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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Races (PFRPG)

3.20/5 (based on 13 ratings)
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Races (PFRPG)
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Peoples and Powers!

The peoples of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting have raised empires, mastered the greatest secrets of magic, and explored their world and beyond. Now delve into their histories, cultures, and powers with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Races! Inside this book, you'll find details on all the major races that shape the Inner Sea region, from elves and dwarves to celestial-touched aasimars and subterranean drow, along with new details on a variety of rare and mysterious populations. Dive into this tome of secrets and discover:

  • In-depth discussions of the natures, histories, and cultures of all seven core races—including 12 different human ethnicities—plus races like the maniacal goblins, crow-headed tengu, fiend-blooded tieflings, and more!
  • New feats, spells, magic items, armor, and weapons for characters of all the races commonly found in the Inner Sea region.
  • A summary of the rules for building a character of any featured race, as well as alternate heritages for races with diverse origins.
  • Character traits to help you get the most out of your character's cultural history, beliefs, and backstory.
  • Glimpses of rare races hardly ever seen in the Inner Sea region!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-722-2

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Hero Lab Online
Archives of Nethys

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3.20/5 (based on 13 ratings)

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Great resource on Golarion races

4/5 —

Read my full review on Of Dice and Pen.

Overall, Inner Sea Races is a very good and useful book. The first three chapters contain a wealth of information about the various races inhabiting the Inner Sea region, and although some of this information comes from previously published books, much of it has been updated and expanded upon. Importantly, it compiles all this information into one easy-to-reference book. The fourth chapter is the weakest part of the book, but there is still much in the chapter that is useful to people creating characters for the setting. The book is already a frequently referenced source for my own games and is likely to be for many other people’s games as well.

Filler, teamwork feats, repeated material, and teamwork feats.

1/5 —

I'm kind of iffy on buying fluff. I really don't like material I've seen before. This book is fluff that we've seen before.

The fluff isn't even that good. It's kind of bland, generic, stuff that's repeated elsewhere. There's no depth to it.

When it comes to the crunch it's teamwork feats, teamwork feats, teamwork feats... Almost NINETY PERCENT of the feats are teamwork feats. Teamwork feats start as problematic because you need someone else to take them, they get worse because they've been balanced for class features that are going to take them for free.
They're even WORSE for a race book, because you need a veritable celestial alignment of someone else with the feat AND the right positioning AND with the same build AND the same race as you.

With all the untapped potential for race related feats THATS what gets added in as crunch? You couldn't even think of one non teamwork feat per race?

INNER SEA HUMANS is more like it - Disappointing!

2/5 —

GOOD:
For people that don´t have the partly sold out Player Companions "xxx of Golarion", this book offers a brief overview of the different races that populate the "Inner Sea" and their history.

BAD:
This book does a very poor job of compiling all the great information from the 32 pages Player Companions into one source.
Humans get by far the most pages, with some other races barely getting mentioned. Also there is 90% flavor and 10% rules in here, of which most are unusable.

UGLY:
This book is not worth $45 or $32 for the pdf.

If you´ll buy the "Elves of Golarion" pdf for $6.99,
"Dwarves of Golarion" pdf for $7.99,
"Gnomes of Golarion" pdf for $7.99,
"Halflings of Golarion" pdf for $7.99 and
"Humans of Golarion" pdf for $7.99, you will get much more flavor and crunch.
The Players Companion: "Humans of Golarion" alone covers about a third of this Hardcover in it´s 32 pages.

I thought this volume would compile the most important parts of the 10 Players Companions (Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Halflings, Humans, Goblins, Blood of Fiends, Blood of Angels & Kobolds) into one volume, but it doesn´t.

Inferior to i.e. Humans of Golarion

1/5 —

and thus not worth buying. If you want the crunch, you can find it for free on PF crunch websites.

In other respects, all the changed in descriptive flavor (the things upon which role-playing is based) are actually steps backwards from previous products, such as Humans of Golarion.

Which is to say: this product is actually counter-productive. It actively makes the game worse. It indeed contributes to lack of RPing in the hobby, because the focus of the changes became what was fashionable in the current year. But nobody really needs a guide that caters to their own ideology; people who are going to play their own opinions out rather than immerse themselves in a fantasy mindeset can do it without a guide.

