Races in the Players' Guide

[Kronok]

I would like to preface this by stating that I have yet to pick up the Narrators’ Guide.

I have noticed on a few threads that races are created using a similar “Point” system (16 or so?).

Has anyone checked or looked at the points for the races in the Players’ Guide? I would be interested in seeing the point camparisons.

The Vulcan and Trill race statistics just seem a little high relative to the Humans and Bajorans.

Thoughts?

[AslanC]

The NG explains a "pick" system for making aliens races. It is quite good. I highly recommend you squrriel the cash away or sell some blood* and get this book, it is just too good

*AslanC does not actually endorse the sale of blood for gaming material. It was simply a joke.

[Kronok]

Have you (or anyone else) applied this "pick system" to the races in the Players' Guide?

[Kronok]

Things that go BUMP in the night.

[Publius]

Yep, just did a page of all of them, including those in the Narrator's guide. Kind of a quickie thing, so some of the math might need to be revised later. I took some liberties with some of the abilities, but tried to remain true to the guidelines in the NG. One of the things that I did which was unmentioned is classify any bonus that makes a particular skill classified as a Professional Skill as a 3 point "Professional Ability" (which it is after all). Overall, I do not like the guidelines personally because every +1 Skill counts the exact same as an Edge, and a +1 to all Physical Skills appears to count the same as a +1 to Craft (Underwater Basketweaving).

As one might presume from a glance at the PG, the Bajorans get hosed. Roughly 9 points. Really really undervalued especially since their racial abilities are not all that wonderful unless you always wanted to ply the galaxy with the Mystic artist. Regaining their Pagh at a slightly better rate isn't all that great since they always have to stay close to the "Light Side" and loose their Courage bonus if they no longer believe in the Prophets (wasn't that Ro?)

Cardassians. 12 points. Eh. There race abilities are actually useful compared to the Betazoids, which are 1 point over the norm, so I'd call it about even.

Humans, Vulcans, Klingons, Andorians, Orions and Romulans are all 13. Some of these, like the Klingons include what I percieved as "flaws'. For example, the Klingon ability Ferocity allows some increases good for combat, but basically makes them Bloodthirsty at the same time, so I assessed it as a 3(professional ability)-2 (Flaw) for 1 point. The Vulcans probably are cheap for the points because I counted Mind-Meld and the Nerve Pinch as Professional abilities (the ehanced rapid healing ability is closer to a real professional ability, which is how I counted it too).

Betazoid: 14 points if you count Peaceful as an edge rather than a +8 skill modification (+4 Skill should be +8 according to their guidelines but this is a tad high, sue me). still pretty balanced.

Trill: 21 points if you assume that they have 2 past hosts on the parasite-meter. Waaaaaaaaay over the top and need to be reigned in to maintain play balance.

Ferengi: 31 points. Yes you read that correctly. Why? 4-Lobed Brain is essentially "Immune to Psionics" which the NG later lists as being worth 18 Picks. Take out the 18 Pick 4-Lobed Brain and they add up to... 13 points. This still makes them a bit higher than the rest because they have to spend something on the 4-Lobed brain, maybe balance them with the Flaw "No One Takes Seriously"

[Phantom]

Not sure what you are trying to prove here. Yes, the Trill do have alot of ability, that happens when you have 1 or 2 extra life times under your belt. I have no problem with them as a character race as it.

The Human and Bajorans getting hosed...Maybe in game mechanics, but I can see alot of RP potential with both races. Guess it depends on what type of player you are.

The Ferengi immune to Psionics, well would you be opposed to some one playing a Toydarian in a SW game you were running?

I find a lot of potential in all races, they are all well thought out and interesting in their own ways.

[Darth Sarcastic]

I agree with Phantom, I fail to see how the Bajorans or Humans get hosed (outside of game mechanics).

The Bajorans went from peace-loving pacifistic religious fanatics to gun-toting Cardassian hating religious fanatics...because they had to.

Look at our history and you'll see that Humans are good at blowing things up and wiping species off the map.

We also don't worry about screwing over our honor or soiling our family names (like Klingons or Andorians).


So there is great potential for all kinds of mayhem.

-Darth Sarcastic

[Publius]

I'm not certain we are talking about the same thing here Phantom. I thought we were talking about game mechanics. In that the original comment asked about a comparison of the point values for the various races.

the original post by Kronok was...
....I have noticed on a few threads that races are created using a similar “Point” system (16 or so?).

Has anyone checked or looked at the points for the races in the Players’ Guide? I would be interested in seeing the point camparisons.

The Vulcan and Trill race statistics just seem a little high relative to the Humans and Bajorans.

Thoughts?

emphasis added

I'm not trying to "prove" anything other than answering the question Kronok inquired about. I'm also not saying that playing a Bajoran is 'bad' or anything, simply that points-wise they are vastly unequal to the others. Likewise, the comment about the Trill having past lives to draw upon is true canon-wise, but this does not solve the problem of unequal game mechanics.

[Kronok]

Originally posted by Publius
I'm not trying to "prove" anything other than answering the question Kronok inquired about. I'm also not saying that playing a Bajoran is 'bad' or anything, simply that points-wise they are vastly unequal to the others. Likewise, the comment about the Trill having past lives to draw upon is true canon-wise, but this does not solve the problem of unequal game mechanics.

Well said. I actually was considering playing a Bajoran, 5 points or 50 points as to race creation. I like the role-playing aspect of all the races. AND the Trill, Vulcans, and Klingons just seemed a little more "powerful" as to character creation when using some sort of point system. ICON was very close when using an equal amount of points for the racial template. I was wondering if CODA was doing something similar because I have yet to purchase the book.

Not complaining.
Not starting a flame war.
Just curiosity.

Oh, and Publius?

Thanx!

[Champions Guru]

Of course the Vulcans should be more powerful than the other species. They could take over the galaxy if they weren't having Humans and the Federation doing it for them.

Da Guru

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I have, actually one of the races that I did is on the board in the Narrators Ready Room. It worked really well.