Bonus points if you can play a clownfish-based merfolk who literally transitions from male to female as it reaches adulthood :P
That... if that's happening to the entire heritage, that has some potentially unfortunate implications.
Bonus points if you can play a clownfish-based merfolk who literally transitions from male to female as it reaches adulthood :PThat... if that's happening to the entire heritage, that has some potentially unfortunate implications.
Hmmm... my fish knowledge isn't peak, but here's what I found.
Clownfishes do change gender as they mature, but they can also... trigger it early if there's no dominant female in the school. They also are all born male that become female.
I think Merfolks kinda follow the same reproductory process. I assume that mermaids lay eggs and mermen fertilize them, exactly like fishes. If any kind of fish has their merfolk equivalent, clownfish merfolks can be found. Alluria's Cerulean Seas setting has better plausible details.
The way I could see it is that a clownfish merfolk would naturally transition between middle and old age (using old terms here), but it is possible for them to trigger it much earlier, like using a 1st level feat, which can be taken at any time, including at character selection. If that's case, I would add some small bonuses for taking it, or split that heritage into 2 for both genders.
Sounds complicated, but there's something viable to do here ;)
A clownfish hierarchy is basically:
Dominant Female
Mature Male
0-4 Juvenile Males
If one of the upper roles becomes vacant, someone gets promoted to fill the void. Amusingly this means that after Nemo's mom disappears Nemo's dad would become the new dominant female, and Nemo (being the only remaining juvenile) would become the mature male. Because of the human taboo about incest, it's good that Clownfish do not actually raise their children like people do. Normally in the ocean this is easy to do since fish don't raise their young so you just deposit your eggs in the nest the male has made nearby and when they hatch the larvae will float away carried by ocean currents and no longer be your responsibility.
But breeding clownfish in a home aquarium is comparatively easy to do (you buy 1 clownfish let it grow a bit, then buy another one and you have a breeding pair) so you need to be careful about inbreeding.
Really my concern was the "as it reaches adulthood" thing... implying that the entire heritage (or most of it) was the result of sexual pairings involving underage males. That's just not a good look, you know?
If the default behavior is something like "become female at the equivalent of age 30" or something, that's a lot less of an issue.
Beyond that... I'm not sure about the standard fish spawning techniques. In particular, merpeople are people. For best results, they're going to need a society that puts effort into their upbringing. That doesn't really fit with the "I spawn a huge number of eggs and hopefully at least 10% make it to adulthood" strategy that most fish have.
Really my concern was the "as it reaches adulthood" thing... implying that the entire heritage (or most of it) was the result of sexual pairings involving underage males. That's just not a good look, you know?
If the default behavior is something like "become female at the equivalent of age 30" or something, that's a lot less of an issue.
That's why I suggested between "middle and old age" which would be around 40 years old in human years.
Beyond that... I'm not sure about the standard fish spawning techniques. In particular, merpeople are people. For best results, they're going to need a society that puts effort into their upbringing. That doesn't really fit with the "I spawn a huge number of eggs and hopefully at least 10% make it to adulthood" strategy that most fish have.
Merfolks may be people, but their physiology are half-and-half :P Everything below the waist is fish-like.
Beyond that... I'm not sure about the standard fish spawning techniques. In particular, merpeople are people. For best results, they're going to need a society that puts effort into their upbringing. That doesn't really fit with the "I spawn a huge number of eggs and hopefully at least 10% make it to adulthood" strategy that most fish have.Merfolks may be people, but their physiology are half-and-half :P Everything below the waist is fish-like.
When I said "people" I didn't mean "humans". A sapient species that's at all successful as such is going to involve a fair degree of effort into childrearing, which pretty much inherently invalidates the "have enormous numbers of children and then let the significant majority of them die" plan. I'm pretty sure that merfolk populations aren't by default constantly expanding in size by significant multipliers, which means that they aren't having enormous numbers of children and then not letting the significant majority of them die, either. Basically, we can expect, just as a matter of demographics, that the total number of children that merfolk produce will be roughly in line with the numbers produced by other sapient/civilized species.
So... whatever it is that they're doing, it's not the standard "huge clusters of eggs" thing that most fish do, regardless of their physiology.
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You guys realize Goblin children are raised in cages right?
This whole latest tangent is disturbing and bordering on kink discussions about genitals and simultaneously ethical hand-wringing over hypothetical sexual reproductive traits, age of sexual maturity/consent for fictional creatures, and just insanely silly even if it weren't trying to push a certain subsection of real-life human culture/morality and morality onto chimeric humanoid creatures.
Why are you guys trying to sanitize and moralize fictional cultures? Let creatives be creative... seriously, this is "Tolkien fiction is problematic" levels of absurd because of how Orcs in his setting were created.
You realize goblin children are raised in cages right?
This whole latest tangent is disturbing and bordering on kink discussions about genitals and simultaneously ethical hand-wringing over hypothetical sexual reproductive traits of fictional creatures and just insanely silly even if it weren't trying to push a certain subsection of real-life human culture/morality and morality onto chimeric humanoid creatures.
