Player has a foot fetish?

Nah, just kidding, we know OP has the foot fetish.

Well, at least in DnD, druids can ignore all forms of natural terrain, and don't spend a whole lot of time in cities so they wouldn't have to worrya bout unnatural terrain, so.

Magic.

Religious reasons? Maybe they're something like a Buddhist monk.

Maybe making good soles for boots is too much trouble for them? If the soles of their feet can handle the terrain just fine, and most boots that they can make are awkward, no-traction, messes with no flexibility, I would imagine just going barefoot would be relatively common.

How does one roleplay as a night elf?

>>21501734
Because hobbits. I imagine dragonborn or warforged have similar disregard for boots due to natural protection and the fact that uncovered feet allow for better traction and stuff.

>>21501777
Be hot and purple.

>>21501734
>Why would someone choose to barefoot rather than a decent pair of boots in a fantasy setting?
For the same reasons somebody would be barefoot in real life.

>>21501810
and SMITE CLEAVE arcanists

I'm guessing you only go barefoot if the soles of your feet act like leather. Personally, I get fucking weirded out going barefoot on most anything aside from polished floors or carpets so I'd go for boots.

Races like Warforged, Hobbits and the like have boot-like feet so have no trouble.

>>21501734
Because they have feet dextrous enough to grab things or to climb better. Because their feet are as tough as leather. Because they draw power directly from the ground. Because they have tremorsense. All kinds of reasons.

File: 1352480162311.jpg-(126 KB, 594x636, JG1-Cho-Cover-no-UPC-2.jpg)

I've always been amused by the idea of a world where the more powerful you get, the less clothes you wear. The most powerful and protective armor is all skimpy, you eventually discard wearing shoes, all that.

I think it would only work as an online ERP style game tho.

>>21501876
It would also work in a setting where magic is a result of mantling certain archetypes. In that case 'so good they don't need armor' could actually be much better protection than actually wearing armor. You would really need to build the setting around such a magical concept, though.

>>21501734
To distract unwitting enemies with their soft purple foot soles.

>>21501900

Yeah, definitely. It would probably involve bullshitting reasons like "you can get this magic effect but you need your feet to contact the ground for it to work" or "you can get this superubermega armor but it requires this or that material and it will be skimpy as hell".

Of course, in that world I also imagine that magic plastic surgery would be insanely profitable. EVERYONE will want to get their tits and face fixed up when they start getting into the "big leagues" and have to wear a bikini into battle.

I played a spationaut who got monkey gene spliced to become better at handling 0 gee. She had overgrown hands in places of feet and a prehensile tail.

She had a lot of problems when dealing with >0,3g

>>21501931
Not to mention the fact that changing your appearance would literally cause you to align to different archetypes. War paint, makeup, and extremely carefully-planned fashion choices would all have distinct magical outcomes that would need to be considered.

>>21501900
Does it apply to all professions so that all the best blacksmiths would eventually become burly, hairy fuckers who forge whilst wearing nothing but some loose pants, a smock, and a giant bushy beard? Even then women?

>>21501931
>>21501966
>clothes determine your job in life
So, Final Fantasy Tactics.

>>21501969
It's more the other way around. Having a beard, being burly, and wearing a smock would make you inherently better at blacksmithing, because magical archetypes. You would basically be acting out a role for the universe, and the universe facilitating that role the better you are at acting.

It's just used to illustrate that someone looks 'wild'. Also, sometimes tree-climbing. But in most fantasy settings its the first one.

It's like asking why the big sweaty warrior guy is only wearing a loincloth. Because that's what big sweaty warriors do, god dammit. And slinky wild-types go around in animal skins and barefoot.

>>21501876
>>21501900
Or you could just go say... RIFTS Tattooed Men (and women). A race of people who tend to be 6-8 feet tall in maturity, and just adorn their bodies in magical tattoos. To activate the tattoos they must be able to touch it with a hand, so most go around naked or damn close to it.

And we're of course talking magical effects that allow them to fight people in giant power armors, slay vampire armies, and go toe to toe with demigods.

Maybe they sold their soles to a Devil.

>>21501969

ESPECIALLY the women. "Name's Elizabeth. I'm the smith around here."

>>21501966
>>21501977
>>21502019
>>21502019

What I'm thinking is that the "archetypes" you'd strive for are kind of partially platonic ideals, partially divine. Like, the setting would have a god and a goddess for major adventuring paths. You'd have a god of warriors, and a goddess of warriors. A god of wizards and a goddess of wizards. They could be ascended mortal heroes or whatever, or maybe not even be beings at all but some kind of template that the universe uses.

Anyway to pursue your path you slowly begin to take on attributes of your chosen path, but you also need to intentionally emulate some things to push yourself further. While changing your body may not be strictly necessary (and be a lot more variable in terms of what's "good" and not), it would probably help.

Say for example you start out as a short, somewhat pudgy, flat-faced young man, and the ideal you pursue is to become a warrior paragon, who is traditionally a tall, muscular dude. You would naturally start by getting into shape, then perhaps see to have someone help you get taller, and finally perhaps fix your nose up to be more aquiline.

I'm just bullshitting here.

>>21502122
No, you're going in the right direction. The archetype magic would be about appearances and acting in line with an archetype. The warrior would get more powerful by doing warrior-things and weaker by doing not-warrior things. Costume (because that's really what it would be at that point) has a dramatic effect on how much magical archetype mojo they get reinforcing their actions. Cosmetic surgery, careful tattoo work, and so on would be very important for reinforcing it. For example, if there's a feminine archetype reinforced by being made up and pretty, you might get someone to carefully tattoo on your eyeliner, tattoo on some lip rouge, and so on. The muscles are less important for their strength than the archetypes they align you with, that kind of thing.

>>21502122
>>21502163
>Genius archetype is Stephen Hawking
>Every parent in the world breaks all of their kids limbs so they grow up to be smart.

>>21502190
Einstein is more the genius archetype. Lab coats and glasses too. Parents would give their kids wild hair, glasses, and long white coats to help them grow up smarter. Maybe hire bullies to pick on them too.

