History Characters / PathfinderRaces

Adventurers in Pathfinder come in many shapes and sizes and from as many backgrounds as you can imagine. A character's [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Classes/Pathfinder class]] is only half of the equation; their race plays an equal part in determining that character's history, how they view the world, and how the world views them.

''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' has a MassiveRaceSelection to choose from. While there are countless creatures in the bestiaries that could be considered "races", this page is for specifically detailing the ones intended for players; creatures without racial hit dice that have specific entries for their use as characters.

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Core Races]]

!!Dwarves
Dwarves once lived deep in the Darklands beneath Golarion's surface, until [[ColonyDrop Earthfall]], the impact of which was taken as a sign to begin the Quest to the Sky, a long exodus to the surface world.
----
* ElvesVersusDwarves: Downplayed. They don't actively hate Elves. They just have little respect for them. Or Gnomes. Or Halflings.
* FamilyHonor: Extremely important to them, and a BerserkButton if challenged.
* FireForgedFriends: The surest way to win their respect.
* GoodOldWays: With long lives and strong traditions, there's a lot of cultural inertia.
* LongLived: Barring misfortune, they can easily live over 300 years. It's a factor in their slight mistrust of humans since they're used to building friendships over a century or more.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame:
** They originated underground, tunneled their way to the surface during the Age of Darkness, and pulled humanity out of the dark ages. Otherwise pretty standard.
** Played with with the bald-shaved, monastic Ouat and xenophobic Pahmet dwarves of Osirion. The traditionalist Mbe'ke and totemist Taralu dwarves of the Mwangi Expanse are also a bit different from the stereotype.

!!Elves
Elves were one of the first races on Golarion but fought a losing war for space against the developing humans. Foreseeing the coming Earthfall, the majority of Elves fled for the sanctuary of Sovyrian, only to come back to protect their ancestral homes from the demon Treerazer.
----
* AncientAstronauts: Their refuge Sovyrian, where they bunkered down for a few thousand years to wait out the Earthfall, is actually on the neighbouring planet Castrovel and is accessed via PortalNetwork.
* ElvesVersusDwarves: Even less so than the dwarves themselves. While they look down on other races as immature children, they acknowledge the talents as a whole of said races, from Gnomish magical talent and Dwarven craft to even mere pity for Halflings and fascination with humans.
* HumanAliens: By now they've more or less assimilated into Golarian society along with the rest of the FantasyKitchenSink, but their species actually originates on the planet Castrovel.
* LongLived: The longest-lived of the common races by a large margin, second only to the luckiest of the Planetouched.
* MonochromaticEyes: Elf eyes are pretty much all iris.
* OurElvesAreBetter: They certainly like to think so, and consider YouAreACreditToYourRace high praise.
* {{Reincarnation}}: Their culture supports this belief, hoping for a final rebirth as creatures of the wild.
* TimeDissonance: Such that being raised in the company of [[WeAreAsMayflies shorter-lived races]] can leave them emotionally damaged.
* VestigialEmpire: They left it behind when they realized what a catastrophe Earthfall would be, were quite put out to return from Sovyrian to find their old lands occupied by humans, and have had only occasional success in reclaiming parts of their territory since.

!!Gnomes
Gnomes were originally from the First World, a Fey-dominated realm that was the SuperPrototype for the Material Plane. It is currently unknown why they were exiled to the Material.
----
* BigOlEyebrows: Their eyebrows routinely extend well past their temples, sticking far out into the air.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Even when they have Good or Evil alignments, Gnomes tend to look at it differently than other races.
* CuriosityCausesConversion: One explanation for their migration to the mortal realm.
* {{Expy}}: Between their exaggerated proportions, technicolor hair and skin colors, and strange excitable personalities, they're essentially flesh and blood versions of 'human' [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppets]].
* {{Gonk}}: They can be this. It's mentioned that they often have oddly proportioned features; often eyes that are too big for their face and mouths that are too small.
* IceCreamKoan: A feat in ''Gnomes of Golarion'' allows gnome monks to befuddle combatants by reciting these.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: One of the gnomish racial weapons is the Battle Ladder. You heard that right.
* LandOfFaerie: Their homeland, the First World.
* OurGnomesAreWeirder: They actually have to be. They have to keep themselves interested and entertained at all times; once they start becoming bored, they go through a process known as the bleaching, which is often fatal. Yes, Gnomes can literally be bored to death.
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: One of their racial abilities lets them do this.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Boredom can literally drive them insane and kill them.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: They have a lot more variety than other species.

!!Halflings
Nobody really knows where Halflings come from. As far as even the Halflings themselves know, they have always lived in the shadow of Humanity. And that suits most of them just fine
----
* BeneathNotice: In many cases, living unobtrusively at the fringes of civilization is a survival mechanism for them.
* CreepyDoll: Invoked by a racial option.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Going back to the roots on this one; halflings are almost always barefoot in artwork.
* {{Hobbits}}: Pathfinder Halflings tend to be cheerful opportunists who prefer to avoid the limelight and the problems that come with it. In many Human nations, halflings are prized as servants and, in less enlightened kingdoms, slaves.
* IndyPloy: They tend to jump into situations and figure things out from there.
* OralTradition: Fables and folk histories are their cultural mainstays.
* SlaveRace: In Cheliax, Katapesh, and other locations they're most often found as slaves. It's mentioned in many parts of the world they're often servants.
* SufferTheSlings: Slings are a signature weapon for halflings.

!!Half-Elves
* BeneathNotice: In many cases, living unobtrusively at the fringes of civilization is a survival mechanism for them.
* BlessedWithSuck:
** Zig-zagged in-game: whether their heritage brings pride or shame depends on the region and the author.
** From a meta perspective, half-elves have exclusive access to the ''Paragon Surge'' spell, which can be exploited to [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] effect.
* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Elves view their human traits as an obstacle. Humans view them as a way to link the social bridge between them.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Though they're now a true breeding race in themselves.
* UnevenHybrid: In-universe, many "half"-elves are actually born to ''human'' parents who just both happened to have faint elven heritage, although they still count as full half-elven characters from a gameplay perspective and keep most of the same traits from their elven blood that ordinary half-elves get (including long lives), with the exception of perceptive ability.

!!Half-Orcs
* ChildByRape: Emphasized, but [[InterspeciesRomance not the only way]] they emerge in this setting -- in fact, no major NPC Half-Orc is a result of rape.
* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Zig-zagged. They are often looked at as no different from pureblooded Orcs by other societies, but while they lack the sheer strength and endurance of those same Orcs to thrive in their war-like society, they are still valued for potential cleverness by their beastly forefathers.
* NotQuiteDead: Can still stand even at negative hit points for one more round after their hit points go to zero. With the "Ferocious Resolve" feat, this crosses into {{Determinator}}, allowing them to keep fighting on [[BeyondTheImpossible even as their life goes into the negative numbers]].

!!Humans
* HumansAreAverage: As expected, they're pretty much the "default" race and don't have any unique race traits. Later material eventually did give them unique alternate race traits.
* HumansAreSpecial: As with ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', notable for being able to take an additional feat and able to fit into any class. Also, there are a handful of other, non-human races descended from them, such as Skum or Gillmen.
* JackOfAllStats: Humans are regarded as basically the best race in Pathfinder since their versatility lends them well to every class -- though there are some cases where specific races have special class synergies that top humans.
* ReallyGetsAround: As a species, anyway. Our racial 'superpower' seems to be an ability to breed with, [[MegaManning and assimilate the magical or physical traits from]], almost anything.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Featured Races]]
!!Aasimar
Humanoids touched by the blood or power of benevolent divine beings and imbued with some of their strength.
----
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: They tend to be Good-aligned and exceptionally, even preternaturally, pretty. One racial trait exploits and subverts the trope by making an Aasimar so angelic and innocent-looking that it gives them a huge edge in lying to people.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: A common StartOfDarkness for aasimar villains is being harassed by superstitious people with a limited grasp of what their parentage actually means for blessings they can't grant and getting... unhappy when they don't.
* LightIsGood: Zig-zagged. Their [[LightEmUp magic]], aesthetics, and morality lean strongly this way by default, but the ones who [[LightIsNotGood fall to evil]] tend to be exceptionally depraved.
* MysticalPregnancy: Some Aasimar are the result of a Good god answering a devout follower's prayer for a child.
* SemiDivine: Most are distantly descended from Good-aligned outsiders like Angels.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: The otherworldly beauty of Aasimars can lead to this, depending on how the people treat them.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Evil-aligned aasimar find they can metaphorically (and sometimes literally) get away with murder.

