Elf Ancestry with Half-Elf Heritage


Rules Discussion


Are the Half-Elf and Half-Orc heritages only selectable as a human? Or can you take them as Elf or Orc, respectively?

Sczarni

Page 55 of the Core Rulebook wrote:

OTHER HALVES

By default, half-elves and half-orcs descend from humans, but your GM might allow you to be the offspring of an elf, orc, or different ancestry. In these cases, the GM will let you select the half-elf or half-orc heritage as the heritage for this other ancestry. The most likely other parent of a half-elf are gnomes and halflings, and the most likely parents of a half-orc are goblins, halflings, and dwarves.


I can’t spot why you would ever apply the half orc heritage to an orc as you lose your heritage and get nothing in return other than access to human feats. Is that really a good trade off?

Similarly I can’t see why anyone would (mechanically) pick half orc over orc as orc has :

- better vision
- 2 more HP
- heritage benefit

Over half orc. In return half orc gets access to human feats and a flexible boost instead of strength . So if you are desperate for a level 1 class feat and don’t get it and don’t want strength higher than 10?

Not really an answer but something I was thinking about recently as my player wants to play an orc and I would prefer core races but looked and can’t in good faith put any pressure on them for this as the orc just seems better

Dark Archive

So really what you need is a "Half-Human" versatile heritage.

Also the bit Nefreet quoted would make a really nice PFS boon...


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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Lanathar wrote:
I can’t spot why you would ever apply the half orc heritage to an orc as you lose your heritage and get nothing in return other than access to human feats. Is that really a good trade off?

I guess it depends on the heritage and what you are trying to do with the character. General Training, Natural Ambition, and Multitalented (especially the last two) can be more desirable than some ancestry feats or even some heritages for certain characters.


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Lanathar wrote:
Over half orc. In return half orc gets access to human feats and a flexible boost instead of strength . So if you are desperate for a level 1 class feat and don’t get it and don’t want strength higher than 10?

You do also get access to the half-orc feats, but to be fair there are only 3 of them, and one of them is just making a half-orc get orc darkvision - so that's not really much. So overall, access to human feats is the biggest benefit - and Adopted Ancestry would probably be just as good at snagging most human ancestry feats since I don't think they have many feats which would go against Adopted Ancestry's restriction.


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Dragonchess Player wrote:
General Training, Natural Ambition, and Multitalented (especially the last two) can be more desirable than some ancestry feats or even some heritages for certain characters.

I recently made a lot of characters (I'm hoping to introduce a bunch of players to pf2 by running a one-shot and want to make a pre-made character for each class, each showcasing a thing that you can do with that class that I think is interesting) and found that fairly often an extra class or general feat (battle medicine, toughness, fleet and incredible initiative are strong contenders) was a much better choice than ancestry feats available at a given level, especially when making a character for a one-shot where a lot of the ancestry feats that add stuff for crafting or socialising or knowledge just won't get a chance to be used.


Human ancestry is one of the strongest ancestries in 2e.

An ancestry feat equalling a class feat is very strong and Humans get 2 of those depending on whether you count multitalented.
A 2nd 1st level class feat can also amount to nothing with some builds tho.

I love multi talented to grab the lvl 10+ feats only from a dedication. Flurry of Blows, expert heavy armor, uncanny dodge,... as an half elf you don't even need to meet the requirements.


Orc:

2 HP, heritage, better vision (or an additional 1st-level ancestry feat)

Half-Orc:

2 free boosts instead of having to spend one on strength, half-orc specific feats, free Adopted Ancestry feat, ability to pick human feats at level 1 instead of level 5.


kitespar wrote:
Are the Half-Elf and Half-Orc heritages only selectable as a human? Or can you take them as Elf or Orc, respectively?

Six of one, a half dozen of another. An elf who's half-human or a human who's half-elf. Sure, you can, but Paizo put the rules for doing that under the section for humans.

Horizon Hunters

"I am more Elf than you 'cause I'm an Elf half-Elf and it means that I am half more elf than you!" ahaha

Sczarni

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There's a "glass half full" joke in here somewhere.


kitespar wrote:
Are the Half-Elf and Half-Orc heritages only selectable as a human? Or can you take them as Elf or Orc, respectively?

Has Nefreet said, the book predicts other ancestrys combinations. But It's can be more hardly to your GM balance than appears.

If you use an elf ancestry how could do to the bonus and penalties of the base ancestry? How dark-vision will work for a Orc half-human, becomes low-light likes already happens to humanas half-orcs?

Usually these ancestries is based in human just because it's easier and more flexible to balance.


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Nefreet wrote:
There's a "glass half full" joke in here somewhere.

I just keep thinking of this Star Trek episode.

Sczarni

My personal favorite

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