
GreyWolfLord |

I went with
Aasimar (loved these guys all along)
Tieflings (if we have Aasimar's we have to have Tieflings and vice versa. It drives me crazy when they include one but not the other).
Tengu (We need these guys)
Ratfolk (just...because)
and...yes...I chose
Dhampyr. I thought they'd be more popular, but apparently not?

Doktor Weasel |

I haven't done the survey yet, I'm kind of waiting until I've got more experience in the playtest. Can someone post a list of the possible options? I'm seeing a lot from the comments here, but I'm curious if there are some that aren't showing up here. Was there a "Something else" option?
And obviously Flumphs and Half-Flumphs need to be high on the list. Also, Flumph iconic, or I riot. :)
But seriously, I'm actually a bit torn what I'll pick when I do this survey. Ratfolk are probably going to be my top pick, I just love those guys. I want Aasimar and Tieflings too, but I might avoid them to go with less obvious options. Aasimar and Tieflings are just total no-brainers to include early on and I have a hard time seeing them not be some of the first out, so I might do some strategic voting to give some of the other choices some love. That might be against the spirit of the survey though.

Quandary |

Dhampyr. I thought they'd be more popular, but apparently not?
I agree they're awesome, and appropriate for new PC race.
I imagine Geb background would be perfect for Iconic (probably hates vampires there, yet perfect welcome is hard to find elsewhere).Maybe a Neutral Cleric with ability for dual Pos/Neg Channel (needing Deity with Pos+Neg... Nethys?) could be good fit... Maybe even Wizard Archetype with Nosoi Familiar?
I'll imagine Iconics for all my other picks:
Ratfolk: Great Alchemist, maritime trader/smuggler background (Pirate Archetype?) would be unique amongst Iconics and convenient to place them in many locales.
Gillmen: Classic Golarion, mysterious character always with question if they are "sleeper" agent of Aboleth, an Investigator-like type might be good, maybe a Rogue with Polymath Bard Archetype? Or Mesmerist...
Fetchling: Planar angle here, and Cold Resistance might make Crown of The World or other "Northern" background relevant. Spirit Totem Barbarian could be good, or maybe Ranger with Sorceror Archetype? "Magus"?
Lizardfolk: I was on the fence with Changeling for this one, but a different take on Druid feels like it could work here (Wild/Storm?). Or Shaman...

graystone |

Can someone post a list of the possible options?
Sorry, I only jotted down what I picked. It WAS a surprisingly large list that you picked 5 and rated those in preference.
Was there a "Something else" option?
No, which was kind of a bummer.
Flumphs and Half-Flumphs need to be high on the list. Also, Flumph iconic, or I riot. :)
Flumphs make me smile. :) 1/2 flumphs make me curious on the mechanics of how you could possibly end up with one...
Dhampyr. I thought they'd be more popular, but apparently not?
I've seen very few people play them and then only with a specific build type to support their need for negative energy healing.

Quandary |

GreyWolfLord wrote:Dhampyr. I thought they'd be more popular, but apparently not?I've seen very few people play them and then only with a specific build type to support their need for negative energy healing.
Although new Medicine healing isn't tied to Positive/Negative (nor is Alchemical Healing), which already gives them baseline healing for whatever that's worth.
Alot of people do tend to base decisions on old mechanics though, regardless if poll explains that doesn't matter (like Archetype poll).
graystone |

Although new Medicine healing isn't tied to Positive/Negative (nor is Alchemical Healing), which already gives them baseline healing for whatever that's worth.
Well they put out the survey AFTER medical healing but not before saying resonance in in flux so for the survey healing would have been a real concern.
Alot of people do tend to base decisions on old mechanics though, regardless if poll explains that doesn't matter (like Archetype poll).
Well it's hard to NOT look back while making choices as we have no other way to look really as the current mechanics may change so the old way is a far more stable place to base you decisions on.

