Guide to races

During your time on station you may find yourself face to face (or face to mirror) with the not quite human. Be they aliens, mutated humans, or self aware constructs you're expected to try and coexist on this deathtrap
Learning their quirks can be key to knowing how to keep them amicable in times of peace, and easy to put down in times of strife.

Roundstart Races

On tgstation, these are the races allowed to be chosen at round start. Because they are freely available, you should expect to deal with them nearly every round.

Humans

On the station humans enjoy a degree of superiority over other races, everyone you meet in a position of power will generally be a human.
By default, the AI will apply the protections of its laws ONLY to humans, though they may extend that protection to other races out of preference provided doing so doesn't harm humans.
Should a conflict arise between a human and another race, expect the AI to take the human's side.

Gameplay

Behave like the dominant species you are. Beat skulls in with a toolbox and remind everyone that you are essentially a bald ape. Get leg-dropped by a wrestler and watch as your leg actually falls off.
Set up industrial-sized bugzappers in the main hall to deal with the pests.

Diet

• Likes: Fried food and junkfood, often combined into a heavenly form known as fast food.
• Dislikes: Raw food.

Benefits

• The only race with AI Protection under the default Asimov lawset.
• Domination of Command Jobs.
• Strength in numbers.

Drawbacks

• None at all.

Where to find them:

• Everywhere.

Lizardpeople

Second class citizens, lizards are generally relegated to lower level work.
Within a department a lizard staff member may enjoy anywhere from almost equal standing to obvious racism and disrespect, depending on their coworkers. They enjoy no advantages beyond their striking appearance.
Their appearance and naming conventions are loosely derived from the Argonians, of Skyrim.

Gameplay

Name yourself Does-The-Gimmick. Set all your accessory slots and become an unrecognizable blob of pixels. Be locked out of important positions. Threaten the HoP with a lawsuit if he doesn't promote you to a Head position and get promptly lasered to death.
Make it hard to understand a word you say by hissing frequently. Get discriminated against for being a snowflake race.

Diet

• Likes: Fruits, Vegetables, and Meat, especially fresh meat. Sometimes even from tiny vermin that NanoTrasen so graciously lets inhabit the station. Or the morgue, for the particularly cruel or culinarily inclined. Lizards also have a small selection of foods and drinks from their homelands, made with ingredients obtainable through Botany.
• Dislikes: Grain, Dairy, really anything overly processed. Only the freshest will do if it can't be turned into Jerky. (Sadly, this means the finest of human culinary creations, like pizza or cake, is off limits. What a terrible existence it must be.)

Benefits

• 33% resistance to heat damage.
• Memorable appearance.
• Solidarity with your fellow lizardpeople.

Drawbacks

• 50% more cold damage.
• Not human under Asimov.
• Lizard tails and hides can be used to craft sought after items like lizard wine, the Liz O' Nine Tails and lizard cloche hats.
• A noticeable lisssp and a tendency to be discriminated against.

Where to find them:

• Everywhere but command department.

Plasmaman

Plasmamen are essentially reanimated skeletal corpses inhabited by Colonids, a microscopic, plasma-based fungi that can form into sentient networks.
Plasmamen have a hard time living on oxygen based space stations as they breathe pure Plasma as their air supply; thus, they wear special environmental suits to protect them.
Plasmamen have the most drastic benefits and drawbacks of all roundstart races, making them challenging to play in many circumstances.

Gameplay

Make up 50% of the Engineering Department staff; take radiation baths in the Supermatter Engine. Stick out like a sore thumb when trying to be stealthy. Die in general.

Diet

• Likes: Vegetables.
• Dislikes: Fruit, for only the flesh is weak to scurvy.

Benefits

• Complete immunity to radiation.
• Can't bleed.
• Immune to viruses without the Inorganic Biology symptom.
• Take no damage from the cold, making them spaceworthy in pressure-proof clothes.
• Resistance to being wounded.
• Unable to gain mutations.
• Their default envirosuit includes a helmet light and togglable welding visor.

