Questions on Aasimars and Ethnicity

[Ari Lev]

I was interested in playing an aasimar monk who grew up in the Mwangi Expanse. However, that led me to a questions about aasimars and ethnic languages:

Do aasimars know the ethnic language of the ethnicity they grew up in?

I asked several knowledgeable people here in Boston and I got conflicting answers. My Venture-Captain, Don Walker--who worked closely with Paizo on the 4.2 PFS Organized Play Guide--didn't know definitively and encouraged me to post here. So I am :)

The reason I've gotten so many different answers is probably because it doesn't appear like there is any such rule on the books and I couldn't find anything here on the boards. I bought Blood of Angels and the Advanced Race Guide, but no luck. Below I'll discuss the evidence I've found on the topic, most of it supporting the notion that aasimars know their ethnic tongue:

The simple argument against aasimars knowing their ethnic language is that 1. Aasimars aren't human and the 4.2 rules clearly state that "you gain free languages granted by your race, ethnicity (for humans), and class" 2. Aasimars can't have an ethnicity (at least the books don't say they can have an ethnicity).

However, the first line of the aasimars section in the Advanced Race Guide states that "aasimars are humans with a significant amount of celestial or other good outsider blood in their ancestry". Unlike half-elves and half-orcs, who don't automatically know ethnic languages, aasimars have a significantly larger proportion of human heritage (otherwise they'd be half-celestials), so it's not clear if they qualify as "human enough" or not from this passage alone.

Some might say "but aren't they outsiders? How can they still be human?" Yet no one would argue that a monk can't know their ethnicity's language after attaining Perfect Self (regardless of Tongue of the Sun and Moon).

But what about aasimars having an ethnicity at all? This question probably deserves another post and answer, but I should mention that no one that I asked thought that my aasimar couldn't learn Polyglot, just that she might have to take a rank in linguistics to do so. There was consensus on this point even though the Advanced Race Guide and Blood of Angels do not list any of the ethnic human languages as accessible to aasimars.

Also, the level to which an assimar can assimilate into their local society would indicate that they can speak the ethnic language. Blood of Angels says that "Most aasimars are born to human parents and live in mainly human settlements. An aasimar might spend a good portion of her childhood thinking of herself as human". Zenj don't know Polyglot because of their Zenj blood. They know Polyglot for the exact same reason that I know English, because they grow up speaking it. It would be odd if my character grew up in the middle of the Mwangi Expanse, considered herself to be Zenj, but found herself incapable of learning any Polyglot.

So, could someone at Paizo please answer these for me:
1. Can aasimar have an ethnicity? If not, please clarify why the evidence given above does not apply.
2. Can aasimar gain any or all of the benefits of being a particular ethnicity (languages, traits, etc.)?
3. If "No" and "No", can aasimar learn ethnic languages with ranks in linguistics?

Left Field question:
4. If "No", "No" and "Yes", could my aasimar know Polyglot and Celestial but not Common or do all PCs have to know Common? I suspect PCs don't have to know Common because deaf oracles don't have to know Common, but it would be good to have that clarified. Not knowing Common would probably make more sense given my character's background and she only has 10 Int, which is why I ask.

Thanks! :D

Edit: Another question:

5. Do all of the above answers apply similarly to tieflings?

[bdk86]

I'm actually curious about this for the "planetouched" races as a whole in Organized Play. My Ifrit is, by backstory, of Vudrani heritage. I was happy to spend the skill point to get her the extra language (she lacked the Int Mod to get it for free at first level), but I'd happily swap out Ignan.

Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't an alternate racial trait for all such races allowing them to swap out their planar language for another racial or ethnic language.

[bdk86]

And now, to be somewhat helpful...

Ari Lev wrote:

1. Can aasimar have an ethnicity? If not, please clarify why the evidence given above does not apply.

From a soft/role-play perspective, yes. I can't imagine an argument to the contrary.

