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Step 3: Racial Traits

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Step 2: Racial Qualities

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 215
The next step is to choose your race’s qualities. You must select an option from each of the following quality categories. Qualities or aspects of qualities often serve as prerequisites for racial traits.

Type Quality

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 215
This is the race’s creature type. A race’s creature type is similar to the corresponding creature type found in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, with a few important differences. The first difference is that each race type assumes members of the race are roughly humanoid in shape and have two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. This is important so that a race can take advantage of all the various magic item slots available to characters and can utilize the standard weapon and armor options. The second difference is that all of these race types are 0-Hit Dice creatures, which means that their Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw progression, skill points, class skills, and weapon and armor proficiencies are based on the class levels each member of a race takes.

Like other racial qualities, each type has a point cost. The baseline creature type—humanoid—costs 0 RP, and offers the most flexibility when choosing other racial traits and racial abilities, while a more expensive type typically grants less flexibility. The cost of the race’s type also determines which of these types you can choose from based on the power level of the race you are creating. You cannot pick a type with an RP cost equal to or higher than the maximum RP cost of the power level of the race you are building. This means you must build an advanced race if you want to make a race with the undead type, or a monstrous race if you are building a race with the construct type. If you want to make a construct- or undead-themed creature at lower power levels, see Special Subtypes for some lower-cost options.

Sometimes a race type may grant racial traits as features. For instance, the construct type grants members of that race darkvision 60 feet. If this is the case, the cost of that racial trait is already paid for when you buy the type quality, and this trait does not count toward the maximum when you buy racial traits from the corresponding racial trait category. For instance, when buying other vision traits for a construct race, the darkvision 60 feet feature that race already has does not count toward the limit of five traits from the senses racial trait category for the race. Traits granted by the race type still count for meeting any other trait prerequisites.

The humanoid type requires that you pick at least one subtype for your race, and the outsider (native) type allows you to make a decision about what other plane your race may have ties to. Keep track of your race’s creature type, any subtypes it has, and any planes it has ties to. Sometimes a race’s type, subtypes, or planar ties serve as prerequisites for some racial traits. For instance, you must have the ratfolk subtype to take the rodent empathy racial trait, and you must have ties to Abaddon, the Abyss, or Hell in order to take the fiendish sorcery racial trait.

Size Quality

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 218
The next step is to pick a size quality for your race. Most races are Medium or Small, which have no prerequisites, but you can also elect to make your race either Large or Tiny with the following modifications at the listed point cost.

Large (7 RP): Prerequisite: Humanoids taking this quality must have the giant subtype; Benefit: Large creatures gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a –2 size penalty to Dexterity. Large races take a –1 size penalty to their AC, a –1 size penalty on attack rolls, a +1 bonus on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a –4 size penalty on Stealth checks. A Large creature takes up a space that is 10 feet by 10 feet and has a reach of 5 feet.

Medium (0 RP): Medium races have no bonuses or penalties due to their size. A Medium creature has a space of 5 feet by 5 feet and a reach of 5 feet.

Small (0 RP): Small races gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks. Small races have a space of 5 feet by 5 feet and a reach of 5 feet.

Tiny (4 RP): Prerequisites: Aberration, construct, dragon, fey, outsider (native), or plant type; Benefit: Tiny creatures gain a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a –2 size penalty to Strength. Tiny races gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.

Base Speed Quality

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 218
The next step is to pick the base speed quality for your race. Some racial traits can increase speed or grant other movement types, but these traits usually require the normal speed quality as a prerequisite. You have the following options.

Normal Speed (0 RP): The race has a base speed of 30 feet.

Slow Speed (–1 RP): The race has a base speed of 20 feet. If the race is Medium, its members’ speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.

Ability Score Quality

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 219
The next step is to determine the ability score modifier quality for your race. In many ways, choosing this quality is one of the most important choices when creating a new race, as it determines many of the native abilities of that race. With the exception of the human heritage modifier

quality, when you choose a race’s ability score modifiers, you are choosing what ability scores are modified for every member of that race. Only the human heritage modifier quality allows individual members to decide which ability score is modified during character creation.

Most of the ability score modifier qualities divide ability scores into two broad categories that each represent three of the six abilities: physical (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) and mental (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma).

With the exception of the human heritage modifier quality, bonuses granted to ability scores with one of these qualities count as racial bonuses for the purpose of qualifying for racial trait prerequisites.

Advanced (4 RP): Prerequisites: Advanced or monstrous power level; Modifiers: Pick either mental or physical ability scores. Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to all of those scores, a +4 bonus to one score of the other type, and a –2 penalty to one other ability score of the other type.

Flexible (2 RP): Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to any two ability scores.

Greater Paragon (2 RP): Members of this race gain a +4 bonus to one ability score, a –2 penalty to one physical ability score, and a –2 penalty to one mental ability score.

Greater Weakness (–3 RP): Pick either mental or physical ability scores. Members of this race take a –4 penalty to one of those ability scores, a –2 penalty to another of those ability scores, and a +2 bonus to the other ability score.

Human Heritage (0 RP): Prerequisites: Human subtype; Modifiers: Members of this race gain a +2 to any single ability score of your choice during character creation.

Mixed Weakness (–2 RP): Pick either mental or physical ability scores. Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to one ability score of that type and a –2 penalty to another ability score of that type. They also gain a +2 bonus to one ability score of the other type and a –4 penalty to another ability score of the other type.

Paragon (1 RP): Members of this race gain a +4 bonus to a single ability score, and a –2 penalty to either all physical or all mental ability scores. If the bonus is to a single physical ability score, the penalties apply to all mental ability scores, and vice versa.

Specialized (1 RP): Pick either mental or physical ability scores. Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to two ability scores of the chosen type, and a –2 penalty to one ability score of the other type.

Standard (0 RP): Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to one physical ability score, a +2 bonus to one mental ability score, and a –2 penalty to any other ability score.

Weakness (–1 RP): Members of this race gain a +2 bonus to one physical ability score, a +2 bonus to one mental ability score, and a –4 penalty to any other ability score.

Language Quality

Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 219
The next step is to pick the race’s language quality. This quality determines the starting languages and bonus languages for the race. There are three options. In cases where the language trait instructs you to choose a racial language, that language is either the race’s racial language (if any; feel free to create a new language for the race if you wish), Draconic (if it is a humanoid with the reptilian subtype), or, if the race is of the outsider (native) type, one of the planar languages (Abyssal, Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, or Terran) of the corresponding plane. (Creatures tied to Abaddon can take either Abyssal or Infernal as a racial language.) If your race is native to the Darklands, you can replace Common with Undercommon. See the Linguistics skill entry for a list of languages.

Construct and undead races usually have the racial language of the race that created them.

Linguist (1 RP): Members of this race start with Common plus their racial language (if any). Furthermore, members of this race with high Intelligence scores can learn any languages they want (except Druidic and other secret languages).

Standard (0 RP): Members of this race start with Common plus their racial language (if any). Furthermore, choose up to seven languages (except for Druidic or other secret languages). Members of this race with high Intelligence scores can choose from any of these additional languages.

Xenophobic (0 RP): Members of this race start with their racial language only. Races without a racial language cannot take this array. Furthermore, choose up to four languages (except for Druidic or other secret languages), one of which must be Common (or Undercommon, if the race is native to the Darklands). Members of this race with high Intelligence scores can choose from any of these additional languages.

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