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Alright, as I mentioned in another thread, I have a player in my local PFS who has taken Racial Heritage (Kitsune).
I understand that by Mike Brock's ruling on this thread, the player is unable to make use of options available to that race from ARG.
The questions come down to this:
1: Can he still have Racial Heritage (Non-core race)? By raw, at this moment, he can, although I understand that PFS uses a different set of regulations at times.
2: How does Racial Heritage manifest? The player took it only because he wanted his character to have fox ears and a tail. Some say this is fine, others say that racial heritage only manifests in the blood. For PFS, which is it?
Again, in this other thread I have seen arguments for both sides. Neither the FAQ nor additional rules page address this topic, and I would like to have my questions answered officially by top brass if possible.
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Mike and Mark at at GenCon (lucky dogs!), so here's my take.
Part 1: Racial Heritage is a legal feat for humans, so you can take it. [EDIT: Corrected]
Part 2:
Racial Heritage: The blood of a non-human ancestor flows in your veins.
Prerequisite: Human.
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.
There is no description of any visible effects from this - it gives you a second creature type, nothing more. Humanoid (human) and Humanoid (dwarf), using the example given. Gaining ears and a tail is beyond the scope of what the trait does, and falls under re-skinning.
Imagine if you're facing a ranger with favored enemy (human), and the GM rules he decides not to shoot at you because you don't look as "human" as the next guy. You've just gained a mechanical advantage by your reskinning. That's why it's not allowed. You get what the trait says you get, and nothing more.
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Mike and Mark at at GenCon (lucky dogs!), so here's my take.
Imagine if you're facing a ranger with favored enemy (human), and the GM rules he decides not to shoot at you because you don't look as "human" as the next guy.
However, the same can be said for the druid using totemic transformation, the barbarian using various rage powers, and so on. This is where the debate really opens up (I am not here for the debate, I just would like the official ruling).
Also, I believe that Racial Heritage does open up feats in PFS, just not ARG feats, as detailed here. So a humanoid(human)/humanoid (dwarf) would still be able to take dwarf feats, provided he met the other prereqs.
*edited for formatting*
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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The question is whether a PFS human PC can legally take Racial Heritage (kitsune) or Racial Heritaage (troll). There's no mechanical benefit, unless you like getting hit by rangers with favored enemies (trolls). The question is, even so, is it legal.
PFS isn't a democracy, but I wouldn't object to such a character at my table.
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Totemic transformation: "This is a polymorph effect and cannot be used while the druid is using another polymorph effect, such as wild shape." So it seems that a physical change is implied by the fact that it is a polymorph effect - so it's not the same situation at all. If Racial Heritage had this sort of wording, I would see where the argument could be made. As it stands, there is nothing there to support ears and a tail.
Rage effects - unless it actually says the barbarian takes on aspects of a beast, etc. there would be no similar physical changes. An angry human still looks like a human, just like a human with Racial Heritage still looks like a human.
Chris: Racial heritage is a legal trait for PFS, as defined in Additional resources.
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Imagine if you're facing a ranger with favored enemy (human), and the GM rules he decides not to shoot at you because you don't look as "human" as the next guy. You've just gained a mechanical advantage by your reskinning. That's why it's not allowed. You get what the trait says you get, and nothing more.
Well, you look about as human as an half-orc, and so he would know that you are still susceptible to the favoured enemy bonus, similarly, the ears/tail would be clues that you are susceptible to favoured enemy(kitsune).
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Rage effects - unless it actually says the barbarian takes on aspects of a beast, etc. there would be no similar physical changes.
Fiend Totem and Beast Totem both provide pretty big obvious changes (horns, spikes, claws, and the whatnot.) As I said, there are things that open up debate.
And as I said, I don't care about the debate; I just want it defined officially so that there won't be the arguement in the future. I've seen the arguement for both sides from players, venture captains, and everyone in between.