!!Catfolk (Amurrrun)
A race of anthropomorphic cats.
----
* CatGirl: While they have a Charisma bonus, the official artwork flip-flops between this trope...
* BeastFolk: ...and this one.
* DependingOnTheArtist: As mentioned, catfolk have yet to be consistently represented in artwork. They vary between the cat girl trope, one that is more evocative of the [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Khajiit]], and one that looks like something out of WesternAnimation/ThunderCats. James Jacobs, the creative lead, prefers the cat-girl look, but fan opinion is mixed. ''Inner Sea Races'' seems to have worked this inconsistency into the species' lore, saying that catfolk can run the whole spectrum mentioned above, "varying wildly between regions or even between families".

!!Dhampirs
Half-alive children of vampires and mortals.
----
* DarkAndTroubledPast: As a rule. Most cause their mothers' DeathByChildbirth and are ostracized by society from then on.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Downplayed. They are ''not'' AlwaysChaoticEvil, but their undead legacy and the FantasticRacism they tend to suffer mean a lot of them have a good chance of succumbing to evil. Some, however, do resist and turn out well.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Without the "Dayborn" alternate race trait, Dhampirs are left dazzled by daylight.
* {{Dhampyr}}: Gee, who would've guessed?
* FantasticRacism: They get it pretty bad.
* ReviveKillsZombie: Like their undead forefathers, positive channeled energy can leave a nasty sting, even kill them, while negative channeled energy heals them.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: A common motivation for evil Dhampir.

!!Drow
The descendants of the elves who chose not to flee the planet before Earthfall. They were forced underground and eventually were corrupted by the forces of the Darklands and their growing hatred of their kin who left.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. The Advanced Race Guide states that ''most'' fit this trope, but actual character creation [[GameplayAndStorySegregation doesn't give alignment limits]]. In theory, the drow species as a whole is evil by nature [[spoiler: due to being elves that were transformed by the evil in their own nature (the Second Darkness Adventure Path actually shows this happening)]], but it's possible for a (second generation or later) Drow to be non-evil. The tricky part is surviving in Drow society long enough to reach adulthood and escape. Most non-evil Drow are found out and either killed or turned into Driders long before then.
* BodyHorror: Their fleshwarping does this to anyone unlucky enough to be caught by them.
* CardCarryingEvil: These guys developed Vegepygmies so that even their ''vegetables'' could be made to suffer.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Without the "Surface Infiltrator" alternate race trait, Drow, like Dhampirs, are left dazzled by daylight.
* ScrewYouElves: They hate all non-Drow, but their dislike of surface elves tends to be most noteworthy.

!!Fetchlings
Descendants of Humans who traveled to or were trapped in the Plane of Shadow.
----
* CastingAShadow: They have in-born shadow magic that lets them LieToTheBeholder and eventually shift into the Plane of Shadow.
* CreepilyLongArms: Artwork of the male and female Fetchling show their arms are ''incredibly'' long, reaching past their knees.
* DoNotCallMePaul: Many Fetchlings consider the term fetchling an insult and prefer the term 'kayal', which means 'shadow people'. The reason behind this is that the term 'fetchling' was given to them by humans who saw them as tools to 'fetch' unique and rare resources from the Shadow Plane. However, many Fetchlings do work as merchants and tradesmen between the Material Plane and the Shadow Plane which just fuels the term and the way humans might still see them.
* {{Expy}}: Conceptually they're similar to D&D's shadar-kai and shades in origin, if not in personality.
* HumanSubspecies: Magically changed, but still descended from humans.
* StealthExpert: They're humans who were trapped in the Shadow Plane and developed an affinity to it, eventually becoming another planar-themed human offshoot.

!!Goblins
* AbusiveParents: The goblin approach to parenthood consists of tossing their newborns into a central cage and leaving them there, sporadically throwing in food and water and only letting them out when they've grown into physical adults. Fortunately, goblin infants are born relatively self-sufficient, but even so, the neglect they undergo results in many infant goblins starving to death or being cannibalized by their siblings.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Not ''always'', but there's a definite trend.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Even during combat.
* BigBeautifulWomen: They consider obesity to be a sign of female beauty. Which, given both their primitive culture makes access to food unpredictable and their hyperactive metabolisms make it hard for them to keep weight on, is one of the most logical things about goblins.
* ChaoticStupid: As much so as they are StupidEvil. The basic description of goblins in Golarion portrays them as essentially entire race of deranged toddlers with a sadistic streak and ''extremely'' bad [=ADHD=]. Games Masters are even encouraged to portray goblins doing random stupid things in the middle of a fight, like suddenly running off after a bug/frog, stopping to pick their nose, or charging off at another goblin for a punch-up or a BurpingContest.
* ExtremeOmnivore: If you are not a Goblin, you are a source of food. Even the most obviously inedible of organic matter will be given a cursory nibble.
* FetusTerrible: Goblins are born with a full set of teeth and an appetite for meat, to the point that pregnant goblins secrete a hormone that makes their flesh unbearably bitter less to keep themselves from being eaten by predators and more to stop their unborn children from chewing their own way out of the womb!
* {{Gonk}}: Complete with comically oversize heads, BaldOfEvil, RedEyesTakeWarning, and MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily.
* ImAHumanitarian: Human flesh is a goblin delicacy.
* LaughablyEvil: While they are as malicious as the bigger goblinoids, they tend to be much more comical, hedonistic, and scatterbrained about it.
* ManBitesMan: Goblin gnashers are pretty extreme anyway, but there's a racial trait that gives goblins a full-fledged Bite attack as a natural weapon. They even have their own racial Barbarian archetype, the Feral Gnasher, that ''specializes'' in biting its enemies to death.
* MonstrousCannibalism: Goblin flesh is pretty much the primary food source for goblins.
* PsychopathicManchild: Particularly in their more comedic portrayals. They're vicious little airheads who take a childlike joy in songs, games and setting things on fire.
* PyroManiac: They love fire and have several abilities (and an [[MadBomber alchemist archetype]]) dedicated to their love of making things burn or explode.
* StupidEvil: They're often portrayed as manic vermin who usually do themselves in by sheer idiocy halfway through their natural lifespan. With [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny nonexistent attention spans]], [[AttackAttackAttack no grasp of tactics]], and [[NoHonorAmongThieves no regard for each other's well-being]], they tend to deal hefty FriendlyFire before they even reach their targets and [[DirtyCoward abandon each other]] as soon as something spooks them -- a poor strategy to pursue a violent grudge against almost every other species.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Pickles. Salt is one of the few flavors that goblins can actually taste effectively, and so they're absolutely addicted to anything with a strong salty flavor. Goblins will shove ''anything'' into brine and proceed to eat it, resulting in rather stomach-turning pickling experiments.

