RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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You know the easy way to determine whether something is a race trait (one of your two starting traits, and happens to be of the 'race' category) or a racial trait (one of the inherent capabilities of your race)?
Look at the rest of the page where the 'trait' in question is printed (and maybe even a couple of surrounding pages).
Are you looking at a race's writeup, where everything is all about that race? Then you're probably looking at a racial trait, which is not one of your two traits that you get, and cannot be gained via the Adopted trait.
Are you looking at a list of traits, and the one you're eyeing is under a heading labeled "Race Traits", but others are under headings of "Social Traits" or "Faith Traits" or whatever? Then you're probably looking at a race trait, which does count as one of your two traits, and is valid for use with Adopted.
This rule of thumb will answer 95% of race/racial trait questions.
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You have to be extremely careful with the use of Race Traits vs Racial Traits. Developers have posted that they shouldn't of given such similar names to the two things.
Race traits are traits that are available based on the character's race. Example the elven race trait warrior of old.
Racial traits are the abilities races grant as part of being that race. Examples include the human bonus feat or the dwarf's slow and steady.
In PFS you start with 2 traits for free. One of which could come from the race trait category. Since you can only have one trait from a particular category - combat, faith, magic, social, faction, race, regional and religion.
You can make use of as many alternate racial traits that you can qualify for. For example a dwarf can take the magic resistant alternate racial trait instead of hardy. They would be able to do this for each of their racial traits as long as they have the appropriate racial trait to swap for the new one.
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A better way of looking at this might be to first only look a the core races and the Core Rule Book and Advanced Players Guide:
When you build a character you choose a race. This race has a number of Racial Traits found in the Race Chapter of the Core Rule Book. These include ability score mods, size and things like darkvision and keen senses. Also when you choose your race you are allowed to swap out certain Racial traits for sanctioned Alternate Racial Traits which can be found in the Race chapter of the Advanced Players Guide.
Now in PFS we allow the use of Traits, a new rule introduced in Chapter 8 of the Advanced Players Guide. A character starts out with 2 Traits. These Traits can be choose from the following subsections Combat, Magic, Religion, Social, Regional, Faith, and Race. You can only have one trait in any subsection.
Using the formatting of these two books you should be able to look at other publications and tell what kind of trait you are looking at. So if in a book has a section titled Alternate Racial Traits, this means these can be swapped out for one of the Racial Traits found in the Race Chapter of the CRB. If a book has a section titled Traits and there is a Race subsection, then this is a extension of the rules found in Chapter 8 of the APG and can be used as one of your two Traits chosen at first level (or after taking the Additional Traits feet).
Just a reminder though, to use a Alternate Racial Trait or Trait in PFS it has to be sanctioned on Additional Resource page.
Hope this Helps.
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I went with Scion of Humanity as an Aasimar. So, its a Racial Trait, not a Race Trait.
Now, do I get 2 traits along with my Scion of Humanity (Racial Trait) or is it one of the ones that I have to pay for, with one of my starting 2 Traits?
Scion of Humanity is an alternate Racial trait, and therefore doesn't count towards your two traits.
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I went with Scion of Humanity as an Aasimar. So, its a Racial Trait, not a Race Trait.
Now, do I get 2 traits along with my Scion of Humanity (Racial Trait) or is it one of the ones that I have to pay for, with one of my starting 2 Traits?
You are confusing:
Trait (Race) with
Racial Trait.
Racial Traits are the list of things you get because you are whatever you are. Humans get 1 feat, +1 skill point per level, +2 to an ability score, and other things dependant on which alternate racial traits you take.
Trait (Race) is a trait you can take with the category of Race. You don’t get to pick Racial Traits with your Trait (Race).
Alternate Racial Traits replace one or more of the standard traits you get for being that race.
It is confusing, because the word Trait is used in both cases.
It becomes less confusing if you do all your Race stuff separately from your Trait stuff.
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Thanks guys. I get it now.
I get two Traits, race, social or whatever.
ALTERNATE racial Traits on the other hand, are just exchanges for stuff that my character has, like the ability to speak a language or the ability to see in the dark, etc....
And you guys are correct, Alternate Racial Traits was a poor choice of wording by the creators.
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actually, the poor wording was calling Traits traits.
Because Racial Traits have been in the game since the Core Rulebook.
Traits (social, campaign, faith, magic, race, et. al.) didn't exist until they made the Advanced Players Guide (there was a web supplement that may have come first, and the idea of traits may have been put out in the APs).
But Racial Traits have been called such since 3.0 back in the year 2000.
The mistake was not calling Traits something else, like Backgrounds or something.
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Now in PFS we allow the use of Traits, a new rule introduced in Chapter 8 of the Advanced Players Guide. A character starts out with 2 Traits. These Traits can be choose from the following subsections Combat, Magic, Religion, Social, Regional, Faith, and Race. You can only have one trait in any subsection.
Note that in PFS, there are a few more categories that you can select from:
Characters choose their traits from six different
categories: basic, campaign, equipment, race, region, and
religion. A character can have only one trait from each
category (or subcategory, in the case of basic traits, which
fall into the areas of combat, faith, magic, and social).
Your character’s choice of faction opens up additional
trait choices presented in Chapter 4 of this guide. These
faction traits count as campaign traits—in effect, they
are the campaign traits for Pathfinder Society Organized
Play. No other campaign traits from any source are legal
for characters to choose. In order to select a faction trait,
your character must belong to the associated faction.
So listing categories of traits there are these:
- Combat
- Faith
- Magic
- Social
- Race (not the other one automatically given when selecting a race)
- Regional
- Religion
- Equipment
- Campaign (Faction Traits in the Guide to Pathfinder Organized Play)
Note that some traits do have requirements to them. For example: Defender of the Society has the prerequisite of being a Fighter, so only a Fighter can choose this.