They will probably still buy it for confirming their views. I do concede there is some entertainment value in that sense. But for people interested in RPing in a fantasy sense, you are much, much better off simply buying the earlier race guides, which are still available, and giving this one a pass.

Great background and really glad it's not full of crunch

5/5 —

I had cut down on my Pathfinder purchases a lot because the volume of crunch is, to my mind, becoming pointless. Pathfinder Campaign Setting material is often the main exception to that and this is a great hardback, full of considerable detail on a great many races.

As others have pointed out, humans get a lot of coverage, but it doesn't feel like a bad idea, to me; they make up the substantial majority of playable individuals in Golarion, and have the most variety (on account of being so dominant over the Inner Sea), and as this isn't a bumper book of crunch--which I'd absolutely not have bought, anyway--then to my mind it makes a lot of sense.

Stuff like this is, in my opinion, where Paizo really excels. I get that the crunch-monster needs to be fed, but for many of me that obscures what I really liked about Paizo in the first place, which is that they make really engaging campaign material.

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ZanThrax wrote:
I'm going to go against the grain of the thread and say that I'm mostly interested in more details about the elves and dwarves - especially about the Kyonin and Five Kings Mountains. I want to know what the elves and dwarves of Golarion are like, and how they're different from standard-issue fantasy dwarves and elves.

I second this! It's fun every now and then to branch out to a more exotic race (the only one I have made though is a grippli alchemist--love that Kyr'met!), but the core races are my favs. In Golarion, that is human and dwarf followed by half-elf and halfling. Until Golarion, I never wanted to play a human. It was always elf or half-elf with D&D. I love the differences Golarion has brought with these races.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

I really hope this is good. I've been very disappointed with most of the race books that came out. Most of them are really dull and filled mostly with information and crunch already in other books. COnsidering there's already a hardcover race book, I'm fearing the same is true for this one.
Silver Crusade Contributor
Cyrad wrote:
I really hope this is good. I've been very disappointed with most of the race books that came out. Most of them are really dull and filled mostly with information and crunch already in other books. COnsidering there's already a hardcover race book, I'm fearing the same is true for this one.

Which race books are you thinking of? The ARG was rules-heavy by its nature, being world-neutral and all. I'm hoping to see the other side of that here.

I found the earlier Player's Companions (Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes) to be pretty fluffy. Orcs and Humans were all right, I suppose. I barely skimmed Kobolds*. I really liked Bastards. Angels/Fiends struck a good balance, in my opinion. Moon was crunch-heavy by necessity, what with being a standalone source. Night was weakened by having to serve two masters, although I liked it fine myself.

*Regarding Kobolds:
suck it KC

:)
John Lynch 106 wrote:


Jessica Price wrote:
The changeling section is sitting on my desk right now, post-discussion-with-Wes, waiting to get its extra love. :-)
Great news to hear :) It's definitely one of those unique Pathfinder races you can't find in any other fantasy games at this point.

Umm, the Palladium RPG have had Changelings as a core race since at least the late 80's, and there might have been a White Wolf book called.... Changeling?

As someone who has zero interest in Golarion, I'm still interested in this book. As a compilation and retune of all the other race books mentioned I'm kinda intrigued. Not sure why, as I loathe dwarves, gnomes, halflings and more and more, elves. I mostly play either humans or really out-there races...

So obviously, I'd prefer way more crunch as the fluff would be mostly useless unless reskinned and ported to other CS'.

Cover looks awesome.

Now that I know catfolk will get a name to there race that they call themselves, I hope many other races will as well such as ratolk, merfolk, gillmen, etc.
Dark Archive
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
John Lynch 106 wrote:


Jessica Price wrote:
The changeling section is sitting on my desk right now, post-discussion-with-Wes, waiting to get its extra love. :-)
Great news to hear :) It's definitely one of those unique Pathfinder races you can't find in any other fantasy games at this point.
Umm, the Palladium RPG have had Changelings as a core race since at least the late 80's, and there might have been a White Wolf book called.... Changeling?

The Eberron Campaign Setting for 3.x also had a Changeling race. I miss all the races from that book.

I don't remember that many races from Eberron other the warforged and how broken they could be.
Dark Archive
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Changeling, Kalashtar, Shifter, and Warforged. Why do you consider the Warforged broken? I haven't had a problem with them in my gaming groups.
1 person marked this as a favorite.

