Thinking Races: Inhuman Beauty describes six new player character races. Each is, ostensibly, one often regarded as being physically alluring, yet obviously non-human. Physical allure may well be in the eye of the beholder, especially where the sphinx is concerned…

The first race is an alternative interpretation of centaurs, describing them as Fey, rather than as Monstrous Humanoids. This emphasises their connection with nature, but does not generally seem to make too much difference from the regular sort of centaur. Second are a variant type of dryad, able to change the plant they are connected to, giving them a little more mobility than the regular sort. Even so, they seem a little limited as adventurers, unless, perhaps, their plant is particularly portable (and the book is a little unclear here as to how possible this is supposed to be).

The Serpentines, which are half human half snake (but a lot sexier than, say, a yuan-ti abomination) are perhaps the most original race, and the most deserving of being slotted somewhere in a campaign world. They do seem a trifle over-powered for a race without a Level Adjustment, though.

Despite the name, Sirens do not at all resemble the half-woman-half-bird creatures of Greek legend, but are actually a Fey version of merfolk. Which seems a slightly odd choice for a name (unless you’re French), although it is hard to deny that mermaids are one of the best examples of “alluring but obviously non-human” in traditional folklore, so it would have been stranger still to leave them out. Aside from the name, though, this is a fairly good treatment of fey merfolk considering the space available, and they can walk about on land, to remove the obvious objection to them as PCs.

The fifth race are sphinxes, which seem a little odd, even in comparison to the other races here. Unlike the others, they do have a Level Adjustment. Finally there are the Swiftwing Pixies, which are traditional flying fairies. This is a good interpretation of that concept, with some added discussion on using a race so small and weak as potential PCs. They are best employed as mobile and hard-to-spot spell-casters, although even then, one wonders about their ability to use and carry the material components for some spells.

Following the six races is a section on rules for romantic entanglements, or, rather, the mechanical benefits of already being engaged in some. The suggestion that a third axis of Selfless/Selfish be added to the standard alignment system seems out of place here, and the attempt to argue that it’s independent – so that Chaotic Evil Selfless is a valid alignment – is not wholly convincing. The spells for familiars, while reasonable enough, also seem slightly out of place. The rules that actually are connected with familial and romantic love at least seem to belong, and are mostly fairly reasonable if you want there to be clear magical benefits to such things.

On the whole, despite the focus on PCs, much of the material in the book will probably work better for NPCs and campaign background. Still, if you are looking for some really exotic alternatives to the regular player races, this is a good source for its price.