Aasimar heritages change the behavior of the Skilled and Spell-Like Ability racial traits the Aasimar typically has available.
However, there are other alternate racial traits that replace Skilled and the Spell-Like Ability, and I am a little confused on whether a heritage may be taken if one of those traits no longer exists.
Let's just use 'Skilled' for this example - if a player chooses 'Truespeaker' as an alternate racial ability, and thus they lose the "Skilled" racial trait - can they still take an alternate heritage? Or, does taking Truespeaker (or any other alternative racial trait that removes a trait that heritages change), negate that possibility?
Meaning - those things that racial heritages modify - do they need to exist in the character in order to take the heritage?
This question is PFS specific mainly. Thanks!
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Had to figure out where it was actually listed, here is the prd page:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedRaces.html
You can exchange one or several of your character's normal racial traits, but of course you cannot exchange the same racial trait more than once. If a human exchanges the skilled trait to become either a child of the fields or a child of the street, she cannot exchange it twice to take both new traits. However, she could choose one of those as an alternate racial trait while also exchanging her bonus feat racial trait to gain an eye for talent.
Also, I assume we're discussing a boon character or an Aasimar that already has an XP listed on it, for PFS? Otherwise, the question is kind of pointless in regard to that race.
Had to figure out where it was actually listed, here is the prd page:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedRaces.htmlYou can exchange one or several of your character's normal racial traits, but of course you cannot exchange the same racial trait more than once. If a human exchanges the skilled trait to become either a child of the fields or a child of the street, she cannot exchange it twice to take both new traits. However, she could choose one of those as an alternate racial trait while also exchanging her bonus feat racial trait to gain an eye for talent.
I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure if taking a heritage counts as an "exchange". Heritages are kind of a monkey wrench in the logic of the thing.
To rephrase the question - a heritage modifies the 'Skilled' talent of an Aasimar; given that, does the 'Skilled' talent need to exist as part of the character in order to take the heritage?
Also, I assume we're discussing a boon character or an Aasimar that already has an XP listed on it, for PFS?
The question is actually for the creation of an online PFS character generator (http://www.tabletopgiant.com). I need to understand this rule in order to implement it into the site correctly :)
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I will see if I can find text that specifically calls out Heritages, but the general rule is that you do not have Skilled to give up any longer, so you cannot take anything that replaces it.
The assumption would come from similar rules existing for Archetypes and the Racial Features above - I can see no reason it would change for that specifically.
but the general rule is that you do not have Skilled to give up any longer, so you cannot take anything that replaces it.
That's the funny thing; a heritage does not technically replace Skilled - it just changes it. I don't know if that means Skilled needs to exist or not.
This question of course pertains to any race with racial heritages (Tieflings, Dhampirs), but I'm just focusing on Aasimars for the sake of understanding.
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Alright, found it. Truespeaker is actually a Racial Trait on the PRD, which is why I couldn't find it in Blood of Angels.
Truespeaker: There are some aasimars whose language transcends all boundaries. They gain a +2 bonus on Linguistics and Sense Motive checks, and they learn two languages each time they gain a rank in Linguistics. This racial trait replaces skilled.
So it is completely replaced and cannot be replaced by anything else.
Heritages (per Blood of Angels) do not replace Racial Traits.
Heritages (per Blood of Angels) do not replace Racial Traits.
I think that's the key right there. Since they are not replaced, they do not need to 'exist'. Therefore a player may take Truespeaker (losing Skilled) and still take a racial heritage.
Unless I hear anything that says otherwise, I think that's the direction I will go.
Thanks!
Heritages (per Blood of Angels) do not replace Racial Traits.I think that's the key right there. Since they are not replaced, they do not need to 'exist'. Therefore a player may take Truespeaker (losing Skilled) and still take a racial heritage.
Unless I hear anything that says otherwise, I think that's the direction I will go.
Thanks!
I think the Heritages are chosen first since they modify the skilled and spell-like abilities. Then racial traits can be selected after that.
So a Musetouched (Azata-Blooded) Aasimar would lose the +2 to Diplomacy and Performance (the modified "Skilled" trait) if they took Truespeaker. And if they took Incorruptible it would replace their Glitterdust Spell-like ability.
Although there is the line that says "Players may choose one of the following six heritages for their aasimar characters in place of the traditional aasimar racial features." which could lead one to believe that you can use the alternate racial traits OR the Heritages, but not both together.
You can take alt race traits with heritages.
Using your example of True speaker. No matter what heritage you are (or vanilla aasimar), you have the Skilled trait and so can trade it for True speaker.
Different heritages get different bonuses from Skilled, but no matter what gets the bonus, it is always the Skilled trait. Which is what you need to have to trade for Truespeaket.
Heritages (per Blood of Angels) do not replace Racial Traits.I think that's the key right there. Since they are not replaced, they do not need to 'exist'. Therefore a player may take Truespeaker (losing Skilled) and still take a racial heritage.
Unless I hear anything that says otherwise, I think that's the direction I will go.
Thanks!
As I understand it, this is correct.