The name might be similar, but the Pathfinder Changeling is quite different from the Eberron Changeling. From what I can tell the World of Darkness changeling is closer in theme, but are children abducted by fey rather than children spawned by hags and embedded in unsuspecting families. The palladium changeling appears to be a shapeshifter related to dopplegangers? If so it's more akin to the eberron changeling than the Pathfinder take.

Which one was the Kalashtar again?
Silver Crusade Contributor
Dragon78 wrote:
Which one was the Kalashtar again?

It's hard to explain outside of Eberron, but kalashtar are the descendants of humans bonded with "redeemed" quori, or nightmare spirits. They and their enemies, the Inspired (altered humans possessed by quori) are the primary psionicists of Eberron. ^_^

Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Pathfinder changelings are unique. A lot of other game systems have races called changelings, but they are basically half-dopplegangers, half-fey, or something else. Pathfinder changelings are basically half-hags.

Is there any other race name that is used for such a variety of different creatures in different games?
2 people marked this as a favorite.

I just can't get over the fact that the changeling has cleric stats when the flavor screams "WITCH!!!" at you.
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
David knott 242 wrote:

Pathfinder changelings are unique. A lot of other game systems have races called changelings, but they are basically half-dopplegangers, half-fey, or something else. Pathfinder changelings are basically half-hags.

Is there any other race name that is used for such a variety of different creatures in different games?

Well, changeling is originally just a creature that fay replace human children with :P So thats rather broad thing to make race from.

Anyway, I'm still gonna get this book even though I know I won't like it much since I never play as the core races and prefer playing as "weird niche crap" that apparently doesn't sell. I'm kinda sad that people aren't interested in xenofiction, its fascinating :'(

I wish Changelings in pathfinder were the fey version instead of hag spawn. I also agree, they should have had a +2 racial bonus to Int instead of Wis or Cha.

On the cover of this book, what kind of armor are those Drow wearing and what is it made of?
Dark Archive
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Half-plate made from giant scorpion chitin for the ones in gold, and the flayed tatters of the hopes and dreams of children, for the lady in black.

I like both those ideas Set.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
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Set wrote:
and the flayed tatters of the hopes and dreams of children, for the lady in black.

You power one magic item with an orphan's heart, and nobody ever lets you live it down.

What magic item was that?
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32
Dragon78 wrote:
What magic item was that?

I'm going with that staff. The red glowy bit looks like it could easily be the soul of an orphan.

Community Manager
6 people marked this as a favorite.
Ross Byers wrote:
The red glowy bit looks like it could easily be the soul of an orphan.

IT'S POWERED BY THE HEART OF A FORSAKEN CHILD!?

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
Liz Courts wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:
The red glowy bit looks like it could easily be the soul of an orphan.
IT'S POWERED BY THE HEART OF A FORSAKEN CHILD!?

Not all of it....

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Liz Courts wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:
The red glowy bit looks like it could easily be the soul of an orphan.
IT'S POWERED BY THE HEART OF A FORSAKEN CHILD!?

But it comes with a free frogurt!

6 people marked this as a favorite.

The "frogurt" is also cursed;)

Will there be any more info on this book during Paizo Con?

Was there any more info on this book during Paizo Con?
President, Jon Brazer Enterprises

The ratfolk image on the blog, she's obsessed with cleanliness. That's all I remember.

I remember a picture with a strix, a ratfolk, and a third one. But I couldn't tell what the third one was, do you know?
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Liz Courts wrote:
Ross Byers wrote:
The red glowy bit looks like it could easily be the soul of an orphan.
IT'S POWERED BY THE HEART OF A FORSAKEN CHILD!?

Better hope Doctor Orpheus doesn't find out...

Will the skinwalkers be in this book?

I love the idea of the different lycanthrope-kin but the witchwolf, the most significant of the bunch as judged by the prevalence of werewolves compared to other kinds of lycanthropes, doesn't make sense.

The witchwolf takes a penalty to Intelligence when the description says they're frequently witches, and they have "witch" in the name. And gains a bonus to Wisdom when shape-shifted? Really would make more sense if it were a physical ability score, as gaining a mental ability bonus for shape-shifting doesn't add significant benefit, even for spellcasters that use that stat.

But the big thing is that penalty to Intelligence completely messing with the witchwolf theme.