Drawbacks

• Can only breath Plasma gas. Losing their internals can be deadly, and acquiring refills is more challenging. Being stripped by unaware Security can be deadly.
• Burst into flame if exposed to oxygen, forcing them to wear envirosuits, hardsuits, spacesuits, firesuits or other fully sealed outfits. Limited wardrobe makes disguising harder, and losing clothes more debilitating. They must also wear gloves; losing an arm and becoming unable to put on a pair leads to more burning.
• The above makes them a pain in the ass for doctors to resuscitate if they don't know what they're doing, and replacement Plasmaman organs are rare.
• Removing their helmet to eat exposes them to oxygen, forcing them to either take damage or use injections to get nutrients.
• Take an additional 50% brute and burn damage from all sources.
• Unable to gain positive genetics mutations.
• Not human under Asimov.
• Little character customization, and stand out badly.

Where to find them:

• Probably in a chair next to the supermatter engine, wearing a firesuit and soaking up the radiation, waiting to unleash it on the rest of the station crew.
• Probably in a chair next to active fusion of gases, wearing a firesuit and soaking up the radiation, waiting to unleash it on the rest of the station crew.
• Probably in a tritium fire at atmospherics, wearing a firesuit and soaking up the radiation, waiting to unleash it on the rest of the station crew.
• Walking around hallways, unleashing radiation on the rest of the station crew.
• Everywhere aside from command.

Mothpeople

White-faced insect people with wings and antennae. Be the Mary Sue you were always meant to be with a shitload of color 'themes' to choose from.

Gameplay

Get everything unique about you as a species removed by deranged people, but manage to sneak past a free infinite jetpack that never activates when you need it to. Turn into toothpaste when you hack a door wrong.

Diet

• Likes: Vegetables, Dairy, Clothing.
• Dislikes: Fruit.
• Toxic: Raw meat, cooked meat, just don't eat something that moved and made noises.

Benefits

• Having wings makes it possible to move in zero-gravity environments to a degree.
• You can eat clothing.

Drawbacks

• Being lit on fire burns your wings (and your only benefit) up.
• Moth eyes are extra sensitive to light. Welding needs both goggles and mask and flashbangs REALLY hurt, even with sunglasses on.
• Being attacked by flyswatters deals 10x damage.
• Pest spray deals triple the regular poison damage.
• Not human under Asimov.

Where to find them:

• Near a light bulb or Tesla engine.

Ethereals

Walking lightbulbs that are named after celestial bodies. They come in a variety of fun colors.

Diet

• Likes: Snowflake Ethereal food (High-power energy bars, empowered burgers). Electricity, whether through Cyborg rechargers, electric shocks, APCs, or indirectly through lightbulbs.

Benefits

• Naturally glow like a flashlight. They can be EMP'd, and emagging them somehow turns them into a disco ball.
• Deal burn damage instead of brute damage when punching things.
• Slightly resistant to electricity.

Drawbacks

• Their glow can't be turned off.
• Can only regain nutrition by entering a cyborg recharger, by touching lightbulbs, touching an APC on Combat Mode Enable with 4, disable with 1 or toggle with F by default. Left-clicking people with an empty hand will Harm them if on, or Help them if off. Prevents you from switching places or being pushed when colliding with people. , or through special Ethereal food.
• Take an additional 25% brute damage.
• Not human under Asimov.

Where to find them:

• At Robotics and Engineering.

Human Mutants

Over the course of a shift, you or someone you know may lose their humanity. These races are not born, but made.
These players are less likely to be the targets of racism, as many may simply acknowledge their former humanity, but are none the less NOT human anymore.

Podpeople

Human blood, resurrected through a plant. Podpeople are rare to see, often only making an appearance if the doctors or defibrillators are gone, or Botany wants to embrace their true heritage. They thrive in light and can't survive darkness for too long.

Gameplay

End up as a potato after getting husked and finding that the Botanist isn't too high to do his job. Forget that you photosynthesise and grow obese in the light. Start vegetating with relative ease.
Remember that you're basically a walking matchstick well after you marched into a plasma fire.

Benefits

• Gradually heals and gains nutrition in well lit areas.
• Immune to plant-based hazards such as space vines, and friends to botanical monsters like killer tomatoes.
• Bees don't mind them.

Drawbacks

• Lose nutrition in the dark, and take damage from starving.
• Easily eaten by goats.
• Tendency to be overweight simply by spending all their time in the light.
• Extra vulnerable to chemicals designed to kill plant life.
• Takes 25% more burn damage and heats up quickly.
• Mutates if shot by a floral somatoray in mutation mode.

