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Howdy, guys!
My group and I are new to Pathfinder Society and have been having fun getting ready for our first convention (Owlcon 2014). In our group we like to role play almost as much as power game with our characters. Over the past month we've been busy working on our characters and have had a lot of fun doing so. However, something has been escaping my grasp and I was hoping you fine people would help me out.
Here's the long and short of it- I want to play a Human (Shoanti) who was taken as a slave, escaped, and grew up in the region of Sargava, the Lost Colony.
Now, hear me out; I don't want to just say it (because that's lame and anybody could do that and it doesn't necessarily make it true); I want the rules and character options that I choose define and vindicate it. Everything from traits to language choices, ect.
How can I, while working within the bounds of PFS rules, make my hopeful character a reality? What kind of options could I pick to make this legit? For the record I don't want anything from my Shoanti heritage other than my blood, my name, my dialect, and my attitude. Maybe later on in my character's career/life I'll burn a feat on the Addition Traits option and take some Shoanti traits to represent my character rediscovering his lost heritage. Who knows?
I know this is a little unorthodox, thanks for all your help.
Nathan
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Sounds to me like choosing Shoanti as your ethnicity (from the Inner Sea World Guide) and picking a regional trait from Sargava (Sargava, the Lost Colony here we come!) would do the trick. Maybe put a rank into Linguistics to learn Polyglot, and you're golden. I believe there are a few traits for escaped slaves as well, if that's something you're interested in pursuing mechanically as well.
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Cool. So am I correct in assuming that there isn't any restrictions on taking a regional trait when I'm an ethnicity that normally isn't found in the region? If so, then that's awesome!
I've thought about the slave trait thing but haven't pursued to far into it. Question, there's some interesting traits in the Serpent's Skull adventure path. Is there any restrictions on taking those traits in PFS?
Thanks a bunch Zefig!
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I think there needs to be a clarification:
There is no restriction if one ethnicity is taking another ethnicity's trait.
However, none of the traits from Serpent's Skull Adventure path are legal.
To see what is legal in PFS: click here
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It has been stated before by someone in PFS leadership that the "fluff" behind a trait can be "reflavored". Your Shoanti could have traveled to Sargava, or been kidnapped and sold into slavery there, or whatever. You can have a Shoanti race trait and a regional trait from around the world, no problem. As long as the "type" of trait (race, region, social, etc) remains unchanged, you're golden.
But, campaign traits are usually not allowed in PFS, so just be sure to check up on that.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Hamburg
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Especially for a Shoanti, it is a good idea to make up your mind at what age he was abducted.
Shoanti usually undergo some kind of initiation rite while growing up, making them full adults. As a result of this initiation rite, they aquire their Shoanti name (the descriptive-sounding names that are mentioned in Inner Sea World Guide). If he has never had this initiation, he will still have his youth name (and will be seen as either a boy or someone who turned away from Shoanti tradition by other Shoanti).
Another part of this is the Shoanti tattoos. They get their first tattoo after their rite of initiation, so if you want your character to be abducted as a child, he won't have any tradtitional Shoanti tattoos. On the other hand, he might have traditional signs of initiation common to the society he was raised by in Sargava.
This all is just descriptive, so to include it, you won't need to use any ressources. Just say that's the way he looks like.
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Excellent. Really, thanks for all the advice. I'm giving my Shoanti Citizen of Kalabuto and the Reactionary traits.
(this part is fluff) As far as how I will justify these with the back story; he'll be the grandson of a shaman of the Lyrune-Quah (hence Shoanti ethnicity). After a run in with slavers and other unfortunate events his family was decimated and found themselves struggling for survival in the Laughing Jungle of Sargava (hence how he traveled so far). Every immediate family member perished from either slaver attacks or the dangers of the jungle. His grandfather was the last to go but before he succumbed he gave him his grandson his honorific title as to not forget his heritage but was too weak to give him the tattoo. From there the young man will have traveled to the city of Kalabuto and grew up there among the Mwangi and Chelaxians colonist (hence Citizen of Kalabuto). He never truly fit in and became a Ranger hunting and destroying salvers, evil monsters, and everything that threatened the little good and decency left in the hard frontier land of Sargava (hence faction Silver Crusade). His younger years of being constantly in danger hardened and sharped his senses (hence Wild Stalker archetype and the Reactionary trait) and after discovering the Society took his mission abroad for the greater good of all.