Culture & Ethnicity are about environment and shared experience; they are social constructs. And almost all of the "fluff" in Golarion speaks of plane-touched races as often being part of the culture of their region/nation/whatever. They aren't excluded or kept distant from said social constructs; they play a role. Several region books call out specific plane-touched races as having a particular status or place in a region/nation's culture & society.

From a mechanical perspective...

Ari Lev wrote:

2. Can aasimar gain any or all of the benefits of being a particular ethnicity (languages, traits, etc.)?

I don't know if they would gain any benefits from it. Sure, they could take traits earmarked for a region, but traits earmarked specifically for a human ethnic group or get the appropriate language for free...that sounds like a GM (i.e. Campaign Coordinator) decision.

Ari Lev wrote:

3. If "No" and "No", can aasimar learn ethnic languages with ranks in linguistics?

Yes. You can learn any of the PFS approved languages (i.e. Core & Golarion Languages) not specifically restricted within the game (i.e. Druidic) through ranks in Linguistics. This includes modern languages such as Polygot.

[Justin Riddler]

IMO:
An Aasimar, Tiefling, or Tengu can have ethnicity as this is purely flavor. you are still limited to the racial languages of your Race, and thus must put ranks in linguistics to learn your ethnic language (My Tiefling from Tien picked it up at first level with one skill point). Since ethnicity is as much culture as it is genetics, I would rule that you CAN take ethnic-based traits (since you're limited to only one anyway).

Hope I'm right is this ruling ^_^

[Mystic Lemur]

Sorry, Ari Lev. My half-elf is just as human as your Aasimar. He's flavored Rahadoumi, but I still had to "buy" Osiriani.

Regional languages are considered one of the benefits of being human. Them's the breaks.

[Starglim]

Justin Riddler wrote:

Since ethnicity is as much culture as it is genetics, I would rule that you CAN take ethnic-based traits (since you're limited to only one anyway).

Any character can qualify for a regional trait. An aasimar (other than one with Scion of Humanity) or a tiefling can't take human racial traits.

[Ari Lev]

Thanks for your responses everyone.

kdk86, Riddler, Starglim I'd assume that all the rulings would go one way, i.e. if you can't take traits then you can't learn languages either.

Mystic Lemur, I'd argue that aasimars and tieflings are more human than a half elf. The companion materials seem to indicate that they have much more human blood; Blood of Angels even says outright that aasimars are not close to being half celestial. There are also indications that no non-human blood needs to be involved, that a tiefling ancestor could have made a pact with a devil or an aasimar's family might have been blessed by a celestial. Also, an aasimar/tiefling and a human pairing will often result in a normal human child, while a half-elf and human pairing would result in a quarter-elf (yes? no?).

Since the PFS rulings usually lean toward simplicity and balance and most people seem to be saying "Yes, aasimars/tieflings have ethnicity, but they don't gain any of the human benefits from it" I'll assume that Paizo will rule similarly, unless I hear from them otherwise.

[W. Kristoph Nolen]

Ari ... I thikn that's a pretty sound way of going about it. Presume that you can't until they say that you can. That way, you avoid headaches for yourself, and if they do, you'll see it as pure bonus.

I have an Osiriani Living Monolith (Qa'Pelos) who, before things were updated, didn't have his own ethnic language. Now, all people of Osirion get that language. So, I get to have it. I played for a good long while without having it for free, and when it was allowed, I got to "retrain" the skill point I'd spent on the Language. Nothing but gravy. :)

I will mention, as well, that your point about a planetouched creature being more human than a half-elf was spot-on, as far as I'm concerned. The bit anout "quarter-elf" is a bit difficult to follow, as that's a bit of a sticky wicket to put oneself in, defining a race.

[Ari Lev]

Yeah Nolen, I just added my character and I'm gonna (try and) not sweat over one point in linguistics ;-)

As far as the race/blood argument goes, I guess I was just trying to say that aasimar/tiefling isn't cut and dry like other races. They can just pop up at any time for a number of reasons unlike most races that appear to be more Mendelian in Pathfinder.