My solution is to use the Warhammer Fantasy rpg stats for elves and halflings as eldar and ratlings and just let them use a career that suits them. Of course you would have to use th older version and not the new one.

@ Varnias Tybalt - I totally agree and so do all of my players. The 40k Eldar player in the group who is ususally desperate to play anything other than human does not want to play an Eldar for the exact same reason. I keep my game local to the sectorn and try and avoid much of the mainstream 40k races anyway as I am far more interested with the veriaty of the universe that you get to see at a sector level than the overarching view that the TTG gives. People see the armies of the TTG and assume that they are the be all and end all of 40k's factions but they are usually so spread out and rarely encountered that their mystery is more appealing to me than their presense.

Kaihlik

I think it's a bit of a falsehood to say that because an eldar is 'alien' they are unfathomable. Alien races that produce culture are easily fathomable. Their brains function in an anologous way to human brains, they think, emote, invent, introspect. These are just definitions of sentience/sapience.

Why does an eldar build a house? To live in. Just like any other sentient species that builds a house.

Aliens still have the same pressures on them as humans. To exist, to reproduce. If they didn't suffer these evolutionary pressures they wouldn't exist, they'd be extinct. The eldar or orks for that matter are no different. It is easy to logically dissect an alien race because they MUST be built on specific parameters inherent to darwinian evolution. Environmental pressures affect everything in the same way, being an 'alien' doesn't make you somehow immune to that.

The differences come in more subtle areas. Eldar experience emotions far more than humans. Their brains work at twice the speed. But these things do not change how they react to their environment, it simply means they might figure out how to build a house/spear/car faster than a human.

Personally I think this is just another part of GW's lazy writing. It's an intellectual cop out. Eldar aren't mecurial, they do everything for a reason. That we don't understand that reason doesn't mean there isn't one. Even if that reason is 'I get a thrill out of slaughtering humans'. Just as a human does from base jumping and other extreme sports.

If a race is sentient then its mind will run on certain parameters. If it exists within the universe then its environment will put pressures on it, shaping it. All the factors of an eldar's mind are a product of the environments they live in. But it leads to the inescapable reasoning that as a sentient species with a sedentary style civilisation and culture perhaps now simply post scarcity (due to their ability to sing technology into existence) they are far more alike to humans than they are different.

The majority of what we see as 'alien' is simply subjective cultural biases. Design aesthetic, social standing, cultural importance placed on different things.

But in the end, they are still a sentient race that builds, emotes, thinks, introspects, plans, wars, hopes, dreams. The evidence for this is in their cultural history, cooperative civilisation, heirarchical ranking system, unlimited galactic travel.

So the whole concept of too alien to understand is inherently flawed simply due to the existence of the eldar as a sentient civilisation that functions in a similar manner to any other sentient civilisation. A civilisation is unlikely to appear the same as another if it were constructed on truly 'alien' parameters.

Hellebore

When I first got the rules over the holidays I was also disipointed that there were no "aliens" to speak of. BUt upon further reflection... I would agree with Lucas T here when he said...

LuciusT said:

Overall I think it would cheapen the "exotic feel" of aliens.

Anyway that my 2 cents.

T

Quick answer - your game your rules - if you want aliens as Pcs put 'em in.

I understand that soem people prefer to have them as unknowable and thats fine and dandy - good reasons expressed previously for doing so.

On the other hand - it can be done quite well - I had a Eldar Player in my game and it worked fine for me - in the end he left the Mon'Kees to their petty lives and returned to his true people with what he wanted, wiser but no better disposed towards the primatives..............

Hellebore made a lot of good points in his argument.

Other role playing companies have already produced a game where you play really alien characters and not just humans who have pointy ears I don't see why FFG shouldn't try.

From the top of my head games that makes you play really alien characters: Werewolf the Forsaken and Fairfolk from Exalted.

The only problem i see with playing aliens is that we become familiar with the why they do it and thus lose the mystique that they currently have. But I don't personally see it as a reason not to make these types of games, instead I see it as a challenge in holding them.

I think there is enough source material on Eldar to easily generate Eldar characters. With the examples in DH and RT boiled down, there are obvious similarities in them for a GM to see what a starting Eldar will be like compared to starting human. I do not see how difficult it would be to pop out a small pdf for creating and running/playing Eldar aince the guidelines are already in place.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

Hmm? Off the top of my head, there would be the Kroot and the Hrud. Maybe the Q'Orl as well, if you have some sort of translator. There would almost certainly be Xenos Minoris that would be playable; the Morgauth and Stryxis are both races known to trade with humanity in the Calixus Sector or Koronus Expanse.

That's six possible Xenos races right there: Eldar, Kroot, Hrud, Q'Orl, Morgauth, and Stryxis.

