Share your Ancestry / Heritage Feat ideas.


Ancestries & Backgrounds


A long time ago I put too much work into a homebrew d20 System Racial Trait Progression ruleset that I never completed. Looking over the Pathfinder Second Edition Ancestries I find myself instinctively going back to that creative space and thinking up additions to it.

So... Here's a thread for all of us to brainstorm options that we'd like to have added to the Ancestry/Heritage system.

Allow me to start with some adaptions from my old homebrew ruleset.

Feat: Bite Back the Bile (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Half Orc / Orc
Trigger: You are afflicted with Poison or the Sick condition.
The demands of your body cannot compete with your bloodlust, you push back illness or poison until you can afford it. When this feat is triggered, you may delay becoming sickened or poisoned by 1 round. This delay lowers duration of the poison and sick condition by 1.

Feat: Stoneborn Resilience (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Dwarf
Trigger: You are reduced to 0HP by a critical success.
As the strongest metal is forged in hotted fires so Dwarfs stand resolute against the greatest adversity. When triggered you do not gain the dying condition, instead immediately gain 1HP and temporary hitpoints equal to your constitution modifier x your level. You are bolstered against the source of the critical success.

Feat: Wannabe Gremlin; Level 1; Common
Traits: Goblin
Some Goblins just want to watch the world burn, others just want to watch from the shadows as a carefully planned prank ruins someone's day. When you roll a Success or Critical Success on the Disable Device action while Unseen, treat the number of successes as doubled.

So - what homebrew Ancestry/Hertiage feats have been percolating in the back of your mind?


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I want a higher level dwarf feat that upgrades Unburdened to cover the speed reduction of heavy armor. I think a 9th level ancestry feat would be a good spot for that.

A la "If your Speed would be reduced by armor you wear or the encumbered condition, ignore an additional 5 feet of that reduction."

Dwarves in PF1 could be as fast in full plate as naked, so I don't know why this isn't possible in PF2 short of being a 17th level fighter.


PossibleCabbage wrote:
Dwarves in PF1 could be as fast in full plate as naked, so I don't know why this isn't possible in PF2 short of being a 17th level fighter.

Agreed. It was something I came to appreciate due to a certain Dwarf Monk - he'd carry incredible loads at incredible speeds. It seems like a strange omission but, then again, I think a lot was left out due to the nature of a playtest.


The Once and Future Kai wrote:


Feat: Stoneborn Resilience (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Dwarf
Trigger: You are reduced to 0HP by a critical success.
As the strongest metal is forged in hotted fires so Dwarfs stand resolute against the greatest adversity. When triggered you do not gain the dying condition, instead immediately gain 1HP and temporary hitpoints equal to your constitution modifier x your level. You are bolstered against the source of the critical success.

Eehhh, what does the last sentence mean? If I get downed by a crit with the evil orc's axe, am I immune to damage from that axe for a day? Oo


masda_gib wrote:
Eehhh, what does the last sentence mean? If I get downed by a crit with the evil orc's axe, am I immune to damage from that axe for a day? Oo

You can't use this ability again and again against the same attacker.

Scarab Sages

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The Once and Future Kai wrote:

A long time ago I put too much work into a homebrew d20 System Racial Trait Progression ruleset that I never completed. Looking over the Pathfinder Second Edition Ancestries I find myself instinctively going back to that creative space and thinking up additions to it.

So... Here's a thread for all of us to brainstorm options that we'd like to have added to the Ancestry/Heritage system.

Allow me to start with some adaptions from my old homebrew ruleset.

Feat: Bite Back the Bile (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Half Orc / Orc
Trigger: You are afflicted with Poison or the Sick condition.
The demands of your body cannot compete with your bloodlust, you push back illness or poison until you can afford it. When this feat is triggered, you may delay becoming sickened or poisoned by 1 round. This delay lowers duration of the poison and sick condition by 1.

So you can use this reaction each round and have 0 impact from the poison. It may be fine in fight (because you need to choose between that and another reaction) but outside it would be too powerfull I guess ?

