Is the Alien Allies boon essentially two-part?

[Arc Riley]

I unlocked the Wayfinder capstone boon Alien Allies last night and reading the text more closely now that I can apply it. It appears to be two boons in one;

The first part appears to allow you to create a new PC using a race boon without it having to slot in your personal boon slot, so long as the other personal boon isn't a race boon.

The second part allows you to play a Ghibrani, specifically "You can play a husk or membrane ghibrani", and this doesn't seem be required when using the first part of the boon.

In other words, am I reading this correctly that we could (though I personally love Ghibrani and very excited to play one) combine this with any race boon to create a new PC? Eg combining the RSP 2019 GM boon with Alien Allies to create an Uplifted Bear PC while having that PC's personal boon slot available for any non-race personal boon?

If so it'd certainly encourage players who aren't as thrilled about playing a Ghibrani to reach the Wayfinders capstone.

[Pogiforce]

I personally look forward to playing my very own prettier-than-they-should be cockroach character.

Your interpretation of the freed personal boon slots for exotic race characters looks sound, though I have another question: could you build more than one Ghibrani? It looks to me, the way it's worded, that specifically the freed personal boon slot applies to one character, and not necessarily the race option.

[Thurston Hillman]

Arc Riley's interpretation is correct.

The Capstone certainly has TWO uses. :)

[Lindley Court]

So, question for clarity. I buy Alien Allies with my -701 Tier 4 Wayfinder. Can I then make a freed-Personal boon character as my -702 AND a ghibrani as my -703, off of one purchase?

[Pogiforce]

Sasha Lindley Hall wrote:

So, question for clarity. I buy Alien Allies with my -701 Tier 4 Wayfinder. Can I then make a freed-Personal boon character as my -702 AND a ghibrani as my -703, off of one purchase?

That would be my understanding of it.

[grandpoobah]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread. I also just got the Alien Allies Boon and am having trouble understanding the benefit.

It opens up access to Ghibrani.
It lets you use a Race Boon without a Personal Boon Slot. I am having trouble understanding how this helps.

I also just finished filling out my SkitterShot Racial Boon, which lets me play a Skittermander. Combining that with my Wayfinder Capstone Boon means I can play a Skittermander and still have the Personal boon slot open?

What else could I put in the personal boon slot? I don't have any other Personal Boons in my records, so this boon seems... not useful.

The other version of the SKittermander Boon lets me put a +2 stat bump (on a low stat) to an existing Skittermander. If the Wayfinder Boon let me use this instead on my new Skittermander... that would be cool.

[Dracomicron]

grandpoobah wrote:

What else could I put in the personal boon slot? I don't have any other Personal Boons in my records, so this boon seems... not useful.

The other version of the SKittermander Boon lets me put a +2 stat bump (on a low stat) to an existing Skittermander. If the Wayfinder Boon let me use this instead on my new Skittermander... that would be cool.

There are non-racial personal boons scattered throughout the chronicle sheets. Stuff like mutations or an inoculation regimen might be options. My vesk managed to get a permanent personal boon that isn't entirely a good thing (thanks, Thursty!).

Except in very specific circumstances, the +2 stat bump is considered part of a personal boon whether or not you use your personal boon for your race, so I wouldn't recommend that for your skittermander if you went through the trouble of recovering its personal boon slot with your capstone. In any case, the Wayfinder boon would not allow you to play a skittermander AND get the +2 stat bonus unless you got a second chronicle sheet fully punched out, which, again, would use up the personal boon slot and defeat the purpose of using the capstone in the first place.

["Dr." Cupi]

In simple answer grandpoobah, there exist personal boons that are not race boons. Those would be the use for the open personal boon slot.

[Tim Emrick]

My -701 Wayfinder PC is only 4-5 scenarios away from unlocking the capstone, so I was very pleased to find this thread clarifying that Alien Allies has two separate benefits!

I have a question about the second half of the capstone's benefit. Is the ability "to play a husk or membrane ghibrani" limited to only one such PC? (The first half, about Personal boons, explicit says "select one...character," but this part uses the more indefinite "a.") With the vast number of species available through core races, legacy races, and boons, I won't be building more than one ghibrani anytime soon. But it would be nice to have the option of playing both subtypes without completing the capstone on 2 different PCs.

[scottysu]

Ok, I see several answers talking about the second part of the boon allowing for the creation of a Ghibrani character in addition to the freed-personal boon character.

The part I am still a bit confused on is where it says to select a character I have with 0 xp, and they can play as a new playable race without needing to expend the personal boon slot. My question is multi-part. First, what constitutes a "playable race?" Second, does this race have to be one for which I have unlocked a boon to build?

Odd as it may sound, I am asking because I was wanting to build a little SRO character. However, I have found no such boon to unlock that race from the scenarios I have played, and it seemed that this boon (which I recently reached the level to unlock) might be the only method of doing so.

[Nefreet]

The Season 3 Guide has the most up-to-date list of playable races. SRO is not one of them, but there is a boon out there that can let you play one.

[scottysu]

Ok, cool to know there is a boon for what I want to do. Thanks. I just have missed the session so far (which I am still missing about half of season 1). But, I am still confused on the playable races part, since if it is a standard playable race, you don't need a boon to play it anyway. So, it seems that part of the ability is a little pointless if it only pertains to races on the list already; unless I am misunderstanding something.

[Nefreet]

scottysu wrote:

I am still confused on the playable races part, since if it is a standard playable race, you don't need a boon to play it anyway.

Indeed. So that part of the Boon would only apply to races you access through a race Boon.

There are a fair number of currently playable races that didn't used to be. During the beginning of Season 1, for example, none of the Legacy races were.

So if you had acquired a Boon to play, say, a Halfling, and then used the Alien Allies Boon to gain an extra Personal Slot for that Halfling, you wouldn't gain any additional benefit when Halflings were opened up as playable.

I doubt SROs will ever be playable without a Boon, though, so you're probably safe with that combination.