>>21501876
>the more powerful you get, the less clothes you wear.

honestly, that's a pretty interesting idea. I'll give you that.

>The most powerful and protective armor is all skimpy,

How does that fit with the above? If the uber-tier armor is skimpy as fuck, you'd think everyone who got their hands on it would wear it.

Personally, take any and all magic out of the armor and make it like DBZ. Just by being strong as fuck, you become immune to sharp things, bullets, being crushed, etc.

Come to think of it, with all the clothes-ripping that happens in DBZ it might be the perfect example of the setting you're imagining

>>21502212
>>21502190
>>21502163
>>21502122
>Unknown Armies

>>21502122

>they could be ascended heroes

holy shit, this. Imagine it: every couple of generations, the archetypes change dramatically. Suddenly, you're not supposed to emulate Frank Sinatra to become a bard, you've got to emulate Jimi Hendrix. People halfway through their careers get pissed off and either stop where they are, attempt to be deified to reset things to the old ways, or change themselves entirely.

Don't argue about the two figures I picked. I just grabbed popular guys from different eras that were pretty different from each other

>>21502241
Pretty much.

>>21502122
>>21502163

So a fantasy setting where the magic is all run on Archetypes from Unknown Armies?

Give my huge raging love-boner for everything UA I approve of this concept and wish it to be developed more.

(The Archetype of the Theif has a series of sub-arcehtypes, including the gentleman thief, the thug, and the anonymous thief. The Warrior, too, has sub-types: the Knight, the berserker, the tactician. The mage has his own, with the archetypes of the shaman, the wise man, and the sorcerer...)

>>21502264
Or instead of changing dramatically, someone who becomes iconic enough simply ascends and replaces the old archetype.

>>21502274

I suppose my phrasing misrepresented my message, because I was saying exactly this.

>>21501969

>Having a beard
>Surrounded by flammable materials

Never understood the idea, but alright.

Personally I only wear shoes when they are socially necessary due to damage to my balance caused by a concussion. You gain a lot of dexterity, and the ability to feel the ground can be useful...

But taking a nail or broken glass to the foot is a fucking bitch.

The Warrior archetype is a huge, muscle-bound one-armed barbarian with an axe.

Do aspiring Warriors chop of their arm? Do they train until they're good enough to fight one-handed and then chop it off? Do they chop it off in childhood? Are there armies that do this professionally? Is the entire Honor Guard of Kingdom X one-armed and shirtless?

If you have thick enough callouses on your feet then I don't think it'd make much difference.

Honestly though, moccasins would be a better choice for, say, druids, barbarians, and rangers since boots are more cumbersome.

>>21502292
They chop it off eventually, once they've hit a wall that requires the removal of the arm to continue. Everyone pursuing archetype magic eventually reaches various milestones that they have to accept/overcome in order to continue. The warrior's milestones include losing an arm, slaying a powerful foe in single combat, and so on.

>>21502314

Could you mix archetypes? Or are those simply other archetypes?

You don't follow the Wizard and the Warrior, but the Spellaxe archetype, for example?

>>21502348
Sure, you can follow multiple archetypes, as long as they don't conflict. That means you'll probably have a primary archetype, then secondary and tertiary archetypes that you only follow up to a conflicting point. For example, if your primary archetype is The Pianist, you probably stop at The Warrior milestone that requires the loss of an arm.

>>21502364

Or you gain renown in your field enough that you can become deified and change the archetype.

>>21502364

Makes sense. So instead of the above idea of sub-archetypes, if you were going for, say, some sort of leader-of-men/army general build, you'd follow...

The Leader as your primary, Warrior primary, with the teriary probably something background based--the Nobleman, the Street Rat, something like that.

>>21502381

Warrior secondary, that is.

>>21502271

I think in this prospective settings it would be something like:

Domain (Magic hero, warrior hero, rogue hero, divine hero)

Archetype (Taking magic hero as an example you could have: Scholarly wizard, witch doctor, demonologist)

So for example you'd start out as a novice adventurer, pick a general path to follow, then eventually pick an archetype to pursue. If you don't, you will end up not being able to progress further on your path. Which may be what happens to most NPC casters in that setting.

For example, many may follow the divine path to become healers, but not many have the talent/luck/perseverance to get far enough to pursue the Paladin archetype where you become a furious divine engine of JUSTICE.

Also, I am proposing each archetype be based on some classic idealized RPG style art, like Boris vallejo or some such shit. It should be lots of bulging muscles, curves, skimpy armors and defeating the lords of the netherworlds with the power of your awesome good looks.

>>21502381
Exactly. Archetypes are almost never specific, they're broad things, like tropes, or Jungian archetypes. Your average person wouldn't be enough like any of them to gain power, but someone actively pursuing one gets more and more archetype-related power the closer they get to it, until they're a one-armed axe-slinging man covered in scars, wearing a loincloth who can't be harmed by mortal blades. And to think he started as an overweight nerd.

Earthmage keeping in touch with her source of power.
Electromage sucking at controlling his powers.

I like the idea of archetypes facilitating your abilities, but the idea of there being actual ability caps if you don't fit the current standard doesn't sit well with me.

I personally think that someone should have the ability to pursue whatever interests they have, and never have a negative recourse for doing so. It's just that, if they choose to bend to fit the archetypes better, it gets much easier to progress.

So following the archetype is a shortcut, but it's not the only route.

>>21502402

I like it. Given that archetypes are broad, hmm. The list probably looks like this:
The Warrior
The Mage
The Thief
The Priest
The Leader
The Creator
The Performer
The Peasant
The Merchant
The Noble

Anything that should be added or taken away, you think?

>>21502419
Oh, of course. It's just the only route for archetype-magic. You can train to be a fantastic warrior, but you'll never have skin impervious to mortal blades unless you follow The Warrior. Know what I mean?

To turn on Joss Whedon?

>>21502428
Sure, plenty of stuff can be added. The Scholar, The Explorer, The Wanderer, The Assassin, The Parent, there's plenty of archetypes to choose from. Most of them aren't great for PCs, but there's plenty regardless.

