|
I started this thread on Facebook and it was suggested I might get better feedback if I brought the discussion here.
Here is a brief synopsis of how I came to this suggestion. I am new to Pathfinder and PFS, but I have been playing various roleplaying games since the early '80s. I was rolling my first Pathfinder character at a friends. I created a fey bloodline halfling sorcerer with an intelligence which gave a +1 language bonus.
I was creating the character organically, not referencing the rules every time I needed to make a choice. The whole process seemed similar to 3.5, so I thought I was making legit choices. The only place I got tripped up in the whole character generation process was when I took Sylvan as a starting language. Auditing the character revealed this was not a valid choice.
Wizards are allowed Draconic as bonus language because of race. I don't really see the logic behind making a 'bloodline' language unavailable to sorcerers, so I would like to suggest a small tweek to the rules in the next revision. Allow characters the ability to learn their bloodline's base language. I'm not suggesting a bonus language, just unlock the appropriate language if the character has the intelligence to learn it.
Bloodline - Language
Aberrant - Aklo
Abyssal - Abyssal
Arcane - Draconic
Celestial - Celestial
Destined -
Draconic - Draconic
Elemental - 1 of Aquan/Auran/Ingan/Terran
Fey - Sylvan
Infernal - Infernal
Undead -
I think the availability of these languages make sense and would add a little more flavor to the game. Please let me know what you think?
Yeah, PFS really does not do rules changes. Either rules are used as is or not used at all.
There are a handful of exceptions but those are generally cases where a rules change is unavoidable due to the unique oddities of the organized play format.
-j
You can spend a point of linguistics to pick up sylvan. The "barrier" is only to your starting languages for a high int.
BTW, I GM this character of Meadmaker's, and while I was aware it wasn't strictly by the letter of the rules, I happily allowed him to have Sylvan in my game - it makes sense.
I thought the two of you looked alike :)
If you're not playing PFS then the rules are merely suggestions and each group should modify them to fit their play style.
But I don't think this calls for a rules change - having some fey ancestor ten or fifty generations back doesn't really mean you a more likely to learn sylvan in a halfling community.
In my games, characters' choices for bonus languages are based on where/how they grew up, usually I just allow any language.
I think it's a neat idea. On DonDuckie's point, I think it depends on how you see your character getting the magical power. If it's legitimately because of a distant ancestor, sure, that'd be silly. If it's because of a deal with devils, giving you access to Infernal from your background would make sense.
So yeah, my take: neat house rule. If it's something you're really interested in and your GM isn't down with that, one point of Linguistics isn't a major sticking point. I'd allow it.
It doesn't make sense. If 'Bloodline' is supposed to enable language all by itself, then it would be granted for free.
Otherwise, you don't have any special reason to learn the language,
any more than your sibling or neighbor who doesn't happen to be a Sorceror of that Bloodline.
Now, my Sorceror house-rule is to grant a bonus rank in the Bloodline associated Bonus Class Skill,
which free up a rank for Linguistics or anything else you want, but I don't see a good basis to specially grant Languages here...
Now that said, I wouldn't really have a problem with ANY
character regardless of class allocating their INT languages as they prefer as long as it is coherent story-wise,
but that is a broader issue than just Sorcerors, and I don't expect Sorceror to uniquely 'fix' it.
If PFS wanted to 'fix' anything like that, they should fix it in general, not just for this Class,
since the Class has no particular cultural connection to the Bloodline:
You CAN have a concept for your Fey Bloodline Sorceror that they were raised by Fey, even if not all Fey BL Sorcerors have such a background,
but you can also have a concept of a Fey raised Human Fighter: nothing that the Sorceror Class specifically should fix.
|
|
I think a bloodline character would have at least as good a chance to learn the blood language as to learn goblin. I think it makes as much sense as a halfling wizard being able to substitute draconic for one of their race language selections. And given that halflings tend to 'dwell at the knees' of humans then why don't they have the same language choices as humans? If this was a human character instead of a halfling the language selection wouldn't even be an issue.
@Barwickian @DonDuckie It is a 1 in 2700+ coincidence we picked the same avatar. I'm hoping they eventually allow custom avatars.