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Probably covered elsewhere, but I didn't see it.
[PFS Legal] Adoptive Parentage
Source Advanced Race Guide pg. 1 (Amazon)
Humans are sometimes orphaned and adopted by other races. Choose one humanoid race without the human subtype. You start play with that race’s languages and gain that race’s weapon familiarity racial trait (if any). If the race does not have weapon familiarity, you gain either Skill Focus or Weapon Focus as a bonus feat that is appropriate for that race instead. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait.
Pasted from Archives of Nethys.
In PFS, can I pick any humanoid race, or just from the legal starting humanoid races?
I only ask because in the past, this sort of ability tends to create issues for PFS that, to me, are not obvious issues. So I'm trained now to ask in advance.
Purely as an example, which does seem to spark issues in PFS, can my character be adopted by Drow? It would give me two Languages (Elven and Undercommon) and the Drow Weapon Familiarity (hand crossbow, rapier, and short sword).
I'll just assume the answer to the Drow one is no, so is there a list of ones where the answer is yes? I care more about the "yes" group, than the "no" group.
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I haven't looked closely into related past rulings, but it's my impression that if Additional Resources says that racial options for race X on page Y are legal for play and not restricted to a specific race, you can take those options by any legal game means that grants them to you.
For example, nothing in the drow entry in the ARG is legal for play, so you couldn't take drow languages or drow weapon familiarity from that source.
Can you see sets of standard racial traits that are legal for play from Additional Resources (rather than boons citing them as a source), other than those in the Core Rulebook?
As others have mentioned, this raises the interesting dilemma that the RPG Guild Guide says you can create a kitsune, nagaji, tengu or wayang if you have "the appropriate sourcebook" but it isn't explicit what the appropriate sourcebook/s are.
The Dragon Empires Gazetteer AR entry makes kitsune, nagaji and wayang racial traits legal from that source for "open creation", which in context means creating a character of that race without need for a boon. The racial heritages section of Inner Sea Races is a legal resource when you qualify to play a race (so doesn't explicitly work for the present purpose) and seems to imply that Bestiary and ARG entries for races are intended to be legal sources to create characters of those races.
edit(4): So, nope, various sources are legal to create characters of those races, but I don't see a supportable general rule to pick racial traits for purposes of Adoptive Parentage that wouldn't also allow you to take drow traits from the Bestiary. I'd have to say, CRB races only until clarified.
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I'd liken it to a sliding scale of table variation.
Drow? Definitely not.
Bestiary races? Likely not.
Boon only races? Likely.
Core races? Definitely.
So, depending on what you pick, be prepared for that level of acceptance.
Same goes for determining what the benefits of the trait are, since picking a Skill Focus or Weapon Focus may not always be clear.
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Basically, if you can't play the race you can't choose a trait for the race with adopted parentage. I believe there was an official post on the forums that said that you could attach a race boon to another character to allow it to use things like Adopted Parentage to select options normally gated by the race boon. I may be remembering wrong... and I will leave someone else to dig for it.
But, otherwise, no, you have to have access to the race in Additional Resources to use options from the race, and those options must also be allowed to other races instead of requiring your actual race to be the required race(unlike almost everything from the ARG).
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I believe there was an official post on the forums that said that you could attach a race boon to another character to allow it to use things like Adopted Parentage to select options normally gated by the race boon. I may be remembering wrong... and I will leave someone else to dig for it.
Nope, but it persists still to this day as a misunderstanding.
If I understand the trait, you receive the other humanoid race's languages and weapon familiarities... not access to their feats or other racial traits (that said race can trade those familiarities for).
For example, if your human was raised by wolves orcs, you start with proficiency in greataxes, falchions, and any weapon with "orc" in the name. You cannot trade that familiarity for anything the orc could.
(Note: I realize orcs are off-limits completely, but half-orcs didn't seem "other" enough for the trait, considering they are still considered humanoid (human) as well as humanoid (orc).)
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I'm trying to figure out when having racial weapon familiarity actually puts you ahead of the curve compared to proficiencies you could get with the human bonus feat. So far the only things I can find are:
- Treating 2+ exotic weapons as martial, on a PC with generalized martial proficiency. The question is: which two martial weapons actually merit this effort?
- Proficiency in 2 martial weapons for a class that doesn't normally get them (elf: longbow and rapier come to mind). Not really earth-shaking.
The only powerful option I can see (Tengu swordtraining) doesn't actually work because although it resembles weapon familiarity, its got a different name.
The only powerful option I can see (Tengu swordtraining) doesn't actually work because although it resembles weapon familiarity, its got a different name.
Now there is a question. How does the trait work if raised by tengu?
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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The only powerful option I can see (Tengu swordtraining) doesn't actually work because although it resembles weapon familiarity, its got a different name.Now there is a question. How does the trait work if raised by tengu?
Then you just wasted a trait - Tengu don't gain Skill Focus (like half-elves) or Weapon Focus (there's probably some oddball OP NPC race with it).
Then you just wasted a trait - Tengu don't gain Skill Focus (like half-elves) or Weapon Focus (there's probably some oddball OP NPC race with it).The only powerful option I can see (Tengu swordtraining) doesn't actually work because although it resembles weapon familiarity, its got a different name.Now there is a question. How does the trait work if raised by tengu?
Hmmm... It reads the same as weapon familiarity to me. As in you are automatically proficient in these weapons, or types of weapons. Even if not, you could get Weapon Focus in a sword-like weapon. As for Skill Focus, the wording reads "as appropriate". So perhaps one of the skills tengu get a bonus to? Probably Linguistics as that gets the highest bonus.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Those are interesting ideas for a home game, but for PFS, it needs to be a lot more solid. Half-elves get skill focus, so if you're adopted by them you get it too. Dwarves get weapon familiarity, so if you're adopted by them you get it too.
