I know it’s a short week for most folks and that they’ve got a lot happening this week. So we’re doing only a little preview this week.

If you’ve been keeping up with the previews and looking at the example characters then might have notice a couple of “odd” things; Archetypes & Vices.

Archetypes: This is another way that characters are customized. We’ve to name them as adjectives that are added onto a class like Savage Warrior or Lucky Sorcerer. Each one of the Archetypes is codified in the rules and kept as simple as possible. For example, Savage means the character gains an additional HP each level. Lucky means the character gains a +1 bonus to all Saving Throws. The Archetypes are completely independent of the character’s class. So you could have a Savage Sorcerer or even Lucky Warrior or a Learned Warrior and so on. Another way to look at it is that Archetypes are a little bit like Feats in later editions but there some major differences. There is no long chain to get better and better bonuses and the player chooses one Archetype for their character at 1st Level and that’s it.

Vices: Sword & Sorcery tales and heroes tend to morally gray. The villains and monsters are just down right evil or alien. Because of this, we decided to completely drop Alignments but still felt we needed something to fill that void. There is no set list of Vices and the “Vices” don’t even have to actual vices. It can be an adjective or even a short phrase. A character’s Vice is what gets them into trouble or what urges them to make those decisions that may not always be in their best interests. There isn’t any codified game mechanic around Vices but a GM could award some bonus XP for good play. The Vices are intended as a quick and easy guideline for the player about how the character might act in certain situations. The GM could remind a player or suggest but still the final decision is still the player’s.

Thanks for stopping by and more previews are coming up.