Hello I am wondering about the Blood of Shadows book's Alternate Racial Traits. There are two groups of Alternate Racial Traits, the Shadowborn and Darkborn groups. Both an RP (Race Point) value and a trait trade equivalent are listed if the race is one of the 8 core races.
If a race is one of the 8 core races, does this mean it exchanges the racial trait AND adds the RP value to the race total. or Does this mean that because the race is one of the 8 core races it does not cost the RP value, it just trades the feature.
for example:
human Shadowborn taking the Dimdweller trait. For humans, they swap the Skilled trait and take Dimdweller instead. This grants darkvision 60ft and racial bonus on 3 skill checks in certain light conditions.
So the Human replaces Skilled and gains Dimdweller. Does this also mean that they are adding 2 RP to their racial total or that they are replacing the skilled feat Instead of adding 2RP and that the 2RP means nothing to a human, because they are human?
The D20PFSRD has many examples of racial traits that can be exchanged for other racial traits. some of these are listed with an RP cost and some are not. Do any of these alternate racial traits add RP to a character's racial makeup? is there any reason why the RP should be listed at all?
for example. the human alternative trait "Aquatic Ancestry" also replaces Skilled. but it does not have an RP listing on the d20pfsrd.
thank you.
It's worth consulting the source material for these things, since the online SRDs are a bit misleading. Here's what Blood of the Shadows has to say:
A character with such a background can select one or more shadowborn racial traits. Such racial traits replace one or more normal racial traits for the character’s race. If you are using the race builder rules from Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide, the Race Point (RP) cost for each shadowborn racial trait is given. Otherwise, each trait lists the racial trait it replaces if taken by certain characters of the eight core races.
So the RP value for Dimdweller is "if you want to use it in the racebuilder, it is a valid option and costs 2RP." If you are putting it on a Human, it costs skilled. I don't think there is ever any reason to consult the RP value of any printed race, except to disallow certain things as too powerful.
If you feel like Dimdweller is better than what it replaces, not in terms of the race builder just in terms of what it does, this sort of thing is not exactly uncommon for alternate racial traits. Printing alternate racial traits with RP costs is mostly a way to try to print alternate racial traits which can conceivably apply to any sort of person. So if you wanted to make a changeling or an aasimar that is a dimdweller, the GM could consult the RP costs of things in the ARG and suggest a substitution.
It's worth consulting the source material for these things, since the online SRDs are a bit misleading. Here's what Blood of the Shadows has to say:
A character with such a background can select one or more shadowborn racial traits. Such racial traits replace one or more normal racial traits for the character’s race. If you are using the race builder rules from Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide, the Race Point (RP) cost for each shadowborn racial trait is given. Otherwise, each trait lists the racial trait it replaces if taken by certain characters of the eight core races.So the RP value for Dimdweller is "if you want to use it in the racebuilder, it is a valid option and costs 2RP." If you are putting it on a Human, it costs skilled. I don't think there is ever any reason to consult the RP value of any printed race, except to disallow certain things as too powerful.
If you feel like Dimdweller is better than what it replaces, not in terms of the race builder just in terms of what it does, this sort of thing is not exactly uncommon for alternate racial traits. Printing alternate racial traits with RP costs is mostly a way to try to print alternate racial traits which can conceivably apply to any sort of person. So if you wanted to make a changeling or an aasimar that is a dimdweller, the GM could consult the RP costs of things in the ARG and suggest a substitution.
so it only matters if a non-core race being built were to take dimdweller then the point cost would apply, but in the case of humans it does not apply. thank you