Doktor Weasel |

Doktor Weasel wrote:Flumphs and Half-Flumphs need to be high on the list. Also, Flumph iconic, or I riot. :)Flumphs make me smile. :) 1/2 flumphs make me curious on the mechanics of how you could possibly end up with one...
I hear there are a lot of documentaries on the subject coming out of Japan.
Cheap hentai jokes aside, I have actually kind of wanted to play a Flumph. My GMs would probably let me too. How to handle item slots has been one thing stopping me along with equipment in general. And a few other things in the rules are kind of based around a humanoid layout. Plus the constant fly speed might make me feel a bit like I'm cheating. The Kineticist write-up has mentions of hands or "prehensile appendages" which really made me think of playing a flumph again. Although my kineticist was a Caligni. Maybe a flumph monk could be fun. A paladin might be a bit too weird, how well can they really use a sword anyway? But I do love the concept of the tentacled horrors from beyond the stars, who are actually really nice people. Desna and flumphs are the two exceptions to the rule of the Dark Tapestry being all horrible.
GreyWolfLord wrote:Dhampyr. I thought they'd be more popular, but apparently not?I've seen very few people play them and then only with a specific build type to support their need for negative energy healing.
I've seen a few in play too. But yeah, the negative energy requirement is a problem for them I suspect they'd be more popular without it. Half vampire is cool, needing an entirely different source of healing just for you is a problem. I think it's one of the cases where the mechanics have made a race less popular than it might have otherwise been. Based on the forums, it seems like there's a lot of Kobold fans, but their stats were utter garbage in PF1. If they weren't an obviously inferior choice mechanically, they might have been played more. Aasimar are kind of the opposite, I think they're played so much mostly because they're superior stats instead of the flavor. I know most games I'm in seem to have one or two aasimar. But tieflings are still more popular according to the survey I saw, so flavor does win over power sometimes.

graystone |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

I have actually kind of wanted to play a Flumph.
Back in 2E they had an ecology for them and monastic ones could cast cleric spells and had a chance to speak common. ;) [dragon 246] Their spells use only somatic gestures.
How to handle item slots has been one thing stopping me along with equipment in general.
I think turning things into rings type items to wear or wand/rod type items to hold on tentacles works ok. They have a 'bite' too so something can be done with that.
The Kineticist write-up has mentions of hands or "prehensile appendages" which really made me think of playing a flumph again.
I think they could easily count as having a 'free hand' for things like that.
Dhampyr
Yeah I agree. With a different set of mechanics, it could be much more popular. Push the 'daywalker' vampire vide and have viable healing options and I think it'd be a cool addition.

AlephZer0 |
I am simply hoping they are making a ruleset for making a monster into a PC.
D&D 5e is mostly good, but I absolutely hated, detested, despised, and reviled one thing about it:
"All PCs have to be humanoid." -- Wizards of the Coast, 2014
This one atrocious flaw in 5e's design is one I hope is not being repeated here.
If it exists and can speak, I should be able to play it in a campaign of the appropriate level.
I may sound harsh, but I simply choose not to entertain foolish notions of what a PC should "have to be" in any context. If they wish to ensure PCs have options, then they should ensure that PCs can be created from monsters.
Unfortunately, as of yet, Paizo has done nothing to allay my fears, and if nothing else comes of this post, please please PLEASE let someone consider why I picked pathfinder over 5e in the first place: not being stuck as some boring humanoid character.
EDIT: Goblins do not count.
I mean dragons, angels, fey, beasties, anything that isn't humanoid in creature type.

FormerFiend |

FormerFiend wrote:I would have picked cylopses before any of them, personally.I do admit, I'd love to see a minor cyclops giant PC race. I made one back in 3.5 and I quite enjoyed playing with them. ;)
I'm a huge fan with what Paizo did with cyclopses, they're definitely one of the more intriguing parts of the setting in my opinion.
And they're our best option for a "not-goliaths" race and I love goliaths.

Mosquit0 |
In order:
Kobolds. A way better monster race to add than goblins, IMHO. And more interesting; you could certainly make them +Dex/+Cha, -Str, because Charisma is often considered the "dragon" stat and kobolds are known for their sorcerers, but I think +Int fits kobolds better and is more unique. I just really want kobolds that are balanced with the other races!
Tengu. I just like 'em a lot.
Orcs. I'm not like, super interested in orcs, but honestly I think they need to be Core. Then we'd have humans and halflings, elves and gnomes, orcs and goblins, and dwarves as their weird part-medium, part-small thing. They'd also be good because no Core ancestry has a natural Strength boost or an Intelligence flaw, so they're unique in both ways! +Str/+Wis, -Int, probably!
And then... I dunno. Centaurs?

