Looking at my older drafts, it looks like this was an oversight on my end, for the most part. However, Drabatans have two abilities already, and I generally try and avoid adding a third or fourth ability to a species whenever possible, especially when one of them is particularly powerful (which Big Mouth can be, when combined with certain other talents or abilities). While we don't exactly know if Drabatans can breathe underwater or not canon wise, in my mind (at the moment, anyway), they can just hold their breath a pretty long time (another handy use of that large mouth and big lungs). Giving them the ability to breathe underwater (which is what the amphibious game text states) doesn't feel accurate to me.

The suggestion of flipping a destiny point to either gain the amphibious quality temporarily (or just upgrade a check to swim) to represent this is an excellent one. As a GM (I'd also totally support house-ruling that if a Drabatan wants to flip a Destiny point for a swim check, they can upgrade twice instead of once for the flip).

Also, if I called for a swim check, and a player said "hey, I'm a Drabatan, can't I swim really well?" I'd probably give them a boost die for bringing that up. Same as I'd give a Wookiee one for climbing if they mention their claws or Kashyyyk or whatever.

The suggestion to offer certain species these kinds of qualities as 5-10 XP talents (for things like Amphibious or IR vision) is also a great suggestion. Just be careful this is done on a case by case basis, as some species abilities are quite powerful, and probably worth a lot more than 5 to 10 XP. I'd also limit it to species who have that ability clearly stated in their write up, but don't have a statistical bonus for it.

3 minutes ago, KRKappel said:

While we don't exactly know if Drabatans can breathe underwater or not canon wise, in my mind (at the moment, anyway), they can just hold their breath a pretty long time (another handy use of that large mouth and big lungs). Giving them the ability to breathe underwater (which is what the amphibious game text states) doesn't feel accurate to me.

So what about giving them the same ability as the Gluss'sa'Nikto--Swimmer (repeated below with the species name changed)?

Swimmer: A Drabatan never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water and can hold his breath for a number of rounds equal to twice his Brawn rating before beginning to drown.

On 7/22/2018 at 6:20 AM, HappyDaze said:

So what about giving them the same ability as the Gluss'sa'Nikto--Swimmer (repeated below with the species name changed)?

Swimmer: A Drabatan never suffers movement penalties for traveling through water and can hold his breath for a number of rounds equal to twice his Brawn rating before beginning to drown.

This is another fine way to address it if necessary at your table.

I think the important thing to remember, though, is that it's just not the goal of a species stat block to point out every single advantage or disadvantage a species has when compared with humans. There is a design intent with this game to keep things focused on the narrative and less on the mechanical (which is why species have a lot more word count dedicated to their background as opposed to their stat block). The game should remain friendly to those who have never played an RPG before, and part of that means not overwhelming new players with a ton of abilities at character creation.

The few times I've been asked to develop species, I try to really look at which 2-3 potential species abilities best meet the following criteria:

1.) Is the ability in keeping with the species write up?

2.) Is the ability useful enough to make the species an appealing selection?

3.) Is the ability balanced with other species starting abilities?

It's that second one that I think best applies here (and to other situations where species might not have an ability for an alternate vision wavelength or keen hearing, or some kind of environmental specialization).

GM: "So you guys have to swim out of the sunken freighter. Roll your 'Hold your breath' skill."

Player: "Hey man, I'm an [AQUATIC SPECIES], can I have a blue for the roll."

GM: "Eh, sure. Sounds good to me!"

Problem sorted.

10 minutes ago, Desslok said:

GM: "So you guys have to swim out of the sunken freighter. Roll your 'Hold your breath' skill."

Player: "Hey man, I'm an [AQUATIC SPECIES], can I have a blue for the roll."

GM: "Eh, sure. Sounds good to me!"

Problem sorted.

That would be fine if that was how it was done consistently through the line, but it is not, as the example of the Gluss'sa'Nikto proves. As that species already has a working example of how it is done, copy/paste for consistency is preferable in my eyes to just winging it each time.

On 7/17/2018 at 5:44 PM, HappyDaze said:

You make a good point, but Drabatans are noted to be "excellent swimmers (though they dislike salt water) and dine on a variety of insects, fish, and algae." Along with this, we have a passage on Drabatan cities that says "the area beneath the lake surface is just as busy as that above, and most buildings have entrances both above and below the water." These do not suggest that the Drabatans are exclusively land-dwelling like the toads you mention.

Beavers build dams with entrances below the water line, and are "excellent swimmers who dislike salt water." They're not truly amphibious, though. They still need to breath air to survive.

Similarly, most water fowl "dine on a variety of insects, fish and algae," but again, are purely air breathers. We have an outdoor aquarium in a nearby city with a large underwater viewing area, and I've spent hours watching the birds dive under the water to impressive depths, snag a fish, and swim (fly) back to the surface to finish their meal.

51 minutes ago, Kabal said:

Beavers build dams with entrances below the water line, and are "excellent swimmers who dislike salt water." They're not truly amphibious, though. They still need to breath air to survive.

Similarly, most water fowl "dine on a variety of insects, fish and algae," but again, are purely air breathers. We have an outdoor aquarium in a nearby city with a large underwater viewing area, and I've spent hours watching the birds dive under the water to impressive depths, snag a fish, and swim (fly) back to the surface to finish their meal.

Those are great examples of where Swimmer would apply. A beaver or waterfowl without Swimmer would be no better at holding its breath or moving in the water than a cheetah or ostrich.