Where to find them:

• Hydroponics.

Flypeople

Walking abominations of mismatched DNA caused by teleporter malfunctions. Careful use and upgrading of the teleporter can assure those that dabble with it don't end up in this sorry state.
There's absolutely nothing redeemable about existing like this, unless you just enjoy being a freak.

Gameplay

Annoy the chef for his cheese, vomit on his food and kill Pete because you need barf fuel muh self defense. Start getting voices in your head when you read the bee movie script over the radio.
Get lynched for attacking the botanist using pest spray, and get gibbed by the chef for 'no reason'.

Diet

• Likes: Gross things, such as vomit. Get your crewmates sick and never go hungry again!
• Dislikes: Anything with nutriment... the first time.

Benefits

• You can eat vomit off the floor.
• You can fill the entire station in vomit.
• You can spell out rude messages in vomit.
• You can then eat the vomit.

Drawbacks

• Eating anything but vomit causes you to puke it back up.
• Buz-zz-zing lisp.
• Grotesque appearance.
• Triple damage from pest spray.
• Take an absolutely ridiculous 30x more damage from flyswatters.
• Their organs are unidentifiable, making organ replacement by doctors a massive pain.

Where to find them:

• Near a teleporter.

Felinids

Effectively human if not for their ears and tail. Nanotrasen executives agree that Felinids are not befitting of head roles for the same reason certain individuals are drawn to this species.

Diet

• The same as normal humans.
• Dislikes: Furballs.

Gameplay

At the start of the shift, put on clothes that look like they're from one of those Chinese cartoons you're always watching. Have quality interactions with the crew behave like a poorly-written female character created by a sweaty dude who's never actually spoken to a woman except for his mother (and a fast food cashier that one time.) NYAAA at the crew. Become an entertaining electrical conductor for silicons.
Metafriend every other catperson, every single round. Get lynched in the hallways by a mob while the authorities point and laugh from a distance. When in danger, get saved by backup suspiciously fast. Ahelp every transgression people do to you.

Benefits

• Metagangs.
• *wag

Drawbacks

• Hit harder by flashbangs.
• Distracted by laser pointers.
• Poisoned by chocolate. thanks reddit
• Felinids aren't allowed to have tattoos because it shames famiry.
• Are below beast races because they abandoned their humanity, as opposed to never having it in the first place.
• Not human under Asimov.

Where to find them:

• On any station as long as the player made a Felinid character before the great weeb purge of January 2019.
• Currently an available race as of November 2019

Jelly and Slime Mutants

These races are created in Xenobiology by taking mutation toxin.
Further intake has a chance to mutate a slimeperson into a Stargazer or Luminescent.

Jellypeople

The proto-jelly race. Its subspecies all share the following traits:

Benefits

• Anything that would deal toxin damage (for example, Plasma) will heal toxin damage instead.
• Slimes will never attack them, and they can speak the slime language.
• Has slime jelly instead of blood, which is toxic if ingested by others.
• Take half burn damage from any source.
• Can grow limbs back using their slime jelly "blood".
• Has slime lungs, "vacuole", which will regenerate blood (jelly) volume when breathing plasma. Still needs oxygen though.

Drawbacks

• When their "blood" drops too low, they automatically absorb limbs to replenish it
• Anything that would heal toxin damage deals it instead and lowers their "blood".
• Take triple damage from cold.
• Not human under Asimov.

Where to find them:

• Xenobiology. Also botany, if lucky with strange seeds.

Slimepeople

Pretty much humans turned into slime.
Like slimes, they can split into multiple bodies, while retaining the same mind.

Powers

• Can split themselves to create spare bodies.
  • To split they need to acquire high amounts of "blood", generated by anything that would deal toxin damage or food.
  • Reaching 1100 jelly volume will let them split once, and reset them to 600.
  • They can swap between bodies at will; dying in their current body will send them to another body if they have one.

Gameplay

Be the specialest snowflake in xenobiology. Hang out with your only slime friends. Swap between bodies. Inject people with your poisonous blood.

Where to find them:

• Xenobiology.

Stargazers

Stargazers are the telepathic branch of jellypeople, able to project psychic messages and to link minds with participants.

