Human heritage

[docnessuno]

Ok, let's assume i'm playing a tiefling (but any other race that qualifies fits), and i picked up the "human heritage" feat [RoD 152] at 1st level.

Applying the changes derived from the feat is not hard, but what happens if, later on, my type changes to undead (IE: Necropolitan)?

My interpretation:
- I keep the Undead type and all undead racial traits (among them: no con score, healed by negative energy, cannot be raised/reincarnated, if resurrected come back as pre-necropolitan, immunity to mind-affecting, criticals, nonlethal, ability drain, level drain, ability damage to physical stats, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that require a fortitude save unless affecting objects, does not breath, eat or sleep, destroyed at 0 HP).
- If a spell of ability affects me in a different way because of my racial traits it does (IE: resurrection, "Inflict X" spells, Flesh to stone)
- If a spell of ability affects me in a different way because of my type, it doesn't (IE: command undead, "Cure X" spells, Detect undead)

That also means that the character would be healed by both positive and negative energy.

Any different interpretation (with rules to back it up)?

[Pilo]

When you become Necropolitan, you lose the humanoid type. You keep the skill points though.

You were outsider(native), you became humanoid(native) with human heritage and you have changed to undead when you turned into Necropolitan.

You are now just a necropolitan.

[docnessuno]

When you become Necropolitan, you lose the humanoid type. You keep the skill points though.

You were outsider(native), you became humanoid(native) with human heritage and you have changed to undead when you turned into Necropolitan.

You are now just a necropolitan.

While type change is a "one time" effect, the wording of the feats lead me to believe that the following is an ongoing effect granted by the feat itself:


You are treated as a humanoid with the human subtype for the purpose of adjudicating all effects.

Partial quoting should be "fair use" for those worrying about copyright.

[Jeff the Green]

I think your interpretation is right, docnessuno. The feat does seem to have that ongoing effect. I see two possible hitches:

Do you still count as human-descended when you become a Necropolitan? If not, you lose the benefit of the feat.
Does the effect of the feat "If you are not a humanoid, your type changes to humanoid and you gain the human subtype" happen once (when you get it) or constantly? If the latter, you remain humanoid after becoming Necropolitan.


If the feat means you stay Humanoid after becoming Necropolitan, you still get d12 HD, may or may not have a Constitution score, and don't get the features of the Undead type, making it a very bad idea.

[Rubik]

Note that virtually any race in the game qualifies for Human Heritage, with the correct backstory. Even an undead thing with the feat counts as human, since they still have the feat, and there's really no way to disqualify you from its benefits once you've got it (unless the feat itself is removed, of course).

[docnessuno]

I can see multiple interpretations about still qualifying for the feat after the change, and they all point to "Yes".
If the feat just checks your race, your race hasn't changed (just got templated).
If the feat also checks templates, you still are "descended" from an human and that fact didn't change.

About being an undead or humanoid, considering you retain any traits of your orignal type (second-to-last sentence), even if the feat changes you back to humanoid (Again!) you would still have all the undead traits, so it would be a pretty moot point.

[weckar]

Human heritage is actually commonly used to COUNTER the negative effects of Necropolitan.