Introduction

What if the text “content warning: body horror” was an ancestry? Well, you would get the Fleshwarp, a broad, vague term for a group of humanoids whose bodies have been warped beyond what anyone can consider “natural”.

The Fleshwarp has a decently large number of Heritage and Ancestry Feat options, but the majority of them provide very situational effects, so it’s difficult to bring them into a typical campaign. The best options cater to a front-line melee build, especially if you’re fighting unarmed, and a few options cater to high Charisma.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

Fleshwarp Ancestry Traits

  • Hit Points: 10 it points is standard, and a Constitution Increase adds even more.
  • Size: Your choice of medium are small. Medium and small size have few functional differences in Pathfinder 2e.
  • Speed: 25 feet is standard.
  • Ability Boosts: Two ability boosts can be difficult for MAD classes, but for most classes Con and your Key Ability Score are all that you need. If you don’t want the Constitution Increase, the Alternate Ability Boosts variant turns it into two free Boosts.
  • Languages: Common plus possible bonus lanuages. Most ancestries get a second language.
  • Senses: Low-light vision is occasionally helpful.
  • Unusual Anatomy: Poisons are common.

Fleshwarp Heritages

  • Cataphract FleshwarpIL: For classes that already get armor proficiency, Armor Assist is borderline useless. For classes that don’t get armor of any kind (wizards, etc.) it may be worthwhile to put feats into armor proficiencies to boost your AC. Of course, Champion Dedication gets you armor proficiency all the way up to heavy for one class feat.
  • Created FleshwarpAG: The bonus doesn’t stack with the +1 from Unusual Anatomy, so this is effectively a +1 bonus against disease. It’s not useful often enough to justify.
  • Discarded FleshwarpIL: Too situational.
  • Mutated FleshwarpAG: Only situationally useful.
  • Shapewrought FleshwarpAG: Damage resistance is great, but psychic damage is rare.
  • Surgewise FleshwarpIL: Oddity Identification is too situational.
  • Technological FleshwarpAG: Emotion effects are common and include fear effects. With decent Will saves, this can be very useful.

Fleshwarp Ancestry Feats

Level 1

  • Aberration KinshipAG: Borderline useless.
  • DeepvisionAG: Darkvision is really good. Note that you can also get Darkvision from many versatile heritages since the Fleshwarp gets Low-Light Vision already.
  • Embodied Legionary SubjectivityIL: Two good skills and a lore skill which might actually see use. The difficulty is in finding a build that can support Athletics and Arcana at the same time.
  • Living WeaponAG: Most ancestry feats that grant natural weapons don’t let you choose the type of weapon. The ability to pick and then to take this multiple times is great if you’re building around fighting unarmed without something like monk stances.
  • Startling AppearanceAG: Intimidation and a great skill feat for it. A great choice for a Charisma-based build.

Level 5

  • Embodied Dreadnought SubjectivityIL: A Lifting Belt costs 80 gp.
  • Finned RidgesAG: Swim speeds are only situationally useful, and the speed is poor. If you’re worried, find a scroll or a potion or something.
  • Gaping FleshAG: Good action economy, and Sickened is a great debuff. This is fantastic on almost any melee build.
  • Mutate WeaponAG: The effect is rarely good enough to justify the action cost.
  • Powerful GutsAG: Too situational. How frequently do you become Sickened? How often are you more than Sickened 1?
  • Transposable ComplianceAG: Expanded Healer’s Tools cost 50gp and can totally replace this feat.
  • Uncanny AwarenessAG: It’s not quite as good as Scent or something, but it’s still a great way to detect hidden or invisible enemies.

Level 9

Level 13

  • Augment SenseAG: If you need to Seek over a larger area, why not just Seek twice? It has the same Action cost, but doesn’t cost a high-level Ancestry Feat.
  • Spew TentaclesAG: Only once per day, but still good area control, especially since the tentacles don’t affect you. If you’re built for melee, jump into the area and capitalize on your enemies being Grabbed.