Saturday, January 2, 2016

Archetypes for Shards of Tomorrow

I'm going with the race/class combined archetypes like I have for Saga of the Splintered Realm, since I like how this works on pretty much every level. However, I'm struggling with the 'other races' and how they fit. Here's what I'm working on, and feedback is most welcome :)

Each archetype gets a talent at level 1, since I see 'skills' as more integral to this game, and that gives every character a chance to specialize a little bit right out of the gate. Archetypes generally have fewer starting abilities locked in than they do in SSR, so this offsets that.

Ones I like the best:

Terran Templar. These are like a certain order of knights in a certain sci-fi franchise. They are effectively human clerics, but they have access to sun blades, and they get to add their level modifier to attack and damage with sun blades as well as to armor class (since they wear only light armor).

Terran Mercenary. These are jacks of all trades, having access to two talents at level 1, meaning that they can become anything you want them to be. They have medium armor and heavy weapons access, making them good combatants. These could be stormtroopers, bounty hunters, fighter pilots, or pretty much anything else you need that is a combat-centric character.

Terran Outlaw. These are the ones with thief abilities. Since the talent at level 1 could be used to pick up a starship, it's easy for these to become pirates or smugglers right out of the gate if so desired.

Trog Warrior. Descended from troglodytes, these amphibious fighters have the best armor and weapon selection, are stealthy, and they regenerate.

Ones I'm struggling with:

Nuru Seekers. These are empathic and lawful, graceful and long-lived. In my head, they are hybrids of elves and vulcans (must be the pointy ears). I see them having bardic voice or something like it, maybe immunity to fear, and possibly the luck that stoutling explorers have. I kind of see these as more of a role-playing than combat-centric archetype... they're pretty vague to me right now. I don't want their charm/mind control to overlap too much with terran templar abilities, so the whole mind control thing may come out from under the purview of the templars....

Glyn Engineers. These are descended from goblins. They have a connection to an element, giving them resistance to that element. They are naturally good at tinkering, getting that talent for free, and able to upgrade it by taking the talent. They are able to manipulate starships and weapons to make them more effective... at least, that's the idea.

I know this is only 6 archetypes, but I wanted to keep it basic for the core rules. Any notable omissions? Suggestions for improvement?



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