Thursday, August 10, 2023

Swords Against Sorcery: Archetypes

 In the game I'm working on, all PCs are defined in part by two Archetypes. These represent types of characters found in comic book Sword & Sorcery. In game terms, they provide bonuses to Attributes and Domains and also special abilities. 

Each archetype has a primary and secondary Attribute and Domain. Should a player pick two Archetypes with the same primary Attributes/Domains they can use that one and their choice of the two Archetypes secondary Attributes/Domains. The character also gains the Expertises and Talents of each Archetype.

While the Archetypes remain a work in progress, below is a sampling of the ones I've come up with. At this point, the plan is not to give any description of them beyond the abilities they provide, letting players interpret them as they will.

ACOLYTE
Attributes: Presence (Intellect)
Domains: Words (Sorcery)
Expertise: Religion
Talent: Divine Favor. Make a successful roll to call upon the aid of your gods or guiding spirit. Any successes can be used like Momentum to aid you or another hero for one scene. It does not add to your Momentum pool. 

BARBARIAN
Attributes: Daring (Instinct)
Domains: Wilds (Deeds)
Expertise: Survival or Hunting
Talent: Like A Jungle Cat. Gain an additional die when detecting dangers in the wilderness or when trying to sneak up on a foe.

COURTIER
Attributes: Instinct (Presence)
Domains: City (Words)
Expertise: Persuasion
Talent: We Were Close Once. Once per session, succeed at a Persuasion Challenge to create an NPC and/or declare a recently introduced one a former intimate acquaintance. A failed roll means they now harbor some ill-will against you.

DABBLER
Attributes: Intellect (Instinct)
Domains: City (Sorcery)
Expertise: Occult Lore
Talent: Just What I was Looking For. Add an extra die to any roll related to quickly finding a particular magical formula, ritual, or piece of information in a tome or even library.

GALLANT
Attributes: Presence (Daring)
Domains: City (Swords)
Expertise: Persuasion
Talent: Flashy. Use Presence instead of Might as an attribute for melee fighting when you have an audience but deal one less Blow.  

REAVER
Attributes: Daring (Cunning)
Domains: Deeds (Swords)
Expertise: Seamanship
Talent: Bloody-Handed Buccaneer. Apply your Seamanship Expertise to shipboard combats and to attempts to intimidate foes or lead pirate crews on the high seas.

WARRIOR
Attributes: Might (Daring)
Domains: Swords (Wilds)
Expertise: choice of a weapon
Talent: Valor. Spend 1 Momentum to shake off any Fear condition in a combat situation.

3 comments:

Judge Joe Kilmartin said...

This is developing beautifully and I can see already how, with overlapping character archetypes you'll already have characters that belong within a four colour words and sorcery world while still remaining unique - nice work, Troy!

Trey said...

Thanks, Joe!

Dick McGee said...

The teasers we've seen so far sure look promising, agreed.