!!Hobgoblins
Larger, tougher, and meaner cousins of goblins.
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* BaldOfEvil: Males and females alike, though the evil part is societal rather than inherent.
* EvilChancellor: Their write-up notes that they sometimes take legitimate jobs as advisers or warmasters, but even there, they constantly scheme to pull their employers into more wars and conflicts.
* NonIndicativeName: The word "Hob" in English pertains to impish creatures; "hobgoblin" therefore, was traditionally an impish goblin, while true goblins were human-sized.
** Since ''Pathfinder'' descends from ''D&D'', which was written by [[Creator/GaryGygax people with a tentative understanding of European folklore at best]] and which took a great deal of inspiration from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', which largely made the same mistake, the misnomer stuck, and "Goblins" became the diminutive guys while "Hobgoblins" became the taller, smarter cousins.
** However, Hob (usually Old Hob) has also been a nickname or euphemism for the Devil, and ''Pathfinder''[='=]s Hobgoblins were, according to in-universe speculation, a creation of the long-disappeared Devil Canzoriant, who wanted something more robust and obedient for his slave warriors.
* ProudWarriorRace: Their entire society is organized around their military.
* TheSpartanWay: Their childhoods aren't fun.

!!Ifrits
Humanoids who are distantly related to beings from the Plane of Fire, such as the Efriiti Fire Genies.
----
* {{Expy}}: Of fire genasi.
* PersonalityPowers: They tend to be both literally and metaphorically hot-headed.
* PlayingWithFire: They can do this as a spell-like ability.

!!Kobolds
Short, profoundly unpleasant reptilian humanoids with delusions of grandeur.
----
* AbsoluteXenophobe: For the most part, other species are to be tormented, killed, avoided, or distracted with flattery until they slip up.
* CombatPragmatist: Since one-on-one melee combat usually turns out badly for kobolds, they love to use ambushes, traps, skirmish tactics, and the advantage of numbers.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: ''[[AllThereInTheManual Kobolds of Golarion]]'' states that while kobolds are weak, they should never be underestimated. There are [[ZergRush a lot of them]], [[VillainTeamUp they work marvelously well together]], they're the ultimate {{Trap Master}}s, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they taste too terrible]] [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth for Darklands predators to eat them.]]
* DraconicHumanoid: While they are reptilian humanoids, they boast about how they are more related to dragons.
* DirtyCoward: Their hat. Although with proper characterization, they can be promoted to LovableCoward since they're more pathetic than obnoxious.
* LongLived: Well not as LongLived as the Elves, Kobold life expectancy is usually 30 - 40 years, but some can live up to 140 years if they survive.
* SmallNameBigEgo: They like to play up their draconic heritage in order to compensate for their obvious inferiority to their actual dragon ancestors. It's a big sore point.
* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: An entirely literal example: apparently they taste too terrible for even the predators in the Darklands to eat them.
* TrapMaster: Their specialty. Kobold lairs are almost always riddled with traps, and they have several racial bonuses and archetypes to help with trapmaking.

!!Orcs
Ancestral enemies of the Dwarves, they were driven to the surface before the advancing Dwarves in their Quest for the Sky, and have been a scourge on the surface ever since. On Golarion, most live in the hold of Belkizen.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Being pretty much the TropeCodifier, they usually suffer from this, mostly due to having Evil Gods and [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Demon Princes]] as patrons.
* ArchEnemy: Dwarves; their oldest and most hated enemy, the dwarves have shattered orc empires both above and below ground.
* AxCrazy: The greataxe is a favoured weapon and synergizes well with their brute strength.
* BloodKnight: Their culture revolves around combat.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Of course, there's an alternate racial trait to avert this, like others, described as the result of an Orc staring into the sun for long periods rather than "be defeated" by it.
* {{Determinator}}: Similar case to Half-Orcs, but don't need an additional feat to keep fighting.
* DumbMuscle: They receive the second highest strength bonus out of any race in the game, surpassed only by the trox. They also receive penalties to ''all'' mental scores.
* FantasticRacism: They view elves and dwarves with hatred and resentment, halflings and gnomes with hatred and contempt, and humans with plain hatred.
* ProudWarriorRace: Of {{Blood Knight}}s, though they tend to view things like honor and loyalty as getting in the way of brute force.
* WorthyOpponent: They see humans as this, partly because they see them as being [[HumansAreBastards just as blood thirsty]] as they are.

!!Oreads
A Planetouched race distantly descended from earth elementals and Shatian Genies.
----
* BewareTheQuietOnes: They tend to be quiet and reserved, but almost unstoppable when provoked.
* DishingOutDirt: And all the variants thereof, depending on racial traits, due to their own heritage from the Plane of Earth.
* {{Expy}}: Of earth genasi, down to the dwarven ancestry.
* NonHumanHumanoidHybrid: Not quite, but close. A significant portion of oreads are descended from dwarves instead of humans.

!!Ratfolk
Child-sized, quick-witted anthropomorphic rats.
----
* AscendedExtra: The Ysoki, alien ratfolk from Akiton, are a core race in ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.
* BashBrothers: As part of the below trope and their "Swarming" racial trait, it's possible for a pair of Ratfolk to go BackToBackBadasses and use a teamwork feat to draw weapons from ''each other's'' gear.
* CloseKnitCommunity: They resolve conflicts to be mutually beneficial among their people if it can be helped, and care deeply for their kin. They even get a racial trait that allows a pair to share the same square.
* {{Expy}}: Their original Bestiary entry makes them one for [[Franchise/StarWars Jawas]].
* PlagueMaster: The Plague Bringer Alchemist, their AnimalStereotype archetype.
* RatMen: As one would expect.
* ThinkingUpPortals: Ratfolk created a special discipline of [[PsychicPowers psychic magic]] called Ranatagi, which allows them to detect and manipulate rifts in reality. The most gifted practitioners were said to [[MassTeleportation guide entire caravans across vast reaches of space]] [[InterplanetaryVoyage to distant worlds,]] which would explain their presence on Akiton, Golarion, and Castrovel.
* UndergroundMonkey: The ratfolk from Akiton, called Ysoki, have red fur but are otherwise identical to their Golarion-born cousins.
* YouDirtyRat: Averted. They tend towards neutrality and have close family ties. Some actually are so against the AnimalStereotype they get an alternate race trait for it.

!!Sylphs
One of the Planetouched races, with air elementals and/or Djinn in their ancestry.
----
* BlowYouAway: Descended from Humans and those from the Plane of Air, they have a limited connection to weather and air, including limited use of Feather Fall as a spell-like ability.
* {{Expy}}: Of air genasi.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: Their usual strategy when someone strikes their interest.

!!Tengus
Crow-like, bird-headed humanoids.
----
* BirdPeople: Hunched-over crow people, normally lacking wings.
* FantasticRacism: They receive this, being one of the beastly races that, while not actively chased out of town, are only just tolerated.
* GoodLuckCharm: They've cultivated a reputation as "Jinx Eaters" among Inner Sea pirates who believe that they soak up the bad luck from people around them. They exploit this to get a measure of acceptance and protection.
* MasterSwordsman: They are trained from birth with every kind of blade, and considered proficient with all sword-like weapons.
* PowerGivesYouWings: The "Tengu Wings" racial feat in a nutshell.
* {{Shapeshifting}}: Two racial feats grant them this ability: one allows them to become long-nosed humans, the other allows them to become ''Large'' crows... though the latter requires Tengu Wings first.

!!Tieflings
The flip side of Aasimars, Tieflings are touched by Fiendish origins, whether directly descended from a Demon, the result of a DealWithTheDevil, or simply tainted by unholy energy in the womb.
----
* CastingAShadow: One of their racial powers is to create magical darkness.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite their unsettling nature and darkness-related powers, they have no innate tie to their ancestors' evil and are free to choose their path in life. That said...
* DeathByChildbirth: Qlippoth-spawn are notorious for almost always killing their mothers on the way out.
* FantasticRacism: Tieflings get this worse than just about every other race in the game.
* HornedHumanoid: Most tieflings, especially those with demonic heritage.
* HumanoidAbomination: Qlippoth-spawn tieflings, also known as the Motherless, have a tendency to look like these.

