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I was trying to make a red mantis elf rogue the other day, and noticed something off with the Red Mantis Dedication (which I shall refer to at RMD from now on). The requirement for Sawtooth Saber seems to unfairly hurt non human ancestries. I will go over it below.
Fighter gets Advanced Weapon Proficiency, and can take RMD at level 2. Cleric gets Sawtooth Saber Proficiency and can also get RMD at level 2.
Champion, Ranger, and Barbarian only have Martial Weapon Proficiency, which means they need to get Weapon Proficiency feat once at level 3, so they can take RMD at level 4.
All other classes (including rogue) need to take Weapon Proficiency twice, at levels 3 and 7, meaning they can't take RMD until level 8.
Human can spend it's heritage and ancestry feat to get two weapon proficiency feats at level 1, which allows most classes to get RMD at level 2.
Half humans can spend ancestry feat to get weapon proficiency and allow champion, ranger, and barbarian to get it at 2, and all other classes at 4.
Most other ancestries don't have a way to speed up getting weapon proficiency, and are stuck with the normal class progression to get them.
This is weird as they are a cult, and their god, Achaekek, has the Anathema of "become fixated on petty matters such as others’ gender or ancestry", yet have a prerequisite that seems to specifically target non human rogues. I would imagine Red Mantis would have some way to fast track or make it easy for new recruits to learn Sawtooth Saber, and not delay elf/dwarf rogues to wait until level 8, and take all the level 1 choices for human.
One could be a member of the Red Mantis, even call oneself a Red Mantis Assassin, without taking that dedication. In PF1, it took even more levels before a character could take the official class, so there had to be many Red Mantis Assassins who mechanically, technically weren't. (I don't think they had an internship/apprenticeship program, but went right into the field as suited whatever level of the adventure they were in.)
And as you mentioned, all Ancestries can enter via Fighter.
Killer specializing in one weapon over all others?
Sounds closer to Fighter than Rogue for PF2 purposes, despite the lingering connections from previous editions. And it's simple to pick up the basic assassin skills. And the character could still call itself a rogue by nature, even if not a Rogue by Class.
Plus, Clerics of Achaekek can enter at 2nd too. Which befits a cult.
So you're saying the prereqs are unfair. And?
By the nature of a Class & Ancestry system (one where the choices matter that is), there's bound to be unfairness. What pushes this incidence beyond the pale? How much leniency should there be for non-martial classes to enter a martial dedication? (or vice-versa should there be an instance) Would all the other Dedications need fast track options too? Maybe some combos just don't work.
Maybe Achaekek only wants people really dedicated to their weapon (Fighters), really dedicated to her (Clerics), and those so dedicated to joining that they'll struggle and strain through hoops to qualify (all others). Who knows, right?
And you're not the first to bring this up. There should be a thread still around. Obviously Paizo knew the consequences of the prereq, so what are you asking for here? For them to change their mind? For permission to homebrew something fairer? (You have it.)
Once the Advanced Player's Guide comes out, there will be at least one more option.
One of the spoiled feats is a level 1 Tengu feat that appears to grant trained proficiency in two swords of your choice. If you're already proficient with all martial weapons, you select two advanced swords; otherwise, you select two martial swords. That would be a means of qualifying for the archetype with any martial class by level 2, by only spending one ancestry feat.
