I have a shotgun, it shoots bullets, it uses my energy. Monsters shoot fireballs, bubble beams, etc. While none of that is "magic" it's still stuff that could leave room for things to be added as racial specific abilities. (But I'm all for not having anything like that). Maybe racial specific tech? And I thought that higher tiered racial armor had abilities too. But maybe that has changed.
there will be in the form of racial armour bonuses. also i like the idea of having more racial effects. too much in this game is just about appearance the race you chose should matter or else why bother with races in the first place. http://starbounder.org/Armor#Racial_Armor also instead of spells why not use technology trees with crafting adns science options