Review: Awesome Ancestries: Galactic Species, Vol. 14 - Cloud City Bounty Hunters,

 So, I've been following Far Distant Futures since their Doomed Denizen book, arguably one of my favorite new books in the 3rd party 1st ed space that I wasn't working on. Bryan's attention to interesting and novel new mechanics for ancestries that define them through what you can do with them without over powering them has been a standout of his design style, and his recycling of the action symbols idea from 2nd back into 1st is a perfect update from that system back to ours, and alongside his commitment to no AI art, has had me constantly coming back for more. And with each one of these I've picked up, the more I've started to learn that, when FDF decides to do ancestries, it's definitely worth it to pick up a copy. So, when I realized he was doing Star Wars tie ins, along with other scifi properties from the past, I knew I had to check in at least a little and see what's happening, and, long story short, I was not disappointed. 

Now, before I get too deep into the review I kind of want to go over some of my tenets that I used to grade books like this from a consumer angle. I've already gone over many of these earlier, novel and compelling mechanics in fun combinations, good art that evokes the creature without using AI, interesting narrative that gives me as a GM or player meat to chew on when incorporating them into my world, and mechanical balance that makes it easy for me to gauge the strength of the new ancestry option against my table expectation, but the one I haven't is the Bulk Rule. When I go through a book like this that has 14 new species with full favored options for each ancestry, feats, equipment, etc. I don't need every option to sing to me, I'm even fine with a few being duds. Cause in the cost/benefit analysis, if I get at least 1 that I absolutely HAVE to incorporate into my settings, or 2-3 that I think are cool and squirrel away for later, then the book has done it's job. And all of that's to say that, not everyone of these has to speak to me, and all of them don't, but the ones that I loved I truly loved. 

So lets get started. Dust off your copies of the Star Wars: Species Guide we all have from 2001, or Wookiepedia if you don't or just like ads, and start moving through these. 

Ones That Didn't Really Speak to Me: 

These below were probably my least interesting choices, many of which lacked interesting mechanics or narrative to really sell me on them once I was finished. Some of which got better once I saw art for them, but for the most part I forgot them, or wished I'd had more mechanical intrigue to play with like some of the others. 

* Charklain: A species I actually remembered from Star Wars just from reading the physical description, these guys are kind of the Ur example of the problems I mentioned above. I like their novel stat line of medium w/bad Str, but Darkvision, Run & +2 Init, and Scent are things I've seen a million times and it's at best kind of good but boring, which is a shame considering their inspiration also has like this weird relationship to salt that lets them treat it like a narcotic. Since we are already playing afield of the original to make something unique I feel like there could have been something cool there. 

* Chopu'ai: God these ones killed me, the description of these pale, blood marked aliens with sharp teeth who used to worship a blood god is so cool but the stat line is so meh. Darkvision, Skill Focus in Bluff, Dip, or Intim, and human skill points buff. The closest we get is Alternate Trait Blood God Devotee, but trading out +1 Skill point for a d3 bite and Blood feast is too steep, wish it had been a d6 or d8. I also totally didn't call who these guys were, which was great because it gave me 2 interpretations of them. 

* Rishishi: Same problem as the above, ho-hum description, kind of boring ability array. Amphibious, bite, low-light, nat armor, and a buff to nature checks feels like something I've seen a dozen times. I also could not figure out who these were or picture them till I was told lol, I kept thinking elder things w/the five pointed head description and they are more like a fishy protoceratops XD. 

* Ubo: Same as before, these guys kind of feel like a more niche Human but worse. Darkvision, bonus feat, don't suffer penalties in 0 gravity. This makes them feel really niche for a certain type of game and nothing in that build line really makes me excited to play them, which is a shame considering one of the coolest bounty hunters in the canon is one. I will say I loved their narrative write up though, and who they are in Star Wars is NOTHING like what I was picturing. When I read, "They are hairless..." and "Although they have piercing, bright red eyes, their faces have few other features -- no ears, no nose, and only a thin, lipless mouth that barely betrays their emotions. " I was picturing like a massive grub or maggot, which combined with their, "lost our planet to capitalism fueled environmental disaster and are so jaded to corpo we'll swap our faiths to whatever the company follows" approach to life I was picturing like a big kind of grub person. I kind of want to build those now lol. 

* Zniv: Probably the last one to make it into this block, the Zniv has interesting options as a small species w/Climate tolerance giving you cold & fire resist 2 + fewer saves in harsh weather, scent, and bonuses in craft, perform, or profession and +2 Sense Motive, but it's kind of of a grab back with nothing that really knocks me off my feet, another small w/bad Str, and I think only really feels super interesting potentially in games like mine where weather effects come up more. Another one I didn't figure out till the author revealed it in a comment here, interesting species. 

Dope:

All of these ones here are worth it on their own for whatever reason, and though they aren't my favorites and the ones I left this book constantly thinking about, they are for someone and will probably be for me once I've put my favorites through their paces. 

* Grommul: They are little pig gnomes who make tech and are so stubborn they can bounce mind control, it's great. Now, are they medium sized gnome/dwarf fusions w/an alt trait from gnomes (master tinker) and one from dwarves (I believe Stubborn is one of theirs)? Also yes, but they work great in combination, they have an interesting description, and though evoking both in little ways become their own unique thing to play. Want to run one as a Gearhead out of the Pure Steam Campaign setting and go hog wild. I had a vague memory of these guys from the trilogy, but they looked nothing like what I was picturing and that's cool! It means when I make them more porcine and furry they'll be even more my own lol. 