I hope this book also explains better how dhampir and svetocher both come to be, as they seem like different mechanics for the same heritage, descended from moroi vampires. I do like both so I've just been saying so far that moroi produce both types as offspring, but I would like to see more clarification on the subject.

I remember some of the skinwalker's heritages didn't make sense on there racial mods and/or wich stat they got a bonus in when transformed.
Silver Crusade Contributor

Some of the dhampir heritage options didn't make sense either. The developer fixed it in a now-buried thread, but I'm not sure that it's even slightly official. Something for that would be awesome, especially since Player Companions don't receive official errata (or even FAQs).
Liberty's Edge

I believe it was confirmed that the fixed dhampir modifiers would be used in Inner Sea Races. I don't recall the same question asked about skinwalkers, but really, does anyone care about skinwalkers? ;) *ducks and runs*
Silver Crusade Contributor

Awesome - thank you! ^_^
Liberty's Edge Contributor
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I know it's not official content, but I'd like to point out that Wayfinder #13 has an article by Sarah "Ambrosia Slaad" Counts containing more options for skinwalkers. Nate Love also wrote an article containing the Lycanthropic bloodline for sorcerers and blood ragers. You can download the issue (and all the previous ones) for free.

http://paizo.com/companies/paizoFansUnited

Well I hope Skinwalkers made it in.
Silver Crusade
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Oh, now I finally know the true identity of Ambrosia Salaad...

I can't wait to see the updated product info...in like two months.
Liberty's Edge Contributor
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Gorbacz wrote:
Oh, now I finally know the true identity of Ambrosia Salaad...

Well, this isn't exactly her first credit in an issue of Wayfinder, and we list both the author and Paizo avatar names on every articles, so... ;-)

It'd be great if they included a variant type of tiefling you could use for fiend-touched gnome and Halfling. While you can take a regular tiefling and say "Oh, parents were elves but tiefling blood dominates," it makes less sense for the small races. I was surprised that they didn't touch on that in Blood of the Fiends. Same for the aasimar!
Paizo Employee Creative Director
2 people marked this as a favorite.
laraqua wrote:
It'd be great if they included a variant type of tiefling you could use for fiend-touched gnome and Halfling. While you can take a regular tiefling and say "Oh, parents were elves but tiefling blood dominates," it makes less sense for the small races. I was surprised that they didn't touch on that in Blood of the Fiends. Same for the aasimar!

Ummm... we actaully did. There's even pictures of them. Check the sidebars earlier in the books.

Liberty's Edge
2 people marked this as a favorite.

James, how do you remember everything? Like a sidebar written three years ago by someone else? That's a little scary.

Is there any art for aquatic elves?

Hey, the description of changelings say they are "tall and slender" yet they are by their height/weight chart about a foot shorter than a human female... Sooo seems to me there is a mistake either in the description or in the chart...

Thoughts from anyone (staff or players welcome :P )
Paizo Employee Creative Director
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Ruby Rose Royce wrote:

Hey, the description of changelings say they are "tall and slender" yet they are by their height/weight chart about a foot shorter than a human female... Sooo seems to me there is a mistake either in the description or in the chart...

Thoughts from anyone (staff or players welcome :P )

My guess—it's a mistake that arose from an error when someone built the height chart for ARG. They SHOULD be tall though; their mothers are tall, after all...

Little know fact, everything is written from the perspective of a rather plump gnome.
Silver Crusade Contributor
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Ruby Rose Royce wrote:

Hey, the description of changelings say they are "tall and slender" yet they are by their height/weight chart about a foot shorter than a human female... Sooo seems to me there is a mistake either in the description or in the chart...

Thoughts from anyone (staff or players welcome :P )

As Mr. Jacobs said, probably an error. It's always aggravated me as a huge changeling fan (obsessed is probably a better description).

I just use the elf table. Still hoping for errata though. ^_^
Paizo Employee Creative Director
Kalindlara wrote:
Ruby Rose Royce wrote:

Hey, the description of changelings say they are "tall and slender" yet they are by their height/weight chart about a foot shorter than a human female... Sooo seems to me there is a mistake either in the description or in the chart...

Thoughts from anyone (staff or players welcome :P )

As Mr. Jacobs said, probably an error. It's always aggravated me as a huge changeling fan (obsessed is probably a better description).

I just use the elf table. Still hoping for errata though. ^_^

Alas... was brought to my attention a few weeks too late to be errataed anytime soon.

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