Eh... the cages are good for them.
also, I'm not meaning it as a matter of morality at all. I'm talking about the practical requirements of producing adults that can maintain your civilization, and what that implies about how much you need to invest in them, and thus how much you need to value them in order to remain functional as an ongoing culture. It's pretty clear that merfolk have some moderately impressive civ. Goblins... not so much.
That said, I can dial it back.
Beside, even if mermaids would lay multiple eggs for a male to fertilize...
1) I doubt they would have over 30 eggs at once
and
2) I doubt that most of these would die ^^;
A mermaid, in my opinion, probably lays 2 to 5 eggs, and all grow up into healthy babies once hatched :)
Maybe to bring it back to my theory, what I have in mind is that merfolks share some traits with fishes corresponding to their tails.
Sharks are fishes, merfolks are fishes, so merfolks can be based on sharks. If so, they have wider tails, a dorsal fin and probably very sharp teeth and fangs. If you have an angler merfolk, it either has a glowing lure or can produce bioluminescense. I don't expect a sword merfolk to have a long pointy nose, but I could get around it having wristblade-like blades.
For clown merfolks, aside from orange scales, I could see them changing gender... and probably be resistant to polymorph magic ;)
Beside, even if mermaids would lay multiple eggs for a male to fertilize...
1) I doubt they would have over 30 eggs at once
and
2) I doubt that most of these would die ^^;A mermaid, in my opinion, probably lays 2 to 5 eggs, and all grow up into healthy babies once hatched :)
This is a much more viable proposition, and I have no opinion on it one way or the other.
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This is a much more viable proposition, and I have no opinion on it one way or the other.Beside, even if mermaids would lay multiple eggs for a male to fertilize...
1) I doubt they would have over 30 eggs at once
and
2) I doubt that most of these would die ^^;A mermaid, in my opinion, probably lays 2 to 5 eggs, and all grow up into healthy babies once hatched :)
That was always the intent :)
Oddly enough, neither WotC or Paizo has ever stated how fertile a merfolk is, even when they introduced them as playable races/ancestries.
WotC revealed that an elven mother is far LESS fertile than a human and that a halfling mother is pregnant for SEVEN months instead of nine, thanks to Races of the Wild, but no news about a mermaid's gestation, egg laying and whatnot :P
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I figured merfolk were more in common with dolphins and whales, meaning they would give birth like those two.
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I mean, what's the difference between a cage and a crib really? Every people figure out a way to temporarily keep their children in some place where they can't get into that much trouble because the adults have other business to attend to.
It also gives them something to gnaw on. Young goblins need to have things they can gnaw on.
I figured merfolk were more in common with dolphins and whales, meaning they would give birth like those two.
I said this due to how merfolks have fish tails, not cetacean ones.
Then again, cetacean merfolks could be a thing, but that would require not being able to breathe underwater O_o
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Purveyors of fiction are rarely concerned with the nitty-gritty details of the fictional societies or species they invent. Just whatever is the minimum for the story they want to tell.
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I mean Pathfinder Hobgoblins seem pretty similar to DnD Hobgoblins apart from some small details so not saying they will be dropped but I wouldn't be surprised and the same goes for Bugbears
Hobgoblins are in the Player Core 2 remaster.
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An idea that would be kinda cool, but I don't know how likely it'd be:
What if the Awakened Animal ancestry we're getting in Howl of the Wild allows us to play Awakened DINOSAURS?! That'd be SWEET!
Playing an iruxi's an okay substitute at the moment, yeah, but it doesn't quite have the same "cool factor" as an Awakened T-Rex!
I’m not sure an entire species is ok with being called an “okay substitute”. ;)
I want a Loxodon-Expy.
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At this point, I'm mainly craving ancestry feats for existing ancestries-- though that's me admittedly looking ahead to the ancestry count in a post Howl of the Wild and Tian Xia Character Guide World, never mind Starfinder, I won't really want for anything, just more support for different ancestries to make give them unique applications for more different kinds of characters.
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Lashunta coming with SF2 and Drow no longer existing means that I'm pretty sated at this point. Kuru and Sedacthy are the only things I could even begin to think of begging for anymore, and they're awfully niche.
EDIT: I haven't forgotten Wyrwoods, they just feel inevitable now.
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Some of the the description in the Harpy section of the monster core, felt like it was creating space for a potential Harpy ancestry if they ever wanted to go down that route. We would be pretty happy with that.
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With Kobolds losing their assumed draconic heritage, we no longer have a distinctly draconic ancestry.
We have 4 (I believe) non-draconic reptile playable ancestries: Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, and Vishkanya. So two snakes and two lizards, but no dragons.
Wyvarans haven't been ported over yet. They'd fit the role quite well.
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With Kobolds losing their assumed draconic heritage, we no longer have a distinctly draconic ancestry.
We have 4 (I believe) non-draconic reptile playable ancestries: Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, and Vishkanya. So two snakes and two lizards, but no dragons.
Wyvarans haven't been ported over yet. They'd fit the role quite well.
