I know we've got quite a few tinkers and crunchers out there, so I thought I'd give you something to do. I've already had a go at making up archetypes for Star Wars and fantasythus far. I wasn't too keen on bending existing ones because of the lack of any kind of mechanical balance (most importantly in controlling main AV equality).
So what have you got for Feng Shui Lite?
Some ground rules on building the archetypes are as follows:
Corebook only. No new categories of schtick from supplements, though perhaps new schticks in the ones retained.
Schticks have been cut-down for simplicity; no Fu, Tranimal or Archanowave.
In addition to Gun, we have Weaponschticks (not really a big addition). That leaves you with Gun/Weapon, Sorcery and Creature Powers schticks to work with. It might be possible to steal a few of the simpler ones like Friend of Darkness or Prodigious Leap from the "banned" lists.
Use the existing Skills, though you're free to rename them to fit whatever setting your archetype(s) is (are) for, and merge some (like Seduction into Deceit if it's not that kind of setting).
The Fu attribute is removed, since there are no schticks powered by it.
All characters are built on the same template, thus:
Attributes start: Bod 5, Chi 0, Mnd 5, Ref 5.
You have 6 Primary attribute points and 6 Secondary attribute points to spend, but should leave at least 3 points for the player to choose for themselves. They can be traded for other things (see last point)
You get 30 Skill points to add - cap for any of the main AV skills is 14 (and each must have at least one at 12+). If you have one at 14, you shouldn't really add any other main AV ones at higher than 11 and without a [Max] or = on them. As with attributes, leave some points over for the player to spend; between 4 and 8 is a good number.
You get five schticks to give. You can pre-select up to three of them, or trade for other stuff (see last point).
Default Wealth level is Working Stiff. Poor gives an extra schtick, Rich costs one.
The formula for moving stuff around is as follows: 1 Primary attribute = 3 Secondary attributes = 1 Schtick = 5 Skill points.
Hit me with your archetypes! Can be for any genre, long as you tell us what that is. One archetype or many, up to you.
I actually added that one in when I realised it wasn't entirely clear. I only own the corebook, but besides that it makes it easier for everyone to participate if we're just going from the one.
I like the thinking on this thread but think we could go further. Has anyone else created a points based system for creating archetypes? The standard archetypes are wildly unbalanced, which isn't always a problem but can create a sense in which some archetypes are unplayable (any medics out there?) and many can be underpowered (how does any Fu user feel in a campaign with the Old Master being played by someone else? I'll go and dig out our points system and post it here, but I'm interested to know if anyone else has one.
This is a system devised by my good friend Clint Oldridge from Middle Earth Games (www.middleearthgames.com) who is a fellow FSer - with some input from yours truly.
System
Characters have to fit their character class. So have to use the normal rules for creating their character.
Work out the points of the start character classes that players want to play.
Allocate a base level (average of the above or arbitrarily decide) for Combat and Non-Combat eps for each player.
Work out using the below system of points what that gives you in terms of shy/spare points for each character (from their base character archetype).
That's your Exp total for the game start. (Choosing the arbitrary level appropriately might help there).
Combat and non-combat eps
To encourage players to create diverse characters, eps are divided into two. Combat eps can be spent on combat related items (combat schticks, AV, Strength, Speed etc.) and non-combat on supporting skills and stats (Charisma, Influence - we allow Driving as non-combat). So, our basic ep gain per session before getting FS sites is 3/3 or 4/4 per session.
We discourage people from going up in AV as it simply becomes a race - we do that by making it expensive. We permit secondary combat skills (e.g. Guns for a Martial Artist) to be purchased very cheaply, for fun - they are never going to get as good in their secondary combat arena as in their primary, because their primary will commonly be supposed by a bucket load of schitcks.
Shticks
Unique shticks cost 12, Fu costs 3+x (x = new quantity so getting your 5th Fu Shtick costs 3+ 5 = 8), Gun costs 8+x, Hardware 25+x, Sorcery 16+x, Transformed Animal 8+x
Stats and Avs
Stats (Movement etc) 7+ New stat for all stats. Mve and Con cost ½ and ½, Mind costs Noncombat, rest of the stats are combat eps. Action Value AV = 5 x new cost