!!Undines
Planetouched creatures descended in part from water elementals and Marids (Water Genies).
----
* {{Expy}}: Of water genasi.
* FishPeople: How they're usually portrayed, which contrasts considerably compared to the other elemental plane-touched races but harkens back to some early depictions of water genasi from Planescape. Despite this, they can't all actually breathe underwater.
* MakingASplash: They can use Hydraulic Push as a spell-like ability and are descended from creatures native to the Plane of Water.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Uncommon Races]]
!!Changelings
Changelings are secretly conceived by Hags from mortal fathers. When they grow up, their mothers call them back to complete their transformation. Not all of them are willing.
----
* ChildByRape: Hags tend to take mates by trickery or by force.
* FemmeFatalons: Changelings have dangerously sharp fingernails.
* HalfHumanHybrid: The offspring of human men and hags.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: Changelings are essentially the "larval" version of hags. Though some resist the call, most end up succumbing to the lure of power and transform into hags like their mothers.
* MismatchedEyes: The easiest way to figure out if someone is a changeling is to check their eye color -- all changelings have mismatched eyes.
* OneGenderRace: All changelings are female.
* ParentalAbandonment: The standard procedure for hags is to leave their children for someone else to rear. If the changeling is lucky, she ends up HappilyAdopted and her birth mother never comes back.
* WitchSpecies: Though they don't ''have'' to become Hags or even witches.

!!Duergar
The ancestors of Duergar were those Dwarves who refused to undertake the Quest for the Sky. Most of them fell to worshiping Droskar, the god of endless toil.
----
* BaldOfEvil: Unlike surface dwarves, they can't grow hair on their scalps.
* DealWithTheDevil: After centuries of losing battles against [[DeathWorld Darklands]] monsters drove [[TheRemnant the dwarven remnant]] to the [[DarkestHour brink of extinction]], Droskar offered them survival in exchange for their absolute obedience. They reclaimed much of their empire with his backing, at the cost of becoming the Duergar.
* FantasticRacism: They despise surface Dwarves above all others and usually kill them on sight, though they hate Drow almost as much.
* {{Invisibility}}: Most Duergar can go invisible as a spell-like ability.
* MadeOfIron: Some can also use the Ironskin ability.

!!Gillmen
The mutated offspring of the few Azlanti to survive Earthfall.
----
* FishPeople: Some official art depicts gillmen as this, though text suggests they actually look more like average humans, albeit with purple eyes and gills on their necks.
* SlaveRace: Remnants of the Azlanti who were mutated and enslaved by the Aboleths after they destroyed the Azlanti Empire during the Earthfall.

!!Grippli
Frog-people that tend to live in marshes. Distantly related to Boggards.
----
%%* FrogMen:
* PettingZooPeople: Literally two-and-a-half-feet-tall bipedal frogs.

!!Kitsune

* CunningLikeAFox: They have a reputation for trickery, often well-earned.
* {{Humanshifting}}: Regardless of class, they can each take a specific, single human form of the same sex as them as a standard action. The Realistic Likeness feat upgrades this ability, allowing them to copy others' appearances.
* {{Kitsune}}: Including a feat for growing additional tails, which can be taken eight times and grants more spell-like abilities with each tail.
* LovableRogue: Arguably, their Rogue Racial Archetype ''runs'' on exploiting this view. The Kitsune Tricksters use their guile and charms to get what they want.
* PettingZooPeople: Their base forms are human-sized, anthropomorphic foxes.

!!Merfolk

* AbsoluteXenophobe: While they generally don't seek out other species to kill, they defend their own territories mercilessly.
* OddFriendship: With the ''[[EldritchAbomination aboleth]]'', of all things.
* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Amphibious, but otherwise fairly standard.

!!Nagaji
Snake-like, scaled people.
----
* DumbMuscle: Nagaji have a racial bonus to Strength, a penalty to Intelligence, and a lack of understanding for logic and education.
* LizardFolk: Technically speaking, snakefolk. Lizardfolk are a monster race in the Pathfinder setting.
* PoisonousPerson: Some nagaji are capable of spitting venom.
* ServantRace: According to legend, nagaji were created by the naga as servants. [[HappinessInSlavery They claim to be okay with it.]]

!!Samsarans
A group of blue-skinned humanoids who reincarnate rather than reproduce conventionally.
----
* AlienBlood: It looks like water.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A common reaction to their reincarnation is to see it as a curse, much like the Rakshasa. They disagree.
* Expy: Built to function as expies to magical Tibetan Buddist monks.
* {{Reincarnation}}: Samsarans reincarnate in an eternal cycle in search of enlightenment. Each time they are reincarnated, they [[PastLifeMemories retain some faint memories of their past life,]] but might have a vastly different personality.

!!Strix
Black-skinned {{Winged Humanoid}}s who primarily live on isolated peaks and mountain ranges around Cheliax.
----
* CloseKnitCommunity: Despite their bad reputations.
* TheExile: A Strix PC is likely to be this as they otherwise generally don't venture far from their mountains, but as it turns out the whole of the Inner Sea strix community views themselves this way; their mythology holds that they were banished from their homeland in Arcadia by the gods -- likely the Syrinx -- for some unknown offense, and that all of the misfortune they've suffered since is the result of this curse.
* FantasticRacism: Strix loathe humans due to having been hunted by them to near extinction.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: This is part of their philosophy; they rarely attack first, but take great vengeance against any offense, such as killing dozens of humans to avenge the death of a single strix. This hasn't done anything to help relations between the two races.
* SlaveRace: Originally bred to be this by the Syrinx.

!!Sulis
Sulis are typically descended from the multi-elemental genies known as Jann.
----
* ElementalPowers: Sulis get their pick of these.
* PowerFist: Sulis can sheath their hands (or the weapons held in them) in any of the four classical elements.

!!Svirfneblin
An offshoot of the gnomes, inhabiting the subterranean Darklands.
----
* BlackAndGreyMorality: They fight against the myriad horrors that dwell in [[BeneathTheEarth the Darklands]], but they don't particularly care about those who dwell above them.
* ScrewYouElves: Averted. They're the underground version of Gnomes the same way Drow are to Elves, but they're not evil and don't hate gnomes. They do hate Dwarves though, especially the Duergar (and aren't fond of Drow, either).

!!Vanaras
* BeastFolk: Monkey-like, to be precise.
* PrehensileTail: One of their tricks.
* SmallAnnoyingCreature: The explanation of their charisma penalty
* StealthPun: They are good at roguish roles, making them skill monkeys.

!!Vishkanyas
* BlankWhiteEyes: Whether they have these or HellishPupils varies DependingOnTheArtist, but either way they are usually the only noticeable tell that they are not human.
* PoisonousPerson: Vishkanya have poisonous fangs, and delight in coating their weapons with a layer of poisonous saliva before attacking.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Averted, oddly, and some sourcebooks go as far in the other direction as SnakesAreSexy (Justified since they're based on seductive assassin-courtesans in India historical legends).
* SupernaturalGoldEyes: One of their defining traits, alongside the scales.