>>21502419

I think this particular setting is kinda like Exalted. Sure, you can be a mortal in that setting, but the exalts will always be better, bigger and stronger.

>>21502450

Scholar I agree with, and perhaps Adventurer, but would not an Assassin be someone walking the paths of the Warrior (fighting), the Thief (sneaking), and The Merchant (accepting coin for services rendered)? To varying degrees based on what he's in the business for.

With the list above, plus The Adventurer and The Scholar, I think we have all we need to make most any sort of fantasy character by combining them in some combination of primary/secondary/tertiary.

>>21502286
Makes about as much sense as
>going to war
>better pack my chainmail thong!
Doncha think? Youll also notice I never mentioned a shirt, which is also stupidly dangerous around a forge, but that's how the archetype goes.

>>21502479
What about The Healer or The Caretaker? An archetype related to healing but unrelated to The Priest?

The more you walk barefoot the tougher your feet are. Also, when boots were first made they were uncomfortable pieces of crap.

Maybe she can feel vibrations in the ground and sense when things are walking nearby.

Why are you being judgmental and asinine over the type of footwear a player chooses?

>>21502431

I understand it, I just don't agree with it personally. I'm not arguing, just putting forth my personal opinion on the subject

I think that, as you become a greater warrior, the universe itself recognizes your talents as it did for the last archetype person. You're not as strong as they were, but your edge is a little sharper, your reflexes are a little better, etc. You continue forging a name for yourself with these meager bonuses. More and more people start associating you with the idea of a brilliant warrior. Since you're changing the current zeitgeist, you start to get more of a benefit. Suddenly, you're about 3/4 as powerful as a fully realized Warrior follower (but maybe only in cases where your reputation precedes you).

The reasoning in my mind is that the archetype itself is a cap, because you can't surpass the Warrior when the universe's favor is literally forcing you to be on par with him and nothing more. However, if you are forging a new archetypical warrior, you have a rougher time ahead of you, but your success is (theoretically) unlimited, since the universe isn't bending YOU to the ARCHETYPE, but rather, bending the ARCHETYPE to fit YOU.

>>21502428

I think it should be condensed down a bit to the "heroic" basics. I don't think the Peasant, Merchant or Noble would need to be archetypes, those aren't things you'd normally strive to be, or strive to fulfill.

>>21502517
Fair point. Okay, closely following the archetype is the easy route to magical power, but redefining the archetype itself is the hard route to bigger long-term power.

>>21502524

The Merchant could stay, but Peasant and Noble don't seem to fit. A Noble should follow the path of the Leader if they're ambitious, and a Peasant would follow literally any other path than that one, since that's a shitty lot to have in life.

>>21502503

The Scholar/The Creator in some combination (with a focus on creating medicines and poultices).

>>21502517

I do agree with this. Changing an Archetype should be hard but not impossible.

>>21502524

What of heroes who take pride in having pulled themselves out of adversity? Or for their careful planning due to coming from a family of money-counting merchants? Or the noblesse oblige of their noble birth? The three 'class' archetypes should stay, I think, since the tropes involved in heroes so often reflect that hero's position of birth.

>>21502517

Well, if you'd theoretically ever succeed in becoming an archetype in yourself by forging a different path, all that would happen would be you would be subsumed into the Warrior archetype yourself, leaving the physical world behind. You'd stop existing as a being and become one of the eternal lineage of warriors embodying the Archetype, and offer a new beacon for young warriors in future generations to follow.

>>21502554

The scrappy street youth, the farmer taking up arms to keep his village safe, the well-meaning bastard raised in an orphanage--the Peasent-born archetype is a strong one.

The lazy noble riding out his life on birth and natural talent, the royal bastard desperate to receive his father's trust, the youngest child striving to prove the corruption of their elder, inheriting siblings--so, too, is the Noble Hero (or Villain) a powerful archetype to follow, seperate from ideas of leadership and virtue.

>>21502603

fits with this

>>21502573

I thought we were assuming that there was one cultural icon for each role, and emulating them made you better at that role. It seems that I misunderstood, and there are actually a (theoretically) unlimited number of roles, and anyone who ascends, instead of replacing the last guy, just gets added along next to him.

>>21502603

But how would one go about becoming more of a peasant? More of a noble?

File: 1352484347507.jpg-(53 KB, 217x277, IMPRESSED.jpg)

>mfw a 'barefeet in fantasy??' thread turned into this

/tg/ i love you so much

>>21502623
Perhaps The Peasant would ultimately be the ascetic archetype. The monk with the vow of poverty, the homeless beggar, that kind of thing. You start getting bonuses like not having to eat, improvised tools/weapons working just as well (or better than) proper ones, and so on.

>>21502623

To follow the Peasant, one remembers where in life they came from. They do not shy from physical labor, for they are used to it. They understand well the value of a single coin and do not spend money frivolously. They are hospitable within reason and hardly ever opulent. They are rough around the edges, but often well-meaning.

To follow the Noble, one is rich and powerful, and willing to prove it. One is apart from your fellow man by virtue of being better--and therefore, one is required to aid them, too, because they were not as fortunate as you. One remembers their ancestors and background, the nation of their birth that granted them such a powerful life. One is opulent, perhaps even a bit wasteful, though one is always sure that one has enough scraps to send the way of the less fortunate.

>fastforward to modern day
>archetypes turn into shit like "The Hipster", "The Stoner", "The Nerd", etc.

On the bright side, that shit would cut out a lot of the "commidization of subcultures" thing people are complaining about now. On the downside, flame wars would be even more useless, since the Hipster, by virtue of thinking and acting to their archetype, actually has their Apple computer working better than a PC.

blah, the present kinda sucks. Considering that most people on 4chan would be "The Apathetic", I assume we'd be too far flung into that role from the getgo to ever break out of it.

>>21502696
I think most people on 4chan are The Nerd, The Hermit, The Rebel, or some combination therein.

