The Menagerie has made an excellent addition to the collection thus far. Well executed and elegant. Kudos all around. One question, though. It is currently referred to as the Final Revision of the species menagerie. Does that mean there are no plans for adding additional species into the mix, or is that simply referring to the final revision for the 3.0 selection?

At the time, it was planned that the latest version would be the final version.

Honestly, I had figured that I wouldn't be touching the document every again to make any additions or alterations, since it was planed to eventually become obsolete from the very start as FFG released more and more species, to where it seemed that any updates would include either removing species or moving them to an archive section rather than adding any new species.

That said, turns out I had a few more ideas for additions and alterations, as did Cyril. And so, there's one more update on the horizon. Due to the GSA pretty much falling by the wayside after Fiddleback left to do his own thing with the Mad Adventurer's Society, I'm not sure where these latest version will be hosted once it's done (of which there is no set date).

But once that particularly update is done, that will be it, as the USM has ceased being a labor of love and has almost started to become a chore, as well as there being a growing lack of interest on my part in making continuous revisions.

I don't really feel the need for sub species either and I can only guess the devs had competing ideas they just liked and wanted to include for a single species. I don't mind Klatooinians as written because I just measure all races against Humans. That's kind of why I liked Klatooinians as written, because they offer a real mechanical alternative to humans.

Agreed I liked the Klatooinians, and I kind of liked the Weequays as well (though I'm somewhat partial to them because of Hondo... ). I really don't like most of the other races as FFG did them, they are far too limited, I don't feel their special abilities are worth nearly what the two free non-career skill ranks are worth. I'd never take a Corellian either, if I wanted a pilot that good I'd just take a human and wait for the first 15XP. Maybe if your entire campaign took place under water you'd want an aquatic species, but stuff like that should be just a slight contextual allowance that doesn't impact chargen costs.

I get why humans get these two skills, they're supposed to be the most adaptable species. Fine, then other species should start with one skill rank in a chosen subset of skills that reflects their species' core focus, plus one free non-career. Simple, and more balanced IMHO.

It really depends on the species but on balance I would agree most are pretty flat and unimpressive. Wookies stand out as the major exception. Seeing in the dark or breathing underwater are handy but they aren't' two free non career skill ranks handy.

I am playing as an Arkanian Offshoot. It fits my storyline just fine. That being said, the Genetic ability lets me take one strain and gain a boost die in either a brawn check or agility check. I started finding it was a bit much of an advantage to gain a boost every shot considering I could just use one of the advantages to remove a strain. Now I simply don't use the Genetic Ability. My GM hasn't complained but I feel its off balance.

I am playing as an Arkanian Offshoot. It fits my storyline just fine. That being said, the Genetic ability lets me take one strain and gain a boost die in either a brawn check or agility check. I started finding it was a bit much of an advantage to gain a boost every shot considering I could just use one of the advantages to remove a strain. Now I simply don't use the Genetic Ability. My GM hasn't complained but I feel its off balance.

Yeah, that's something that's already been addressed.

I changed it to a "once per session, upgrade a single Brawn or Agility-based skill check," which should be a lot less problematic since the player now has to decide what's the best moment to use that ability.