I think everyone has missed the very basic meaning of the feat, Racial Heritage.
First, the feat, Racial Heritage, (page 168 APG) states "The BLOOD of a non-human ancestor flows in your veins." Prerequisite: HUMAN. So we're talking about something as a genetic, inheritable nature in a Human's ancestry.
This feat is not about picking extra traits. It is about the inheritance of the traits of another race.
BENEFIT: Choose another humanoid race. You count as BOTH human and that race FOR ANY EFFECTS related to race. For example, if you choose dwarf, you are considered both a human and a dwarf for the purpose of taking traits, feats, how spells and magic items affect you, and so on.
What are Effects?
Effects are all the racial trait descriptors in the shaded boxes under each race in the CRB.
Ability adjustments, Darkvision, lowlight vision, immunities, senses, resistances, etc.
As we already know, half elves and half orcs are "premade" racial heritage combinations made as part of the 7 core racial choices. The Racial Heritage feat allows a player with a Human character to use a feat choice to create another type of racial heritage combination.
"race traits" on page 331 of the APG is NOT the intention of "Racial Heritage" feat."
See pg. 150 APG - A feat is a trick or ability acquired through training, luck, or AS A QUIRK OF HIS OR HER BIRTH. (heritage.)
Read the section on page 326 of the APG, "TRAITS." THE VERY FIRST SENTENCE STATES "Character traits are abilities that are NOT tied to your character's race or class. The Racial Heritage feat states "The blood of a non-human ancestor flows in your veins." None of the traits from the Traits section of APG are "inherited" through the blood. They are acquired through EVENTS.
Traits are divided into five categories, Basic, campaign, race, regional, and religion. Basic traits are sub-divided into combat, faith, magic, and social.
Pg. 326, Restrictions on trait selection: "Remember also that traits are intended to model EVENTS that were formative in your character's development, either events from before he became an adventurer, or ... ones that happened while adventuring.
Example of why "Race Traits" pg 331 APG are not a form of RACIAL heritage. Elf Race Traits - Forlorn describes the event of living wild rather within the elven society, = +1 fortitude saving throw. (It was not inherited, it was learned/developed).
A +1 fortitude saving throw can also be taken as the combat feat, Resilient, page 328, which also describes the event of living in harsh environments.
The strategy here - since you CANNOT take two traits from the same category - is that a character can take the fortitude bonus as the elf racial trait, (the same as a combat trait Resilient) and the combat trait Reactionary. Or, vice versa, the elf racial trait "Warrior of Old" can be taken and the combat trait Resilient can be taken for the fortitude bonus. But because of the rule against taking two traits from one category, a character cannot take both of the Elf race traits from page 331.
Think about this in the inverted concept, a fictional feat called "Human Heritage." What would the elf gain by taking this fictional feat of "Human Heritage"?
They would gain +2 to one ability score, one additional skill rank each level, and a bonus feat.
So the human's +2 to an ability score could be used to cancel the elf's -2 to constitution. The elf already has quite a nice deal with low light vision, immunities, magic, keen senses, and weapon familiarity. Humans are "marketed" as being the most versatile with inherent potential for excelling in areas of study, so the bonus feat is their special extra.
What does this all mean? You can play an Assimar and get all the racial features, or you can play a Human and burn your extra feat to take Racial Heritage and be a Human/Aasimar. It seems like the human gets a huge gain, as if the Human is "broken" - but if this feat were reversed as "Human Heritage", all the Aasimar would get is a +2 to one ability score, an extra skill point, and the extra feat for humans.
