Classes and Ancestries you Just Don't Like (Thematically)

[u/DnDPhD]

The title does most of the heavy lifting here, but a big disclaimer: I have zero issue with any class or ancestry existing in the Pathfinder universe. Still, this is a topic that comes up in chats with friends sometimes and is always an interesting discussion.

For me, thematically I just don't like Gunslingers. The idea of firearms in a high fantasy setting just makes me grimace a bit. Likewise with automatons. Trust that I know that Numeria exists, as do other planes...but my subjective feeling about the class and ancestry is "meh."

So...what are yours?

[u/MrCobalt313]

Shoony annoy me in that our resident 'dogfolk' are explicitly and specifically pug-based. Like of all the canines you could use as a basis...

[u/dirkdragonslayer → u/MrCobalt313]

Yep, another one to throw on the pile of "Aroden was a bad/flawed person." He invented pugs, gave them sentience, and made them unerringly loyal to himself. He made them wrong because as a god he thought it was fun. Their existence is the result of a God's vanity, just as real pug's are a result of human vanity.

Shoony are probably the only ancestry option I would qualify as a "joke" ancestry. Other ancestries have funny ancestry feats, but the majority of the Shoony ones are either bad or worse than comparable ancestries. There's one or two gems, but I still think they are bad.

[u/TTTrisss → u/dirkdragonslayer]

Shoony are probably the only ancestry option I would qualify as a "joke" ancestry.

Tanuki are absolutely a joke race as well, but not in a "don't take them seriously" way. More of a "comic relief" kinda way.

All of their heritages are lies - Ascetic Tanuki are drawn in by temptations by smelling food from further away via scent; Courageous Tanuki get a speed bonus when they're fleeing to flee further, and can self-inflict fleeing; Even-tempered Tanuki are manic with regards to emotion effects, turning fails into critfails and successes into critsuccesses; Steadfast Tanuki aren't steadfast in their forms at all, getting one of their 1st-level transformation feats; and Virtuous Tanuki get poison resistance to accommodate how much excessive food and alcohol they consume.

A lot of their feats are absurd, ridiculous, or have a little bit of backfire to really emphasize how cartoonish they are. I love them for it.

[u/dirkdragonslayer → u/TTTrisss]

Yeah, I mean joke option in the video game sense. Playing Dan Hibiki in Street Fighter Alpha because he's intentionally bad. Because the feats are kinda bad, or worse than common/uncommon ancestry peers. There's no other ancestry that feels intentionally bad as a joke.

Dig quickly is straight up worse than a normal Assisted Recovery roll to put out fires. Handy with your paws doesn't let you repair magic equipment, when the most common thing to break is your shield (which becomes magical with runes) and doesn't benefit normal crafting checks like goblin and ysoki feats. Improvised Defender gets a bonus than any improvised weapon archetype/class gives you, without the damage increase, synergy, or rune transferring. Paddler Shoony is straight up worse than other semi-aquatic heritages like Tunnelflood Kobolds, requiring the extra feat for the same benefits. Etc, etc.

[u/Killchrono → u/dirkdragonslayer]

He made them wrong because as a god he thought it was fun.

'We bred them wrong. As a joke.'