As the title suggests, how would one go about creating PC races for stuff that doesn't exist yet (Iron Knights for example)? I got a party that I play to have some humorous fun with and someone wanted to be an Elite from the Halo series (I mean, the gear is an easy conversion, it's the race that's giving me trouble). Does anyone have any ideas?

There's no real rhyme or reason to it; the published species are kind of eyeballed as for point values. If you want something more systematic, generally charge normal prices for starting stats above 1 (20 for a 2, 20+30 for a 3, etc.). Then charge 10 XP for a free level in a skill, 5 XP for a free rank in a talent, + or -5 XP for a bump or reduction to Strain or Wound Thresholds. Other special abilities just have to be eyeballed in comparison to similar abilities, like comparing a natural attack to a Trandoshan's claws.

If you stat Humans this way, you find that with their 110 extra XP, they come to 250 XP total. Use that as your base, subtracting the stuff above to get to how many extra character-generation XP the species should get.

So, for instance, a species with a 322221 array, a free rank in Athletics, and a rank of Rapid Reaction would cost (20+30)+20+20+20+20 points for base stats, 10 points for the skill, and 5 points for the talent, for a total of 145 points. 250-145 = 105 extra character-generation XP for the species.

Well, that was extra helpful.

It's the quick-and-dirty method, anyway. If you reverse engineer some of the published species, they don't always add up to 250 XP, so there's also a judgment call aspect to all this that comes from playtesting. Like, a free rank in a combat skill may be worth more than a free rank in a Knowledge skill. But this should get you started.

The process that Cyril and myself used for the Unofficial Species Menagerie was to use the existing species (of which there were only 8 from the EotE Beta) as a general guideline, and try not to get too crazy with species special abilities, generally keeping it within the realm of a free skill rank in one or choice of two skills, a free talent, one characteristic at a 3 offset by one characteristic at a 1.

For the most part, it worked out pretty well, with none of the species being inherently overpowered, though we did get a fair amount of complaints about how some species were "underpowered" but the bulk of that was due to those species (Noghri especially) being almost hilariously over-powered in prior RPGs.

Granted, in the years since then FFG has gotten a whole lot more diverse in their species' write-ups and abilities, but they also have the benefit of playtesters to try out these species to see if they radically unbalance the game or not. Since you're not likely to have anyone outside of your own group, my own suggestion is to play it cautious so that you don't inadvertently create an "uber" species that outclasses all the rest; a good metric to keep in mind would be "would this species be my go-to instead of a Human for the majority of character builds?" It's okay for a homebrew species to excel in a certain mold over Humans, such as Wookiees being better at melee-focused combatants or Twi'leks being better at social-focused characters or Bothans being sneaky gits in comparison to a Human, but if your homebrew species is mechanically a better option than choosing a Human for most concepts, then you need to dial down the homebrew species.

I did an interview with D20 Radio Blog with Chris Hunt I think where I go pretty in depth for the sort of system I personally use for doing species for the game. Mileage may vary, but here's a link:

http://www.d20radio.com/main/holonet-uplink-keith-kappel-species-design-masterclass/

Species have between 240 and 260 xp on starting stuff (xp, characteristics, talents, ect) with combat mando's being the low end, and Pantoran's demonstrating the high end for official species.

Is currently breaking down the specific costs of certain attributes and traits. If you're making a new trait you just have to feel out the xp value based on comparable effects.

Quick reference for simple stuff:

All 2's is worth 120xp, 3/1/2's is 130xp, and 3/3/1/1/2s is 150 xp, skills are 10, and most other traits are 5 or 10, though others can be more.

A species with 3/1/2's and 110 xp free is able to buy the most characteristics at start if they take the 10xp obligation so maybe start them at 100xp and give 10xp worth of wound and strain, unless that's what you want to allow.

An example with a Zeltron variant I'm screwing around with:

2/2/2/1/2/3 With 11 wound, 11 strain, and 100xp

Pheromones:

Add automatic advantage to all, charm, negotiation, and deception checks vs targets without breathing protection.

Empathy:

May spend Advantage on a perception roll to read the emotions of a non-droid target within short range. GM may spend threat to have you experience emotion of a target within short range.

May spend 3 Advantage on a coercion roll to change the emotion of a target within short range. GM may spend 2 threat to make the target aware that an attempt was made, and Despair to change your emotional state with that of a target in short range.

Characteristics are 130xp + 10xp for the extra wound and strain, 100xp free for a total 240 xp. 15xp for triple intuitive ability reduced for limitation to breathing, and the last bit is balanced by negative risks.

The way I would do it is that if you take the amount of xp to take stats from 1 to x and add that to the starting xp this result should equal 230, adjusted as below

A free rank in a particular skill or even a choice between 2.

A free rank in a basic talent or ability like resistance to cold or heat

If they have a wider reaching ability like the ability of the falleen, then knock the starting xp down 2.

Start at base 10 wounds and strain.

If you have willpower as a 3 reduce strain by 1 , brawn could reduce wounds so that you have similar strain and wound threshold to someone starting with 2. Unless the race is particularly tough or resilient in which case you might want to increase wounds or strain at the expense of strain or wounds.

The balancing act comes when you look at abilities like the Falleen then you have to guage against similar previous abilities.