Several of the other backgrounds from the BB made it into the Player's Core 1, but not Deckhand. The Sailor background gives the Underwater Marauder feat, but that is not a good fit for a character that was more focused on staying above the waves. According to the AON website, Deckhand is limited, and requires a boon to unlock. I don't see any rational reason for it to be limited like this, nor can I see any way to get a boon that would unlock it.
By any chance was this a mistake? Should the PFS option be Standard rather than Limited?
Ah, thanks. Now that I know what I'm looking for, it is plainly visible.
Of course, this means that it is one of the things that I have always found exceedingly annoying about Society play, the needless gatekeeping of player's options behind boons that can only be obtained in one specific way.
Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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I can see why it looks like it is, but it's not actually 'limited'.
Nothing anywhere in character options page says it's limited, because options from adventures aren't sanctioned that way: Only stuff from rulebooks and lost omens books are 'standard', 'limited' or restricted. To use those options you need to buy the book (and meet access/prerequisite requirements). Paizo probably doesn't want people to buy single copies of adventures just to gain some character options though, for reasons I'll explain in the spoiler below - so instead of making a purchase, you need to play it.
Why does it appear on AoN as Limited, then?
Good question. That's just how AoN let's you know that an option from an adventure appears on a chronicle sheet / achievement point boon. It's their way of being helpful and showing that "this thing that you normally can't access, because it's not from a rulebook or lore book, is found somewhere else".
In short, that's just how character options work in PFS. Buy the book, or play the adventure. Nothing about deckhand is special in that regard, it's just not a standard option that's always available because it's not from a published rulebook.
Reason for that is, that in PFS1e, they were added to character options. However, you need to own the books you use, so you had to buy the adventure. For one-off adventures, this wasn't such an issue - but there were cases where part 3 of an AP was sold out because it had amazing character options, but there was an excess of parts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 unsold, because who would want to buy an AP but miss the middle part?
Probably partially to combat this, PFS2e no longer requires people to own an adventure to use stuff from it - you just need the chronicle sheet (so, you need to have played it or GM'd it) to use selected and approved options from it.
Personally, I think this works great. Firstly, people who play APs and adventures are kinda given a little something extra: "Hey, since we played this adventure, if you want to try out organized play, your character can start at level 2 and has access to cool stuff that's normally off limit." On the other hand, it encourages Society players to play other adventures too (and thus encourages their sale) (but without the need for every single player to buy the book).
So, it's not that it's actually limited; it's just that that's the way *all* adventure related options work: Play the adventure, get access to the option - while rulebook and lost omens require "buy the book, get the options".
I can see why it looks like it is, but it's not actually 'limited'.
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In short, that's just how character options work in PFS. Buy the book, or play the adventure. Nothing about deckhand is special in that regard, it's just not a standard option that's always available because it's not from a published rulebook.
But all of the other options (Acolyte, Criminal, Farmhand, Gambler, & Warrior backgrounds) were republished in PC1. While playing the adventure is a good option, it's not always possible. There are a lot of adventures, and only a limited number of potential GMs, or game slots in which to play IF you could find a GM who has the adventure and is willing to run it. And then there are boons which were available only at a specific convention or event. I remember the frustration back with 1st edition Society play in wanting to run a vanara but being told that I had to have a boon to be allowed.
Don't get me wrong, I think that there are places where the boon system is a great idea, earning achievement points to buy options like resurrection or to rebuild an established character, or as a way to show that the character played an adventure and has access to any rare or unusual magic items from that adventure. I could begrudgingly agree that rare options like some of the races or archetypes might be justified with some degree of gatekeeping, especially if there is some aspect of the option that would affect game balance.