Doktor Weasel |

Holy crap, this thread is still going? Color me surprised! This has to be the longest thread I started in the playtest area. ;)
PS: Thanks to all the posters that contributed to the thread. It's nice to see one that hasn't degenerated into a dumpster fire.
I think it might be a bit more a few cases of thread-necromancy than still going. But it is a nice topic, with thankfully few if any arguments.
I'm trying to think up some new and interesting ideas for races. Some kind of playable construct might be nice, there are a few already, but mostly they're rather powerful, having something a bit more down to earth might be nice. It can be tricky to fit them into rules really designed around people made of meat. Similarly, oozes. Although not being vulnerable to crits and precision damage is pretty damn powerful. There are some sentient oozes like the Apallie and Mezlan. The former would be a better fit for PCs than the later. We've got Ghorans for plant people. I don't think there's really any insectoid race other than the Trox, who are a bit too powerful for most games. I like what I've seen of the insect people from Starfinder, but continuity would rule them out. Similiarly the Skittermanders, who sound like they've got all the whacky fun of Goblins, without the anti-social tendencies. I love the description of how they handled their planet being invaded; they simply got out of the way so as not to interfere in the invasion. Maybe a non-evil arachnid race. That could be an interesting subversion of the idea of spiders=evil. Much the same way that Ratfolk suberted the rat=evil, plague spreader one (they're thankfully not Skaven). Although there is that plague archetype that kind of backslid there.
I rather like playing with alien mindsets, which is why I'm looking towards some stranger ideas instead of slightly different humanoids (although those can be great as well).
Also, a playable Derro, would make possible the idea I've got for an all-daarklands campaign, substituting darklands races for their topside equivalent. Derro kind of being the halfling analog, although it's not as direct as the others.

Draco18s |

Similarly, oozes. Although not being vulnerable to crits and precision damage is pretty damn powerful. There are some sentient oozes like the Apallie and Mezlan.
I rather like playing with alien mindsets, which is why I'm looking towards some stranger ideas instead of slightly different humanoids (although those can be great as well).
I don't suppose you've seen That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, have you? Not exactly am alien mind, obviously, but might still be of interest.

graystone |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Anime, manga or light novel? ;)
As to ooze races, there is Squole, slime child, slime-kin, Abiarazi and various others over the years. What worries me with how barebone the 'races' are now, that there isn't going to be much to differentiate more exotic ones from bog standard humans and the like.

Lightning Raven |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Ancestries must change asap. They're the biggest disappoint to me, because I'm very fond of creating very original characters (without just mixing things for the sake of mixing) and being able to represent this nuance in-game would be very welcome, but sadly, we got watered down versions of ancestries with meaningless progression and the necessity to buy back everything we've already had from the start in PF1e.
If I would say Paizo completely missed the mark in the playtest, it would easily be ancestries. They failed in every aspect of it, reach the "mildly interesting idea but poorly implemented" at best, being VERY generous. They are all boring, the ancestry feats are boring (except getting to choose a class feat for humans, which is way too powerful) and heritage feats (now only heritage) are way worse.

Tectorman |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

I'd say the best implementation of races done in a similar manner to P2E's ancestries is how Radiance RPG handled it. There, you get the standard traits that every race gets (size, speed, and ability score boosts), approximately three guaranteed racial abilities that every member of your race gets (almost entirely heritage-based, rather than culture-based), I think one to three additional selections from a list of over a dozen, and then maybe three more off that list as you go past 1st level. So you do become more dwarfy or more tieflingy as you go past 1st, but you're plenty recognizable as a dwarf or a tiefling already (from a racial trait point of view).

Doktor Weasel |

Draco18s wrote:That Time I Got Reincarnated as a SlimeAnime, manga or light novel? ;)
As to ooze races, there is Squole, slime child, slime-kin, Abiarazi and various others over the years. What worries me with how barebone the 'races' are now, that there isn't going to be much to differentiate more exotic ones from bog standard humans and the like.
Yeah, there does need to be a lot more that ancestries give up front. That is one of the things they really need to improve for the final version.

Lightning Raven |

I'd say the best implementation of races done in a similar manner to P2E's ancestries is how Radiance RPG handled it. There, you get the standard traits that every race gets (size, speed, and ability score boosts), approximately three guaranteed racial abilities that every member of your race gets (almost entirely heritage-based, rather than culture-based), I think one to three additional selections from a list of over a dozen, and then maybe three more off that list as you go past 1st level. So you do become more dwarfy or more tieflingy as you go past 1st, but you're plenty recognizable as a dwarf or a tiefling already (from a racial trait point of view).
I think that's pretty much how I would've liked things. You start out with a strong basis, then it gets built upon over levels.

Alexander Augunas Contributor |

I'd say the best implementation of races done in a similar manner to P2E's ancestries is how Radiance RPG handled it. There, you get the standard traits that every race gets (size, speed, and ability score boosts), approximately three guaranteed racial abilities that every member of your race gets (almost entirely heritage-based, rather than culture-based), I think one to three additional selections from a list of over a dozen, and then maybe three more off that list as you go past 1st level. So you do become more dwarfy or more tieflingy as you go past 1st, but you're plenty recognizable as a dwarf or a tiefling already (from a racial trait point of view).
That Dario Nardi, quite ahead of his time ain’t he? ;P