>>21502696
I disagree. If you could harvest the impotent frustration of /tg/ alone on the limits of reality, we would all be flying around in jetpacks fucking monstergirls in space on hoverbikes by now. The videogame would be a beautiful thing if /v/s rage was a physical object.

>>21502707

Still, the Hermit becomes a trap option. Consider all the people who are desperately against being that way that haven't yet succeeded at changing themselves. Suddenly, because they fit so well, the universe just slaps their shit down into being the "ABSOLUTE GOD OF NO GF"

>>21502714
None of the boards really have enough of a cultural presence to become their own archetype. And honestly, by being regular visitors to 4chan, odds are we'd all turn into elite cyber terrorists, since that's the cultural view of this site.

Also /v/ has shit taste in games. What are you thinking, anon?

>>21502428
The Creator should be the Artisan...How about the Outcast as well?

You are shunned by those who have less to fear. Your life is a constant flight from those who wish you harm, small pockets of relief among constant terror. You are cold, self-centred, and know all too well that the only being you can rely on is yourself.

File: 1352485016533.jpg-(227 KB, 600x849, 1330498734973.jpg)

Here's how I see it:

The archetypes aren't a specific person or deity (that was me just throwing out ideas at the start) they are some sort of non-sentient platonic ideal that you can strive for.

For example, if you are a female, and you want to become a better Performer, the ideal may be pic related. Young, beautiful, with ephemeral clothes and a lovely voice. The precise facial features, hair or skin color may vary, depending on where in the world you live and which aspect of the archetype is the most popular, but some of these general traits are always true throughout the lands.

So, in order to become a better Performer you'd want to make yourself as attractive as you can (under whatever standards your heritage and personal taste dictate), then get the right sort of skimpy outfit, and then possibly have some little extra work done to smooth out any further imperfections.

Again, just my view on it. For warriors the archetype may be a beefy Conanesque barbarian or a burly viking, or perhaps even a fully armored tin can. Who knows? It'd all be up to the DM. It could fit several playstyles, from serious to silly.

>>21502750
The Outcast seems more like an aspect of The Loner. The Loner is self-sufficient and solitary regardless of whether it's by choice, by force, or by accident.

File: 1352485078405.jpg-(21 KB, 479x185, That's that.jpg)

>>21502730
>None of the boards really have enough of a cultural presence to become their own archetype
/b/.
/b/tards can become the internet hackers on steroids everyone thinks they are
Now the whole world is well and truly fucked.

>>21502771
'Everyone' things all of 4chan is /b/. Anyway, it's less about stereotypes about specific groups, and more about personal alignment with given archetypes.

>>21502771

I always thought the whole world associated 4chan itself with the hackers on steroids scene. I know that, among people who actually know the site, it's all a handfull of /b/tards, but I thought the world by and large was ignorant enough to just assume all of us were that way.

>>21501831

I can do this.

>>21501810

Any tips on roleplaying "being hot and purple"?

>>21502730
>/v/ has shit taste in games
Casual detected. I bet you even liked Fez.

>>21502758

That makes sense to me. I also like the idea of a Loner archetype.

So, hmm. Here's how the list looks so far:

The Warrior
The Mage
The Thief
The Priest
The Leader
The Artisan
The Performer
The Peasant
The Merchant
The Noble
The Scholar
The Adventurer
The Loner

Thirteen archetypes. I like that number, it's a good number (and we can probably make it symbolic in-setting as something other than bad luck or whatever). We could pare it down by one into an even dozen, but I like thirteen.

>>21502801
Yeah, 13 is a fantastic magic number. Let's see if we think of any more archetypes. Also, I suggest changing The Adventurer to The Explorer. It just seems like The Adventurer is more an aspect of The Explorer, not the other way around.

>>21502792
Microwave yourself and eat a ton of grapes.

>>21502792
Whip out your tits and dance in the forest. While purple.

>>21502837

Well played, sir.

>>21502801
Hmmm, I bet The Performer can use theme music to boost other people's alignment with their archetypes. Things that make someone, say, more aligned with the Warrior for a little while, or whatever. That's how bards in this setting would work.

>>21502818

Personally, I can't think of any more archetypes to add that aren't already covered under some combination of these thirteen.

>>21502870
Neither can I, but I'm not going to assume just yet that there aren't a couple more that I just haven't thought of.

>>21502792
>Any tips on roleplaying "being hot and purple"?

While you joke, I would think it would actually happen in this setting idea we're bullshitting about.

Say you're a human and you want to pursue an archetype path that's followed by the elves living nearby. Provided they don't pincushion your ass, they may help you along that path which may involved becoming hot and purple.

Say some version of the Warrior who is an elven archer type.

>>21502936
You would probably get tattooed with purple patterns, be given a makeover, and be handed a bow. Holy shit, in this setting boobplate would be an asset and bows actually would work better for dextrous people than strong people.

>>21502995
>You would probably get tattooed with purple patterns, be given a makeover

Let's be honest here, you'd be getting a sex change. As it turns out, in this world, elves are all female and are really all just humans who followed some archetype which favors hot forest chicks.

>>21502498

The bearded smith is not just a fan service thing though... It is everywhere. Hell, gods of the forge have beards!

Never made any sense.

>>21503025
Yeah, other 'races' could be just archetypes that a person can follow. I mean, The Elf (also known as The Faerie) gets access to immortality and transcendent beauty. That's a pretty cash deal.

>>21503075
That... That's actually a really cool idea. In a situation like that, things like elves being a dying race could be explained by the fact that The Elf is a really challenging archetype to pursue, and it's recruiting fewer new people every year. Provides a long-term goal too, to ascend as The Elf in such a way that The Elf becomes easier to pursue, thereby saving the elven race.

>>21503279
>>21503075

The other "races" are probably the most taxing versions of some archetypes to follow,yeah. The Dwarf path would begin with an affinity for the earth, maybe following the path of a smith for some time, eventually getting yourself shrunk by magic...

Yeah, it could work. Meanwhile elves are generally female who have followed a druidic path to the end point.

