya.
Androids, well, I love science fantasy, they have some nice resistances and immunities, and it's just so fun roleplaying one. Wish their nanite surge for more uses, but there are feats for that.
Skinwalkers, I said I like shapeshifters, and these guys are the more savage counterpoints to the kitsune race's trickery. They also come with a host of neat subraces to expand their versatility...I like the bat, tiger, and wolf varieties the most.
Tengus are quite fun, getting lots of possible weapon proficiencies, the ability to speak a ton of languages, and just overall are neat-looking with the raven appearance. Their reputation as scoundrels is also quite fun.
Just curious, but have you checked out the Book of Heroic Races for Androids, Skinwalkers, and Tengus?
The Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium (coming out early next year) will have a tech appendix to use them in more scifi-leaning Pathfinder games.
If I had to choose, I guess I would pick human. But I approve of all races that exist, provided their numbers support the atmosphere of the setting. Just how common is life on other planets has a hand in what the players will perceive as a minimum threshold of 'true weirdness'.
You can have a 'big tent' setting where there's as many races as you cram into one literary space. Weirdness threshold is really high so to weird out the audience your alien has to be a lot more unusual than other known species. (Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5).
There can also be sci fi settings with very little or alien involvement (BattleTech, Firefly, Terminator, new Battlestar Galactica). Then if aliens were found it would be truly outstanding but it just doesn't happen. Weirdness threshold very low.
And then some settings are 'fewer is better', where aliens are known to exist but discovering a new alien race is still a pretty big deal and sometimes a game-changer (Stargate SG-1, Halo, Starship Troopers, Avatar, Aliens vs. Predator). Weirdness threshold is moderate or low but you still have aliens that can seem familiar or well-studied.
Humans can be truly weird too. Not so much anatomically weird, but weird in the head and in their speech and behavior. Because the 21st century has everyone able to learn and be exposed to other cultures amd countries, it's no wonder sci fi amd fantasy have had to raise the bar by making up stories with aliens and alien ways of thinking and doing. I hope Starfinder does this well.
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I also like Ratfolk, Lizardfolk, Tengu and Kitsune.
The aliens they have are neat too.
Hopefully they'll have aliens sort of like Traveller's Vargr, or Droyne, or Hivers.
The only thing I dislike about Androids is that I imagined them being more like Animated Constructs than a human-shaped robot.
Also I think that Starfinder should have slugthrowers such as submachineguns. Call it the Traveller player in me.
I would have to say Humans first. For the same reasons most others have mentioned. Easier to connect with sort of thing. As for Starfinder I think I would most like to try out the Ysoki. Playing a rat-man could be a fun experience.
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Hey guys, I'm just curious as to what all your guys' favorite races are, and why that might be. Also, I figured it's an ok opportunity to voice our opinions to the devs, so why not. I'll start.
As you can probably tell by my profile picture, I love Tengus. I like playing rogues and ranger types, and oddly enough Tengu culture outside of cities is actually pretty peaceful, and nature-loving (well, more like oriental, but still). Tengus also have pretty cool racial stuff, like swordtraining and being great linguists (12+ languages at lvl 5, easy). Moreover, their advanced feats unique to them give them the ability to fly in the mid-game levels! Last couple things I like about them are their unique items that are available from their race: Signal kites (leisure or strategic uses, I prefer leisure cause in game when you're out camping somewhere, waking up and seeing this ranger dude calmly flying a kite is cool for roleplaying), their drinking jugs (purifies/cleans all liquids that enter it so they are safe to drink, can also transform water into wine, sake [Japanese alcoholic drink], or tea, which is also cool for roleplaying purposes), and their black bird statues which name I cant remember at the moment. Will edit later once I have it. It can be transformed into a crow for 24 hours a week, which can follow simple instructions.
So yeah. Tengus. Anyone else have any cool favorites? (NOTE: PLEASE don't feel like you have to pick something uncommon or exotic, half the guys in my group play dwarves because they love dwarves waaay too much. Every session we have at least one pc getting drunk, usually during combat.)
In order, lol:
1. Gnomes in space! Can you imagine? No more bleaching!2. Kasatha. They are the Iron Gods race of choice and I want to play one.
