Half-elves have gone some way to rectify the red-headed stepchild image they imo had in 3.x, but there's one thing about them that bothers me in PF: the multitalented trait. It's fine when you want it, but I usually don't - and there's very little I can do about it. So far, the only other option that I know of (that doesn't also remove adaptability) is arcane training, and I was looking for something that isn't only for arcanists. Are there other options in some other book, and would it be ok to trade it where adaptability is traded?
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I may be wrong, but I don't think there is.
While it is a shame you can't get rid of it, the Half Elf has already become a pretty impressive choice.
Everyone knows Will saves are the true killer to anyone. The elf loses the adaptibility trait to gain +2 Will save. This is in addition to already being immune to sleep and +2 saves against enchantment.
So they have +4 against some of the scariest stuff. As if this was not impressive enough, that stacks with Iron Will for another +2!
That's +4 Will/+6 Enchantment (though often Will/Enchantment are one and the same), even classes with terrible Will saves are suddenly boosted big time.
Add to this the +2 Perception and then as gravy on top the low light vision and you have a pretty tempting race!
If a Fighter does not mind losing out on a skill point each lvl I would say that Half Elf is a hell of a choice for a Fighter whose biggest fear is Will spells.
Only question is, does the Racial Traits count against actual Traits you pick for a char? If not, then you can also get +1 Will from one of the 2 traits you choose when creating your char
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Good, I thought that was the case.
SO, with Half Elf you could have a lvl 1 Fighter with +5 Will saves (+2 Half Elf, +2 Iron Will, +1 Trait) with +7 against Enchantment, Perception almost as a class skill (+2 due to Half Elf, so only 1 less than if it were a class skill) and low light vision
I'll take two of them please! :)
Of course, you probably would not use the lvl 1 feat for Iron Will, but by lvl 3 or 5 you would probably want to pick it up
Amusingly, if you pick Wizard as your favored class and take Arcane Training, you can use any item a wizard can.
Even if you aren't a wizard.
Good, I thought that was the case.
SO, with Half Elf you could have a lvl 1 Fighter with +5 Will saves (+2 Half Elf, +2 Iron Will, +1 Trait) with +7 against Enchantment, Perception almost as a class skill (+2 due to Half Elf, so only 1 less than if it were a class skill) and low light vision.
Eh, not that impressed. A dwarf can have +5 on save vs spells/spell-likes - ALL of them - at level one: +2 from hardy, +2 from steel soul (feat), and +1 from a trait (a racial one they can pick up from their Of Golarion book). That's on top of the saves from constitution and wisdom being higher.
I'm not saying half-elf is a poor race; actually - I'd say it is quite decent. They aren't quite as powerful as humans in most cases (I generally consider humans to be among the top racial choices for their always applicable class features and some of the most powerful favoured class subs), but are often a good choice. It's just that I wished there were more ways to trade one of their features :) .
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Good, I thought that was the case.
SO, with Half Elf you could have a lvl 1 Fighter with +5 Will saves (+2 Half Elf, +2 Iron Will, +1 Trait) with +7 against Enchantment, Perception almost as a class skill (+2 due to Half Elf, so only 1 less than if it were a class skill) and low light vision.Eh, not that impressed. A dwarf can have +5 on save vs spells/spell-likes - ALL of them - at level one: +2 from hardy, +2 from steel soul (feat), and +1 from a trait (a racial one they can pick up from their Of Golarion book). That's on top of the saves from constitution and wisdom being higher.
I'm not saying half-elf is a poor race; actually - I'd say it is quite decent. They aren't quite as powerful as humans in most cases (I generally consider humans to be among the top racial choices for their always applicable class features and some of the most powerful favoured class subs), but are often a good choice. It's just that I wished there were more ways to trade one of their features :) .
Yeah but..then you have to be a Dwarf.