I would say the duration of the poison should not decrease for that round. Or maybe add something like "You can use this reaction only when there is a visible hostile creature engaged in fight against your party" or something like that.

The Once and Future Kai wrote:


Feat: Stoneborn Resilience (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Dwarf
Trigger: You are reduced to 0HP by a critical success.
As the strongest metal is forged in hotted fires so Dwarfs stand resolute against the greatest adversity. When triggered you do not gain the dying condition, instead immediately gain 1HP and temporary hitpoints equal to your constitution modifier x your level. You are bolstered against the source of the critical success.

Bad wording at the end. It seems like it make you immune to the triggering attack which would be silly.

"You can't use this reaction twice on the same trigger each day" is more clear I think.

The Once and Future Kai wrote:


Feat: Wannabe Gremlin; Level 1; Common
Traits: Goblin
Some Goblins just want to watch the world burn, others just want to watch from the shadows as a carefully planned prank ruins someone's day. When you roll a Success or Critical Success on the Disable Device action while Unseen, treat the number of successes as doubled.

So - what homebrew Ancestry/Hertiage feats have been percolating in the back of your mind?

Kinda OK I guess.

Some idea of mine :

_______

Feat: Peace Keeper (Reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Elves, auditory, lingual, concentrate (?)
Trigger Initiative is rolled.
Elves live long enough to know both the value of life and that most fights are meaningless, starting often with misunderstandings.

You can roll Diplomacy for initiative when facing intelligent foes. At your turn you may try to Make an Impression at the cost of 3 actions with a -2 penalty. If anyone before you acted hostile toward the other party the penalty is -4. You can chose to not make an Impression if anyone used action with the attack trait but you MUST do it otherwhise.
If there is a leader you roll against his DC.
If there is no leader you roll against the highest DC.

Success : Resolve the current turn. If no one attacked after your turn the fight stop and you can try to talk to Resolve things peacefully. The starting attitude of the other party is hostile.
Failure : no effect

Special : The GM may rule that in some case it is not possible to succeed (like opponent have clear orders to kill anyone without negociation).

Personal note : It would work as a skill feat too. Maybe even as a basic action "ask for cease fire" or something.
In this state it doesn't Feel really elve like.

_______

Feat: Curious about everything; Level 1; Common
Traits: Gnome
Gnomes tend to be obsessive with one subject but some prefer to learn a bit about everything.

You are trained in all Lore skill.

_______

Feat: Excentricity (reaction); Level 1; Common
Traits: Gnome, auditory, concentrate
Trigger: Someone critically fail to Make an Impression check.
Gnome are often seen as weird and people more easily accept that they act strangely without thinking too much about it.
When someone fail to make an Impression you may try to Make a deception check to make diversion.

Success : The target is so distracted by your acts that they forget what didn't please them before. Their attitude don't change toward your party.

Critical success : The target is Actually impressed / interrested by What you did and his attitude toward your party increase.

Failure : no effect

Critical failure : You somehow annoy the target and his attitude decrease one step more.

In any case the target become bolstered against this effect.

______

Well I don't really have good ideas...


Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
So you can use this reaction each round and have 0 impact from the poison. It may be fine in fight (because you need to choose between that and another reaction) but outside it would be too powerfull I guess ?

No – that was not my intention. Let me try rewording the Trigger to, “You become afflicted with Poison or the Sick condition.” The idea was one round at the onset of a condition. This would negate afflictions with a duration of 1 but longer durations would persist.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Bad wording at the end. It seems like it make you immune to the triggering attack which would be silly. "You can't use this reaction twice on the same trigger each day" is more clear I think.