!!Wayangs
Gnome-like creatures native to the Plane of Shadow.
----
* CastingAShadow: They even have a bard archetype built around shadow puppetry.
* CoveredInScars: It's part of their body art.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Their philosophy of Dissolution strives to merge with the Shadow, but they tend to be shy, averse to conflict, and uninterested in the extremes of Evil (or Good, for that matter).
* HiddenElfVillage: When not in the Shadow Plane, they try quite hard to avoid notice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other Races]]
!!Androids
Creations of the technologically advanced society of Androffa, androids are a race of {{Artificial Human}}s (quite literally-the Androffans are as human as Golarian's own) with subdued emotions and symbiotic colonies of nanites living in their blood. The androids of Golarion were the crew and constructions of a spaceship that crashed on Golarion long ago after a battle with the mysterious alien empire known as the Dominion of the Black. Unsure of their origins and unlike any other lifeform on Golarion, the androids now make their own way in the world.
----
* ArtificialHuman: The most notable aspect of them. The difference between them and normal humans is Androids are often depicted as unusually pale (almost white), with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unnatural hair colors]] and TronLines on them.
* AscendedExtra: They are one of the core races of ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.
* MarkedChange: When the tattoos that cover their body start to glow, that means that they've activated the nanites in their blood, giving them a huge bonus to one roll.
* MechanicalLifeforms: Androids are RidiculouslyHumanRobots, "bleed" [[AlienBlood watery coolant]] and even have souls. There are multiple times that reinforce that Androids are purely synthetic {{Artificial Human}}s, but respond to healing magic and have souls as organic creatures do. They breathe and eat much as humans do, but through artificial organs, and they circulate their healing nanites like blood through their bodies via pale fluids. They are inexhaustible, immune to diseases and resistant to other biological effects, and fortified against mental effects, but also suffer the same maladies and vulnerabilities of constructs and are susceptible to supernatural curses, including [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot lycanthropy]].
* TheNthDoctor: Inverted, the same body is host to a succession of different people.
* {{Reincarnation}}: Inverted. When an android dies of old age, it's nanites go into an accelerated repair mode. But once the body is repaired just like new, a brand new soul will come to inhabit it. They call this "renewal".
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: So Ridiculously Human they aren't actually constructs! They can generally pass as human despite "[[TheStoic awkward]] [[NotGoodWithPeople mannerisms]]," but [[AlienBlood bleed watery coolant]]. Moreover, they actually have souls.
* TronLines: These cover their bodies when they use their nanites.

!!Astomi
Mysterious, psychically inclined humanoids introduced in Bestiary 5.
----
* TheBlank: They have no faces; no eyes, no mouth. They absorb all nutrients through the air and 'see' the world with their telepathy.
* {{Telepathy}}: Their only means of communication being that they have no mouths; the substitute thought components for verbal components in spells.

!!Caligni
Dark folk, remnants of the Azlanti driven underground eons ago; Caligni is both an umbrella term occasionally used by the dark folk themselves for the various dark folk subraces such as stalkers, creepers, and dancers, and a term for the unique variant that are suitable as player characters.
----
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: While not blinded by the light, they are dazed in bright light.
* TheExile: Caligni often end up suffering an unfortunate accident before adulthood (apparently they tend to end up annoying the powers that be) unless they anticipate this and leave first. This is naturally an excuse for a caligni PC to be where the other [=PCs=] are, and for the GM to introduce complications into the PC's life.
* {{Expy}}: They're basically to humans what drow are to elves, though not quite as bad. They're also not dissimilar to fetchlings but remain humanoid as opposed to being outsiders.
* HumanSubspecies: Dark Folk, in general, are this; humans altered by the extraplanar Owb into creatures of shadow after having fled Earthfall; they're not so monstrous or degenerate as the morlocks, but are still usually malevolent. Caligni specifically are genetic throwbacks among Dark Folk; they're closer to what the race was before the Owbs began breeding them into specialized subraces.
* InnateNightVision: All dark folk have the "see in darkness" ability, which allows them to see perfectly even in supernaturally dark places (which block the more typical darkvision).
* LightEmUp: Oddly for a race shrouded in darkness; when they die, they explode in a flash of light that blinds all those within five feet of them.
* TheQuisling: Evil caligni tend to be this, working closely with the Owbs who enslave their race.
* SlaveRace: To the Owbs. Caligni may rebel, or not.

!!Centaurs
Large, monstrous beings that possess human-like upper halves on the bodies of horses (or other creatures).
----
* NobleSavage: Theirs is an ancient, aloof culture that struggles to come to terms with the modern world -- perhaps because of their habit of summarily running off anybody who enters their lands.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Some tribes have horse ''heads'' as well as lower halves.

!!Deep One Hybrids
Yes, now you too can play as the degenerate spawn of Dagon.
----
* CthulhuMythos: And you can be a part of it.
* FishPeople: {{Exp|y}}ies of the trope codifier.
* HalfHumanHybrid: The offspring of humans and Deep Ones.
* InTheBlood: Played with. The hybrids' ''bodies'' are condemned to turn into full deep ones... but given how it's stated the transformation actually ''kills them'', it's implied the hybrid and the deep one born from their corpse are two different beings, although the fact that said transformation is stated to work like the ''reincarnate'' spell somewhat muddies the waters on the matter.
* {{Metamorphosis}}: Similar to Changelings, they're the larval stage of the deep ones. Deep One hybrids have it worse, though. While Changelings can avoid their fates by simply ignoring the call of their mothers, the only way for a hybrid to escape their fate is to die before sixty; otherwise, they've got a year at most to live before their body [[PainfulTransformation agonizingly reforms]] into a Deep One.
* PublicDomainCharacter: The entire race is lifted from the works of Creator/HPLovecraft.

!!Driders
Drow that have been magically fused with spiders through the process of Drow fleshwarping.
----
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Female driders' upper bodies look just like their drow bodies, and their lower bodies resemble black widows and other slender spiders. Males, however... their upper bodies are ''mostly'' normal, except for their faces -- they have mandibles instead of mouths. Males' lower bodies also resemble bulkier, hairier tarantulas.
* CursedWithAwesome: If they can escape their drow masters and claim their freedom, they get to enjoy an impressively powerful body.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: A spider's lower body and a dark elf's torso and head (with the head having strongly arachnid features in the males).
* SpiderPeople: Females are a fairly standard take on this trope, being centaurine beings with a humanoid drow body above a spider's lower body. Males are spiderlike in their upper bodies too, however: their faces are distinctly arachnoid, with spider mandibles and multiple eyes. They're also an artificial race made by fusing a drow and a spider, although unlike other fleshwarps they can breed true, and have established self-sustaining populations in the Darklands.
* SuperHumanTrafficking: Many driders are created from drow as a punishment -- earned or not, drow being [[AlwaysChaoticEvil drow]] -- and promptly enslaved.

!!Ganzi
Similar to aasimar and tieflings, Ganzi are humanoids who've been affected by one of the outer planes; in their case, the swirling chaos of the Maelstrom. Unlike other native outsiders, they aren't the result of intermingling between mortals and outsiders(in their case it would be Proteans) but rather the result of mutation in mortals who reside close to fonts of pure chaos.
----
* BodyHorror: Some ganzi are unlucky in their mutations and end up like this, missing major features such as eyes or ears.
* EyeColorChange: Ganzi eyes and hair are constantly but slowly shifting in color over the course of weeks or months. This isn't so much related to mood or appearance, just an expression of their chaotic and mutable natures.
* {{Mutants}}: No two ganzi are exactly the same; each one manifests their chaotic mutation differently. This can lead to some BlessedWithSuck cases.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: They have the power to influence probability. In game terms, this means once per day they can force any creature to re-roll a single d20 roll.

!!Gathlains
Small Fey humanoids with wings made up of a symbiotic woody plant.
----
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: They're pretty much your standard fairy, but with plant wings.
* PlantPerson: While the Gathlain itself is made of regular flesh, it's impossible to separate the plant symbiont from the fey.