* Kitoran: Interesting stat line with good Con & Cha, bad Int, these 3 stalk eyed cow people had a cool weird description and a solid stat line w/the ability to make someone shift 3 steps on a Dip & PBS for free. None of it is "new" to the world, but the combo is cool and I think it favors some weird builds, like Cha gunslinger, Swashbuckler, or even like touch spell Sorcs, which is cool. I also totally didn't figure these ones out till they were spoiled lol. 

* Mankassa: These were ones that I was most hesitant about, as the species they are based on in Star Wars is one that often gets a lot of criticism for how much it leans into a grab bag of racial stereotypes often used against a particular ethnic group, and unfortunately some of that is still here. These guys are the banking clan dudes, their description still has the long thin noses, and they are still seen as controlling all the $ and having secret machinations, including having their 1 equipment item be essentially a credit card. And all that is problematic, but I'm going to give the designer the benefit of the doubt that they weren't aware of all of that context surrounding it, and were more porting over something and not thinking about it. But, separate from that, the mechanics are awesome. None of it plays with any of the unfortunate stuff from before, they have cool powers built around knowing math & geometry so well you can 1/day swift action an ally to give them 1/2 move as an immediate (See The Pattern), and they get bonuses to arcana & engineering cause they are big numbers people. See the Pattern is cool enough that I want to play with it and I think the concept alien mathematicians is cool enough to work with. I'd just file the other stuff off for future use, but your mileage may vary. As I said before, I figured out who these guys were pretty quickly, but for all the wrong reasons. I think this is why they have had some redesigns and show up less in Star Wars than they used to. 

* Ortaugs: These guys are probably the weakest in the category on narrative/description & mechanics but I think will be someone's favorite. They are furry dudes with goat horns that let them see feelings, that's super cool! If it weren't for the fact that their description to me is a little mid and they are psionic, so you'll have to mod them if you don't use those rules, they'd probably be higher on my list. Luckily filing the psionic serial numbers off is pretty easy, and if you like the idea of a people who can see feelings this might be right for you. 

Bangers:  

All of these became favorites for me and ones I either immediately started incorporating into my games, or are on the short list. 

* Human Clone: The reason I bought this thing, I'm a sucker for the clones in Star Wars and they've only gotten more interesting with time, so I was intrigued to see what they were like. Turns out, they are the cloniest version of themselves, somehow still feeling like humans mechanically but also totally unique. You're stats are preset but you pick where your mods go, you get multiple Skill Focuses over time that you get to pick, guns are martial, and you get bonuses to look like your brothers! It's all great, even the fixed stats thing, which I wasn't into initially, but after mulling it over and checking it's value I came to love it! The stat line is on a 22 point buy with no penalties but nothing base over a +2, and you've got some alternate trait options that let you moves some of the scores around. It's such an inspired way to represent how these guys are factory made to be exactly the same, while also giving players the room to customize with their species +2 and an alternate array option, letting you have more flexibility, while also keeping them rigid enough that it shows off their limitations. That push & pull is excellent, and I have already built 3 NPC Blanks for them and started incorporating them & the next group into my own setting in fun ways. They also have a few other abilities like bonuses to Prof (soldier) that I forgot to mention but all of it is fun, flavorful, and doesn't feel like it's breaking the bank mechanically. 

* Karanyan: After reading the Clone and knowing how Star Wars goes, I was excited to see what/if the creators of the clones would get an entry, and here it is and it did not disappoint. They have a fun stat line with good Int & Con, bad Wis, amphibious, a 1/day spell-like to heal themselves, and some natural psionics alongside darkvision & low-light and a few skill buffs. Now, you might wonder how these guys got this far in the list when something like the Rishishi didn't, and I think what it comes down to is the combination of other abilities like a 1/day moderate self heal, the fun skill bumps, and a really good writeup about their relationship to the clones. The author really got how these guys relate to the clones in a lot of ways, also clearly marked them as evil for their callous dismissal and dehumanizing of their charges, and even got in a little dig on them w/the bad Wis as a reference to their own short sightedness as essentially mad scientists eugenicists. They read like great villains that you want to throw at your Players and that your players want to prove wrong. And since they mechanically kind of fill a different niche than the clones, it makes them fun to build as a counterpoint to the clones above, all great stuff! The only thing I have to do now is figure out what to replace this psionic healing spell with and I'm set. Again, this was another one I figured out super quick from the write-up alone and I love how much it got about the source material and how it was reinterpreted here. 

* Vrak: Okay, I read these guys and immediately went, "This is Darth Maul", and I was not disappointed. If you ever wanted to play something that looks like a devil, has the survivability of an orc+, a cool weapon proficiency pile that kind of feels like a Tengu, and is psionic, this is your choice. They even have a feat chain that makes you good with double bladed lightsabers! I mean, what more does one have to say? If you are a fan of Darth Maul or Darth Savage, and like the idea of just being a psyker that's also very tough to kill, in a fun and balanced way. Play it. Again, I knew who this was the min I saw the words "Crown of Horns". 

* Zulgs: Small bipeds who run around on their hands and use their feet to wield weapons, this is Sebulba from podracing, and I'm so happy they are here. I've always had a soft spot for those aliens and their design, and they have been fun as villains every time they've popped up in the extended canon from the Zillow Beast on, so I was delighted to see them. Add to that that they are a Small species who DOES NOT have a bad Str and DOES have bad Cha, gets a climb speed and Antagonize for free, which is hilarious, and a fun weapon familiarity list that includes Atlatl proficiency, and I'm sold. You wrote me a weird little guy, and I love them. My only questions are, how do they throw an atlatl with that posture, and how do I fit them into my own game XD?