3. Lashunta - They look pretty cool to play and I haven't so far in Pathfinder.
4. Androids - Who doesn't want to try one?
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I love androids and have had a ton of fun with them, so I'm thrilled to see them in Starfinder.
I'm also big on gnomes and halflings. Small-sized options are my bread and butter. Looking forward to playing with ratfolk and seeing what else might come forth.
Constructs both magical and technological.
More specifically, androids, mannequin robots, Gearsmen, and Soulbound constructs.
Playable AI would be awesome. As is even playing one by its CR is too exploitable to be allowed.
Kobolds
No further explanation necessary.
Right there with you.
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Space Goblins!!! Possibly of various colours...
Tiny sized Dark Slayers
Tieflings of various bloodlines
A Gremlin race
Tripurasura as a playable race
Genetic Engineered Humans
Catfolk- Because cat people(especially catgirls) are awesome plus they have really good racial options like climb speed, scent, darkvision, claws, etc. Now if they could only get some good alternate racial traits to replace cat's luck.
Lushanta- What's not to like, limited telepathy, psychic spell powers, highly dimorphic, and cool wild hair colors. If only they had better racial mods for playing a kineticist.
Merfolk- Classic mythical creature with good racial mods and some interesting alternate racial traits. My favorite of the aquatic races though the Naiad from B6 might change that.
Ghoran- A plant based race, how cool is that. Also they can give birth to themselves and have all knowledge skills as class skills. I hope to one day see new and variant plant based races.
Android- Cool concept with a lot of immunities and resistances. I hope we will see alternate racial mods.
Aasimar/Tiefling- Plane touched races are fun. Though we need a law based one.
I like dhampir, genie-kin, etc. but a lot these races lack the options that would make them great.
I would love some dragon, fey, and giant blooded races.
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For fantasy it's probably different than it would be for sci-fi or sci-fantasy. So my interest in tengu or kobolds or gnolls or aquatic elves wouldn't necessarily carry over.
In a GURPS Star Trek game, in which everyone designed their own alien, we had a shapeshifting doctor who could cause cells from her own bodymass to slither into a wounded person and stitch them up from inside (taking the place of damaged or missing tissue for a time, and eventually being absorbed and replaced by the host) and a ship's captain who was a floating ball of weak plasma energy like a will o wisp (not great at combat or in moving solid things around, but super-effective at scouting and perfectly capable of ordering people around).
That sort of out of the box thinking appeals to me, for aliens.
Not just 'this is a human with a dog head who's friendly and loyal' or 'this is a human with a cat head who's sneaky and aloof,' but something really funky like 'my species has one gender, and self-fertilizes by hunting down and eating other species on my homeworld, with our children adopting some traits based on what we ate (using skinwalker-ish game mechanics, only with a 'bearkin' mother being able to give birth to a shark-kin child, if she ate a certain sort of predatory fish to get pregnant...).'
Of the current races, androids and reptoids and vishkanya would be some of my favorite options for Starfinder. I'm generally not a fan of animorphic races, but I'm cool with tengu, reptoids and ratfolk/ysoki, so it's cool that ratfolk are going to be a thing.
Reptoids are easily one of my favorite races for sci-fi, along with androids and kasatha. However, the winner for non-PC race is the Contemplative of Ashok.
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I can't believe I misspelled "Lashunta" as "Lushanta". Oh wait it isn't misspelled, it is a new race;)
Lushanta are just more into imbibery and refined culture than their nature-loving cousins.
I am liking what I am hearing in all this. Rat folk are going to be in the core, I think that has been confirmed. I would love to see kitsune, cat folk, vanaras and nagaji as well. There is a lot of potential here and for now I want to see what comes out within the first year of its existence before I go clamoring for [insert name of race here] to be made available. It's not even out yet folks. It's OK to get excited but let's not get too carried away shall we?
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I have been all about goblins lately, and I'm not sure why. A gobbie smuggling run in SF will be hilarious.
I also really like Skinwalkers and Tieflings. Tengu are probably right behind them, with Half-drow after that.
Still planning on my unicyclic small-sized Android if they allow modifications with Perform (Beatbox)
(1) Humans because they are so easily adaptable to almost any character concept.
(2) Elves and Drow because of their racial back story and the fact their world views are so very different from the short lived races.
(3) Tieflings because they can have such tragic back stories.