!!Ghorans
Humanoid plants originally created by human wizards as a source of food, ghorans attained sentience and have become a culture unto themselves.
----
* AnthropomorphicFood: The intelligent humanoid descendants of magically bioengineered mobile vegetables.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: ''Inner Sea Races'' explains that their psychology is fairly alien to most humanoids; they don't experience emotion in the same way we do, and their thought process, in general, is completely different.
* DyingRace: Ghorans lack the ability to reproduce naturally; the only way to make a new ghoran is for an existing ghoran to plant its seed in the ground and then die. Ghorans can, however, be permanently killed if their seed is destroyed, and this is often done by those who illegally harvest ghorans for food and don't want to be identified by the ghoran once it is reborn. As a result, the ghoran population has only shrunk since their race was created.
* {{Expy}}: While not one to one, they do have some similarities with [[VideoGame/GuildWars2 Sylvari]].
* FantasticRacism: They're the victims of it; they aren't recognized as people in most of the world and are looked at as a food product. In the one nation that does acknowledge them an give them some rights, they're still second class citizens at best and are often preyed upon and sold on the black market.
* PlantPerson: Shelled, tree-like people, specifically.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: They can invoke this option by sprouting a seed that germinates into their replacement if they're killed.
* SlaveRace: They were harvested as food for centuries in their homeland of Nex. Currently, they're afforded citizenship and rights there, but this doesn't extend very far beyond, so they're forced to remain in the one nation that knows how delicious they are.
* TookALevelInBadass: The artwork for them in ''Inner Sea Bestiary'' was well done but made them look fairly harmless. ''Inner Sea Races'' and ''Bestiary 5'' make them look much more formidable.
* WeAreAsMayflies: Resurrection notwithstanding, an individual Ghoran body lasts only about twenty years at most before they die and are reborn.
* YouTasteDelicious: Their flavor is so good as to be a drawback in combat -- one of their special abilities, "Delicious", means that opponents that bite them get a bonus against being shaken off.

!!Gnolls
Humanoid hyenas, infamous for their savagery and laziness.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: They tend to be portrayed this way, though some exceptions exist.
* BeastFolk: Leaning more towards the "animal with generally humanoid anatomy" than the "human with animal features" side of this trope, they are bipedal hyenas with human-like arms and opposable thumbs.
* LazyBum: Their laziness is their defining attribute.
* PetTheDog: In spite of being cannibalistic demon-worshipping monsters, gnolls are often fiercely loyal to their 'pack', and many become depressed or unhinged without one. This is often given as a reason for gnolls to become adventurers: to find a new family.
* MadeASlave: They tend to be extremely lazy, and take slaves of other species to do the necessary but tedious work they refuse to do themselves.
* WeAreAsMayflies: Most gnolls never live past the age of thirty-five, dying either violent deaths or withering away in a horrifically rapid fashion. Theorized to be due to their connection with the demon Lamashtu.

!!Kasatha
Four-armed aliens from a barbaric desert world who were brought to Golarion in the same spaceship that spawns the androids.
----
* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.
* {{Expy}}: As four armed desert dwelling nomads, they've often been called Pathfinder's answer to the thri-keen.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Four arms.
* {{Multishot}}: Kasatha specialize in archery, and even have a ranger archetype that specializes in using two bows at once.

!!Kuru
A savage, cannibalistic race that inhabits the westernmost islands of the Shackles.
----
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: They're essentially the Shackles' answer to orcs.
* CannibalTribe: Pathfinder's answer to the trope.
* BodyPaint: A distinctive quality of theirs; it might be {{blood|IsTheNewblack}} though.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: They're sensitive to the light.
* FaceHeelTurn: They were once a peaceful race, native to the Shackles. They were driven to the Cannibal Isles by encroaching pirates, and the Blood Queen's influence turned them into what they are today.
* HumanSacrifice: They're practitioners.
* IAmAHumanitarian: The islands they inhabit are even known as "the Cannibal Isles".
* ManBitesMan: They have a natural bite attack and gain temporary hit points from consuming the blood of their enemies.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Their eyes are naturally solid red.
* ReligionOfEvil: They worship a monstrous entity known as the Blood Queen.

!!Lashunta
Telepathic aliens from the planet Castrovel that resemble humanoids with antennae.
----
* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Female Lashunta are tall, lithe, commanding, and graceful, male Lashunta are short, burly, brusque, and hirsute. ''Starfinder'' states that this is[=/=]was mostly due to rigid gender roles at this point in their history.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Female Lashunta look like "idealized human or elf women", are renowned for their beauty, and live on a hot planet that is most comfortable in minimal clothing. Subtle.
* ProudScholarRace: Lashunta are drawn to scholarly and magical pursuits and gain a bonus to Intelligence.
* PsychicPowers: They have minor telepathic abilities, which they can learn to amplify to aid their allies and BondCreatures, and their home planet is renowned for its psychics.
* RubberForeheadAliens: Their most alien feature is their antennae.
* SpaceElves: The women. The men are more like Space Dwarves.

!!Lizardfolk
Reptilian humanoids that reside in swamps and marshes.
----
* IAmAHumanitarian: Not as a general rule, but they don't mind making lunch out of humanoids who encroach on their turf.
* {{Lizardfolk}}: Well of course.
* NobleSavage: Lizardfolk society, while primitive by the quicker-breeding races' standards, has a great degree of cultural sophistication and artistic capability.
* SwampsAreEvil: Played with. Most reside in these locations and environments. But, while sometimes antagonistic towards outsiders, lizardfolk are more survival-focused than evil.

!!Monkey Goblins
A goblin subrace from Mediogalti Island off the coast of Garund, they're distinguished by their prehensile tails and tree-dwelling nature.
----
* HumanSacrifice: They're believed to practice it.
* PrehensileTail: Their defining attribute.
* {{Pyromaniac}}: Like regular goblins, they love them some fire. It's suspected that their current city is at least the fifth site to bear the name, the previous incarnations having been burned down by its inhabitants.
* ReligionOfEvil: They're suspected to be demon-worshipers.
* TreeTopTown: Ganda-Uj is an especially primitive example of this.

!!Munavri
A race of human-descended albinistic psychics who dwell BeneathTheEarth.
----
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Munavri do not handle bright light well, justified by their subterranean lifestyles and their albinism.
* HeroicAlbino: One of the few predominately good-aligned underground races.
* PurposelyOverpowered: Munavri are the most overpowered race not to have any racial hit dice; they gain bonuses to all of their ability scores, only taking a slight penalty to strength, and have a plethora of other bonuses, with only slight mechanical weaknesses. On the other hand, they live in an isolated cavern beneath the earth on a separate continent from where most of the action in Golarion takes place, meaning they are particularly impractical and implausible for them to be PC's in most adventures without a convoluted backstory.
* WitchSpecies: All munavri are psychic.

!!Orang-Pendak
A race of small, reclusive, apelike hunter-gatherers related to Sasquatches.
----
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: They're a smaller offshoot of the Sasquatch species.
* PettingZooPeople: They resemble small anthropomorphic orangutans.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: They get a strength bonus despite their small size.

!!Reptoids
Bipedal reptiles from another planet, or perhaps another plane.
----
* AlienInvasion: They're prepping for one.
* TheReptilians: Shapeshifting lizard aliens sent to infiltrate society, gain positions of power, and prepare for the invasion.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Like kitsune, they get one specific humanoid form they can transform into. Unlike kitsune, reptoids can alter their humanoid form with a week of preparation.

!!Shabti
A race of outsider-constructs that were introduced in the ''Mummy's Mask'' Adventure Path, they are created to bear the punishment of the sins of mortal kings.
----
* TheAgeless: They have biological immortality and will never die of old age, but can still be killed.
* ArtificialHuman: In theory, they could be artificial anything - just takes mortal kind with the proper magical know how to make one to take his place in the afterlife. As a result, they're biologically sterile and can't sexually reproduce.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Their skin comes in gold, ivory, ebony, and jade
* ChromeChampion: Superficially. Their gold skin is cool to the touch but isn't actually metal.
* TheScapegoat: Their purpose; kings will have them made so that they will be punished in the afterlife for the excesses of the mortals whose likeness they bear. This pisses Pharasma off to no end, and her agents free the Shabti wherever they are found.
* SculptedPhysique: They're created to look like idealized versions of mortals, appearing like living statues.