>>21503336
As you follow a given path, you might even gradually change physically. As you follow The Dwarf, you get shorter, your hair gets thicker and grows faster, you put on both muscle and fat more easily. As you follow The Elf, you get thinner, more feminine/effeminate, stop being able to grow a beard, start getting pointed ears. You might even have mono-gender races, where literally all elves are female, all dwarves are male, that kind of thing, requiring either sex change magic or having gradual changes to the appropriate gender take place just by following the archetype closely enough.

The side-implication is that an elf, an orc, a dwarf who integrates into human society and stops acting like their races literally starts to un-align from that archetype, becoming less [race] and more human. That could be a reason why races tend to avoid cultural mingling, why it's a grave insult to say that an elf is learning how to be human.

>>21503423

The mingling may result in some people who have stopped following one path and gone down another, resulting in being literally half-elf or half-dwarf.

Like "the town blacksmith was on his way to becoming a dwarf, but he dediced he liked being human too much and now he's just a bit short and ill-tempered"

>>21503468
Yeah, probably. I mean, for people with a race as a secondary or tertiary archetype rather than a primary one, they would be more like an elf-like human, for example, than a true elf.

>>21502995
Not sure why, but Planescape Torment came to mind. You're never really given much armour throughout the game, but you get tattoos that give you perks and shit like that.

File: 1352488708211.jpg-(1.16 MB, 1366x768, 1316396276281.jpg)

Pic related. This is what happens to those who follow the path of the fay to the "elf" archetype end.

You wouldn't believe it, but these were all human, both genders, all kind of different origins, ethnicities, ages...

>>21503572

Do we really want to have the Elf archetype--if we have racial archetypes--just so we can have delicious purple savages?

>>21503601
They're not all going to be purple or savages; the Elf archetype includes your skin and hair tones changing colour when you live for long enough somewhere. Sea elves, for example, get blue/green/bluegreen hair and skin tons ranging from blue to gray. It's all a matter of locale. But yes, all followers of The Elf eventually metamorphosize into slim, attractive, semi-immortal females with pointed years. The immortality alone draws many people to it.

>>21503601

It was a joke. Some guy up there joked about "how do you become purple and hot"

>>21503639
That's a perfect quote for archetype magic.

So, then, racial archetypes. The Orc, The Dwarf, The Elf. I think that's all we really need, race-wise. And maybe there's some members of those races that like taunting humans about how there's no such thing as an Archetypical Human.

And then the Humans like to point out that if it wasn't for humans following the Archetypes, the other races would have ceased to exist, given they're all monogendered.

>>21503635

Not savages, but they are probably more of the "in touch with nature" types, and as such don't go much for technology or lots of clothing.

I dunno

>>21503724
There might be a couple more archetypes too, like Goblin or something. Dragons might even just be humans who have been following the (insanely difficult) path of The Wyrm.

>>21503724

I think it should be an even division of races. As many female ones as male, with some sort of "embodying a human ideal" type thing?

So you'd have elves (female, graceful, in touch with nature), dwarves (male, industrious, craftsmen), orcs (male, warlike, expansionist)... could use a couple more of them?

>>21503799

I almost want to say that goblins would be people who walk the path of the Orc and the Thief instead of The Orc and the Warrior, thinking about it.

>>21503817

Perhaps like this?
Elf - Female, Natural
Dwarf - Male, Industrial
Orc - Male, Natural
Gnome - Female, Industrial

with Gnomes being the PROGRESS! industrial race verses the TRADITIONAL! industrial race.

>>21501734
Are you kidding?
The only reason I wear shoes now is because sidewalks are hard and unyielding, and people spit/piss/vomit/pour crap all over them.

>>21503836
That could work. Is there a third thing, something other than natural/industrial? Mystical, maybe? Not sure what that would entail, though.

Why is it that dwarf are always miners or inventors of some sort, I just feel like that is a typical stereotype about them.

>>21503875
Because that's their archetype. The Dwarf.

>>21503869

If you wanted to go with Mystical...

Aasimar - Female, Mystical
Teifling - Male, Mystical

maybe? Or some sort of good/evil magic split for those races.

>>21503836
That implies, to me, that orcs are the males elves and that gnomes are the female dwarves. I don't really have a problem with that, just pointing it out. They obviously have plenty of separate characteristics and separate cultures, but it makes me wonder if orcs and elves are, ultimately, in the same breeding pool. It also makes me wonder how men who become elves for the immortality cope with the sex change.

>>21503910

Actually, scratch that, the mystical racial archetypes are some of the hardest to follow, but...

Wyrm - Mystical, Male (DRAGONS)
Outsider - Mystical, Female (Angels and demons and shit_)

Do we really need to use orcs again? I agree having elves and dwarves, since they are folklore creatures, but just compulsively using all the D&D races feels a bit lazy.


Couldn't we come up with original race variants that would have the same archetypes but not necessarily be the same old D&D stuff?

Just a thought

>>21503928
That works. The Dwarf, The Elf, The Orc, The Gnome, The Outsider, and The Wrym, with humans rounding it out to an even seven. That gives us 13 archetypes for profession or social role, and 7 races.
>>21503934
Call orcs goblins then. They would be the unseelie to the elves' seelie. They're all Sidhe, just of a different stripe. The Elf and The Goblin make for a pretty good pair.

Does this imply that this entire world is just humans? That everything is just people following different paths of power?

>>21502626

this, so much this

>>21503934
Trolls, then. Some other post mentioned that Goblins would result from Male Naturals who followed the path of the Thief. Trolls would be those that followed the path of the Warrior.

Trolls are pretty well covered in folklore.

>>21503928

I want these to be called "Celestial" or something similar. "Mystical" to me feels too much like just another synonym for "magic". I am picturing the dragons of this world as being sort of like eastern dragons, these immense beings who literally live in the heavens and only rarely come down to earth.