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you're most likely not going to get an answer on this that's definitive enough for you.
the physical changes from the totems that you mentioned are (and i am assuming here, because i'm not familiar with them right off the top of my head and i don't want to go look) gained because they are specifically stated.
arguing that you can do something because a rules item doesn't specifically say you can't is not a valid basis for the argument in the setting of an organized play campaign. at best, it lies in the area of house rules.
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Also, I believe that Racial Heritage does open up feats in PFS, just not ARG feats, as detailed here. So a humanoid(human)/humanoid (dwarf) would still be able to take dwarf feats, provided he met the other prereqs.
and here, you're just purposefully ignoring mike's ruling in the very thread that you linked to in the original post. emphasis mine.
As to the question a couple of posts up, no the Scarred Witchdoctor archetype is not available and a human can not qualify for any Orc related items, whether they be archetypes, feats, etc.... For this to ever be trumped, they would need to appear on a Chronicle.
racial heritage does not qualify you to take racial feats other than your actual race.
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Also, I believe that Racial Heritage does open up feats in PFS, just not ARG feats, as detailed here. So a humanoid(human)/humanoid (dwarf) would still be able to take dwarf feats, provided he met the other prereqs.
and here, you're just purposefully ignoring mike's ruling in the very thread that you linked to in the original post. emphasis mine.
As to the question a couple of posts up, no the Scarred Witchdoctor archetype is not available and a human can not qualify for any Orc related items, whether they be archetypes, feats, etc.... For this to ever be trumped, they would need to appear on a Chronicle.racial heritage does not qualify you to take racial feats other than your actual race.
I believe that is actually incorrect. What Mike was saying is that Racial Heritage doesn't open up the options of Orc equipment, because nothing under the Orc entry in the ARG is PFS Legal.
I also believe the other ruling on the Racial Heritage (Kitsune) is that it's not allowed because none of the Kitsune stuff is allowed without the boon sheet. Even if you don't take the Kitsune feats or equipment, the feat Racial Heritage (Kitsune) itself is not allowed without the boon sheet and, if you have the boon sheet, why bother taking Racial Heritage instead of making an actual Kitsune?
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Mike seemed to be speaking specifically about ARG non-Open races and ARG documentation-only races. I believe Orc is on the "NO" list and kitsune is on the Chronicle access list at the moment. I'd also suggest that 'purposefully' sounds like ascribing malice where oversight suffices.Also, I believe that Racial Heritage does open up feats in PFS, just not ARG feats, as detailed here. So a humanoid(human)/humanoid (dwarf) would still be able to take dwarf feats, provided he met the other prereqs.
and here, you're just purposefully ignoring mike's ruling in the very thread that you linked to in the original post. emphasis mine.
As to the question a couple of posts up, no the Scarred Witchdoctor archetype is not available and a human can not qualify for any Orc related items, whether they be archetypes, feats, etc.... For this to ever be trumped, they would need to appear on a Chronicle.racial heritage does not qualify you to take racial feats other than your actual race.
^ This.
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Thing is, Mike said:Also, I believe that Racial Heritage does open up feats in PFS, just not ARG feats, as detailed here. So a humanoid(human)/humanoid (dwarf) would still be able to take dwarf feats, provided he met the other prereqs.
and here, you're just purposefully ignoring mike's ruling in the very thread that you linked to in the original post. emphasis mine.
andAlternate racial traits, racial archetypes, racial feats, and racial spells are only available for characters of the associated race. Racial equipment and magic items can be purchased and used by any race as long as the specific item permits it (for example, only halflings can purchase and use solidsmoke pipeweed).
So, no, a half-orc or half-elf may not take a human-only feat.
It does not apply to all previous rulings in other books. This applies to the Advanced Race Guide. You can find my official ruling in the Additional Resources.
So yes, this ruling only applied to the ARG. The humanoid (dwarf)/ humanoid(human) can still take dwarf feats. Just not from the ARG. There are APG feats that are race specific.
I understand the lack of clarity in my previous post, and will edit it to reduce that.