!!Skinwalkers
To lycanthropes as tieflings are to fiends and aasimar are to celestials.
----
* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Skinwalkers come in many variants, such as the werebear-blooded coldborn, the wereboar-blooded ragebred, the werecrocodile-blooded scalehearts, and the wereshark-blooded seascarred.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Played with. Skinwalkers aren't lycanthropes per se since they aren't sired by lycanthropes, but rather have one somewhere in their family tree.
* SkinWalker: To the point where skinwalkers are usually connected to [[EagleLand Arcadia]].
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Their Bestial form is less than that of a true lycanthrope's hybrid form, roughly coming off as LittleBitBeastly to BorderlinePettingZooPerson.

!!Syrinx
Cerebral, philosophical, wholly evil owl-like humanoids who seek to build a perfect enlightened culture -- with them at the top, and everyone else in chains.
----
* FantasticRacism: They believe that they have the right to mastery over every other race, especially the ones without wings.
* LightIsNotGood: A race of gold-feathered philosophers who desire to bring peace to all lands that they lay eyes upon. By conquering and enslaving them.
* OminousOwl: Of the anthropomorphic variety.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Their justification for mass enslavement.
* WickedCultured: Their culture highly values art and philosophy. It's also solidly LawfulEvil.

!!Triaxians(Ryphorians)
The natives of Triaxus, a planet in Golarion's solar system with a long, elliptical orbit that gives it decades-long seasons. Triaxus is primarily divided between the Drakelands, a continent dominated by evil Dragons, and the Allied Territories, who fight for their survival alongside good Dragons. In TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}, they are known as Ryphorians.
----
* BizarreAlienBiology: Triaxians are seasonally dimorphic: Summer and Winter on Triaxus last for several generations each, so the species has developed different-looking variants that are more suited to either summer or winter.
* DragonRider: Triaxians live with Dragonkin, lesser dragons with opposable thumbs that can form bonds with humanoids. Only the ones in the Allied Territories will, however.
* LittleBitBeastly: Triaxians have pointed ears, and in winter grow a coat of short fur, giving them a slightly catlike look.

!!Trox
A hulking subterranean insectoid race with a history of really bad neighbours.
----
* TheBigGuy: The only standard race to be in the "large" category.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Though scary in appearance and very short-tempered, their violent attitudes are due to a history of abuse, and they were originally agents of the Forever Queen of Nchak, a LawfulGood deity, before they were enslaved.
* DumbMuscle: They're very big and very strong, but they also have a penalty to all their mental ability scores.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: They have four smaller arms that they use for grappling.
* SlaveRace: The descendants of a docile race who were enslaved by the Duergar and bred to be brutes. Some escaped to the surface... where more races wanted to enslave them.
* SuperStrength: Trox outdo Orcs by having a natural +6 to their base strength.
* TunnelKing: The only 0 hit die race to have a burrow speed.
* UnstoppableRage: Any time Trox take damage, they go into a frenzy. It's basically a watered-down, minute-long rage, but it ''[[GameBreaker stacks with a Barbarian's Rage]].''

!!Vesk
A race of lizard-like aliens from a nearby solar system introduced in ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.
----
* AlienInvasion: Invaded Golarion's solar system many centuries ago, prompting the creation of the Pact Worlds.
* {{Expy}}: Pretty much a reptilian version of the [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingons]].
* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: For this reason, many non-warrior Vesk have defected from the Veskarium to live among [[TheFederation the Pact Worlds.]]
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Their race's [[PlanetOfHats hat]].
* TheReptilians: They look like a mix between iguanas and [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]].
* SpaceColdWar: Currently in one with the Pact Worlds.
* WeirdBeard: Their beards are made from spines.

!!Wyrwoods
Small wooden constructs created as assassins by a wizard, the wyrwoods killed their master and stole the secret of creating more of their kind.
----
* ArtificialIntelligence: Designed as living servants by the Azlanti.
* CaptainErsatz: Of ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'s'' Warforged.
* FantasticRacism: The people of the Inner Sea don't recognize them as sentient or deserving of rights, so they primarily stick to their own holdings in Arcadia.

!!Wyvarans
A rare winged offshoot of kobolds, whose closer association with dragons gives them great prestige among their people.
----
* BewareMyStingerTail: Inherited from their wyvern ancestry.
* DraconicHumanoid: They're crossbreeds of kobolds and wyverns, which gives them something of a canine look, only with scales and dragon wings.
* DragonHoard: Like most dragonkin, they're largely driven to build their own. Their constantly shifting borders due to conflict with neighbors means that there are multitudes of treasure caches hidden throughout the areas where they occupy, left abandoned after they were driven back.
* WingedHumanoid: A mark of great status among kobolds.
[[/folder]]
----

* DependingOnTheArtist: As mentioned, catfolk have yet to be consistently represented in artwork. They very between the cat girl trope, one that is more evocative of the [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Khajiit]], and one that looks like something out of WesternAnimation/ThunderCats. James Jacobs, the creative lead, prefers the cat-girl look, but fan opinion is mixed. ''Inner Sea Races'' seems to have worked this inconsistency into the species' lore, saying that catfolk can run the whole spectrum mentioned above, "varying wildly between regions or even between families".

* BigBeautifulWomen: They consider obesity to be a sign of female beauty. Which, given both their primitive culture makes access to food unpredictable and their hyperactive metabolisms makes hard for them to keep weight on, is one of the most logical things about goblins.

* PsychopathicManchild: Particularly in their more comedic portrayals. They're vicious little airheads who take a childlike joy in songs, games, and setting things on fire.

** However, Hob (usually Old Hob) has also been a nickname or uphemism for the Devil, and ''Pathfinder''[='=]s Hobgoblins were, according to in-universe speculation, a creation of the long-disappeared Devil Canzoriant, who wanted something more robust and obedient for his slave warriors.

A Planetouched race, distantly descended from earth elementals and Shatian Genies.

* BashBrothers: As part of the below trope and their "Swarming" racial trait, it's possible for a pair of Ratfolk to go BackToBackBadasses and use a teamwork feat to draw weapons from ''eachother's'' gear.

* BlowYouAway: Descended from Humans and those from the Plane of Air, they have a limited connection to weather and air, including a limited use of Feather Fall as a spell-like ability.

* FantasticRacism: They recieve this, being one of the beastly races that, while not actively chased out of town, are only just tolerated.

Planetouched creatures, descended in part from water elementals and Marids(Water Genies).

* FishPeople: How they're usually portrayed, which contrasts considerably compared to the other elemental plane-touched races, but harkens back to some early depictions of water genasi from Planescape. Despite this, they can't all actually breath underwater.

* PowerFist: Sulis can sheathe their hands (or the weapons held in them) in any of the four classical elements.

* StealthPun: They are good at rougish roles, making them skill monkeys.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Avertedly, oddly, and some sourcebooks go as far in the other direction as SnakesAreSexy (Justified since they're based on seductive assassin-courtesans in India historical legends).

* ArtificialHuman: The most notable aspect of them. The differences between them and normal humans is Androids are often depicted as unusually pale (almost white), with [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair unnatural hair colors]] and TronLines on them.

* {{Expy}}: They're basically to humans what drow are to elves, though not quite as bad. They're also not dissimilar to fetchlings, but remain humanoid as opposed to being outsiders.
* HumanSubspecies: Dark Folk in general are this; humans altered by the extraplanar Owb into creatures of shadow after having fled Earthfall; they're not so monstrous or degenerate as the morlocks, but are still usually malevolent. Caligni specifically are genetic throwbacks among Dark Folk; they're closer to what the race was before the Owbs began breeding them into specialized subraces.

* {{Metamorphosis}}: Similar to Changelings, they're the larval stage of the deep ones. Deep one hybrids have it worse, though. While Changelings can avoid their fates by simply ignoring the call of their mothers, the only way for a hybrid to escape their fate is to die before sixty; otherwise they've got a year at most to live before their body [[PainfulTransformation agonizingly reforms]] into a deep one.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: ''Inner Sea Races'' explains that their psychology is fairly alien to most humanoids; they don't experience emotion in the same way we do, and their thought process in general is completely different.

