Adopted?

[Dennis da Ogre]

I'm a little confused about the "Adopted" trait in the SD Pathfinder Companion. The Ability says:
Adopted: You were adopted and raised by someone not of
your actual race, and raised in a society not your own. As
a result, you picked up a Racial Trait from your adoptive
parents and society, and may immediately select a Racial
Trait from your adoptive parents’ race.

So the way I read this You could for example take the adopted feat to gain "Halfling Luck" for a +1 bonus on all Saving throws. Or the human trait "Bonus Feat" to gain a full feat. This would also be a sweet way for a human to pick up "Darkvision"... all of which are racial traits.

I think I'm going to limit this to cultural type traits like racial weapons and the 'hatred' type racial abilities to limit some crazier stuff. Is that what the intention of this feat was?

Would it be appropriate to use this for to get Elven Racial weapons (Longbow, Longsword, rapier, shortbow)?

This seems more like a doublefeat than a half feat unless I'm totally misreading it.

[F. Wesley Schneider]

The unfortunately named (and likely to be renamed) "Racial Trait" referred to in Adopted has nothing to do with the racial traits sections of each player race noted in the PHB. As noted on page 10 under Types of Traits (and right above that), the SD Pathfinder Companion only provides Basic and Campaign traits. The Racial Traits referred to by the Adopted trait will appear in future Pathfinder Companions, but none appear in that book. I can see the confusion, but its just two aspects of two different systems that have the same name. Otherwise, no relation. Expect more utility from Adopted in the months to come as we churn out new traits of different types (which you can read more about on page 10). Cool? Sorry for the misdirection!

[Dennis da Ogre]

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:

The unfortunately named (and likely to be renamed) "Racial Trait" referred to in Adopted has nothing to do with the racial traits sections of each player race noted in the PHB. As noted on page 10 under Types of Traits (and right above that), the SD Pathfinder Companion only provides Basic and Campaign traits. The Racial Traits referred to by the Adopted trait will appear in future Pathfinder Companions, but none appear in that book. I can see the confusion, but its just two aspects of two different systems that have the same name. Otherwise, no relation. Expect more utility from Adopted in the months to come as we churn out new traits of different types (which you can read more about on page 10). Cool? Sorry for the misdirection!

Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. Yes it's very confusing. That feat probably should have been omitted since it's completely worthless until the Elves book comes out in a couple months :)

[F. Wesley Schneider]

Dennis da Ogre wrote:

Ahhh, that makes a lot of sense. Yes it's very confusing. That feat probably should have been omitted since it's completely worthless until the Elves book comes out in a couple months :)

I promise that the amount of time it will be useful will be far longer then the amount of time it is not.

[James Jacobs]

Also... we originally hoped that the Elves book would be out a lot sooner than it is. By this time next year, there'll be a LOT of race traits to choose from, in any event; we plan on inroducing more with every Pathfinder Companion until we're at a healthy number. That said, we probably should have been a bit more clear on WHEN to expect the Racial character traits.

[Dennis da Ogre]

James Jacobs wrote:

Also... we originally hoped that the Elves book would be out a lot sooner than it is. By this time next year, there'll be a LOT of race traits to choose from, in any event; we plan on inroducing more with every Pathfinder Companion until we're at a healthy number. That said, we probably should have been a bit more clear on WHEN to expect the Racial character traits.

Well you did mention they were coming up, as soon as Wesley pointed it out it was a bit of a D'oh moment. That's what happens when you read something then later just skim it trying to pick things out. Also, as Wes mentioned having the phrase "Racial Traits" with two definitions is a little confusing of itself.

[James Jacobs]

Dennis da Ogre wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

Also... we originally hoped that the Elves book would be out a lot sooner than it is. By this time next year, there'll be a LOT of race traits to choose from, in any event; we plan on inroducing more with every Pathfinder Companion until we're at a healthy number. That said, we probably should have been a bit more clear on WHEN to expect the Racial character traits.

Well you did mention they were coming up, as soon as Wesley pointed it out it was a bit of a D'oh moment. That's what happens when you read something then later just skim it trying to pick things out. Also, as Wes mentioned having the phrase "Racial Traits" with two definitions is a little confusing of itself.

It is confusing... I'd totally forgotten that's what they call those things in the race writups. We'll probably either call the new ones "Racial Character Traits" instead.