Infinity Matrix: Races

I slowed down a bit on the posts due to a lot of things going on right now. My wife and I were sick during Christmas time and my sister's Christmas plans fell through so I had a lot of catching up to do including last night's trip to finally see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Long story short: I loved it and it has reignited my anticipation for the Infinity Matrix campaign as well as the upcoming release of Aethera. For those not in the know, Aethera was a kickstarter from late last year for a space opera campaign setting for Pathfinder. The goal was $50,000 which I thought was impossible, especially since halfway through there were nowhere near their goal but it pulled it off with two grand more than the goal proving that I'm not the only fan of throwing Pathfinder into outer space. As far as I can tell it's looking at having an April release, which is pretty quick considering that other Pathfinder kickstarters I've backed or followed.

I'm also keeping an eye on Alterkine, a project that is probably the space based race book I've been needing. I haven't fully decided whether or not to back it as I don't know the company and I probably have enough races for Infinity Matrix. If you have any info that will entice me before the kickstarter is over give me a post but here is what I've been doing so far with races:

Paizo Races: Humans, Androids, Kasathas, Lashuntas, Triaxians

Humans are a given but People of the Stars puts most of  what I need into a neat book that I can hand to players so they're in and Trox and the new 'blank face' race from Bestiary 5 are out. As Paizo races they have a bit of support from People of the Stars  and Book of Heroic Races handles a bit more for Androids, which is good because while the other races are interesting Androids are the most important because they cover a very basic trope. Kasathas are mechanically the msot interesting because of the whole four arms dynamic. It opens up new questions and is a weird quirk that distinguishes it as a race worth playing.

It Came from the Stars: Amoebians, Enlightened, Star Touched, Tachiods

One of the more interesting groupings, You have something quirky and alien with the Amoebians, being giant amoebas-like creatures, something that I really needed to throw in there because otherwise I may as well pallet swap elves and dwarves and stuff for aliens. Then I'd just be swarming the game with bumpy forehead aliens. Lame.  The Star Touched aren't that strange but they are close to my heart because they remind me of the comic character Starfire and have the mechanics to back it up. The rest kind of amp tropes that I already have to a more interesting degree. It Came from the Stars is already an important toolbox for playing in space but the races are incredible. I decided not to touch Coalecents though, mostly because they are more past the norm than I'd like for this game.

Legendary Planet Races: Auttaine, Chlorvian, Tretharri, Zvarr

Legendary Planet's Player's Guide is a nice book for space based games that don't involve the Legendary Planet adventure. The four new races are pretty nice. Given what I already have the Chlorvian, plant people, are the only ones that satisfy my trope grid filling instincts although the Zvarr, a more monstrous lizardy race, gives a bit more pizzaz. Mechanically the Auttaine are the most interesting with a racial trait that's basically floating race points that can be spent in a limited way.

Veil of Truth: Celonian, En, Karizar, Nabora, Niterian, Thoy'ykoth, Yahidar

I didn't like Veil of Truth. My reasons why will come up when I review it this month, But the book is well worth the price just for the set of races. To some extent a lot of them aren't terribly interesting beyond their looks but the looks are great and cover a lot of ground. Plus a few of the mechanics are very interesting. They are somewhat filler races but they are great filler races that evoked a lot of imagination from me. Plus the Celonians are my pick for Grey Alien racial stats, although I had to modify their Naturally Psychic racial trait to Naturally Psionic.

Age of Electrotech: Mutamorphs, Nashi

So these aren't exactly aliens but I felt the need for a 'variable' race and it covers transhuman grounds in a neat way. Plus I'm a big fan of Batman Beyond an I was able to confirm that the Mutamorphs were inspired by the Splicers of that show. Basically Mutamorphs are animal DNA splicing transhumans. The Nashi, raccoon race, will immediately be the 'Rocket Racoon race' but they're mostly there because the Mutamorphs are there.

Ultimate Psionics Races: Dromite, Elan, Maenad, Noral, Ophiduan, Xeph

I decided to stray from the psionic races that I felt too steeped in fantasy tropes so races like Duergar and Half-Giants were out, leaving what's still a pretty interesting and well supported set of races that are alien enough to be aliens.


So there you have it. 27 races for a Galaxy. Some things didn't make the cut. The Race creator from the Santiago Player Guide I may use but with 27 races things are pretty crowded. I don't have Aethera races yet. The race creator from Infinite Futures 2.0 would be useful but I threw the baby out with the bathwater but not wanting any other player information from Infinite Futures. From the previous edition of Infinite Futures there is a series of racial books that I have, that I don't like for missing crucial information for them to function and has a bunch of added information that I really don't want to deal with. The Reptoids from Bestiary 5 are in the setting but are way too malevolent for me to hand off to players in this campaign and instead I list Ophiduans as appropriate offshoots of the race that's less about covertly conquering planets.

If you have or know of any other good alien races give me a comment.