For clarity's sake, this lists playable races with no CR from the Advanced Race Guide as well as Bestiary 5 and 6. I feel these are the races 90% of players are going to use. I haven't included the "example" races from the back of ARG, or the racial variants of Tiefling and Aasimar from whatever setting book those are in. I think they're neat, though.
| Dwarf | +2 CON | +2 WIS | -2 CHA | |
| Elf | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 CON | |
| Gnome | +2 CON | +2 CHA | -2 STR | Small |
| Half-Elf | +2 CHOICE | |||
| Half-Orc | +2 CHOICE | |||
| Halfling | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 STR | Small |
| Human | +2 CHOICE |
| Aasimar | +2 WIS | +2 CHA | |||
| Catfolk | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 WIS | ||
| Dhampir | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 CON | ||
| Drow | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 CON | ||
| Fetchling | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 WIS | ||
| Goblin | +4 DEX | -2 STR | -2 CHA | Small | |
| Hobgoblin | +2 DEX | +2 CON | |||
| Ifrit | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 WIS | ||
| Kobold | +2 DEX | -4 STR | -2 CON | Small | |
| Orc | +4 STR | -2 INT | -2 WIS | -2 CHA | |
| Oread | +2 STR | +2 WIS | -2 CHA | ||
| Ratfolk | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 STR | Small | |
| Sylph | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 CON | ||
| Tengu | +2 DEX | +2 WIS | -2 CON | ||
| Tiefling | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 CHA | ||
| Undine | +2 DEX | +2 WIS | -2 STR |
| Changeling | +2 WIS | +2 CHA | -2 CON | ||
| Duergar | +2 CON | +2 WIS | -2 CHA | ||
| Gillman | +2 CON | +2 CHA | -2 WIS | Water Dependent | |
| Grippli | +2 DEX | +2 WIS | -2 STR | Small | |
| Kitsune | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 STR | ||
| Merfolk | +2 DEX | +2 CON | +2 CHA | Legless | |
| Nagaji | +2 STR | +2 CHA | -2 INT | ||
| Samsaran | +2 INT | +2 WIS | -2 CON | ||
| Strix | +2 DEX | -2 CHA | |||
| Suli | +2 STR | +2 CHA | -2 INT | ||
| Svirfneblin | +2 DEX | +2 WIS | -2 STR | -4 CHA | Small |
| Vanara | +2 DEX | +2 WIS | -2 CHA | ||
| Vishyanka | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 WIS | ||
| Wayang | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 WIS | Small |
| Android | +2 DEX | +2 INT | -2 CHA | |
| Astomoi | +2 INT | +2 WIS | -2 CON | Telepathic Senses |
| Caligni | +2 DEX | +2 CON | -2 INT | |
| Deep One Hybrid | +2 CON | +2 WIS | -2 DEX | Sea Longing |
| Ghoran | +2 CON | +2 CHA | -2 INT | Plant |
| Orang-Pendak | +2 STR | +2 WIS | -2 INT | Small |
| Reptoid | +2 STR | +2 CHA | -2 DEX | |
| Shabti | +2 CON | +2 CHA | Shattered Soul | |
| Skinwalker | +2 PH. CHOICE | +2 WIS | -2 INT |
| Goblin, Monkey | +4 DEX | -2 WIS | -2 CHA | Small |
| Naiad | +2 DEX | +2 CHA | -2 STR | |
| Rougarou | +2 STR | +2 WIS | -2 INT |
Total: 49 Races
STR Races: Orc, Oread, Nagaji, Suli, Orang-Pendak, Reptoid, Rougarou
Total: 7
DEX Races: Elf, Halfling, Catfolk, Dhampir, Drow, Fetchling, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Ifrit, Kobold, Ratfolk, Sylph, Tengu, Tiefling, Undine, Grippli, Kitsune, Merfolk, Strix, Svirfneblin, Vanara, Vishyanka, Wayang, Android, Caligni, Monkey Goblin, Naiad
Total: 27
CON races: Dwarf, Gnome, Hobgoblin, Duergar, Gillman, Merfolk, Caligni, Deep One Hybrid, Choran, Shabti
Total: 10
INT races: Elf, Ratfolk, Sylph, Tiefling, Samsaran, Wayang, Android, Astomoi
