View Single Post
  #111  
Old 05-18-2022, 06:08 PM
Heffe Heffe is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 223
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus View Post
I've noticed a potential balancing issue where the Archetype actually trumps Lifepath- the fresh-out-of-high-school draftee.

After mastering Archetype char-gen, I decided to play around with the Lifepath method for a couple of concepts for older, more experienced PCs. I realized that said PCs would probably end up more capable than most (if not all) Archetypes and I was worried about balance in mixed char-gen method party, so I tried to roll up a youngish draftee PC with Lifepath, thinking that it would yield a slightly more capable build than an Archetype. I quickly discovered that Lifepath produced a significantly less capable youngish draftee PC.

Using an Archetype for said base concept actually yields a couple more skills (and better CUF rating) for the PC than the using the Lifepath rules for drafted characters, which state:

"THE DRAFT: If your final term before war breaks out was spent as a civilian (except Intelligence careeers), and if your character is not a local of the country where your game is set, your At War term will be spent as a draftee or volunteer in the military. In this case, one of the two skill increases for the At War term must be RANGED COMBAT – unless you already have a level of D or better in the skill – and you roll for your specialty (or choose) using the Military column." (p. 39, 4e Players Manual)

Assuming no prior, post-childhood career, the Lifepath draftee ends up with a measly three skills (one from childhood, two from The Draft rules) and CUF D.

There's nothing in the rules that says an Archetype PC can't be a draftee. Assuming The Grunt, for example, is a draftee- he/she starts with six skills and CUF C.

The only way in which a Lifepath draftee tops an Archetype draftee is in the Attribute scores (all starting at C, and potentially receiving 6 upgrades, depending on the 2d3 roll).

Adding a civie career prior to being drafted adds two more skills but, after applying the draft term skills, the total is still one less than any Archetype. CUF remains at an anemic D. You might score an extra specialty, if the dice are kind.

So yeah, the vast majority of Lifepath builds are going to be more skilled, possess higher attributes, and have more specialties to start, than pretty much all the Archetype builds (save, perhaps, The Operator). For for your young draftee characters, though, the Archetype is the better option.

-
There's definitely the opportunity for archetype characters to be better than lifepath characters. I think a ton depends on your rolls themselves - 3 attributes for archetype chars is fine, but the option for 6 from a lifepath character is huge. Of course, someone rolling poorly might only get 2 attribute points from the lifepath method...Same thing for when war breaks out, aging effects, etc.

In general, I think FL tended to make the archetype chars just slightly worse than lifepath on average. Using the attribute points as a baseline, the only way to make the archetype truly equal to lifepath chars would be to give the archetype chars 4 attribute points. FL intentionally chose to give them only 3 points, however, presumably to balance out some other advantage that archetype chars had, or as a buffer against lifepath chars that happen to just roll really poorly.
Reply With Quote