Deep Dive: Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook Review (Part 5)

Now for the last three ancestries offered in the Core Rulebook – goblins, halflings, and humans.

All images courtesy of Paizo, Inc.

Chapter Overview

(Repeated from the last article)

Chapter three gives the game its standard foundation of ancestries (previously known as races) and backgrounds that shape the beginnings of a character's identity. Each ancestry is presented in four-page sections, except the human section which is six pages due to how Paizo is treating half-elves and half-orcs in this edition, and the first two pages of each are primarily background/world fluff about how each ancestry looks, acts, views the world, and is viewed by the world as a default. There is a sidebar on the second page of each ancestry entry that has all the standard vital stats that a player has no choice about.

Following the world fluff is the first choice that players get to make about their ancestry: their heritage. The heritage choice is a lot like the sub-races from D&D 5e, but there are more options in Pathfinder 2e.

Overall, the descriptions of each ancestry are mostly unchanged from what I remember from Pathfinder 1e and not much different (with some exceptions) from the standard fantasy versions of the races. Most do have their own Pathfinder twist, like dwarves having clan daggers, elves being from another planet, and gnomes being very tied to their fey heritage. And goblins.

Goblins

I won’t lie, I was very much in the camp of “Goblin’s are bad guys! I don’t need or want them taking up space in my book!” initially. Then, whilst playing the Age of Ashes adventure path, I was exposed to how Paizo is intending the goblin ancestry to fit into the world and I tentatively allowed my wife to play one from the local tribe – on a trial basis. Since then, I've been won over and I'm fine with them. They have an interesting place in the world.

The description of the ancestry does lean into their slapstick origins in first edition Pathfinder without going overboard into it, though this ancestry, even more so than the gnome, will attract a disruptive player who wants to be the center of attention at the expense of others. Not a knock against the ancestry design, just something I thought I’d point out.

Mechanically, the goblin is interesting and leans into how they were described in the fluff section earlier. I do think the Charhide Goblin heritage is the best option for any standard type of game/campaign, but the others all have their place.

The first-level ancestry feats are a broad selection of abilities and most players should be able to find at least one that lends itself to their character concept. That said, I do think that Very Sneaky should have been removed to make room for either Kneecap or Vandal at fifth level (Vandal would be my choice) so that there are at least two options at each level. Something other than Very, Very Sneaky would need to be replaced with something else or removed since it relies on Very Sneaky.

Page 46

Under “Physical Description:” replace the first sentence with “Goblins are stumpy humanoids, averaging 3 feet tall, with large bodies, scrawny limbs, and massively oversized heads with large ears and beady red eyes.” and remove the third sentence. The third sentence is jarringly short compared to the surrounding text.

Page 48

Unbreakable Goblin – Replace the last sentence with “When you fall 20 feet or less, you take half damage. If you have Cat Fall, apply the effects of that feat before determining your fall distance.” The way it’s written right now takes an already trivial instance of damage (falling damage in this game needs an overhaul) and makes it all but irrelevant. 20 feet or less almost does the same thing since PC’s rarely fall more than 20 feet, but still.

Halflings

An unpopular opinion of mine is that Pathfinder halflings are the least interesting and unique of the core ancestries in the game. Their mechanics reflect that in my opinion.

Fluff-wise, they’re a short, human-like people who are optimistic and live in the shadow of the larger peoples. And they’re lucky. It’s disappointing that Paizo didn’t come up with a name other than halflings for this ancestry as they did with lizardfolk and catfolk and some of the various monster races. The “standard” name is what they’re sometimes called, but they have their own name for their ancestry that they prefer to call themselves. Halflings are just called halflings.

Their heritages are all fine, though the bonus languages from the Nomadic Halfling make it the weakest option in almost all Pathfinder games while Gutsy, Twilight, and Wildwood Halflings are the most attractive depending on the campaign. The Hillock Halfling heritage looks more attractive than it will end up being in the game.

All the feats are fine. There is enough 1^st level feat variety to suit various build types.

Page 50

Under “Physical Description:” replace the first two sentences with “Halflings are short humanoids who look vaguely like smaller humans, rarely growing to be more than 3 feet in height.” to be more inline with the sentence structure of the rest of the book.

Page 51

There is a clarity issue with the Hillock Halfling. There is no mention of what a snack entails. Is it meant to be fluff, or is it meant to use up foodstuffs the character is supposed to carry with them?

Page 52

Under “Watchful Halfling:” add “bonus” in the second to last line in the first paragraph so it reads “…usual circumstance bonus and with a -2 circumstance penalty,…”

Humans

Second edition humans don’t break the mold for how humans have been portrayed in modern d20 systems. You get the general fluff about how humans are adaptable and don’t have a distinct, singular culture or ancestral trait to call their own like the other races. Because of that, they have spread to be the most common ancestry on the planet. Pretty standard stuff.

Where it gets fun is in the two heritages that aren’t the “you get a bonus feat or bonus skill” that cover how half-elves and half-orcs are being handled. They are human heritages that give you access to the half-elf/orc and elf/orc feats respectively. There is a sidebar entry that mentions that if the DM allows it, the half-elf/orc heritages could be accessed from any of the base races, not just humans. Half-gnome/half-elf? Go for it!

In the selection of ancestral feats, most are fine, though Cooperative Nature loses some of its use as you level up for anything that you're trained in while Clever Improviser (and Untrained Improvisation by extension) should really just be a once per day free action. The numbers get silly as you level up and it kind of becomes a no-brainer option for your fifth level ancestry feat if you’re not a rogue.

Page 54

Line the "Society" header up with the text below. It looks weird being directly above the head of the image with no text below it.

Page 58

Elven Atavism – The last bit of this feat mentions that you can’t select an elven heritage that depends on or improves an elven feature that you don’t have as a half-elf, but uses the example of not being able to gain the Cavern Elf heritage to gain darkvision if you don't have low-light vision. Half-elves get low-light vision, so this example is bad. Additionally, between the Core Rulebook and the Age of Lost Omens Character Guide, none of the elven heritages have any requirements or improve features that a half-elf wouldn't have (not even the Ancient Elf in the Character Guide, which very much seems like it should have an age requirement).

Page 59

Victorious Vigor – This fifth level feat is on the tail end of being useful at the level you can gain it because of how few temporary hit points you get from it, but becomes very obsolete in a few levels. It needs to scale with your level or something because it only triggers if you kill an opponent and also uses your reaction, which means you’re not doing any of the other reactions that you’ll have from your ancestry or class (like attack of opportunity, shield block or whatever) that turn.