Total: 8
WIS races: Dwarf, Aasimar, Oread, Tengu, Undine, Duregar, Grippli, Samsaran, Svirfneblin, Vanara, Astomoi, Deep One Hybrid, Orang-Pendak, Skinwalker, Rougarou
Total: 15
CHA Races: Gnome, Halfling, Aasimar, Catfolk, Dhampir, Drow, Fetchling, Ifrit, Changeling, Gillman, Kitsune, Merfolk, Nagaji, Suli, Vishyanka, Ghoran, Reptoid, Shabti
Total: 18
First section, distribution of bonuses. What did we learn? Well, we learned the Pathfinder race list is pretty unbalanced. This is honestly the biggest argument for letting people generate custom races that I've ever seen. Even allowing for the fact that some of the game's races aren't on this list, being printed in a splat or something, there's some staggering facts. Around 56% of the game's races have a bonus to DEX. There are ten DEX/CHA races. That's more than the number of races that get STR, INT, and almost CON.
There are a load of different combinations that go completely unrepresented, but that's to be expected. Pathfinder has a soft "rule" that they don't often double up on mental or physical bonuses. In fact, Hobgoblin, Samsaran, Caligni, and Merfolk are the only ones that do that.
Playing a race with a bonus to only one of your class's prime requisites isn't the end of the world. The game has enough wiggle room that it's okay you're not a hundred percent optimized. Even taking a funky combination with no bonus to your prime requisite isn't so bad. However, if we're purely talking about optimization, some classes fare better than others here. Kineticist wants DEX and CON, so it only has two racial choices: Caligni and Hobgoblin. Monk has Oread or Undine, depending on how you're building. Paladin, who wants STR and CHA, gets to choose from Nagaji, Suli or...yikes. Reptoid. Listen, there's nothing wrong with playing a Reptoid paladin. Not technically, anyway. It's gonna be some doing before that makes sense, though. But hey, look on the bright side: Swashbuckler wants DEX and CHA. Go fuckin' wild.
It also means STR and DEX classes have a slight leg up over others due to Orc and Goblin and their +4s. At least it's a total classic to see Orc Barbarians and Goblin Rogues. They pay for their +4s as well, so. If your favorite thing to do is specialize, earmark those two races.
No Penalty Races: Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Human, Aasimar, Hobgoblin, Shabti
Total: 6
Races with serious drawbacks: Gillman, Merfolk, Astomoi, Deep One Hybrid, Shabti
Total: 5
STR Penalty Races: Gnome, Halfling, Goblin, Kobold, Ratfolk, Undine, Grippli, Kitsune, Svirfneblin, Naiad
Total: 10
DEX Penalty Races: Deep One Hybrid, Reptoid
Total: 2
CON Penalty Races: Elf, Dhampir, Drow, Kobold, Sylph, Tengu, Changeling, Samsaran, Astomoi
Total: 9
INT Penalty Races: Orc, Nagaji, Suli, Caligni, Ghoran, Skinwalker, Rougarou
Total: 7
WIS Penalty Races: Catfolk, Fetchling, Ifrit, Orc, Gillman, Vishyanka, Wayang
Total: 7
CHA Penalty Races: Dwarf, Goblin, Orc, Oread, Tiefling, Strix, Svirfneblin, Vanara, Android, Monkey Goblin
Total: 10
Something you want to tell us about DEX, Pathfinder? Twenty Seven races with a DEX bonus and only two with a penalty? Otherwise, this is somewhat fairly distributed. Small races tend to get a STR penalty, though Monkey Goblin and Orang-Pendak escape it. The obsession with CON and CHA penalties I perceived Paizo to have is mitigated a little by realizing they're only slightly ahead of INT and WIS.
