Flaws of the Advanced Race Guide
The Advanced Race Guide was meant as a way for GMs to come up with original races for their world, or for players to customize mixed races that they wanted to play, or even convert some races from other systems over to Pathfinder. It could also be used to allow monsters to be converted to playable races. It also listed some of the current races and showed their value to GMs, which unfortunately was used to dictate whether a player could play a particular race or not. The best part was when Paizo tried to convert monsters to base races and the abilities didnât match. I loved that gnolls, which were normally +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha and +1 natural armor, were now +2 Str and +2 Con and had +2 natural armor. No penalties at all and more natural armor? Interesting. When they were called out on it, it was explained that they were based on the flind gnolls. Oh, but then why donât have they weapon familiarity with the exotic flindbar? Or even the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat? Thatâs curious. Or the lizardfolk which are normally +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int yet have no penalty to Int and a weaker bite. Considering theyâre only 8 RP you could have easily kept the -2 Int and given them their 1d4 bite. I also love that swim speeds start at 30 for base races, but itâs 15 for monsters. Because sure, why not? Donât even get me started with their aquatic races that they released a little while ago. Paizo is anything if not consistent in the wrong ways. I still love the reason this guide exists. The concept apparently come after numerous people argued with the developers that the Core races were unbalanced. Paizo said they were all the same. Before the release, they said they were 10 RP each. Then the play test came out and we learned that was false. Then abilities increased to compensate, and two editions were printed, and theyâre still not all 10 RP. Again, consistent in their inconsistency.
It should be noted that so many GMs I know, especially mine, are using the Advanced Race Guide as gospel when it comes to the âbalanceâ of races. More race points than a human? Youâre probably broken and should be treated as such. Less race points than a human? Then youâre probably super powerful and the lack of points is meant to balance you out in some way. This insane way of thinking is even more hilarious when you point out various abilities shouldnât as expensive as they are. The second printing of the guide actually increased some abilities, and it makes absolutely zero sense to have done so. It makes as much sense as how they nerfed neutralize poison from the 3.5 D&D version to the point that itâs useless to ever take. There are so many better spells at lower level that do that spell so much better.
From here on, Iâll be explaining things further, but it gets quite lengthy. As such, Iâm going to crop this so that people following me donât have a massive length of text taking up their screens if they donât want to read further.
My GM allows us to create original races with 10 RP (racial points), using the guide. Unfortunately, this current time around he got to choose 5 of those points, and we all got the worst ability possible. Weâre all essentially as powerful as kobolds. Add to the fact that we have 15 point buy on top of that, and weâre essentially NPCs. But, like other GMs, heâs blinded by the fact that so long as youâre given 10 RP youâre essentially more powerful than a human at 9 RP. This is definitely not the case.
Iâve read other people talk on reddit about how they hate the Race Guide for these exact reasons. That GMs are blinded by the numbers and donât consider the actual abilities themselves. One guy in particular mentioned that after he went through the second printing, he could theoretically build a custom 50 RP race that was actually weaker than a premade 10 RP race, or could build a custom 10 RP race that dominates any race over 30 RP. While he never produced these races, it got me curious and I tried my hand. I was shocked by the results.
I havenât pointed it out to my GM yet, but if he keeps allowing himself a narrowed gaze about the guide, Iâll have to do things the hard way. This is what I came up with as a powerful 10 RP custom race:
Advanced stats: +4 Wis or +4 Int (cleric/druid or wizard), -2 Int or -2 Cha (cleric/druid or wizard), +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con (4 RP)âNote: Str and Cha may be dumped to 7 for wizard if player wishes (making it a 5 Str after creation).
Static Bonus Feat: Pick any 3 feats that donât have prerequisites such as Blind-Fight, Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Point-Blank Shot, Spell Focus, Spell Penetration, etc. Â (3 x 2 RP each)
Slow 20 ft. speed (-1 RP)
SLA 1/day (1 RP): defensive spell that lasts a long time or help you in a pinch, such as mage armor, faerie fire, or feather fall; preferably something not on your spell list.
If you go cleric, druid, or wizard, this is absolutely ridiculous for a build. Truthfully, any spellcaster. You could even do this for a martial type too. Have the +4 go into Str if youâre melee and take the penalty in Dex, or have it go into Dex if youâre a gunslinger or archer, and take the penalty to Str. Then with the +2 to all your mental stats, you could drop a few stats to 8 or even 7. A standard two-handed fighter could be Str 20, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 7 with 15 stat point buy. And, for those thinking you couldnât play such a character, Grog from Critical Role had a 6 Int, and I knew guys in PFS that played nagaji brothers who were fighter/paladins with Int 5 each. They were just meat shields that you pointed in one direction and told to charge. Admittedly, these are all meant as extreme examples. Theyâre just meant to show awareness of how insane it could get.
On the other side of the coin, youâve got the terrible race that pretty much canât do squat:
Large: +2 Str, -2 Dex (7 RP)
Paragon stats: +4 Con, -2 Int, -2 Wis, -2 Cha (1 RP)
Damage Reduction 5/magic (4 RP)
Shards of the Past (5 RP)
Greater Spell-Like Ability 1/day: Controlled Summoned Creature, Minor Creation, Neutralize Poison (12 RP)
Thereâs absolutely no way anyone would willingly play this race as-is. In D&D 3.5 terms, this creature has a level adjustment of +7 (every 10 RP beyond the first 10 points, rounded up, is supposed to represent a level). This means that with a single class level, itâs the equivalent of an 8th level character. Looking this over, no one would ever believe that. Again, this is an extreme example, and nearly double the 41 RP for the drow noble, but according to the race guide, this race would be +2 CR. Think about that for a second and let it sink in. While at really beginning levels it could be a moderate challenge to take on due to the damage reduction, it becomes completely inconsequential once your PCs are around 3rd or 4th level as they should have a magic weapon or something similar. Even then, youâre standard two-handed fighter, arcane spellcaster, or cleric with magic weapon prepared should make short work of this within 2-3 rounds.
Take heed, GMs and players. Just because 10 creatures have 10 RP each, doesnât mean that they all have the same power scale, nor is a 20 RP overpowered and broken by comparison. Beware the balance or lack there of.
While Iâd still like to see a second book produced with more of Paizoâs race abilities they listed as alternate traits, or how much some of the new races cost (especially the strix since they have 3.5 stats), and the given point value of the new traits, I doubt weâll ever see such a thing as Starfinder is Priority 1 at the moment. Maybe weâll see a 3PP supplement some day.
