I've played an ogre barbarian/fighter with a one-hit-one-kill concept, and he can put out more damage than anything in the party. I've played a serpentfolk wizard whose DCs were so high, creatures 10 CR higher than the party had trouble making the saves. I've even played a vampire anti-paladin who could slaughter anything living, and that's not even against something good aligned.
In 3.5, going from the Savage Species book, it always seemed to me like playing a monstrous race would be a hassle, if not an outright waste of time. People still did it, of course, and often to amazing affect. But a base-race with class levels instead of monstrous levels always seemed to keep up, if not outright surpass, those same creatures.
In Pathfinder, that doesn't seem to be the case. So, I was wondering:
Is there any better system for incorporating monstrous races into a Pathfinder campaign than that given in the Bestiary? (I mean these rules.)
To clarify, I'm looking for a way to include the entire monstrous race, Hit dice and the like included.
Example method: Not giving the creature bonus levels. (I don't use this method because it only really applies on a case-by-case basis. An ogre cleric, with this rule, would quickly grow underpowered, even though an Ogre Barbarian would likely keep up well with the party.)
Suggestions are welcome, and experience is always appreciated, but something official is more of what I'm looking for. If there aren't any, though, then no worries.
Best Answer
I proffer this answer only because @Zach doesn't like the answer provided above which, from a system point of view at least, is more consistent and easier to implement for the GM. However, here are some other options to work around the inherent imbalance of monster races without @Gates answer:
First and foremost - try to consider balance to be more than the sum total of what the system has to offer (and especially the combat system). In the example of the ogre you could:
All of the above take more effort than just throwing in some checks and balances at character generation but they can add a lot of atmosphere to the game. I would also strongly advise talking with your group about whether any of them would help provide the sort balance that you want - after all there's not point putting balance mechanisms in that either don't work for your group or make the race entirely unplayable for your players.