Multi-Ancestry Characters

A multi-ancestry character, as the name suggests, stems from two distinct lineages, landing in the middle ground between. Such folk are not uncommon in any land, though the particular types vary as do the ancestries themselves. Perhaps your parents were each full members of their respective ancestries, or maybe your multiplicity goes back several generations. Maybe you live fully as a member of one people, or spend time between both sides of your family. Regardless of the details, as with any sentient being, your life is your own, to make of as you will.

Mechanics

To create your multi-ancestry character, you start with a base ancestry. Your base ancestry will determine your Ancestry HP, your Speed, your Ability Boosts and Flaws, and you gain the abilities of your base ancestry (i.e. darkvision, magical strikes, etc). For your heritage, you write down "MA:" and then the name of the secondary ancestry. You gain all listed traits for both base and secondary ancestry. There are no immediate bonuses from your secondary ancestry as there would be from a heritage; above-board, you're making a trade off of fewer abilities for a wider breadth of options in feats. Work with your GM to determine how exactly your character fits within both ancestries.

When selecting Ancestry Feats, you may select feats from either your base or secondary ancestries; you cannot however, select feats that require a particular heritage (unless later specified) or depend on an aspect of your secondary ancestry that you don't possess (if you lack darkvision, you cannot as a Hobbit/Dwarf take the Defy the Darkness feat). You can also choose from the Ancestry Feats listed below available to Multi-Ancestry Characters.

Multi-Ancestry Feats

Atavism - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
Your secondary ancestry runs particularly strong, granting you more features typical of that ancestry. You may also have been raised among the people of your secondary ancestry, steeped in their culture and society. You gain any Ancestry abilities (i.e. darkvision, magic strikes, etc.) associated with your secondary ancestry. In addition, you may replace either the Ancestry HP or the Speed (but not both) of your base ancestry with the corresponding stat of your secondary ancestry.

You can take this feat only at 1st level, and you can’t retrain out of this feat or into this feat.

Earned Glory - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
More than a few people have been skeptical of you because of your parentage, and you are experienced at telling stories of your accomplishments to gain their respect. You are trained in Performance. If you would automatically become trained in Performance (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice. You gain the Impressive Performance feat. When you attempt a Performance check to Make an Impression, if you roll a critical failure, you get a failure instead.

Particular Lineage - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
Despite your combined genetics, your particular parentage is still quite obvious. You gain the benefits of the heritage of one of your parents or ancestors. You typically can't select a heritage that depends on or improves an ancestry feature you don't have. For example, you couldn't gain the cavern elf's darkvision ability if you didn't have low-light vision. In these cases, at the GM's discretion, you might gain a different benefit.

You can take this feat only at 1st level, and you can’t retrain out of this feat or into this feat.

Peacemaker - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
Your dual nature has given you a unique perspective, allowing you to bridge the gap between disparate peoples. You gain a +3 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks when mediating between opposing factions. You also gain this bonus on Perception checks to Sense the Motives of those involved in mediation.

Sociable - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
Whether to compensate for insecurities, or from your utter lack of them, you’re extremely extroverted, and you often spend your time carousing or otherwise socializing. You are trained in Diplomacy (or another skill of your choice if you were already trained in Diplomacy), and you gain the Hobnobber skill feat.

Subtle Variation - Feat 1

[Multi-Ancestry]
Your secondary ancestry is subtle enough that you look barely different from others of your base ancestry and you’ve learned to use that to your advantage. You gain the trained proficiency rank in Deception (or another skill of your choice, if you were already trained in Deception). You gain a +4 circumstance bonus to Impersonate checks to pretend you aren’t multi-ancestry. Observers are never granted circumstance bonuses to Perception checks due to you Impersonating your base ancestry, and you never take circumstance penalties due to you Impersonating your base ancestry.

You can take this feat only at 1st level, and you can’t retrain out of this feat or into this feat.

Inspire Imitation - Feat 5

[Multi-Ancestry]
Your own actions inspire your allies to great achievements. Whenever you critically succeed at a skill check, you automatically qualify to use the Aid reaction when attempting to help an ally using the same skill, without spending an action to prepare to do so.

Quickened Perspective - Feat 9

[Multi-Ancestry]
Prerequisites Your base ancestry and secondary ancestry must have more than 100 years difference in life expectancy
One of your parents has a short life span and another long life span, with your own somewhere between. As a result, you have an unusual perspective on time, which you've learned to manifest to aid yourself in moments of stress. You gain haste as a 3rd-level arcane innate spell, though you can target only yourself. You can Cast this Spell once per day.

Flavor

Below are just a few in-world explorations of the many, many possible multi-ancestry characters.

Azarketi + Stritarii

The ocean-dwelling Azarketi and the airborne Stritarii meet most often in the southern ports of Dolgozhest, on the coast of the Nalkan Ocean. Their progeny, with wings and gills, are natural sailors, able to glide up and down a ship's mast, then dive beneath the waves. They are exemplary scouts and lookouts, and many Nalkan sailors affectionately refer to them as "aash uwaran" - 'flying fish.'

Dwarf + Skwullver

In the west of Verleid, where the dwarves gave up their mountainous conquest for quiet life among everyday surface folk, they met the skwullvers, the sun wolves. The resulting union produces children similar to dwarven werewolves, but often the red-orange fur of their skwullver side is streaked with brown and black hair. Their bright orange and yellow eyes complete their striking appearance; such dwarven sun wolves are instant celebrities in any mountain-city they visit.

Hillfolk

The hillfolk of the south are as integrated as any three groups could hope to be, and their interrelated children are some of the most common multi-ancestries. All three groups are natural burrowers, of a similar size and disposition, and multi-ancestry households are seen no differently than single-ancestry ones. Since the incursion of dwarves, shoonies and hobbits with dwarf lineage have grown in numbers, identified by their larger, stockier frames and long, luxuriant beards. The rare and intrepid halfling who ventures south amongst the elves may eventually raise a taller, more slender child with pointy ears and distant eyes.

Human + Zuga

Though they share little in geographic spread, many humans have a deep curiosity for the stories of woolly, bear-faced elves living in hammocks forty feet off the ground. The occasional seld or hob will cast off for southern forests, and a few among those will elect to stay as a member of a zugan community. Humans call their children "half-zuga" while zugas call them "fyironsed" -- roughly meaning "those of us who speak with tusks." Compared to humans, they have long faces; slightly wider eyes; higher, larger ears; and a coat of "wool" across their body. Fyironsed "wool" is softer, thinner than that of a full zuga, closer to the texture of coarse human hair, and when returning to human lands, these offspring quickly fall into the 'brug' designation.