Voted Elemental.

I voted Hillary.

I think elemental is more interesting, but Aasimar is already an established PC race in D&D that many people like and may have old Aasimar characters that they are trying to recreate. So it doesn't surprise me that it's winning.

Hillary is Elemental, Bernie is Dhampir..

Really? Vampires are truly the most cliche of all at the moment. So tired of them.

I was speaking in the context of these games. Fans of the IE titles and PoE are obviously the target audience for Pathfinder. That's why I mentioned D&D and PoE. There hasn't been anything very similar to Dhampir done before.

Aasimar on the other hand are ripped directly from D&D and were a playable race in IWD 2, while the Elementals seem quite similar to the Godlikes in PoE.

Seems like a fairly minor thing - how much will the game change depending on your race? It can't be too dramatic, otherwise it would be unbalanced. I remember in D&D you had a levelling penalty if you played a more exotic race…wonder if they'll do the same or whether the changes will be cosmetic (and perhaps just limited to how other characters react to you)?

I don't think its so much the balance as how people want to see their character. Aasimars have been part of D&D a long time as others have stated, and I remember Josh Sawyer saying they had to put elves in Pillars of Eternity, otherwise they'd be crucified by elf fans. Who plays an elf because they have a dex bonus and are resistant to charm? I think the vast majority play elves because they are thin, beautiful, magical beings. And elf fans won't be happy if they don't play an elf. So there may already be a fan base for Aasimars, but not so much for the other races.

Me.

- Although I admit I wouldn't play a terrible demonic character regardless of of the stat bonus.

Thinking back about it, I guess all three races have a past history in D&D, it's just that Aasimars were always the most popular,perhaps not so much for their stats but because people liked the idea of playing a divine character. Genasi (elementals) were pretty popular in 4E as well, but I think it was more because of good stats and some cool powers than because people were attached to the idea of playing an elemental. Dhampir have been around in various forms since the days of 3E, but they were never a widely used player race.

Pathfinder removed level penalty because all races in PF get more bonuses so the bonuses that for example Aasimar got in 3.5e D&D is what all races get in PF.

I didn't vote because I won't play the game, but I played an Aasimar in NWN2.

Yeah, that's me :biggrin:

I was leaning towards Dhampir (the description says they are also unusually beautiful creatures) because I was hoping it will change how the world react towards you somewhat but I've been told that's not the case. I thought, well then, I might as well stick with Aasimar since a half undead creature doesn't fit well in my good aligned party.

Thats terrible…

The half-vampire could be interesting. If you ever saw the movie Byzantium, the vampires were never described as such - they were human in most ways, except they didn't age, and they needed blood. One was good, and tried to only feed on the old and sick, as a way of gentle euthanasia. Something like that could have some great possibilities.

were they sparkly vampires? If not, they don't count! :biggrin:

No, these were Victorian harlot vampires with tuberculosis. As they should be.