Are the Archetypes tweakable in Feng Shui 2?

[Firedark25]

In Feng Shui 2, I often look at Archetypes and wonder if they can be tweaked to fit the kind of play style or character you want. For instance.

1. Using the Scrappy Kid as a base but changing Schticks around. Such as taking Magic instead of Chi and taking some sorcerer powers intead of some Scrappy Kid or Martial Arts abilities.
2. Using the supernatural creature to create a vampire, switching out some monster powers for ones that would be more appropriate to the creature type.
3. Playing a Maverick Cop who is a bad driver but is better at raining down lead on his foes by taking more Gun Shticks.
4. Playing a Western Style Sorcerer such as a Wicca instead of some Chinese sorcerer from some ancient time period.

So in other words can you tweek out and exchange Schticks, Abilities and Concepts to build the kind of character you want to play?

[Aleph]

I believe the answer is "no, unless you're using Sorcery, at which point you're allowed to trade Shticks for different blasts, and even then check with your GM." See "Sorcerous Tinkering" on 161.

You can swap out one skill for another as explained on p 24. At which point, assuming the possibility that you've switched out your core combat skill, you would obviously want to be able to switch out shticks that correspond to these. This does open up the possibility that you're going to either create an unintended combo (maybe run "Lucky 8 Ball" blast on a Gambler which might be too strong with Stack the Odds) or recreate a better version of a previously existing archetype (because some Archetypes have more Shticks than others, or because Ghost is more adept with Creature Powers than are Supernatural Creatures).

[Firedark25]

I feel that the Supernatural Creature Archetype should be tweak-able. It looks to me much like Sorcerer Powers as all the Creature Powers are the same value. So you should be able to mix and match the abilities to the kind of monster you're playing. A werewolf and a vampire would probably have a completely different spread of supernatural abilities.

Another thing that confuses me is what if a Supernatural Creature does something other than a creature power. For instance throw a punch, headbutt, deliver a kick, pick up a metal pipe and hit someone with it. Would this fall into Creature Powers or Martial arts? In addition what if your "Creature" didn't have natural weapons but had some supernatural strength ability that let them do massive damage with their unarmed attacks. How would that be represented?

[Ahdiomer (Andreas Listl)]

@Firedark25

in other words can you tweek out and exchange Schticks, Abilities and Concepts to build the kind of character you want to play?

I'd say, of course , you can, if your GM is fine with it.
If you find out after a session or two, that it is horribly broken you can start fixing it.
Swapping skills should be no hassle at all, as not every Everyday Hero will be interested in Beer and Classic Rock.

IMHO the archetypes are for a quick pick up, especially when players aren't familiar with the rules. If they want to try out something new, more power to them. If they want something that's not on their advancement path, but they can offer a good story, why it makes sense (skills for Supernatural Creatures), go for it.
I'd just be careful with mixing and swapping the archetype-specific schticks or making new archetypes. I'd sit down with my player and talk that through.
For me the rules are "more like guidelines". It's your game, have fun!

[BlackJaw]

To quote Robin Laws (the game's creator) from the comments on the kickstarter (in response to someone named Adam asking about customization):

Robin D. Laws on September 21, 2014

Adam, the thing about tinkerers is that they are self-enabling. You'll easily be able to see what schticks you want to swap out for which other ones, and how to pitch your new concept to your GM. The rules give you permission to do that, not that you need it.
In the rare group composed entirely of tinkerers, everyone can do this.
I do advise playing the new version with a straight-up archetype at first, to get a feel for its currencies compared to the old version. That way you can be sure you're not building a sub-optimal hero.

also

A subclass of gamers love to tinker up-front, but most view it as confusing homework. They're the ones who make less than optimal choices and then get disenchanted when their characters don't shine in actual play. That's what prematurely kills campaigns. FS2 deprecates the homework element in favor of maximum fun for the largest set of players.

and

Adam, FS1 challenged a lot of roleplaying preconceptions, faced resistance, and saw the weird things it was doing in many cases become standard roleplaying wisdom. FS2 does the same thing on a couple of fronts, most notably the value of customization. Long term playability comes more from having robust characters that are fun to play than from the tinkering you do before you start play. (At least for what we're doing here, fast-moving action based on cinematic tropes.)

Although it doesn't go out of the way to facilitate oddball campaign frames like the all Ex-Special Forces game, you'll find that in almost any case you can get the flavor you want by reskinning existing archetypes with new conceptual flavor.

So in FS2 you'd do that by reskinning the Killer as an ex-sniper, the Maverick Cop as the counter-insurgent face man, the Driver as the vehicles expert, etc.