* SlaveRace: They were harvested as food for centuries in their homeland of Nex. Currently they're afforded citizenship and rights there, but this doesn't extend very far beyond, so they're forced to remain in the one nation that knows how delicious they are.

* WeAreAsMayflies: Most gnolls never live past the age of thirty five, dying either violent deaths or withering away in a horrifically rapid fashion. Theorized to be due to their connection with the demon Lamashtu.

* IAmAHumanitarian: The islands they inhabit are even known as "the Cannibal Isles"

A goblin subrace from Mediogalti Island off the coast of Garund, they're distiguished by their prehensile tails and tree-dwelling nature.

* {{Pyromaniac}}: Like regular goblins, they love them some fire. It's suspected that their current city is at least the fifth site to bear the name, the previous incarnations having been burned down by it's inhabitants.

* ArtificialHuman: In theory they could be artificial anything - just takes mortal kind with the proper magical know how to make one to take his place in the afterlife. As a result, they're biologically sterile and can't sexually reproduce.

* ChromeChampion: Superficially. Their gold skin is cool to the touch, but isn't actually metal.
* TheScapegoat: Their purpose; kings will have them made so that they will be punished in the afterlife for the excesses of the mortals who's likeness they bear. This pisses Pharasma off to no end, and her agents free the Shabti wherever they are found.

* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: Their Bestial form is less then that of a true lycanthrope's hybrid form, roughly coming off as LittleBitBeastly to BorderlinePettingZooPerson.

A race of lizardlike aliens from a nearby solar system introduced in ''TabletopGame/{{Starfinder}}''.

* DragonHoard: Like most dragonkin, they're largely driven to build their own. Their constantly shifting boarders due to conflict with neighbors means that there are multitudes of treasure caches hidden throughout the areas where they occupy, left abandoned after they were driven back.

* OurElvesAreBetter: They certainly like to think so, and consider YouAreACreditToYourRace a high praise.

!!Half Elves

!!Half Orcs

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: A common StartOfDarkness for aasimar villains is being harassed by superstitious people with a limited grasp of what their parentage actually means for blessings they can't grant, and getting... unhappy when they don't.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Evil aligned aasimar find they can metaphorically (and sometimes literally) get away with murder.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Downplayed. They are ''not'' AlwaysChaoticEvil, but their undead legacy and the FantasticRacism they tend to suffer mean a lot of them have a good chance of succumbing to evil. Some however do resist and turn out well.

The descendants of the elves who chose not to flee the planet before Earthfall. They were forced into underground, and eventually were corrupted by the forces of the Darklands and their growing hatred of their kin who left.

* CardCarryingEvil: These guys developed Vegepygmies so that they could even their ''vegetables'' could be made to suffer.

* LongLived: Barring misfortune, they can easily live over 300 years. It's a factor in their slight mistrust of humans, since they're used to building friendships over a century or more.

Elves were one of the first races on Golarion, but fought a losing war for space against the developing humans. Forseeing the coming Earthfall, the majority of Elves fled for the sanctuary of Sovyrian, only to come back to protect their ancestral homes from the demon Treerazer.

Humanoid hyenas.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: They tend to be portrayed this way.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: For the most part, other species are to be tormented and/or killed, tormented and/or avoided, or distracted with flattery until they slip up.

* BigOlEyebrows: Oh yeah.

* NonIndicativeName: The word "Hob" in English pertains to impish creatures; "Hobgoblin" therefore, was traditionally an impish goblin, while true Goblins were human-sized. Since Pathfinder descends from D&D, which was written by [[Creator/GaryGygax people with a tentative understanding of european folklore at best]] the misnomer stuck, and "Goblins" became the diminutive guys while "Hobgoblins" became the taller, smarter cousins.
** Though, usefully, Hob (usually Old Hob) has also been a nickname or uphemism for the Devil, and Pathfinder's Hobgoblins were, according to in-universe speculation, a creation of the long-disappeared Devil Canzoriant; who wanted something more robust and obedient for his slave warriors.

!!Gripplis

Large monstrous beings that possess human-like top-halves on the body of horses (or other creatures).

* BeastFolk: Of hyenas.

* MadeASlave: They tend to be lazy and take slaves.

* LizardFolk/TheReptilians: They look like a mix between iguanas and [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]].

[[/folder]]

Telepathic aliens that resemble humanoids with antennae.

* BizarreSexualDimorphism: Female Lashunta are tall, lithe, commanding, and graceful, male Lashunta are short, burly, brusque, and hirsute.

* ReviveKillsZombie: Like their undead forefathers, positive channeled energy can leave a nasty sting, while negative channeled energy heals them.

* TrapMaster: Their specialty. Kobold lairs are almost always riddled with traps, and they have several racial bonuses towards trapmaking.

* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Of course, there's an alternate racial trait to avert this, like others, described as the result of an Orc staring into the sun for long periods.

!!Triaxians
The natives of Triaxus, a planet in Golarion's solar system with a long, elliptical orbit that gives it decades-long seasons. Triaxus is primarily divided between the Drakelands, a continent dominated by evil Dragons, and the Allied Territories, who fight for their survival alongside good Dragons.

* LittleBitBeastly: Winter-adapted Triaxians' short fur and pointed ears give them a slightly catlike look.

* BigBeautifulWomen: They consider obesity to be a sign of female beauty.
* ExtremeOmnivore: If you are not a Goblin, you are a source of food.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Avertedly, oddly, and some sourcebooks go as far in the other direction as SnakesAreSexy.

* AscendedExtra: The Ysoki, alien ratfolk from Akiton, are a core race in ''TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}''.

* AscendedExtra: They are one of the core races of ''TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}''.

* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}''.

* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}''.

A race of lizardlike aliens from a nearby solar system introduced in ''TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}''.

A race of lizardlike aliens from a nearby solar system introduced in TabletopGames/{{Starfinder}}.

* AscendedExtra: The Ysoki, alien ratfolk from Akiton, are a core race in ''Starfinder''.

* AscendedExtra: They are one of the core races of ''Starfinder''.

* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''Starfinder''.

* AscendedExtra: One of the core races of ''Starfinder''.

A race of lizardlike aliens from a nearby solar system introduced in Starfinder.

* AncientAstronauts: Their refuge Sovyrian, where they bunkered down for a few thousand years to wait out the Earthfall, is actually on the neighbouring planet Castrovel.

* VestigialEmpire: They left it behind when they realized what a catastrophe Earthfall would be, and have had only occasional success in reclaiming their territory since.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Boredom.

* BlessedWithSuck: Whether their heritage brings pride or shame depends on the region and the author.

* LightIsGood: Their [[LightEmUp magic]], aesthetics, and morality lean strongly this way by default, but...
* LightIsNotGood: ...the ones who fall, fall hard.

* [[CatGirl Cat Girl/Boy]]: While they have a Charisma bonus, the official artwork flip-flops between this trope...

* DarkIsNotEvil: Played with. They are ''not'' AlwaysChaoticEvil, but their undead legacy and the FantasticRacism they tend to suffer mean a lot of them have a good chance of succumbing to evil. Some however do resist and turn out well.

* {{Gonk}}: Complete with BaldOfEvil, RedEyesTakeWarning, and MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily.

* CombatPragmatist: They love traps.

* TrapMaster: Their specialty.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Being pretty much the TropeCodifier, they usually suffer from this, mostly due to having Evil Gods and ''Demon Princes'' as patrons.

* AxCrazy: The greataxe is a favoured weapon.

* MakingASplash: They can used Hydraulic Push as a spell-like ability and are descended from creatures native to the Plane of Water.

* ParentalAbandonment: The standard procedure for hags. If they're [[HappilyAdopted lucky]], the hags stay away.

* [[ScrewYouElves Screw You Dwarves]]: Are to Dwarves what Drow are to Elves. They despise surface Dwarves above all others and usually kill them on sight, though they hate Drow almost as much.

* PettingZooPeople: Their base forms.