Strix Racial Balance

[Milo v3]

Strix seem rather powerful because of their flight, but it seems like it's the closest thing PF has too raptorans. Are strix actually relatively fine at first level or should I just restrict strix to games that start after around third level at least?

[Psyren]

At low levels they can be strong if your campaign doesn't account for them, e.g. every battle in wide open outdoor areas and enemies with no/poor ranged attack capability. Over time though, that advantage (if it existed) will wane.

In Golarion at least, players are generally discouraged from taking them via fluff means - they are unrepentant scavengers with a mean streak and so are almost universally disdained/reviled. But for many this only encourages them to the adventuring life for one reason or another.

Note there is another first-party "LA 0" race with flight at level 1 - the Syrinx (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/syrinx), owl-men with racial ties to the Strix.

[Novawurmson]

You could also use the raptoran flying rules if you're really that concerned about it (gliding at first, then flying later).

[ArqArturo]

Or you could use wind/climate rules. The Flight skill is there for a reason.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I don't think Strix are unbalanced. Their most powerful at level 1 and then the flight advantage diminishes over time until it doesn't much matter anymore by mid levels. It probably would've been better to make their flight come online over time like Raptoran, but it's ok. They will be unlikely able to Hover often at level 1 due to the DC of the check, so even if they make an archer...ground-based archers using Rapid Shot will shred them.
If someone makes a Strix spellcaster instead of an archer...he's probably gimped himself by not picking a race with a +2 to casting stat (seriously...like 90% of PF races boost a mental stat), or other racial features far far FAR more potent than mundane flight (Samsaran's mystic past life; Half-Elf's bonus evolution points favored class; Human Sorc's bonus spells known favored class; etc...), especially since most casters can get flight fairly early if they want it (Air Specialist Wizard, Witch or Hexcrafter w/ Flight hex, Synth. Summoner with Flight evolution all at 5; Wings for Alchemist at 6; etc...)

Unless you use enemies that are all ground based with no ranged weapons, Strix won't be much of a deal at low levels. And at mid and high levels, it won't be creating any problems that couldn't have been caused already by class features, spells, and items.

[Erik Vale]

Strix seem rather powerful because of their flight, but it seems like it's the closest thing PF has too raptorans. Are strix actually relatively fine at first level or should I just restrict strix to games that start after around third level at least?

Strix[and Syrinx] weigh in at 17 race points [If I remember right from when I worked it out], the equivalent of a +1 LA race.

[Psyren]

Strix[and Syrinx] weigh in at 17 race points [If I remember right from when I worked it out], the equivalent of a +1 LA race.

ISB has Syrinx at 16, not 17.

More importantly, there are both comparable races points-wise as well as much higher ones out there, that are still LA 0. Aasimar are 15, Sulis are 16, Fetchlings are 17. Kasatha meanwhile are 20 and Svirfneblin clock in at a whopping 24. So 17 is still pretty reasonable for LA 0.

[torrasque666]

IIRC they said something about it being ~10RP to 1LA. So 0-10RP=0LA, 11-20RP=1LA, etc.

[Psyren]

There is no such guideline in the book. There is a guideline on pg. 219 about adjusting the APL (average party level, used for CR calculations) based on the average RP value of the party; however, the adjustments only start at 20 RP, which Strix is below, and they typically only apply from levels 1-5. You have to have a lot of RP (read: monstrous race) for any adjustments to persist past that.

[Erik Vale]

Adjustment is only noted for 20+ because a core race is 11 [I can't remember which one], and that doing so before then would limit some of the rather iconic races in addition to said race which I cannot remember.

[Novawurmson]

Adjustment is only noted for 20+ because a core race is 11 [I can't remember which one], and that doing so before then would limit some of the rather iconic races in addition to said race which I cannot remember.

Dwarf, my friend - though there are quite a few fairly iconic races that I'm sure they were trying to avoid going into the "level adjustment" territory (aasimar/tiefling being at the top of the list).

[StreamOfTheSky]

Race points are bs and the values they assign to some things are completely out of whack, you should use RP to judge anything about how powerful or weak a race is. Humans are a better race than pretty much anything in the 15-20 range.