Powers

• Can privately and anonymously "send thoughts" to any target they see.
• Can form slimelinks with any living being.
  • To form a slimelink, they must aggressively grab their target, then use the Link Minds ability.
  • Everyone in the slimelink will be able to communicate in it and hear each other.
  • Slimelink communication also works while unconscious or muted.
  • Slimelinks are broken by death; killing the Stargazer supporting it, or changing its species, will unlink everyone.

Where to find them:

• Xenobiology.

Luminescents

Luminescents are versatile; they gain powers by consuming cores and activating them with their peculiar biology.

Benefits

• Emit a faint glow.

Powers

• Can absorb slime cores to gain special abilities. (You can find the various effects here)
  • Each core has a minor and a major ability.
  • Activating them has a cooldown instead of using up the core. Cores can be ejected and reused.
  • You can only have one core absorbed at once.

Where to find them:

• One of the possible mutations from slime mutation toxin, made with green slime extracts.

Exotic Races

These races have very few ways to come about, and often rely on very rare situations to exist at all.
Golems aside, you will almost never have to deal with them, but should be aware of them all the same for when the time comes.

Golems

Lumbering people of shining stone, golems are born into the servitude of their creators. While some will immediately gift these golems with freedom others will keep them close as assistants, bodyguards, or attack dogs. Golems do not have a will of their own unless granted one by their creator, and are not directly responsible for their actions if commanded. Free golems found on Lavaland function equivalently to their station-born counterparts; however, they are not compelled to serve anyone.

Golems have unique benefits and drawbacks, depending on the type of mineral they're made of.

Gameplay

Act like dumb ogre, smash the fleshy idiot humies and trigger gods. Escalate conflicts to deadchat with your ogre fists. Dish out justice with your ogre squad.
Kill people with your flashy radiation, and get banned for card golem counting.

Benefits

• A laundry list of benefits from being inorganic: they're spaceproof, woundproof, don't bleed, immune to radiation, can't catch most viruses and don't breathe.
• Most golems punch hard and are highly resistant to brute damage, with some exceptions.
• Have pocket-slots without wearing a jumpsuit.
• Many types of golems have additional benefits based on their material.

Drawbacks

• Bound to the will of their creator unless freed.
• Most types are much slower than humans.
• Can't give or receive CPR, or benefit from positive chemicals, viruses or mutations.
• Can't equip most clothing, although they have natural pockets.
• Their fingers are too big to fire any guns other than Kinetic Accelerators with modified trigger guards.
• Often prejudiced against and slain without mercy by the station at first sign of trouble.

For mineral specific benefits and drawbacks, see: Types of Golems

Where to find them:

• Xenobiology.
• Lavaland.

Skeletons

The skeleton within, unleashed! Somehow still alive, a skeleton is just a sack of stark white bones.
Clattering spooks, due to their supernatural qualities they're almost always associated with wizards. They also show up en masse to demand station employment during the Halloween season.
Skeletons enjoy a wide selection of useful immunities, just don't expect the crew to ever enjoy looking at you ever again.

Benefits

• Spaceproof; they don't breathe and take no pressure or temperature damage.
• Have no blood to lose.
• Are immune to the effects of radiation, as well as viruses.
• Immune to item embedding and chemical injections.
• Do not need to eat, although they can heal by drinking milk.
• Can reattach lost limbs by simply jamming them back into the socket.

Drawbacks

• Their limbs come off much easier than other races.
• Immune to beneficial chemicals, viruses, etc.
• Too spooky for many to handle.

Where to find them:

• Space pirate ships, with wizards, on the station on Halloween.

High-functioning Zombies

Unlike the zombies you find in movies, these high-functioning zombies don't crave your brains (despite what they might be compelled to say sometimes).
It's perfectly possible to coexist with these zombies, though understanding their slurring speech might drive some to wish it wasn't.
Not to be confused with Romerol zombies, which absolutely should not be coexisted with.

Benefits

• Spaceproof; immune to cold and pressure, and don't need to breathe.
• Have no blood to lose.
• Are immune to the effects of radiation.
• Can reattach lost limbs by simply jamming them back into the socket.
• Immune to Changeling transmutation stings.

Drawbacks

• Their limbs come off much easier than other races.
• Hard to understand.
• Ugly.
• Tends to be confused with the infectious kind of zombie and murdered in a blind panic; unlike Romerol zombies, they have no infectious abilities or desire to destroy the living.