No reason you couldn't play a Xeno, to be honest. A Rogue Trader probably has more freedom here than even an Inquisitor, given the unique position that Rogue Traders hold; "Of the Imperium but not in the Imperium", for the most part at least. In the game I'm due to start playing shortly, we have an Eldar outcast as a PC, apparently he is to be my Lady-Captain's trusted Pilot, inherited, as far as I can tell, from my uncle. I think the role will be a real challenge for the player, not only because the character is alien but because the player was a total novice when first we started roleplaying, a few years ago now and he's had a tendency to stick to some pretty predictable character archetypes, however he seems keen to get his teeth into this role and we're all excited about the game, especially those of us who remember the original Rogue Trader (a couple of us still have copies of it ;¬) ). It's worth remembering that this is a game, that players get better at portraying roles by experimenting and expanding the types of roles they play and that your cherished notions of the Eldar are quite likely to be very different to my cherished notions and both notions could easily co-exist were this reality, as pointed out in the rant about cultural bias.

You don't need to be a professional historian to appreciate the monoculturalism of RPGs, most of which stems from a fairly poor interpretation of Tolkien's work (and that had enough flaws to start with) but we all have our own areas of expertise and can pick faults with games from within those areas - if it badly damages your ability to suspend disbelief, talk to the GM and fix it or don't play that game.

Anyway, my crew apparently also contains some Beastmen infantry and Ogryns, too, I see from the information my GM gave me, also the Imperial Guards that were handed to my Rogue Trader are mutants with night-vision, so it looks like we have plenty of 'aliens' to be getting on with, just on the Rogue Trader's own vessel. :¬)

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said:

Haha. Agreed. I would like too see how they manage the Eldar paths. It would make a fascinating game to play.

as far as ability, the character creation process is for the most part generic, the origen path with the addition of some xeno related context will work, and as far as kroot, orks and eldar. The starting equipment, talents and skills are all ready there.

The main problem is that even will a rogue trader in the party, aliens are still not tolerated by humans and might even go as far as a unfriendly inquisitorial visit.

but the idea of an all alien party might be interesting for a just for laughs game

An Ogryn is basically just an enormous human mutant, right? So any PC with the Hulking mutation could very well be an Ogryn?

Etepete said:

Ish, but not really. They are a stable human subspecies, rather than a mutant, and as part of being hulking, they are also very, very thick. If you wanted to play an Ogryn, you'd be looking at low Int and Fellowship in addition to the Hulking mutation. It'd be easier to do as a homeworld in it's own right (since they come from planets with specific strengths of gravity).

MILLANDSON said:

But aren't abhumans just stable mutations? Anyway, you're right. And the origin "Tainted" doesn't really fit the bill either. I think homebrew homeworlds for Ogryn, Ratlings, Beastmen and even squats are the way forward until FFG releases something official.

I can see why an RT would recruit ratlings as they could easily hide as 'children' and are good at hiding and sneaking around and the race seems to like sniping rifles. Squats would never be allowed as that race is officially no longer there. Appearently their stable mutation was not as stable perhaps? The way they are removed from history, I smell an exterminatos.

Ogryns, while stable would not make good officer material. They would make great bodyguards though and probably be fun to play but comaninding men is not their strong point. Though who would refuse a direct order form them.

"Fix dat or I Fix it!", "Gulp, but sir this is sensitive machinery, pelase put that club you call wrench away I am on it, I am on it."

But Beastman? Aren't those all considered to be Chaos creatures?

Sister Callidia said:

The semi-official fate of the squats was that they were consumed by a 'nid swarm.

Sister Callidia said:

In the early days of 40k beastmen were a somewhat accepted mutation in the Imperium (about as accepted as most other mutants, which is to say not much). I think they may have been a troop option in some Imperial army lists. However I haven't seen them mentioned for any faction in years, so they may have been completely written out of the setting.

The semi-official fate of the squats was that they were consumed by a 'nid swarm.

An idea that makes rather more sense that it's usually credited with

And that's the crux of it to me. If you let people play Eldar they'll inevitably end up playing them like Elves from D&D. To truly roleplay an Eldar character correctly is beyond 99% of players' capacities. I mean back when I was playing D&D people couldn't play Chaotic Neutral worth a **** (they always seemed to think it meant their character was crazy), so I'm pretty sure they don't have a chance in hell of playing an Eldar right.

Atheosis said:

Maybe in your group of friends, but I know a player or four who could pull it off. I also know players who couldn't role play a psyker, cleric, tech priest or other acceptable character, but that is allowed in the rules. But honestly, I dont want my PCs to play Eldar. However, Ogryn, Ratlings, "Squats" and other Abhuman races as well as possibly a few xenos(Kroot mercs primarily) seem reasonable as PC "races".

But No Eldar, No Tau and No Ork PCs please.

For Ogryn, Ratlings and "squats" new careers would not be necessary, just about 3 or so alternate career ranks for each and 3 or so background packages for each and you should be fine. The Kroot however may require a new career for them.

Col. Orange said:

Yes. Although the current crew is all human, I may or may not have allowed for the possibility of beastman player-characters in my campaign.

I honestly find it funny that we expect that players are not capable of roleplaying eldar or orks. Are GMs different? Or is their roleplaying ability superior by default? As a GM I know I'm going to have to RP an Eldar or Ork at some point in my campaign. I think I can pull that off, and would expect any of my players would be able to as well to some degree.

That all being said, most of these Xenos are so 'shoot on sight' that an RT would have to think real hard about hiring one on.