Okay, so, the current list of Archetypes looks something like this, then:

Professional/Society Archetypes:
The Warrior
The Mage
The Thief
The Priest
The Leader
The Artisan
The Performer
The Peasant
The Merchant
The Noble
The Scholar
The Adventurer
The Loner

Racial Archetypes:
The Elf - Female, Natural
The Troll - Male, Natural
The Dwarf - Male, Industrial
The Gnome - Female, Industrial
The Wyrm - Male, Celestial
The Outsider - Female, Celestial
Human (Not Actually An Archetype)

Given this, I think we have enough to start doing legitimate worldbuilding, figuring out the steps along each path, stuff like that.

>>21503917

I think they can still reproduce with humans or with eachother freely, with the offspring being born as "baseline" humans with no special advantages.

As for those who change sex as part of their path, I assumed it was such a gradual change that when it eventually went all the way you'd already have been slowly learning more and growing to accept or even want it. Since the path of the elf would probably already be nurturing and such.

There were actually mystery religions like this in pre-christian times, where men would dress up and act as women to get in tune with this or that spiritual force as part of rituals.

>>21504032
Works for me. So, we have, what, The Wyrm, The Outsider, The Elf, The Goblin, The Dwarf, and The Gnome?

File: 1352491282893.png-(141 KB, 1150x695, Typical progression of a (...).png)

>>21503995
this isn't the first time

>>21504094
>The Troll - Male, Natural
I dunno, I still kinda like The Goblin better. It fits the Seelie/Unseelie idea (which is pretty damn archetypal) and goblins would be everything from big trollish dudes to average-sized hobgoblins to little gobliny fucks. Plus, it seems like a nature counterpoint to The Elf.

>>21504126

The Goblin works just as well, I think. I'll change it back on the file I'm keeping notes on, because I am a compulsive note-taker.

>>21504138
Okay, so we have thirteen archetypes and seven races (with humans as the archetype-less progenitor race). We need some creation myths and some setting development now.

>>21504094

Okay, here me out here.

What if... what if the fact that you change when you pursue some paths wasn't publically known?

What if the general public of this world think it's just like in D&D? Sure, there's stories of some powerful mage becoming a dragon, but nobody really believes that, or only thinks it may be one guy ever who managed?

And they think male elves are just really shy, and don't know that "elves" are just humans too?

I think that could be a fun twist on it. Some "paths" being secret until someone goes far enough to discover the truth.

>>21504163
Okay, here's an idea. When humanity was first created, there were 13 humans made. Their names actually were things like Mage, Warrior, and so forth. Warrior became the first of his archetype, and also the first goblin. Mage became the first of his archetype, and also the first wyrm. By the time the first humans had come into their own and imprinted their identities into the universe as archetypes, only seven, barely more than half, were still human, the other six having become The Goblin, The Elf, The Dwarf, The Gnome, The Outsider, and The Wyrm.

Subsequent generations are all descended from these original 13, and the echoes of their archetypes are still being heard, centuries later.

>>21504214
Okay, if that's the case, would the associations be as follows?

>Wyrm - Mage
>Outsider - Priest
>Goblin - Warrior
>Elf -
>Dwarf - Artisan
>Gnome -

I'm not sure what The Elf and The Gnome would be. Thief? Performer? Adventurer? Loner? Scholar? I suppose it might be The Elf as The Adventurer and The Gnome as The Scholar. That would leave The Thief, The Leader, The Performer, The Peasant, The Merchant, The Noble, and The Loner as the archetypes of Man.

>>21504163

Guy who started this whole mess here again.

As a creation myth, what do you think of something along these lines:

Once upon a time, the world was created by mercurial, selfish gods, who then created humans as their playthings. For millennia, humans warred, loved, killed and hated at the whims of the gods, no more than puppets on strings. Then one day, humans began to learn that they too could manipulate the fabric of creation. Certain talented humans trained in secret, slowly becoming more and more powerful, each discovering a "path" in creation that let them tap into the powers the gods themselves wielded.

And so eventually, thirteen humans champions rose from their secret training, now radiant with the archetypes they had mastered, and they brought war to the gods themselves. And in the end, the gods refused to relent, and the thirteen destroyed them, freeing the world from their yoke. Returning to the world, humans were now free to forge their own destinies, with many becoming apprentices to the original thirteen, passing on this knowledge.

The world of course was still not a safe place, because the gods had released and created many monstrous beings that lurked in dark places, and humans themseleves were not free of hatred or vice. Thus there is always a need for new heroes to follow the paths of power, to either liberate or enslave their fellow beings.

>>21504214
What if the first humans made were each of the different races? Over time, people forgot their paths and interbred, diluting all of the races into what are now known as humans.

Hell, you could just completely merge the class and race archetypes so they're all 1-to1.

>>21504280
If we went that route, I would want each race to have two class archetypes, and for the final, the Loner, to have been the First Man.

>>21504280
I don't like that. It pretty much removes the idea of race as an archetype.

>>21504280

I don't like this. I like the idea that the races are separate archetypes because that is essentially what fantasy races embody in RPG's. I think it's a pretty clever idea.

>>21504251
I like that, especially if, in the original creation myth, The Wyrm/The Outsider, The Elf/The Goblin, and The Dwarf/The Gnome were originally husband/wife, or lovers, or whatever.

Then there would be three pairs among the humans with Noble/Peasant, Thief/Merchant, and Leader/Performer, with a seventh, the Loner, being left alone.

>>21504360

Or maybe became lovers afterwards, ruling a bit on the earthly plane before literally dissolving into becoming eternal archetypes for others to follow?

>>21502286
Epic beards are fireproof

See this planet Earth you and live on? A few hundred years ago a crazy motherfucker/genius tactician called Edward Teach shoved cannon fuses into the hair monster that lived on his face, lit them and sacked every ship in the goddamned Caribbean.

>>21504388
Well, yeah, all of the original 13 would have ascended eventually. Once the next generation was in place (for all seven races), the original 13 would have dissolved into the aether. The question is whether they became lovers before or after they first started exemplifying their race/archetype. For example, it could be that whatever Creator there is in the creation myth made six pairs of husband and wife with a seventh (the Loner). Six Adams and Eves, so to speak.