I made a halfhearted attempt to use the same wording as the rulebook but failed badly. Let me try again with, “The attacker who landed a Critical Strike is bolstered to your use of Stoneborn Resilience.” The intention being that you survive a Critical Strike but that you cannot spam the ability against the same foe to avoid dying indefinitely.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Peace Keeper

I am not sure about the mechanics but I’m a big fan of the concept. I think with a bit of polish it could be a great option. I don’t know that I like it being locked to Elves – are they particularly peace loving in Golarion? In Dragonlance and Tolkien many of the Elven cultures have militant histories.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Personal note : It would work as a skill feat too. Maybe even as a basic action "ask for cease fire" or something.

Parley with the Enemy would be a fun and flavorful Skill feat.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:

Feat: Curious about everything; Level 1; Common

Traits: Gnome
Gnomes tend to be obsessive with one subject but some prefer to learn a bit about everything You are trained in all Lore skill.

This seems overpowered. Bardic Lore grants access to all Lore but only for the Recall Knowledge action. Perhaps this could have a similar limitation? Alternatively – they could gain the same effect as Bardic Lore but with the Dubious Knowledge downside.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Feat: Eccentricity (reaction); Level 1; Common

I like the idea of this. It is like a Social Teamwork feat. It reminds me of the antics my Fate Core group pulls off during Social Conflict. I’m not sure about the current mechanics of it but it’s definitely worth developing.

Dark Archive

Go through Advanced Race Guide from PF1, make every single Alternate race feature a race feat.

Improvements on existing feats at higher levels.

Like, Trained in Racial Weapons at lvl 1 > Expert in racial weapons and Critical effect at Lvl 5 > Master in racial weapons AND Legendary in ONE racial weapon at Lvl 9. Make it WORTH spending the feats on.

And I still think we should front load like 4 ancestry feats at first level.

Scarab Sages

The Once and Future Kai wrote:
Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
So you can use this reaction each round and have 0 impact from the poison. It may be fine in fight (because you need to choose between that and another reaction) but outside it would be too powerfull I guess ?

No – that was not my intention. Let me try rewording the Trigger to, “You become afflicted with Poison or the Sick condition.” The idea was one round at the onset of a condition. This would negate afflictions with a duration of 1 but longer durations would persist.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Bad wording at the end. It seems like it make you immune to the triggering attack which would be silly. "You can't use this reaction twice on the same trigger each day" is more clear I think.

I made a halfhearted attempt to use the same wording as the rulebook but failed badly. Let me try again with, “The attacker who landed a Critical Strike is bolstered to your use of Stoneborn Resilience.” The intention being that you survive a Critical Strike but that you cannot spam the ability against the same foe to avoid dying indefinitely.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Peace Keeper

I am not sure about the mechanics but I’m a big fan of the concept. I think with a bit of polish it could be a great option. I don’t know that I like it being locked to Elves – are they particularly peace loving in Golarion? In Dragonlance and Tolkien many of the Elven cultures have militant histories.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:
Personal note : It would work as a skill feat too. Maybe even as a basic action "ask for cease fire" or something.

Parley with the Enemy would be a fun and flavorful Skill feat.

Shaheer-El-Khatib wrote:

Feat: Curious about everything; Level 1; Common

Traits: Gnome
Gnomes tend to be obsessive with one subject but some prefer to learn a bit about everything You are trained in all Lore skill.
This seems overpowered. Bardic Lore grants access to all Lore but only for the Recall Knowledge action. Perhaps this could have a similar...

"Curious about everything" is badly worded.

I didn't mean "all lore" but just the 4 knowledge (arcana, religious, nature, occultism) so that it is effectively 4 skill increase, just like the already skill that met you become Legendary on 1.

It may bit stronger because you get the 4 At level 1 though.


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Could apply to multiple ancestries, but I had this idea the other day :

Improved Ancestral Weaponry
Prerequisite : Weapon Cunning, Weapon Elegance, Weapon Innovator, Weapon Frenzy, Weapon Trickster, or Orc Weapon Carnage (depending on character ancestry)

The character gains one additional level of training with ancestral weapons, ie trained to expert, expert to master, etc.


I made a homebrew tiefling ancestry option:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EfcD6P0-LNp4nwlzK3EVMzqqcGU_1YKp

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