Tengu have a considerably more powerful ability that doesn't have the right name, and you get nothing. The trait just doesn't work for every race out there. Only if the race has a truly matching racial trait to adopt, not just one somewhat like it.
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Those are interesting ideas for a home game, but for PFS, it needs to be a lot more solid.
"Need" is the wrong word.
"Higher rate of acceptance" is more appropriate.
For example, Elves get +2 to Perception. I'd be fine with an Adopted Human having Skill Focus (Perception). Same for any race that got a racial +2 to a skill.
If I did a random survey of PFS GMs, I'm sure some would agree with my ruling. And some probably wouldn't.
As long as the player understands that possibility, and is comfortable with that, then I'd say go for it.
Same for Weapon Focus.
It's all subject to a sliding scale of acceptance.
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Although I'm just curious on this one, I was using the Bestiary Entry for Drow.
Basically, if you can't play the race you can't choose a trait for the race with adopted parentage. I believe there was an official post on the forums that said that you could attach a race boon to another character to allow it to use things like Adopted Parentage to select options normally gated by the race boon. I may be remembering wrong... and I will leave someone else to dig for it.
But, otherwise, no, you have to have access to the race in Additional Resources to use options from the race, and those options must also be allowed to other races instead of requiring your actual race to be the required race(unlike almost everything from the ARG).
I think you are thinking of Racial Heritage, the Feat. That's the one that allows you to use feats and class of your selected race.
This one merely grants weapon proficiency and languages in exchange for the human bonus feat. It really isn't terribly potent, as others have mentioned.
In terms of game mechanic abuse, the only consideration is that it makes some weapons count as Martial weapons, instead of Exotic, which does matter when it interacts with feats/traits/class features that specify martial weapons. Though this can be equally abused by any normal character with Weapon Familiarity normally on their race.
As for background details, I'm not arguing the Drow one, but I'm not sure why a Bestiary race would be an issue. There's the Trait "Beastkin" which is PFS legal and has the character raised by wild animals. Doesn't seem like a character raised by Giants or Orcs would be any larger an issue for a character of the pathfinder society. Options must still be Humanoid races.
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In terms of what I would want out of this racial trait, one of two things. (1) A class with very limited weapon proficency, like a Wizard or Druid, would gain a few weapons. And (2) a class with INT as the dump stat, could gain a few languages. Plus, it would be a really cool background.
So, list of Humanoid Races with Weapon Familiarity:
Player Races:
Elf
Dwarf
Orc
Halfling
Gnome
Vishkanyas
Drow (Technically a player race, even if totally banned from PFS)
Grippli
Non-Player Races:
?
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Developer
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John, Tonya, and I discussed the issue, and our inclination is to make the following ruling. To be clear, this is not a final decision, and we invite feedback and discussion.
You can gain the benefits of Adoptive Parentage for any humanoid race without the human subtype on the list of always available races. You can gain the benefits for a humanoid race that is not on the always available list, but doing so requires expending a boon that would allow you to play a character of that race.
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Venture-Agent, Minnesota
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So, Linda, it ifrits are in the Season 8 always available list, I could have a character who has Adoptive Parentage: Ifrit without a boon?
(Not that most people would pick Ifrits for this... I just want the clarity that this includes non-core.)
Hmm
PS Thank you for the ruling.
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So, Linda, it ifrits are in the Season 8 always available list, I could have a character who has Adoptive Parentage: Ifrit without a boon?
(Not that most people would pick Ifrits for this... I just want the clarity that this includes non-core.)
Hmm
PS Thank you for the ruling.
Ifrits aren't humanoids by default, though, and probably not assuming the Mostly Human alternative racial trait.
But otherwise, if a humanoid race that gets allowed for PFS that used to need a boon (like for example maybe ratfolk), then one wouldn't need a boon for Adoptive Parentage (new race) at that time of creation.
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Ifrits aren't humanoids by default, though, and probably not assuming the Mostly Human alternative racial trait.So, Linda, it ifrits are in the Season 8 always available list, I could have a character who has Adoptive Parentage: Ifrit without a boon?
(Not that most people would pick Ifrits for this... I just want the clarity that this includes non-core.)
Hmm
PS Thank you for the ruling.
True, and an ifrit family member with Mostly Human has the human subtype, so doesn't qualify.
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Venture-Agent, Nebraska—Omaha
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John, Tonya, and I discussed the issue, and our inclination is to make the following ruling. To be clear, this is not a final decision, and we invite feedback and discussion.
You can gain the benefits of Adoptive Parentage for any humanoid race without the human subtype on the list of always available races. You can gain the benefits for a humanoid race that is not on the always available list, but doing so requires expending a boon that would allow you to play a character of that race.
This decision disallows Orc weapon familiarity (which half-orcs get), because Orc is not a PFS legal race. I think this aligns with campaign principles (orcs aren't great parents), but could be considered for an exception to the general rule.
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To be clear, this is not a final decision, and we invite feedback and discussion.
May I request that your suggestion become "live" in, say, 3 months, should no other addendum be made?
In the past we've had Leadership make such a statement, only to never review it again, which resulted in opposing factions of people to interpret the absence as both affirmative and negative.
Probably Weapon Focus (some sort of sword).
What type of sword is Occam's razor? ^_^
Well, a war razor is essentially a dagger that requires martial proficiency, that you get to flick like a member of the Jets or the Sharks.
*leather jacket optional, but not included*