In many game worlds, you can play a character that does not belong to the human race. These rules define a “race” as a single, distinct nonhuman species; or one specific type of supernatural being (which might be a ghost, vampire, or other undead, regardless of its species in life); or a particular variety of artificial construct (e.g., a given model of robot).

A “racial template” is a collection of traits that apply to every member of a race. These traits might define the race’s physiology, its psychology, its supernatural powers (if any), and even its dominant culture (at least for a sapient race).

When you play a member of a nonhuman race, you must normally take all the traits in its racial template. Unlike the traits in a character template, racial traits are rarely optional.

The sum of the point costs of these traits is the race’s “racial cost.” You must pay this cost to belong to the race. Racial templates express deviations from the human norm; therefore, it costs 0 points to play a human.

Some templates are too expensive for PCs in low-powered campaigns, but the GM may still use them for powerful villains or patrons. The GM might wish to produce weaker versions of such templates for PCs (e.g., a vampire that lacks some of the powers given in legend), but he is also free to reserve such templates for NPCs.

Guidelines for creating racial templates appear in Chapter 15. These are intended for GMs, but the GM might allow players to create their own racial templates in campaigns that feature a vast array of nonhumans – especially supers games, where lone aliens with amazing powers are common. Many GURPS books also feature racial templates.

Racial templates often have attribute or secondary characteristic modifiers; e.g., ST+2 or HP-3. Apply attribute modifiers to the attributes you purchase for your character. Next, recalculate your secondary characteristics to reflect your modified attributes. Finally, apply secondary characteristic modifiers. There is no added point cost for any of this! You paid for these bonuses or penalties when you paid your racial cost.

If an attribute or secondary characteristic does not appear in the racial template, assume it is unchanged from the human norm.

Example: Sangria spends 10 points to buy ST 11. This gives her HP 11, and she spends another 4 points to get HP 13. She then buys the Vampire template. This template includes ST+6, giving Sangria ST 17. This ST improvement raises her HP to 19. Since the template gives HP+4 as well, she ends up with HP 23! The racial ST and HP bonuses have no extra cost – Sangria paid for these when she purchased her racial template.

A “feature” is a note on how the race differs from humanity when that difference does not grant an advantage or a disadvantage. Features cost 0 points. Examples of features include sterility and an ordinary tail.

A “taboo trait” is an attribute level, advantage, disadvantage, or skill that is off-limits to members of the race. This, too, is worth 0 points. Normally, only mundane traits are labeled “taboo,” as exotic or supernatural traits require the GM’s permission in any case.

You can buy both a racial template and a character template, if you have enough points. Use the guidelines given under Combining Character Templates, but bear in mind that while you can discard elements of character templates, you cannot do the same with racial traits.

You might even be able to stack two racial templates in some situations. For instance, an Elf might also be a Vampire. Keep all compatible traits from both templates. Add traits that come in levels (e.g., if an Elf has ST-1 and a Vampire has ST+6, a Vampire Elf has ST+5). Where two traits conflict (e.g., Acute Vision and Blindness), the GM decides which to keep and which to discard. Adjust the combined template cost appropriately.

If you have a good explanation, the GM may permit you to omit a racial trait. If the missing trait has a positive point value, you have a disadvantage that exactly cancels its cost; e.g., omitting racial Combat Reflexes gives “No Combat Reflexes [-15].” Such disadvantages do count against campaign disadvantage limits. If the missing trait has a negative point value, you have an advantage worth just enough to negate it; e.g., omitting racial Paranoia [-10] results in “No Paranoia [10].” You can apply enhancements and limitations to either kind of “replacement trait.”