Mythic is a wonderful classless generic game. It has solid rules that are simple to use, and nearly any setting and character can be modeled from it. With that said though there are games in which certain character abilities really highlight a specific skill and talent set, and it maybe hard, even in a freeform (as opposed to point buy) game to cover them all with a few Abilities. It would be much easier to just keep up with one.
With a freeform character you can always have a look at the character summary and extrapolate out skills at a certain level, justified by the description, and as well you should. Now, I am going to offer below another system for developing a set of
Root Archetype Abilities that will suit a wide range of characters from the fantasy and cyberpunk genres. Use these as inspiration for developing your own Archetype Abilities.
The inspiration for this work came from Mythic RPG itself. The Toughness Attribute is an average of your Strength and Willpower. That got me thinking of what other Attribute combinations would lead to, but instead of more core Attributes it lead to the idea of Root Archetype Abilities.
A quick refresher on the Attributes native to Mythic RPG: Strength, Agility, Reaction, IQ, Intuition, and Willpower.
FantasyIt has never been my attitude to save the best for last. Whether fantasy is the best or not is a matter of opinion, but it is certainly the most popular. So, here are some Root Archetype Abilities for fantasy characters.
Classic Warrior. A Classic Warrior is a frontline fighter. There strengths lie in knowing a wide variety of weapons, armor, shields, and tactics (the last frequently neglected). Here I suggest combining Strength and Intuition into a Ability
Prowess. This would be used for any melee or thrown weapon, all kinds of armors and shields, and any close quarters battlefield feats, as well as impressive acts of athletics. The use of equipment should be self explanatory, but if they wish to add a rider to the attack, such as a disarm, attacking a shield to damage it or pull wrench it out of a useful position, or sneak a trip attack into there flurry of quarterstaff blows, they should be able to attempt to do so, with a 0-3RS penalty. When setting the difficulty, think about the type of weapon and how they are suggesting employing it. The first time any feat is attempted, you will be playing it by ear, but as you get a list of them you could build a Scaling Box (Mythic RPG pg. 85) to better judge the difficulty of the task.
Classic Thief. The roll of thief in fantasy precedes any RPG by years (thank you Fritz Lieber), but over time in RPGs they have come to represent a type of infiltration and exploration specialist. Here a combination of Agility and IQ will give you
Larceny, which could have myriad uses. Stealth, acrobatics, picking pockets, a near sixth sense towards oncoming trouble, and a gift for opening locks and traps. Other key skills of the Thief may not fit exactly into the Larcenous Ability, but should still be available with a standard -2RS. Examples could be trying a little magic from a device (such as a scroll) deciphering a coded message from a familiarity with such codes, and speaking that unique patois of common and exotic phrases that allow the Larcenous to talk in the plain view of others in there own private Thieve's Cant. Putting all of that down on an Ability chart would take up so much space and there are so many skills they would never be able to improve them, under the umbrella term of
Larceny, we know that the gestalt is greater than the individual skill. Let them shine.
Classic Wizard. the Classic Wizard goes back further than Gandalf or Ged. These are folk who understand the deeper, and some would say sinister, secrets of the world. Mythology and Folklore agree that these are persons of knowledge and power, so a combination of IQ and Willpower would serve well to grant
Wizardry. Probably of all the Root Abilities this will require the most adjudication when it comes to the casting of magics, but it can also be a stand in for all kinds of esoteric knowledge, such as identifying monsters and there abilities, deciphering an ancient script, and knowledge of the belief systems of people all over the world. Let your wizards shine, don't leave them shackled to raising this skill or that at the expense of there role in the world. Maybe their magic is a subtle thing but there knowledge should be broad and expansive.
CyberpunkLets flip over now to one of my other favorite genre: Cyberpunk. Through the decades, since games were designed for this genre a number of fan favorites have solidified into discernible archetypes through games such as Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk Red, and Shadowrun (
of the million incarnations). Some of the most popular of these archetypes have to do with combat, cyber space, and (my own favorite) drone control.
Though there are infinite varieties of combatant available in a Cyberpunk game the quintessential
Street Samurai out shines them all. Whether she is a razor girl, a Ronin melee expert, or a master of gun-fu, the thing they all seem to have in common is lightening fast reflexes, that put them first into the fray and may well end it before it has truly begun. This
Edge could well be quantified as an average of Reflex and Intuition. Though Edge would certainly put the Street Sammy first in combat the Intuition portion could give them a leg up in taking in the battlefield before the combat begins (allowing them to maximize the usefulness of cover, terrain, and hazardous obstacles), but also get a gut feeling about the capabilities of those they face. Edge should also default as a fighting score for nearly any source of damage, but as its true focus in speed and instinct it would suffer the typical -2RS penalty if used in place of a combat Ability.
From frontlines lets talk backup, and there is no better back up than a flying drone with a camera and a chain gun. This brings use to
Drone Jockeys. While your cyber enhanced Street Samurai may be the first combatant you think of when you think cyberpunk, no one has more battlefield versatility, than a Drone Jockey with a high expense account. They also excel at recon, and if your team of infiltrators is very unlucky manually controlling a buildings automated defenses. This is also the team mate most likely able to fix a cyber arm or repair your armored troop transport, but those are secondary to the task of actually jumping into a the drone and using it as a second body. Reflex and Willpower are the necessary ingredients for the
Pilot ability. For all other listed purposes repair and design would be more useful but Pilot would work in a pinch at a -2RS.
Lastly, for navigating the world of data you can't beat the
Console Cowboy(girl). With there trusted cyber deck, modified with brilliantly complex IC breakers, and data probes the C.C. can ferret out the deepest secrets of the best buried data-base, if the rest of the party can just get them close enough to interface. IQ is the Attribute that lets them customize their programs and hardware to the specifications of a particular run, and Reaction (along with some very advanced DNI (Direct Neuro Interface) technology) can make them masters of cyberspace, if they can fight, side step, or dupe the Black IC between them and the data they need. The average of those Attributes gives you
Cyber Infiltration. This skill will also, with the standard -2RL shift allow them to code from scratch, modify electronics, and fix a busticated cyberdeck (at least long enough to hack an Amazon delivery for the newest Sony model). Good Luck Cowgirl, you are going to need it.
There are infinitely more popular archetypes for various high adventure games, but with the examples above you should be able to come up with the right parring to emulate the core talent of any Archetype adventurer.
