This month we will be receiving 22 new playable races. Is this too many, not enough, or just right?
not nearly enough - I am always for more options
Agreed! Though it does say something about the difference from pathfinder that it only took 2 months to get this many.
Agreed! Though it does say something about the difference from pathfinder that it only took 2 months to get this many.
Well, pathfinder has a small world if you consider that you get a whole universe now
and since even weirder aliens seem to be kind of easy to balance in sf I only welcome the whole thing
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I think they shouldn't stress themselves out with trying to make unique mechanics for all of them. For example, they could add gnolls to the game by saying "They're like Vesk, but instead of a bonus to saves against fear, they get a bonus to Intimidate and Athletics. Now, here's a full chapter of description, culture and so on."
That said, they really oughta cover all the +Physical/+Mental stat spreads.
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It was a stated intent from the beginning that Starfinder would have dozens of playable race options drawn from the bestiaries.
The only problem I see is that Society play has the familiar stick up its butt going back to Pathfinder, preventing people from enjoying more than a small subset of the published game.
Yes, it's much easier to diversify cultures than give unique mechanics to every race.
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yeah i really hate how pathfinder society so limits offical content, like why can't i play a halfling in an adventure league game..its in the core book.
if its not 3rd party it my belief that you should be allowed to use the varies races in official games.
hell the 1st adventure path has dwarves in it :)
It was a stated intent from the beginning that Starfinder would have dozens of playable race options drawn from the bestiaries.
The only problem I see is that Society play has the familiar stick up its butt going back to Pathfinder, preventing people from enjoying more than a small subset of the published game.
I imagine that's a logistical issue. It is difficult/costly to have to cross-reference a dozen different sources.
The intent is to see how people use the core races before going crazy with the races.
I wouldn't be surprised if more races are made available for season two.
Oh I know, I totally agree, but they didn't want hundreds of space halflings and space dwarves gumming up the data pool. :-)
I myself am a HUGE fan of space elves and the countless conspiracy theorist characters I can make with them.
I also really like the core races for Starfinder.
I'm quite partial to goblin soldier. +4 Dex, leaves 6 points to be distributed elsewhere.
By the way -- we actually got 24 new playable races this month -- 22 in Alien Archive, and 2 more in volume 2 of the adventure path. That gives us a total of 37 official races from Paizo.
What are the two in the AP?
Ferrans and Woiokos, according to this post.
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I cannot wait to get my grubby mitts on these PDFs. A wide range of balanced character options was one of the original reasons I got hyped for Starfinder. Having roughly three dozen races in the first two hardbacks will really make it feel like a science fantasy game.
Unless I'm mistaken Adventurer's League is WotC, Pathfinder is Paizo.
yeah i really hate how pathfinder society so limits offical content, like why can't i play a halfling in an adventure league game..its in the core book.
if its not 3rd party it my belief that you should be allowed to use the varies races in official games.
hell the 1st adventure path has dwarves in it :)
Unless I'm mistaken Adventurer's League is WotC, Pathfinder is Paizo.
yeah i really hate how pathfinder society so limits offical content, like why can't i play a halfling in an adventure league game..its in the core book.
if its not 3rd party it my belief that you should be allowed to use the varies races in official games.
hell the 1st adventure path has dwarves in it :)
Yep, and we're in a Starfinder thread. For PFS you can indeed play Halflings.
Jimbles, you're assuming new races will be balanced. Experience with splat books has shown they typically are not.
I'm actually for a limit on races. Too many becomes a mish-mash of simply stat bumps. It's not realistic to assume that 36 races will play nice. Something is bound to think of the Ysoki as a snack instead of a companion.
Honestly a lot of stuff races used to do can be done via other means easy enough so having a whole bunch of different ones is not that big of a deal. Given the max you can start with in any stat is 18 having a race with a huge boost to something usually just means you wind up having a couple extra points to allocate to a secondary/tertiary stat.
For the various different vision types this is pretty easily acquired via tech means so having it or not having it is not a huge deal.
Things like aquatic is nice but with cheap and easily available environmental suites again nice flavor but not a big deal.
There are all sorts of ways that various new races might not fit into all games. Some are size Large. Some are not humanoids. Some have stat modifiers outside of the +/-2 range (although as best I can tell, all mods do add up to +2 for all races).
This is a game set in space. Lots of races, especially if they don't get along normally, is the norm for the genre. Especially when some of the races are not humanoid at all like those balloon spider things with flamethrowers in First Contact.
Speaking of those, do they have PC statistics in the Alien Archive?
The 22 races I identified in my earlier post all have "Racial Traits" sidebars with enough information for you to make PCs of those races.
PC races in this book: Barathu, Contemplative, Draelik, Dragonkin, Drow, Formian, Goblin (Space), Gray, Haan, Ikeshti, Kalo, Maraquoi, Nuar, Reptoid, Ryphorian, Sarcesian, Shobhad, Skittermander, Urog, Verthani, Witchwyrd, and Wrikreechee.
