Fantasy Archetypes and Sub-Archetypes

[woodelf]

There seem to be three basic fantasy archetypes:

1) Warrior - any character concentrating on combat
2) Sill User - any character concentrating on using his wits and non-supernatural abilities
3) Spellcaster - any character dealing with magic

*Priest - this one could probably be subsumed in the spellcaster category
*Stealth Practicioner - most likely could be subsumed in the skill user category
*Socialite - almost certainly could be subsumed in the skill user category

Can you think of any more basic archetypes?

How would you divide the basic archetypes into 'sub-archetypes'?

Well, for my fantasy homebrew rules, i'm using 6 classes, meant to be the archetypal fantasy sorts:

• warrior
  
• skillmonkey
  
• spellcaster
  
• faithful
  
• wilderness guy
  
• inner-strength guy
  

IMHO, these cover the bases. I don't consider priest a sub-category of spellcaster at all because, outside of D&D and D&D-influenced stuff, the religious sorts are almost never the spell-chuckers.

I've toyed with the idea of social guy as a separate archetype/class, but i, too, am inclined to lump that in with skillmonkey (and maybe faithful, to a certain extent). wilderness guy is it's own archetype, i think--the concept of oneness-with-nature is pretty wide-spread, showing up in Tarzan, druids, rangers, shamans, woodsmen, and a host of other archetypes that transcend skillmonkey, faithful, spellcaster, and/or warrior.

Inner strength guy (yes, i need better names) is the root of things like martial artists and psychics--and maybe also fakirs, ascetics, or even dervishes and hashishins.

So, to reconstruct some classes from these six:
fighter: warrior
ranger: warrior, wilderness guy, and some spellcaster
barbarian: warrior and wilderness guy
paladin: warrior, faithful, and spellcaster
monk: warrior and inner strength guy
rogue: skillmonkey and warrior
bard: skillmonkey, spellcaster, maybe some warrior
cleric: faithful, spellcaster, and warrior
druid: wilderness guy, spellcaster, and maybe some warrior
wizard: spellcaster
sorcerer: spellcaster, maybe some inner strength guy
shaman: wilderness guy and spellcaster
psion: inner strength guy and spellcaster
psychic warrior: inner strength guy, spellcaster, and warrior
greenbond: wilderness guy and spellcaster
akashic: skillmonkey
champion: warrior and faithful
mage blade: spellcaster and warrior
magister: spellcaster
oathsworn: inner strength guy and warrior
runethane: spellcaster
totem warrior: warrior and wilderness guy
unfettered: warrior
warmain: warrior
witch: spellcaster and inner strength guy

and so on.

some sub-categories (which i'm mostyl bringing out in terms of either feat chains or combinations of classes):
skillmonkey: con artist, acrobat, jack-of-all-trades, researcher, tradesman, diplomat
warrior: swashbuckler, knight, tank, brawler, berserker, martial artist
spellcaster: wizard, witch, sorcerer, shaman, nature mage, psychic
faithful: paladin, priest, ascetic, warrior monk
wilderness guy: totem worshipper, shaman, barbarian, beastlord, spirit friend, totemic champion
inner strength guy: monk, psychic, wushu warrior, ascetic, fakir, martial artist

 

[woodelf]

Warrior: men-at-arms, barbarian warlords, knights, mercs, whatever. The guy that kills things with weapons.

Underhanded Sneaky Bastard: thieves, con men, silver tongued socialites, etc. Very skilled in whatever they do, generally not as physically focused as a warrior-type, and almost always duplicitous. In most fantasy, being highly skilled seems to almost always go hand in hand with lying, cheating, and/or stealing.

Spellcaster: arcane wizards with pointy hats and long beards, psions, witches, wild-talent uncontrolled magic users, cultists summoning horrors man was not meant to invite in for supper, and so on. The people who manipulate the supernatural as a primary means of what they do.


[Sub-Category] Priests: big church preachers, dark clergy of darker gods, tree-hugging hippy druids, tribal shamans, paladins, etc. Faith in something unseen is their bag. Usually priestly types fall into either the Spellcaster(for those with magic powers) or USB (those without) archtype, with the occasional Warrior found amongst the more militant types.

[Sub-Category] Everyman Inadvertant Hero: humble beginings, world-shattering endings. Basically the guy that starts off not being able to tell his arse from a hole in the ground and ends up stopping the big bad for... whatever reason. Samwise, Belgarrion, Luke Skywalker, the list goes on and on. They can end up in any category depending on their own inclinations and how the story wrenches them along, but the idea of the average joe who ends up saving all existance is about as staple as you can get.

One disagreement: outside of RPGs, i'd say that not so many priest sorts are spellcasters in the game sense, and while some are Underhanded Sneaky Bastards, a lot of them are fonts of knowledge and/or wisdom. First one that comes to mind is the priest in Romeo & Juliet.

Now, that archetype is sorta missing in my own scheme--i mostly lump it in with the skillmonkey, since (1) it's likely to be part of teh skills system and (2) the skillmonkey is most at risk of being underpowered or under-glamorous.

 

[woodelf]

Why would they drastically differ from literary or a mythological perspective as opposed to a mechanical one?

Because literary role, and functional abilities, rarely have much in common. In lit, the significant divisions are made based on narrative role, and the archetypes reflect this. In RPGs, the significant divisions are generally made based on capabilities. (Though Blue Rose may change this, and Dynasties and Demagogues provides an overlay of narrative role in terms of personality feats.) Think of it like this: mechanically, when you create a character in most RPGs, what most-strongly defines your character? Literary role in the story, or functional niche in the group?