Feral Child

[OutsiderSubtype]

Why is the Feral Child druid archetype not legal in PFS? It does not seem overpowered or anything like that.

If it is the illiteracy/not fitting in well in cities thing, then why is the True Primitive barbarian archetype legal?

[spectrevk]

Maybe the Pathfinder Society has a minimum age requirement that precludes allowing children to join?

[OutsiderSubtype]

The archetype implies that you were raised by animals as a child, not that you are a child now. It doesn't change your starting age or anything like that. Is the fact that "child" is in the name of the archetype the real objection?

[Bbauzh ap Aghauzh]

I'm sure its the literacy thing not fitting with the Pathfinder Society theme of the campaign.

This isn't, "Make whatever character you want within the world of Golarion campaign and then maybe go tromp around for fun and sell stuff to the Society" campaign.

The campaign assumes you are a member of the Pathfinder Society and as such have the requisite skills and abilities to explore, report and cooperate.

While it could be argued that you could orally report stuff, it is generally the idea that you give written reports and can read and write.

[OutsiderSubtype]

Fair enough, but then the True Primitive barbarian archetype should also be illegal, since it is also illiterate.

In fact, while the Feral Child's illiteracy can be overcome by spending ONE of your starting skill points on Linguistics, the True Primitive archetype explicitly states that you may NEVER become literate under any circumstances.

Why is the barbarian archetype getting preferential treatment here?

[Memory of Dreams]

Not all of us can use the magical runes that you call writing that beam information into your head. That said, we "primitives", as you call us, make up for it with a strong oral tradition. I like to hope my extensive oral reports are better than the scribbled ravings of certain other (7 Int 7 Wis) agents I've known...

[OutsiderSubtype]

I'm just saying the PFS rules should be consistent. This seems like arbitrary application of a rule in some cases but not others.

[David knott 242]

It must be for "flavor" reasons, since the Feral Child archetype has none of the usual problem abilities of archetypes banned by PFS. I am thinking it might be their anti-social nature more than their illiteracy. It is a smaller step for a True Primitive to learn to deal with people outside of his own isolated tribe than for a Feral Child to learn to deal with people period.

[OutsiderSubtype]

Isn't that covered by the "don't be a jerk" rule though? Is it really necessary to ban the archetype?

I mean, archetypes that do some pretty weird, anti-social stuff are legal. Fiend Flayer demon-spawn tieflings cutting off their own flesh for mystical powers seems way more anti-social to me than being raised by animals, which is a classic trope of legend and fantasy.

Or how about the "Feral" racial subtype for Half-Orcs, which has EXACTLY the same flavor as Feral Child and is legal for PFS?

[Mergy]

I have had Memory of Dreams at my table, and he definitely embodies the spirit of the Pathfinder Society. I don't know exactly why Feral Child is out, but I don't think illiteracy should be a defining factor in either direction.

[David knott 242]

Frankly, I agree that there seems to be no good reason to ban the Feral Child archetype -- but I am not somebody who sets the PFS rules, so my opinion does not count here.

The only reason I imagine that the "Feral" Half-Orc racial sub-type survived is that it is simply a pair of racial traits that are fine on their own -- so it would be a bit silly to ban what is effectively nothing more than a combination of the two. If I am not mistaken, every banned racial sub-type has a banned racial feature. If I am mistaken, then I would agree that there have been some PFS rulings that don't make sense.

[OutsiderSubtype]

Maybe I should take this up with the Shadow Lodge.

The reason I bring this up is that I had the idea to make a druid version of the "Reach Cleric" popular on the Advice board. The free Improved Unarmed Strike and Acrobatics as a class skill would really help. Being able to find traps and talk to my wolf friend all the time would be a nice bonus.

Then I see the archetype is banned despite being universally considered underpowered for giving up wildshape.

Edit:

If we're banning things for illiteracy, True Primitive should be out too, yet it isn't.

If we're banning things for having flavor text related to not fitting in well in civilization, the Feral racial subtype, True Primitive, a bunch of other Ranger, Barbarian, and Druid options, and probably most Half Orc and Tiefling options should be out. Yet they aren't.

I just don't see a justification for this.

[kinevon]

AT this point, OutsiderSubtype, your best bet would be to take a page from a couple of recent threads that got a couple of formerly bnned options reinstated, and make a clear and concise case for why it should not be banned, listing pros and cons.