Eleven races deserve special mention, though. We'll go with the nice ones first. Six races have no stat penalty. Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Human are also the three "+2 to any stat" races. It's important to note that they're exactly as efficient in terms of total stat points as the basic "+2, +2, -2" races and all three are gonna be a good choice for nearly any class. Such is the power of Human blood.
Three are ahead in terms of total stat points: Aasimar, Hobgoblin, and Shabti. Hobgoblin and Shabti's bonuses are extremely easy to apply to a character since everyone can use CON, but Aasimar lags a slight bit behind due to not a whole lot of classes wanting both WIS and CHA. Shabti also kind of pays for its efficiency with a drawback(see below). This technically means Hobgoblin is one of the better races in the game, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. Ranged characters(the sort that like DEX a lot) often have less of a need for CON since they're taking melee strikes less often. This means Hobgoblin, while still pretty good, looks its best on paper.
There's also five races that have problems. I hate saying this, but how playable they are really depends on your GM. That's not an insult: I've had excellent GMs that were simply not very permissive, couldn't work around a potentially debilitating disadvantage, or even had too much of a problem with the social aspect of a race(more on that below).
Three of the races, Gillman, Merfolk, and the Deep One Hybrid are "Aquatic" races. This means they're in that age-old category of being either amazing or bordering on unplayable depending on your campaign. Seafaring games are bound to see half or more of the party playing these types or others that can reach water breathing like Undine. I've never run a seafaring game, so that sounds just...natural to me. Like, it's not a problem, it's just how those games go. In a land focused game, they range from problematic(Gillman can always make sure he casts create water) to unplayable. Some GMs would struggle to keep all of a game's action on or around the coast so the Deep One doesn't start taking Wisdom Drain, and the Merfolk? He ain't got no legs. I really, super want to play a merfolk people push around in a wheelchair some day, but I don't think anyone's going to go for that.
Astomoi can only see and hear within sixty feet. I see this as a serious drawback, and they don't get anything in exchange for it. If you're okay with this, then go right ahead, but to me, this puts them in a non-use category. Shabti depends pretty heavily on how your GM interprets a specific rule. Namely, when during the casting of a spell you pay your material components. I've discussed it with several GMs and none of us really had a consensus. If your GM feels you pay regardless of whether the spell fizzles or not, then Shabti probably isn't playable. Nobody is going to blow for even a raise dead several times, and even if they do, the lost gold for it is both irritating and problematic. Even if the GM is callous and thinks the group being "down" a huge amount of gold is a valid drawback for playing a Shabti, it will cause balance problems for him later...which may cause you to die more...which may cause even more gold sink problems. You seeing a pattern here?
If your GM interprets the rule as a spell only consuming its material component if it's successfully cast(this is how I feel) then Shabti are fairly playable. Shattered Soul will probably come up, but it won't be a massive sink: Only a few hundred gold if the group is paying for the cast, or a few days of downtime if they've got their own cleric.
And finally, some races are gonna be more or less playable depending on your GM, their setting, and how they interpret their setting. This just can't be helped. Some GMs see goblinoids as people, though frequently antagonistic people.Some see goblins as the human equivalent of vermin: Omnipresent and living off the backs of society, in their filth or through theft. Other GMs, or even other settings see them as dangerous monsters which are killed on sight regardless of circumstance. While I personally dislike the second interpretation pretty strongly, both of these are valid. There's nothing we can really do if your GM wants to run a game in Middle Earth. You...probably just can't play an Orc there. This is an unfortunate X-factor to choosing race.
Thanks for coming along with me for my research. I'm sorry this isn't as meaty a topic as we normally do, but it might help us in the future. If nothing else, it's something we can load up when we're building characters for a quick reference to all of the game's main book races.
Total: 7
CHA Penalty Races: Dwarf, Goblin, Orc, Oread, Tiefling, Strix, Svirfneblin, Vanara, Android, Monkey Goblin
Total: 10
Something you want to tell us about DEX, Pathfinder? Twenty Seven races with a DEX bonus and only two with a penalty? Otherwise, this is somewhat fairly distributed. Small races tend to get a STR penalty, though Monkey Goblin and Orang-Pendak escape it. The obsession with CON and CHA penalties I perceived Paizo to have is mitigated a little by realizing they're only slightly ahead of INT and WIS.