>>21501734
I played once a barefoot dressed in long dress elf female in The One Ring rpg, she was one of those elves who believed you "must feel the wetness of the forest, the air moving around and the sound of the birds to be alive".

>ctrl+f
>cody lundin
>no results
/tg/ I am dissapoint

File: 1352493429632.jpg-(128 KB, 850x728, 1351760564629.jpg)

While the Archetypes work for hero's -> What about Monsters? Is it possible someone's hate literally transforms them into some mythological beast? A Mage so lost in his magical studies dies, but does not realize it, his flesh rotting away without a care as he continues to study, until the Skeletal Lich is all that remains? A riding archer and her horse moving so fluidly as one eventually becoming a single being? A Heavily Armored Warrior so focused on protecting his friends that he eventually becomes a protective golem? A fire mage so focused becoming a fire elemental?

>>21504440
>7 pairs
>7 races
>13 classes
There are a lot of magic numbers going on here, guys. Let's add another magic number. Three deities:

Destruction
Creation
Balance

These are three divine archetypes/beings. Destruction (aka chaos, entropy) destroys the old. Creation (aka law, order) creates the new. Balance keeps either power from overwhelming the other. Those three forces created Man, and when people ascend to be an archetype they're going to the same realm/strata of reality/state of enlightenment as those, their existence at that strata causing reality to reinforce their particular principle, aka their archetype. Creation give people who follow archetypes power (because the 13 class and 6 racial archetypes are the new rules of reality). Destruction takes power away from people who violate their archetypes. Balance keeps either of them from going overboard.

>>21504510
Yeah, there should be some monstrous archetypes. The Predator would be a good one. The Unliving, maybe. The Lurker.

>>21504094
What about The Hunter?

>>21504547
That's probably covered under The Loner.

>>21504547

The Hunter would be some combination of the Explorer, the Warrior, and the Thief.

>>21504557
>>21504559

and/or The Loner.

File: 1352493698357.jpg-(281 KB, 1165x1500, 1351412613249.jpg)

Could someone forcibly screw over a hero by subtly tricking them out of their archetype? Throw a Warrior a Feast, get them a commission, steady and extravagant foods, until they've slowly lost their Heroic Figure - and mystically depowering them by removing them from their archetype?

>>21504577

Yep.

>>21504521
If you did that, you could probably have three races associated with Destruction, three races associated with Creation, six classes associated with Destruction, six classes associated with Creation, and then both Humanity and The Loner are associated with Balance. Not enough to actually be gaining any power, per se, just a sort of mythological association.

>>21504577
>Could someone forcibly screw over a hero by subtly tricking them out of their archetype? Throw a Warrior a Feast, get them a commission, steady and extravagant foods, until they've slowly lost their Heroic Figure - and mystically depowering them by removing them from their archetype?
Absolutely. Forcing/tricking someone into violating their archetype is a sure-fire way to rob them of some of their magic. They keep their mundane skills, but in a world where anyone who's great at what they do tends to end up with magic relating to that field, those mundane skills might not be enough.

>>21501734
Maybe the players have never walked a long distance in their life.

>>21504596

Races:
Destruction: Goblins, Wyrms, Gnomes (odd duck out, but since Gnomes are about UNCHECKED SCIENCE! I gues it could work?)
Creation: Elves, Outsiders, Dwarves

Classes... classes would be harder. Hmm.
Destruction: Warrior, Mage, Thief, Adventurer, Performer, Noble
Creation: Priest, Leader, Artisan, Peasant, Merchant, Scholar

>>21503423

I'd hestate for mono-gendered dwarves, if for only one silly reason: The females tend in most fiction to have really, really bangin' hips.

...also, what if for the elves, rather then mono-female, the males just became feminine in body to a fault? Just need to get the pants off to be sure.

Wait, wait, wait.

This just hit me.

Archetypes and gods...

Isn't this Wakfu?

>>21504645
In this case, the gnomes would have really, really bangin' hips.

>>21504668
No, because you're not born an elf, you become an elf. Close, though.

>>21504596
Or Subtle differences on the powers/traits one acquires as a Race or Class because of their affiliation. A Mage associated with creation, summons and conjures better, one associated with Destruction controls more devastating blasts. A Gnome who is associated with destruction makes more potent bombs, A Dwarf associated with balance makes steel that is the perfect strength, neither too brittle or too flexible.

>>21504687

You sure? Coulda sworn I reambered it being follow god X, become more like them.

Like Nox became a Xelore AFTER, yanno. That thing.

>>21504720
It's which deity you're born under, you become like them.

>>21504645

Nah, I like the monogendered idea because it gives us the "races" as opposites yin-yang style.

So, after reading this thread I just got this idea stuck in my head and it won't go away. I'm sorry if this sounds like fetishfuel but I have to get it out there.

A young boy goes off to become a warrior to find out what happened to his father, a legendary warrior general (or warlord) who vanished when the boy was newborn. And then after a long and epic quest when he becomes a hero himself, the boy discovers his dad got tired of all the (in his view) pointless bloodshed, changed paths and is now living a quiet life as an elf maiden deep in the forest.

...yeah, it was funny to me.

File: 1352494859722.jpg-(597 KB, 900x1274, 779ab3503bf155bc0af8a2277(...).jpg)

How would one go about making a system for this, or is there a system that would be easy to use for this kind of play?

>>21504785
That works.
>>21504791
I'm putting together a character sheet and system for this as we speak. Give me a minute.

>>21504831

Sweet, it's probably better than my idea of 'rip off Unknown Armies and meld it to, like, Exalted or something'.

>>21504831

Do you want any help with writeup stuff? I don't know if my ideas are very good, but I like writing fluff.

>>21504934
Oh, it's just going to be a single page of character sheet + rules. Go ahead and turn the ideas in this thread into fluff in this thread.

>>21504785

And then it turns out his dad was actually that local elf girl who looked out for him when he was a kid, trying to still keep an eye out for his/her son. And then it all turned very weird.

File: 1352496484098.pdf-(180 KB, PDF, Archetype RPG.pdf)

Okay, what do you guys think of the sheet and rules?

