‘Pathfinder 2E Remaster’ Shows Off New Orc And Elf Ancestries
The Pathfinder 2E Remaster project has a whole new vision of orcs, half-orcs, and half-elves. See how they’ve changed!
Big news for the Pathfinder 2E Remaster project as they head into the long slide towards launch day. The Player Core will bring a fan-favorite ancestry into the core part of the game, as Paizo announced that orcs will be added to the list of common ancestries in the coming book.
Not only dos this include a mechanical change, but an update to the ongoing lore of Golarion as well. Alongside these changes, updates to Half-Orcs and Half-Elves, who lose the Half, and become something Whole on their own. Let’s take a look.
Pathfinder 2E Remastered Orcs, Half-Orcs, and Half-Elves
Orcs are a common ancestry now, and appear among the Player Core options alongside dwarves, goblins, elves, humans, etc. This reflects not just a mechanical change, but also the ever-evolving state of our lore. With the undead hordes of the Whispering Tyrant seething outwards from the Gravelands, the orcs of Belkzen have seen their home transformed into one of the primary battlegrounds, raising their axes and torches high to fend off the encroaching darkness.
Orc players will find some powerful new (and improved old) feats to play with. The Orc Weapon Familiarity feat, for instance, gives more benefits at 5th level, obviating the need for Orc Weapon Carnage. Meanwhile, the Hold Mark feat has changed:
But it’s not just new orc powers. Paizo is overhauling “half-orcs” and “half-elves” into their own new “Mixed Ancestry” options. Half-orcs are replaced with Dromaar, an orcish word that refers to drummers who send the hordes marching to war:
While most dromaars from Belkzen have either one human parent and one orc parent or two dromaar parents, dromaars from other parts of Golarion might have some other ancestral mix; orcs and dwarves in Arcadia, for example, have a much more cooperative history together than the orc and dwarf nations of the Inner Sea, and it’s possible that the dromaars on that continent might have a significant population whose ancestry is of mixed dwarf and orc descent.
And Aiuvarins are people of mixed elven ancestry. And just as with the Dromaar, it’s possible to be more than just a person of human/elf descent. Which means reworking certain feats, like Elf Atavism:
But all this is just a taste. The mixed ancestry option will allow for even more customization than ever. More on how this works will be in the Revised Player Core.
All this in the Pathfinder Remaster Project, coming quite soon. Stay tuned for our full review!
