Archetypes

[logan9a]

A lot of people have been asking me to write out the rule set for 'Heroic Cthulhu' and so I am working on doing that. I would like to find out if I am missing any of the arch typical types of characters. I am *not* looking for a list of professions (those fit into these) but something more general. Any help and on topic comments would be appreciated!

Archetypes:

There are only a few main types of characters. All characters fall into one or more of these categories. The more skill points the GM gives out, the more of these you can get pieces of. Unless it is a very large group (or the GM likes to run the same kind of mission over and over) it is unlikely you will be totally specialized into one sort.

B&E: You are good at breaking and entering. In addition to sneaking, disabling locks and security systems it is also good to have other skills – contortions, safe cracking, counter surveillance, etc. This is a pretty dangerous character to play as you could be the first into a secured building with other characters waiting near the side door for you to let them in. You should be adept at disabling guards just in case they notice you. Other less obvious skills such as appraisal and bargain will later allow you to fence ill gotten loot for the party.

Combat monkey: This character is exceptional at combat. In addition to the usual categories of projectile, armed and unarmed it is sometimes useful to have heavy weapons and primitive missile weapons. If the combat monkey is ‘useless without a pistol’ and guns don’t work on the critter you could be in big trouble. Other less obvious skills like trap building, tracking and demolitions will also allow you to injure, find and blow up your quarry. High physical skills to get at least a d4 damage bonus are good. Having a low INT will allow you to continue to function when the rest of the party goes nuts discovering the ‘cosmic significance’ of an event. You don’t care what the ‘cosmic significance’ is – you know your job is to put an end to it.

Driver: To be an exceptional driver, you should have skills beyond just automobile. Impress the rest of the party by flying a helicopter, doing well on a camel, knowing how a horse and cart is driven and some sort of water vehicle. Remember to pick up the appropriate navigational skills – a driver that doesn’t know where he is going isn’t very competent. Having well rounded statistics is good for the driver.

Fix it: You like to repair stuff. Depending on the time period you can do mechanical, electrical, nuclear, etc. Having skills like ‘jury rig’ is good but for other repairs metal craft, wood craft, etc are surprisingly useful. Don’t be without your tools or the GM might give you severe penalties if you are even able to attempt the repair. Again, well rounded statistics assist the ‘fix it’ guy.

Knows A lot: This kind of character is the one everyone looks to for many types of obscure knowledge. When is the next alignment of these stars? What chemical gas is given off when I mix bleach and ammonia? (Don’t.) What sorts of forensic evidence can we pull off of this? Who here speaks Farsi? You are the guy. These type of characters generally are either somewhat specialized (linguist, scientist, etc) or played by the kind of people that have lucky dice as there are TONS of skills to know about. Be sure to have a high research skill and lots and lots of hobby skills. This character enjoys learning new things and so having a high INT is good. Unfortunately, you are the guy who gets the group to the big bad thing – you may lose your mind during combat as you are the guy who can figure out the cosmic significance of things.

Spell Caster: Sure, you can tell the party that you want to be the linguist of the group – but you’re not fooling anyone. You are wanting to read all of the nifty tomes in hope of discovering some useful spells. The problem is to know when to quit. You have to keep a very sharp eye on your Cthulhu Mythos score as you accumulate it. Get too much and this character will quickly become either permanently insane or practically unplayable as you lose SAN for everything. Spells are a quick trip to power but you have to be careful to keep your sanity up. Cast a couple spells during the mission then try to regenerate some or all of the sanity lost when the sanity reward comes at the end of the mission. One huge danger of this archetype is when you have read all of the books (and gotten all of the Mythos) you wanted and – oh look – there is a small volume that nobody can read but you (because you have the correct language skill) and it looks essential to complete the mission. Be sure to anticipate that!

[logan9a]

Two new ones added (thanks to Spatula)

Face man: You are the one who is out talking to people. If an explanation is needed as to why the building blew up, you’ve got it ready. Teammate running down the street covered in lime jello with a bazooka wearing a tricorn hat? You can talk the authorities out of arresting him. Any skill that deals with talking to people (empathy, fast talk, acting, etiquette) you’d better have high. Unfortunately, in ‘Heroic Cthulhu’ it is not a matter of ‘oh, I make a Fast Talk roll’. Oh, no! You need to first come up with a plausible story. If your story isn’t, the GM may not even give you a roll – he may just say ‘you fail’. Extremely likely stories may get bonuses to the skill at the GM’s call. If you are not the kind of person who is (in real life) good at ‘BS’ing’ this is NOT the archetype for you! Disguise and mimicry are also good side skills to take.


Outdoorsman: This is the person who can survive pretty much anywhere. Be sure to take as many different survival types as you think will be needed (example: Survival desert, survival arctic, survival jungle, etc). If you want to impress your party, survival urban (you know the best trash cans to eat out of!). Be sure to have anything that relates to the outdoors – tracking, high spot hidden, trapping, etc. Having various crafting (wood, stone, etc) will allow you to build a nice hut and some primitive weapons. Natural history is also good (is that poisonous?).

[T-D-C]

Moving Thread to Misc Games

[logan9a]

Businessman: Anything to do with making money over the long term you are on top of. Skills in business, appraisal, stock broker, etc. This is usually not a ‘get rich quick’ thing but something that needs to be built up over game years. If your GM is famous for campaigns that end after a couple sessions, this is probably not a wise choice. Having etiquette, etc is good for meetings with other rich people. This character will usually become the ‘group funder’ after a period of time.


Thanks to Andy for that one!!

[logan9a]

Doctor: This is the group healer. They have very specific skills like medicine, biology, Latin, etc. They may also have things like psychology/psychoanalysis, etc. These are considered very useful but (in Heroic Cthulhu) cannot heal themselves and must rely on others to do it. Some people might ask why this isn’t in the ‘knows it’ category – this is a highly specialized archetype.