Post in question, since it was on the AA product tread instead of this one.
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What are the two in the AP?Ferrans and Woiokos, according to this post.
That second one sounds like it could be a giant walking rug that rips off your arms if you don't let it win games of space chess.
Jimbles, you're assuming new races will be balanced.
Yup. I could be wrong.
Experience with splat books has shown they typically are not.
Pathfinder splatbooks. Starfinder has a larger potential design space, both by theme and mechanics, for new character options before you start pushing the boundaries of balanced play, IMO.
Pathfinder splatbooks. Starfinder has a larger potential design space, both by theme and mechanics, for new character options before you start pushing the boundaries of balanced play, IMO.
I agree. Pathfinder had a build-your-own-race system. Starfinder seems more controlled than that, seems to recognize that that isn't going to be good for balance.
PC races in this book: Barathu, Contemplative, Draelik, Dragonkin, Drow, Formian, Goblin (Space), Gray, Haan, Ikeshti, Kalo, Maraquoi, Nuar, Reptoid, Ryphorian, Sarcesian, Shobhad, Skittermander, Urog, Verthani, Witchwyrd, and Wrikreechee.Post in question, since it was on the AA product tread instead of this one.
Thanks -- I forgot which thread I was in.
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24 new playables races and still no kobold tho, the only race worth playing (at least in my heart). How sad is that ?
Btw, I'm not a big fan of all the playable races being balanced. It's a vast universe out there. How come every single race just so happens to possess the perfect balance of strength and weakness as to not overshadow our borin', ol' vanilla humans ?
(And does that mean playing a kobold won't suck this time ? It's not nearly as fun if it doesn't handicap you. You have to offset their godly charisma somehow.)
The Starfarer's Companion has kobolds in it.
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Yep, and we're in a Starfinder thread. For PFS you can indeed play Halflings.Unless I'm mistaken Adventurer's League is WotC, Pathfinder is Paizo.
yeah i really hate how pathfinder society so limits offical content, like why can't i play a halfling in an adventure league game..its in the core book.
if its not 3rd party it my belief that you should be allowed to use the varies races in official games.
hell the 1st adventure path has dwarves in it :)
sorry for confusion i mean in starfinder society I have been told that you cant play the legacy races in the back of the book.
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Jimbles, you're assuming new races will be balanced. Experience with splat books has shown they typically are not.
I'm actually for a limit on races. Too many becomes a mish-mash of simply stat bumps. It's not realistic to assume that 36 races will play nice. Something is bound to think of the Ysoki as a snack instead of a companion.
there are tons of races living more or less peacefully on absolon station .
sorry for confusion i mean in starfinder society I have been told that you cant play the legacy races in the back of the book.Yep, and we're in a Starfinder thread. For PFS you can indeed play Halflings.Unless I'm mistaken Adventurer's League is WotC, Pathfinder is Paizo.
yeah i really hate how pathfinder society so limits offical content, like why can't i play a halfling in an adventure league game..its in the core book.
if its not 3rd party it my belief that you should be allowed to use the varies races in official games.
hell the 1st adventure path has dwarves in it :)
No worriers.
And you're correct, you currently need a boon to play a legacy race.
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PC races in this book: Barathu, Contemplative, Draelik, Dragonkin, Drow, Formian, Goblin (Space), Gray, Haan, Ikeshti, Kalo, Maraquoi, Nuar, Reptoid, Ryphorian, Sarcesian, Shobhad, Skittermander, Urog, Verthani, Witchwyrd, and Wrikreechee.Post in question, since it was on the AA product tread instead of this one.
whoa.
that's a lot of races.
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After going through the First Contact PDF, it was the Haan I was thinking of. Glad to see they're getting official player race stats.
How do they wield weapons according to the rules? Is it as normal, maybe with an extra cost for adjusting to a non-humanoid form, or do they have special rules like needing a gun mount or something?
i think it's just a plain old giant fire breathing bug with a laser gun and a photonic sword.
By the way -- we actually got 24 new playable races this month -- 22 in Alien Archive, and 2 more in volume 2 of the adventure path. That gives us a total of 37 official races from Paizo.
Dang! I didn't even count them, I just assumed it was only 20 in AA. Cool!
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. . . because if a race *didn't* balanced out to being equal the others, it wouldn't be suited as a PC race? Paizo simply isn't going to let you pick a species that makes you intrinsically better than everyone else. Especially at this early stage of the game, where time spent supporting stuff like "level 6 start campaigns" is not time spent on basics that are far, far more important.
I don't know Skittermanders have 6 arms apparently, while there's a core race with 4, and they don't extra attacks from it as far as I can tell, 6 arms adds a lot of versatility that I would say is pretty powerful compared to what a lot of races get.