I'm constructing a setting at the moment that has 6 distinct species, for zelda fans its a botw inspired one.
So you have your Hylians, Gorons, Zora, Gerudo, Sheika and Rito.
/
Each species have some species related bonus' and a drawback. eg; zora can breath underwater and get a boost to athletics skils while in water, but need to be constantly /doused/hydrated. Gorons are stupidly strong (higher brawn than usual), can withstand volcanic level temperatures but are prettty darn* dumb can cant use particular weapons/armour. etc.
I'm also toying with the idea that certain species have unique careers, and certain talents are unique to species/careers. Which makes career choice a bit more interesting.

The one im struggling with is the Rito, whitch are bird people adept with bows, that can just straight up fly.

Flying seems like the obvious bonus, but im not sure how to balance this, what exactly it would boost and any drawbacks to the species.
Any ideas?

Since they'd have to be slight to allow for flying, maybe hollow bones causing a pentalty to brawn and a boost on impact rolls against them?

Perhaps add in a penalty against carry weight due to the physique being geared towards different musculature to support flight.

The rules for flying creatures is outlined on page 100. The balance is that a flying creature requires a maneuver every turn to remain airborne.

Also, don't make the mistake of allowing a flying creature move on the planetary scale.

8 minutes ago, Xilshale said:

Since they'd have to be slight to allow for flying, maybe hollow bones causing a pentalty to brawn and a boost on impact rolls against them?

Perhaps add in a penalty against carry weight due to the physique being geared towards different musculature to support flight.

Ah some good ideas there! The weight penalty also makes sense (lore wise talking, the species prefers bows and arrows due to there lightness and also make a living by delivering mail (letters specifically). But carrying a whole person would be extremely difficult.. and you know what just because one player can fly past a river, doesnt mean the rest of the party can.

5 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

The rules for flying creatures is outlined on page 100. The balance is that a flying creature requires a maneuver every turn to remain airborne.

Also, don't make the mistake of allowing a flying creature move on the planetary scale.

Can't believe I missed that. Good stuff!

I have a flying race in the game I'm running.

Here is the ability section I did for flight.

Flight: While not in a structured combat situation you may make an Easy Coordination check to fly. For each Success generated, you may fly up to two range bands in any direction. When wearing armor with an encumbrance of 2 or greater, increase the difficulty of the Coordination check by two ( dd ) for each point of encumbrance over 2.

Brittle Bones: Attacks made against aarakocra reduce their Critical Rating by one and add 30 to any Critical roll made against them.

Yeah, it's pretty penalizing, but flight is a pretty strong boon.

There's a bird species in Star Wars that may provide some inspiration, the Sathari. They have an attribute array of 1 3 2 2 2 2, Wounds 8 + Brawn, Strain 10 + Willpower, 100 XP, 1 free rank in Coordination, and a special ability called "Glider": "A Sathari can fall safely from any height and can glide over small gaps or distances while falling. While conscious, a Sathari character does not suffer damage from falling."

This isn't the same as powered flight, but it might be a less-game-breaking way to represent your bird people.

2 hours ago, SavageBob said:

There's a bird species in Star Wars that may provide some inspiration, the Sathari. They have an attribute array of 1 3 2 2 2 2, Wounds 8 + Brawn, Strain 10 + Willpower, 100 XP, 1 free rank in Coordination, and a special ability called "Glider": "A Sathari can fall safely from any height and can glide over small gaps or distances while falling. While conscious, a Sathari character does not suffer damage from falling."

This isn't the same as powered flight, but it might be a less-game-breaking way to represent your bird people.

Species Abilities

Wound Threshold: 8 + Brawn

Strain Threshold: 12 + Willpower

Starting XP: 90

Special Abilities: Toydarians begin the game with one free rank in Deceit or Negotiation. They still may not train Deceit or Negotiation above Rank 2 during character creation.

Talent Bonus: Toydarians start play with one rank in Wheel and Deal.

Flight: Toydarians may ignore the effects of difficult terrain.

Force Resistance: Attempts by a Force-user to alter the emotions or thoughts of a Toydarian have the difficulty increased by one.

Size: Toydarians have a Silhouette of 0.

Characteristic Rating Brawn 1 Cunning 3 Presence 2 Agility 2 Intellect 2 Willpower 2

That's an unnoficial Toydarian from Star wars (watto from phantom menace), its a pretty well balanced one

The official Toydarian is a bit different from that (Wounds are 9 + Brawn, they don't get a free skill rank, they are Silhouette 0, and their special ability is "Hoverer:" "Toydarians have wings that allow them to hover slightly off of the ground. When hovering, Toydarians do not have to spend additional maneuvers when navigating difficult terrain. Otherwise, their wings allow them no extra capabilities beyond those of a normal, walking character.")

Either approach might work for a bird species. Full, powered flight like that of an eagle should be fairly expensive as an ability, and there are no official examples of that in Star Wars yet.

Why not just reduce the starting XP for the bird people?