Missing Human Ethnicities in Core?

[Chogokin]

I was just noodling around in Hero Lab, making a Core Campaign character. I was putting together a human paladin, and noticed that two ethnicities, Taldan and Chelaxian, were not available.

I was trying to figure out if this was a Hero Lab bug or something official. The only thing I can find to somewhat support this is on Page 20 of the Pathfinder Society Guide. Down on the lower left, it mentions the languages spoken by various ethnicities. Chelaxian and Taldan are not listed there, I presume because they don't have any unique ethnic languages.

I'm guessing that the intention is that Chelaxian and Taldan are still viable ethnicities in Core campaigns, they simply don't grant any advantages in terms of speaking an additional language besides Common. So this is an error in Hero Lab.

Does that sound right?

Thanks!

[zefig]

That sounds right.

[Gamerskum]

Chelaxians Speak Taldan, which is commom isnt it?

[Generic Villain]

Taldan is Common, yes.

[William Ronald]

Gamerskum wrote:

Chelaxians Speak Taldan, which is commom isnt it?

Taldane is Common for Avistan and Northern Garund.

I am curious if they have anything about mixed human ethnicities. (One of my characters in PFS is from Absalom and his family background is quite mixed, appropriate for a member of a family that has dwelled in one of Golarion's busiest ports for millenia.)

[Starglim]

Chogokin wrote:

I was just noodling around in Hero Lab, making a Core Campaign character. I was putting together a human paladin, and noticed that two ethnicities, Taldan and Chelaxian, were not available.

Ethnicities available in Core are listed on page 20 of the PFS Roleplaying Guild Guide and don't include Taldan or Chelaxian. You can roleplay your character with a Taldan or Chelaxian background.

[Chogokin]

Ah, but that's exactly what I disagree with. Here's a quote from that passage on page 20:

"Humans receive the language
associated with their ethnicity for free, and the ethnicity
that corresponds to a language appears in parentheses.
Modern Human Languages: Hallit (Kellid), Kelish
(Kelishite), Osiriani (Garundi), Polyglot (Mwangi),
Shadowtongue, Shoanti (Shoanti), Skald (Ulfen), Tien
(Tian), Varisian (Varisian), Vudrani (Vundrani)"

That isn't a list of the available ethnicities, that's a list of human ethnicities that receive a free language (apart from Common). Now, I think its a poorly worded list, because it creates exactly the impression that you, and the makers of Hero Lab's Pathfinder module, have. Namely, that Chelaxian and Taldan are not legal player ethnicities in Pathfinder Core.

That's just a bit silly on the face of it because several of the playable factions have Taldan or Chelaxian roots, and a large chunk of the NPCs are Taldan or Chelaxian. Additionally there's no logical reason why I could make a Taldan character in regular organized play, but not in Core.

It's trivial, but its annoying, and I think it should be corrected at the root of the problem, page 20 of the Guide. Maybe in the next version...

[The Fox]

You can make a Chelaxian or a Taldan character. If you do so, you still get their ethnic languages for free.

For the Taldan, the ethnic language you get for free is Taldane—which is also known as Common.

For the Chelaxian, the ethnic language you get for free is also Taldane. That is what they speak in Cheliax.

So, basically, your assertion in the OP was correct: you can play those ethnicities, but you gain no advantage of additional languages.

"A true Taldan wouldn't want to speak any of those foreign languages, anyway. Everyone in the world should learn to speak Taldane."