Eleven races deserve special mention, though. We'll go with the nice ones first. Six races have no stat penalty. Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Human are also the three "+2 to any stat" races. It's important to note that they're exactly as efficient in terms of total stat points as the basic "+2, +2, -2" races and all three are gonna be a good choice for nearly any class. Such is the power of Human blood.
Three are ahead in terms of total stat points: Aasimar, Hobgoblin, and Shabti. Hobgoblin and Shabti's bonuses are extremely easy to apply to a character since everyone can use CON, but Aasimar lags a slight bit behind due to not a whole lot of classes wanting both WIS and CHA. Shabti also kind of pays for its efficiency with a drawback(see below). This technically means Hobgoblin is one of the better races in the game, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. Ranged characters(the sort that like DEX a lot) often have less of a need for CON since they're taking melee strikes less often. This means Hobgoblin, while still pretty good, looks its best on paper.
There's also five races that have problems. I hate saying this, but how playable they are really depends on your GM. That's not an insult: I've had excellent GMs that were simply not very permissive, couldn't work around a potentially debilitating disadvantage, or even had too much of a problem with the social aspect of a race(more on that below).
Three of the races, Gillman, Merfolk, and the Deep One Hybrid are "Aquatic" races. This means they're in that age-old category of being either amazing or bordering on unplayable depending on your campaign. Seafaring games are bound to see half or more of the party playing these types or others that can reach water breathing like Undine. I've never run a seafaring game, so that sounds just...natural to me. Like, it's not a problem, it's just how those games go. In a land focused game, they range from problematic(Gillman can always make sure he casts create water) to unplayable. Some GMs would struggle to keep all of a game's action on or around the coast so the Deep One doesn't start taking Wisdom Drain, and the Merfolk? He ain't got no legs. I really, super want to play a merfolk people push around in a wheelchair some day, but I don't think anyone's going to go for that.
Astomoi can only see and hear within sixty feet. I see this as a serious drawback, and they don't get anything in exchange for it. If you're okay with this, then go right ahead, but to me, this puts them in a non-use category. Shabti depends pretty heavily on how your GM interprets a specific rule. Namely, when during the casting of a spell you pay your material components. I've discussed it with several GMs and none of us really had a consensus. If your GM feels you pay regardless of whether the spell fizzles or not, then Shabti probably isn't playable. Nobody is going to blow for even a raise dead several times, and even if they do, the lost gold for it is both irritating and problematic. Even if the GM is callous and thinks the group being "down" a huge amount of gold is a valid drawback for playing a Shabti, it will cause balance problems for him later...which may cause you to die more...which may cause even more gold sink problems. You seeing a pattern here?
If your GM interprets the rule as a spell only consuming its material component if it's successfully cast(this is how I feel) then Shabti are fairly playable. Shattered Soul will probably come up, but it won't be a massive sink: Only a few hundred gold if the group is paying for the cast, or a few days of downtime if they've got their own cleric.
And finally, some races are gonna be more or less playable depending on your GM, their setting, and how they interpret their setting. This just can't be helped. Some GMs see goblinoids as people, though frequently antagonistic people.Some see goblins as the human equivalent of vermin: Omnipresent and living off the backs of society, in their filth or through theft. Other GMs, or even other settings see them as dangerous monsters which are killed on sight regardless of circumstance. While I personally dislike the second interpretation pretty strongly, both of these are valid. There's nothing we can really do if your GM wants to run a game in Middle Earth. You...probably just can't play an Orc there. This is an unfortunate X-factor to choosing race.
Thanks for coming along with me for my research. I'm sorry this isn't as meaty a topic as we normally do, but it might help us in the future. If nothing else, it's something we can load up when we're building characters for a quick reference to all of the game's main book races.
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