| RuneRW |
Let's suppose someone wants to make a dwarf blacksmith/craftsman type of character. When choosing a heritage, they of course go with Anvil Dwarf - it grants a free Specialty Crafting skill feat! Next up, when choosing a background, they go with Artisan, it only makes sense. But now there's a problem. You've gained specialty crafting from two different sources. What happens in a case like this one, exactly? The skill feat itself doesn't say it can be taken more than once and neither the heritage nor the background states that you can go with a different one if you'd gain the skill feat from another source.
A few rulings come to mind. You can say that it's fine, it's not big difference if you have two specialties (from Anvil Dwarf) or three (from both sources combined). You could also say that same ruling applies as for skills from multiple sources - you can trade one for a different skill feat. Alternatively, same thing happens as if you got say martial weapon proficiency from multiple sources. You only get it once. You could also take the path of least resistance and go with a different background.
Now I don't want to sound presumptuous, but I'm not interested in how would someone rule this one in their home game. I can make that call as well. What I'm interested in however, is how would this apply for a strictly Rules as Written case, for example, in Pathfinder Society?