There's still the unrevealed Versatile Heritage in Player Core 2, a book that has a number of other dragon-y player options.
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There's still the unrevealed Versatile Heritage in Player Core 2, a book that has a number of other dragon-y player options.With Kobolds losing their assumed draconic heritage, we no longer have a distinctly draconic ancestry.
We have 4 (I believe) non-draconic reptile playable ancestries: Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, and Vishkanya. So two snakes and two lizards, but no dragons.
Wyvarans haven't been ported over yet. They'd fit the role quite well.
"Don't do that. Don't give me hope."
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With Kobolds losing their assumed draconic heritage, we no longer have a distinctly draconic ancestry.
We have 4 (I believe) non-draconic reptile playable ancestries: Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, and Vishkanya. So two snakes and two lizards, but no dragons.
Wyvarans haven't been ported over yet. They'd fit the role quite well.
To my understanding, kobolds are still draconic. It's just that they aren't quite as dialed in. They like to obey powerful magical creatures, and they take on the casting tradition of whatever it was they were following... but being pick-a-list is kind of a draconic thing, now.
I mean... am I wrong? have we actually had anyone come out and say that kobolds aren't draconic anymore? Did I miss that?
"Don't do that. Don't give me hope."
Might I suggest pastoral counseling at the Church of Groetius?
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The way I've heard it is that kobolds are still little draconic minions who love to follow dragons around, but they're not so picky anymore that if there's no dragon around they won't go off and make friends with a local hag or elemental instead.
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With Kobolds losing their assumed draconic heritage, we no longer have a distinctly draconic ancestry.
We have 4 (I believe) non-draconic reptile playable ancestries: Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Nagaji, and Vishkanya. So two snakes and two lizards, but no dragons.
Wyvarans haven't been ported over yet. They'd fit the role quite well.
To my understanding, kobolds are still draconic. It's just that they aren't quite as dialed in. They like to obey powerful magical creatures, and they take on the casting tradition of whatever it was they were following... but being pick-a-list is kind of a draconic thing, now.
I mean... am I wrong? have we actually had anyone come out and say that kobolds aren't draconic anymore? Did I miss that?
"Don't do that. Don't give me hope."Might I suggest pastoral counseling at the Church of Groetius?
No you're accurate-- Kobold eggs essentially intake magical power from nearby magical creatures, Kobold society sees Kobolds who are influenced in this way as having advantages over Kobolds who aren't, so Kobold communities seek out powerful creatures as sources of magical incubation to create these magical Kobolds.
The text then asserts that Dragons are usually very willing, and that its the most common arrangement Kobolds make for this purpose, but then shows us a Kobold Cavern Mage, which is essentially created via this process wutilizing an earth elemental (the Kobold essentially being a sorcerer as a result, and having bits of crystal growing on them, so they're probably also an Oread.)
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I cannot help but imagine all the newborn kobolds hatching near the PCs' homebase with faces strangely reminiscent of the PCs themselves.
Like miniature draconic clones.
Or near powerful unicorn to create Kobolds with Horse faces and celestial powers.
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It's worth noting that kobolds and dragons are both going to be keyed to traditions of magic. The connection is indirect, but very strong.
It's worth noting that kobolds and dragons are both going to be keyed to traditions of magic. The connection is indirect, but very strong.
That's a good point, they share that same strong connection to the 4 traditions of magic. Both Kobolds and Dragons are naturally linked to the same innate power of the universe. Deep down, all magic is lizards..
I'm kinda surprised sekmin don't have an ancestry. I mean they are somewhat similar to Nagaji, but if serpentfolk are the next big bad under-empire, you might imagine a few go rogue and become adventurers like the Drow they replaced. Maybe it's because the ancestry might need innate spells like Disguise Self for zyss sekmin, which could be difficult to balance...
Drow? What Drow? There ain't no Drow. :-)
Paizo had stated that they wont be making ancestries for creatures they wanna use as primarily enemies, like the sekmin. So that was the reasoning they gave for not making sekmin ancestry.
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Drow? What Drow? There ain't no Drow. :-)
Do not seek Zirnakanin, it is not a place of honor.
Nothing valued lies there.
Ask not from whence the Irnakurse crawl.
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We need a fungus ancestry. Not 'plant with a fungus heritage' but an actual dedicated ancestry of fungi.
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So, we've had it confirmed that we're getting a dragonblood heritage! That checks one off a few people's lists.
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Come to think of it, I was rereading Guide to the River Kingdoms and while we are getting our fishy fix with the athamaru and merfolk in Howl of the Wild, if they aren't like an athamaru heritage or something, they should make the ceratioidi playable finally! Playing a psychic humanoid anglerfish couple would be pretty cool!
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I thought athamaru were ceratioidi renamed due to OGL licensing reasons.
No, they're the Locathah renamed due to OGL licensing reasons.
So, we've had it confirmed that we're getting a dragonblood heritage! That checks one off a few people's lists.
Umm…where? It would be nice if folx could link “confirmations” or at least describe where they got the info from…