As for a majority of Race traits, all of them has a type of race (or ethnicity for humans) for them. A neat workaround is to grab the Social trait, Adopted. Like being Helpful and give a +2 to Aid Another? Sure! You got adopted by halflings! Though this works for most of them, there are a few that might be iffy, like a bloodline trait for Tieflings and Aasimars.
Moreover, at Level 1, you can only obtain 2 traits from two seperate categories. Once you start your character in a mission above your first level, those traits are locked in.
If you are curious on if you are able to obtain more traits, you can! There is a feat called Additional Traits, which as the name suggests, gives you two more traits to choose from! Note that this is a General Trait, so it can not be obtained other than from Odd-Level Obtainment. Moreover, the two traits that you decide to choose also respects the previous pair's selection, so that means if you chose a Combat Trait and a Race Trait at first Level, the two categories are still locked out for selection.
I had a bit of time to write up (almost all) of the traits into a document. 59 pages of traits is quite a deal when it is something that is only usually taken at first level.
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I am really annoyed at the number of Pathfinders who are adopted by halflings. That trait should be retconned to a +1 bonus to keep it in line with all the other Aid Another boosts.Is it worse if a Paladin's Helpful Axebeak mount took the Extra Traits feat and it's now adopted by halflings?
No, no. Your Axebeak was always adopted by halflings. It just never unlocked the true potential of the halfling ways until recently.
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I am really annoyed at the number of Pathfinders who are adopted by halflings. That trait should be retconned to a +1 bonus to keep it in line with all the other Aid Another boosts.
You could also say "I'm annoyed with the amount of wizards that know glitterdust" "I'm annoyed with the amount of magi that use shocking grasp" "I'm annoyed with the amount of archers that use longbows instead of crossbows." If something is optimal, it's optimal, and people will use it.
In the case of halflings, they were on an adopting spree a few decades ago. Also, around a few decades ago, halflings started a spurt of evolution that allows them to move faster than their ancestors (Fleet of Foot alternate racial trait).
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Yeah, the word trait.... kind of like the new Level (spell level? character level? what level do you need to be to throw what level spell?).
There was actually a bit in the original AD&D Player's Handbook (or maybe it was a Dragon Magazine article?) where Gygax went into this. They originally had different names for all the levels, something like:
Dungeon - Level
Character - Rank
Spell - Circle
Monster - Rating
I'm sure I'm making mistakes on the details, but in the end they decided to trash it as having a 5th level character casting a 3rd level spell at a 4th level monster in the 2nd dungeon level was no more confusing than having a 5th rank character casting a 3rd circle spell at a 4th rating monster in the 2nd dungeon level when you got done with it all.
At the end of the day, it turns out that one term is kinda less confusing and definitely more elegant.
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I am really annoyed at the number of Pathfinders who are adopted by halflings. That trait should be retconned to a +1 bonus to keep it in line with all the other Aid Another boosts.It can be worse. Everyone could be worshipping Torag...
I am genuinely confused and curious now. I just made my first PFS character tonight who is a monk built around protecting others and defense. He took the adopted trait and selected halfling. I was looking at making a religious but non-divine related character who worshiped a deity of protection and defense. Since I chose Monk of the Sacred Mountain and Drunken Master as two of my three archetypes, I thought that a lawful good dwarven deity of protection and the like was perfect, with only a halfling god being able to match the role or exceed it.
Is this somehow all very common? Do that many people worship Torag and take the helpful trait? Did I, on my own, come up with one of the most abused and commonplace trait/deity combinations? I feel...like I just followed the crowd now and wasn't original at all.
Alas.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Don't worry, every region has their own trends and whatnot.
Around here, for instance, I almost never see anyone using Aid Another at all, and clerics tend to worship either Cayden Cailean (because "god of beer lol") or some random schmuck no one can remember but who grants the Travel domain, or occasionally Asmodeus.
Funnily enough, when I play my melee-focused, more-than-just-technically-lawful-good, high-AC cleric of Iomedae, people keep mistakenly referring to him as a paladin. :P
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I am really annoyed at the number of Pathfinders who are adopted by halflings. That trait should be retconned to a +1 bonus to keep it in line with all the other Aid Another boosts.It can be worse. Everyone could be worshipping Torag...I am genuinely confused and curious now. I just made my first PFS character tonight who is a monk built around protecting others and defense. He took the adopted trait and selected halfling. I was looking at making a religious but non-divine related character who worshiped a deity of protection and defense. Since I chose Monk of the Sacred Mountain and Drunken Master as two of my three archetypes, I thought that a lawful good dwarven deity of protection and the like was perfect, with only a halfling god being able to match the role or exceed it.
Is this somehow all very common? Do that many people worship Torag and take the helpful trait? Did I, on my own, come up with one of the most abused and commonplace trait/deity combinations? I feel...like I just followed the crowd now and wasn't original at all.
Alas.
Your concept sounds unique. I don't actually mind the Helpful trait, so much as the fact that as a result of the trait being as powerful as it is, that a large number of Toronto Pathfinders were raised by Halflings.
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Is this somehow all very common? Do that many people worship Torag and take the helpful trait? Did I, on my own, come up with one of the most abused and commonplace trait/deity combinations? I feel...like I just followed the crowd now and wasn't original at all.
Worshipping Torag is to obtain the trait Defensive Strategist:
This helps out against a bunch of factors that are determined through the surpise round.
Helpful on the otherhand is mainly used to help support any out-of-combat situations, sort of a way to counteract the uselessness of a PC who is built strictly for combat.