Where to find them:

• With wizards, on the station on Halloween.

Romerol Zombies

Rotted remains of former humans, brought way less back to life. Unlike the zombies you meet on Halloween, Romerol zombies aren't just a human mutation.
They are aggressive by nature, and spread an infection when hitting other humanoids, causing them to turn into Romerol zombies on death.

They also won't stay dead as long as the infection is active and their head is intact: to stop them permanently, the body must be destroyed or beheaded, or the infection must be surgically removed.
If this does not happen, the zombie will revive at full health after some time.

The infection is concentrated in a tumor located in the brain. Should this tumor be removed surgically, the body will revert to a normal corpse, which can then be cloned revived.

Benefits

• All the benefits of high functioning zombies, plus:
• Strong claws that can even punch through airlocks.
• Revives after death unless decapitated or gibbed.
• Quickly heal wounds.
• Can see in the dark.
• Turn other species into romerol zombies on death.

Drawbacks

• Slow movement.
• Can only use claws to smash, and have no fine manipulation abilities.
• Automatically a high-priority antagonist; there is no way to co-exist with the crew, making it kill or be killed.

Where to find them:

• On the station, after traitors team up to buy Romerol or get lucky with a surplus crate.

Shadowpeople

Cursed beings of darkness, shadows that cannot exist for long in the light. They skulk in darkened maintenance corridors or in workplaces with intentionally destroyed lighting. They are not intrinsically evil, but still invoke an understandable level of mistrust in pretty much everyone.

They share many of the passive effects of Shadowlings, but none of their innate spells or abilities. They are far less a threat.

Benefits

• Gradually heals in the dark.
• Don't need to breathe.
• Have no blood to lose.
• Are immune to the effects of radiation.
• Can see far in the dark.
• Immune to viruses.
• Won't get attacked by Faithless monsters.

Drawbacks

• Will perish in the light.
• Generally impossible to maintain a normal life on the station.

Where to find them:

• In the darkness.

Synths

Humanoid robots, disguised as an organic race. When damaged enough, their fake flesh will fall off and has to be repaired with synthflesh.

Benefits

• Immune to all chemicals but synthflesh.
• Does not need to breathe.
• Immune to viruses.
• Can't be dismembered.
• Does not need to eat.
• Gains all the passive bonuses/immunities of the race they're disguised as, until the disguise falls.

Drawbacks

• Usually valid. Expect the crew to attack you if you're revealed as synth.
• Disguise falls if you take more than 25 damage.
• Can only heal with synthflesh.

Where to find them:

• Only if the admins gods spawn them.

Military Synths

A special type of synth. In addition to classic synths, it has:

• 25% natural armor against all damages.
• High punch damage, with 50% chance of stunning on hit.
• Need to take 50 damage instead of 25 for the disguise to fail.

Androids

Humanlike robots, distant cousins of synths. While visually identical to a fully augmented human, it has some additional perks.

Benefits

• No need to breathe.
• Immunity to pressure, temperature and burning.
• Can't bleed.
• No hunger or need to eat.
• Cannot be pierced by syringes or glass.
• Can repair brute damage with welding tools, and burn damage by replacing wires.

Drawbacks

• Cannot heal brute and burn damage by conventional means.
• Immune to beneficial chemicals, mutations or viruses.
• Paralyzed and heavily damaged by EMPs.

Where to find them:

• Botany random mutation toxin and other places (like the chapel via technopriest rituals)

Abductors

Alien beings sent here to probe the station's crew. They cannot speak normally, but instead use a special frequency tuned to their mothership: different abductor teams have separate channels. Abductors created in different ways share a common abductor channel instead, and cannot hear natural abductors. If discovered by the station, the crew may try to communicate and make peace or deliver the Abductors to medbay/R&D for research purposes.

Benefits

• Can't bleed.
• Does not need to breathe.
• Immunity to viruses.
• Can use abductor-specific equipment.
• Can see in the dark for short ranges.
• Can communicate without restrictions with fellow abductors.

Drawbacks

• Can't use guns, except the one they start with.
• Can't speak to anyone except other abductors on their team.
• Highly distrusted by the crew.

Where to find them:

• Abductor ships