Quick question regarding archetypes and their starting stats.

Quick question regarding archetypes and their starting stats.

Quick question regarding archetypes and their starting stats. It’s come to my attention that, using the 2, 1, 0, -1 stat layout in the 1.1 book, the archetype I recently made can start with +3 Blood. While the Wolf can as well, the archetype I created thrives especially in combat, so +3 Blood from the start always seemed a little… broken? I was concerned about this when first writing it, too.

So the question is this: If I were to make the starting layout, before the free point is added, say… Blood 1, Heart 0, Mind 0, Spirit 1, is that just as balanced as Blood 2, Heart -1, Mind 0, Spirit 1? Or should I definitely stick to the format in the original group of US archetypes?

7 thoughts on “Quick question regarding archetypes and their starting stats.”

  1. The official rules will be released with the following stat lines for archetypes;

    1, 1, 0, -1

    (then add one point to whichever you like)

    I recommend sticking to that for any new archetypes by default. Variants will of course come up.

  2. I don’t think you want a starting stat of +3 for any PbtA game. In Apocalypse World the most you can have (before picking starting moves) is a +2. Some play books have a move that allow you to bump up a stat to +3, but you need to choose that over another move. In the newest play test you max out at +2 before picking moves.

    Use a base stat array of +1, +1, 0, -1 and give the player the option to raise one of those by one.

  3. Yeah, like I said, I had a feeling starting at +3 was a bit much. I’m glad I asked, I was using and out of date version. Much more fun when the characters have room to grow.

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