>>21501876
in my homebrew the better magic swordsman all seem to be afraid of shirts, and none of them wear anything other then leg armor.

and wood elves don't believe in armor or major clothing.

File: 1352497206120.pdf-(182 KB, PDF, Liara.pdf)

>>21505176
And here's a sample character, Liara the elven archer. When shooting someone with her bow, she rolls Warrior (4) + Elf (1) + Destruction (1), for six dice, which means she's pretty damn good at it. Combat, be it social, mental, physical, or whatever, would reduce the appropriate archetype by one point per success. Once they don't have any points in an appropriate archetype left, another single success wins the combat.

An alternative method of rolling is that, instead of requiring a certain number of successes to succeed, the GM provides the challenge with its own dice. In that situation, instead of requiring, say, two successes to succeed at a challenge, the GM would provide a challenge with six dice for an opposed roll with the PC.

This method of opposed rolls is how combat works by default, with an attacker dealing a number of points of damage to an archetype equal to how many more successes they rolled than the defender. This damage heals at a rate appropriate to the challenge - slowly for getting stabbed, quickly for damage due to social embarrassment.

>>21505176

Holy shit, wait what? We can upload PDFs here? When the fuck did that happen?

>>21505176
>>21505322

Hmm, I like it, I think. How would it handle the Celestial races, out of curiosity? Would you have a dragon and an angel costing the same/being in the same party as two humans, a dwarf, and a goblin?

>>21505322
So, let's say Liara is trying to shoot somone (six dice) who is using his three dice in The Thief to hide behind cover and try to sneak around the area she's overwatching with her bow. The Thief would rolls three dice and Liara would roll six.

If she got two successes and he got one success, his Thief score would be reduced by 1.

If he got two successes and she got one success, his Thief score wouldn't get reduced at all.

If she got four successes and he got one success, his thief score would be reduced by three points to zero, and the next hit against Thief would remove him from play. He could, though, switch to a different archetype for defense, such as The Loner to tough out the damage or The Warrior to dodge the arrows, in order to keep extending combat.

If she got four successes and he got no successes, that would be enough to KO him, reducing his The Thief score to zero and the dealing an additional point of damage.

>>21505360
Yeah, and regardless of the fact that they're an Outsider or a Wyrm, it still only gives the standard +1 that the other races give. This means that things like a Wyrm's fire breath is actually more fueled by The Magician than his actual race. Make sense?

Human - Everyone starts out as this. This is the "basic" race of the world. Offspring can be produced with any other "race" but the children will be totally normal humans, IE no "half-breeds" possibly by birth.

The Elf - Female, Natural

Elves appear as graceful but strong female humanoids. They tend towards being tall, with long pointed ears and elegant features. They live close to nature and dislike artifice, preferring the company of animals and plants. They tend to wear light clothes which by baseline human standards seem skimpy, but as they are immune to anything but extremes in weather this does not bother elves.

The Troll - Male, Natural

Trolls are tall, muscular humanoids with thick, leathery skin, bestial features and long, stringy hair. They are almost always savage, living off the land by hunting and gathering, and deciding pecking order by contests of strength. Trolls value strength and skill in battle over all else. Sometimes areas suffer an explosive growth of troll populations because trolls will actively capture baseline human clans and raise all their children to be brustal, vicious and eventually become trolls themselves. Such large hordes will eventually threaten the other races by sheer momentum, resulting in wars.

The Dwarf - Male, Industrial

Dwarves are short, stocky and muscular, with large beards and heavy features. They dwell underground and greatly value strength, solidity, tradition and stoicism. Dwarves are crafters as well, but in opposition to the elves they craft by twisting and bending natural materials to their will, rather than carefully shaping things into fragile beauty. Dwarves are not aggressive, but will gather together and defend themselves to the last.

>>21505411

The Gnome - Female, Industrial

Gnomes appear to be young teenage girls of short stature, and constantly appear to be flitting about, talking and examining things. They love to invent and tinker, but in contrast to the dwarves love to experiment, discover and forge new paths. Sometimes this leads to utter disaster, sometimes to valuable new inventions. Gnomes tend to be reclusive, living in school-like towns or cities, or with humans in great academies of science. They prefer to avoid combat, but can be deadly enough when cornered or choosing to fight.

The Wyrm - Male, Celestial

Usually known as dragons, Wyrms are the symbol of male virile power. Enormous reptilian creatures with no trace of their humanoid ancestry, most wyrms are elongated and serpentine, while some are bulkier. They normally dwell very far from any other race, on top of mountains or even on clouds themselves. They prefer to pursue their own inscrutable agendas, feeling themselves far beyond the mortals they once were. They are great scholars and their long lives make them wise, if sometimes very intolerant. Often a wyrm takes a liking to a particular area, either conquering it or protecting it.

The Outsider - Female, Celestial

Outsiders are called by many names, but generally appear similar. They are very tall and powerfully built female humanoids with huge wings portruding from their backs. Depending on their personal ideas of morals, they may be a deep red in color or have fair skin, ahve thick leathery wings or elegant white-feathered pinions. They are the feminine creative counterpart to wyrms, and as such promote fertility and female power, be it through manipulating mortals to their own ends or sheltering and protecting them with their strength. Nontheless Outsiders never dwell long among other races.

>>21505416
>>21505411

Let me know what you think about these. I went with pretty basic D&D-style stuff.

>>21505411
>The Troll - Male, Natural
I thought we were going with The Goblin.

>>21505322
I like the sound of that rolling method a lot more than the default one.

>>21505423

I like it, but if you're subverting classic stereotypes, consider making "The Troll" "The Orc" and "The Gnome" "The halfling".

File: 1352498093265.pdf-(181 KB, PDF, Archetype RPG 1.1.pdf)

>>21505481
Here's version 1.1 of the RPG, then.
>>21505467
Yeah, I thought we were too.

>>21505541

Replace the troll thing with goblins. I must have c/p'ed an old list.

Here's a new thread with the 1.2 rules and fluff:
>>21505956