Seascarred / Wereshark-Kin Skinwalker Abilities

Okay, so this is a little weird.
The abilities listed of a Seascarred are as follows:
1d6 Bite
Ferocity
Swim 30'
Amphibious

Well... this doesn't make a lot of sense.

First of all, Amphibious states "Amphibious (Ex) Creatures with this special quality have the aquatic subtype, but they can survive indefinitely on land."
and then aquatic goes on to say "...always have swim speeds and can move in water without making Swim checks. An aquatic creature can breathe water. It cannot breathe air unless it has the amphibious special quality. Aquatic creatures always treat Swim as a class skill."

Okay... So if I pick Amphibious, I get to breathe air and water and don't have to make swim checks and I get a swim speed. If I pick Swim 30' I get... a swim speed. Yay.

Second, Ferocity is not listed as a wereshark, shark, dire shark, or any other kind of shark ability. It looks like it was tacked on there for good measure. That's lame.
My GM and I have come up with this more reasonable list to evoke "shark power":

Amphibious with swim speed equal to land speed
1d6 Bite
+1 natural armor per four levels
Scent ability

Thoughts? Revisions?

Shouldn't this be in Homebrew?

prototype00

All amphibious does is let you breathe underwater.

All amphibious does is let you breathe underwater.

That may be all it is supposed to do, but... no.

If you are arguing that you gain only amphibious, and not aquatic type, then you can't even breathe underwater. You can survive indefinitely on land, which is pretty worthless.

Frankly, so is a swim speed without breathing water in most cases.

My "Rules Question", to reply to prototype00, is thus: "what is the swim speed provided by the aquatic type?"

I probably should post my group's decision in a homebrew forum, but I want to get an official ruling on the intent of the ability, which seems to be "you do not need to hold your breath underwater". It is, however, possible that the intent was to grant a swim speed and the aquatic type, and was missed in editing. I'm just not sure... so I asked.

You are quoting the amphibious trait text from the universal monster rules, which was written in the context of defining monster statistics. In other words, the amphibious trait assumes it applies to an aquatic creature, which can breathe water but not air. Thus, the entire point of amphibious trait in the monster rules is to enable an aquatic creature to breathe air.

However, the wereshark-kin amphibious trait lies within the context of defining a race that does not possess the aquatic subtype. Since the only benefit amphibious has for an aquatic creature is enabling them to breathe both air and water, likewise the amphibious trait would enable a humanoid to breathe both air and water. The Advanced Race Guide's race creation rules also support this interpretation:

Amphibious (2 RP)

Prerequisites: Swim racial trait.
Benefit: Members of this race are amphibious and can breathe both air and water.

When RAW seems to not make sense or have a contradiction, you have to apply a certain level of common sense and analyze the intent of the rules. A large part of that involves analyzing the context of the written rule. Common sense should tell you that amphibious simply enables a wereshark-kin to breathe underwater, especially considering the above evidence and the fact the developers deliberately listed it and a swim speed as separate options. Thus, amphibious, in itself, does not grant the aquatic subtype.

You are quoting the amphibious trait text from the universal monster rules, which was written in the context of defining monster statistics. In other words, the amphibious trait assumes it applies to an aquatic creature, which can breathe water but not air. Thus, the entire point of amphibious trait in the monster rules is to enable an aquatic creature to breathe air.

However, the wereshark-kin amphibious trait lies within the context of defining a race that does not possess the aquatic subtype. Since the only benefit amphibious has for an aquatic creature is enabling them to breathe both air and water, likewise the amphibious trait would enable a humanoid to breathe both air and water. The Advanced Race Guide's race creation rules also support this interpretation:

Quote:

Amphibious (2 RP)

Prerequisites: Swim racial trait.
Benefit: Members of this race are amphibious and can breathe both air and water.

When RAW seems to not make sense or have a contradiction, you have to apply a certain level of common sense and analyze the intent of the rules. A large part of that involves analyzing the context of the written rule. Common sense should tell you that amphibious simply enables a wereshark-kin to breathe underwater, especially considering the above evidence and the fact the developers deliberately listed it and a swim speed as separate options. Thus, amphibious, in itself, does not grant the aquatic subtype.

I was hoping someone would figure this one out! It's been bugging me but I didn't have anything useful to add to the conversation. Well done, Cyrad!

Amphibious with swim speed equal to land speed
1d6 Bite
+1 natural armor per four levels
Scent ability

Thoughts? Revisions?

I would have to say that a scaling natural armor boost is waayyy outside the scope of a regular racial ability. I mean there are classes that wish they could get that as a feature. A better option would be a flat +1. +2 only if you think the Seascarred is still behind the other skinwalkers. Other than that, it looks like a good revision, I really like scent thematically.