Origins and Origin-Related Traits for Fallout: Year Zero

[FlukeboxHero]

As I slowly tinker away at this, I would appreciate insights/feedback on the origins so far.

Spoiler: Notes on Previous Design

For those unfamiliar with the system, Year Zero is based on rolling pools of d6's (standard six-sided dice) and rolling a six to succeed at a roll. Players can reroll (a "push) at a cost. Currently I have the cost penciled in as a "Karma Point" which the GM (Overseer) can use to make rolls/enemies more challenging.

There are 5 stats.
Vigor - Strength and Endurance. How hard you hit and how much you can be hit. (Athletics, Melee, Endurance, Outdoorsman) - Replaced Strength Skill with Athletics from agility.
Agility - Affects Shooting, Sneak, Security (lockpicking and pickpocketing), and Acrobatics (?)
Understanding - "Book Smarts" (Academics, Science, Mechanics, Medicine)
Luck - Gives players Luck points to spend on rerolls, reducing damage, or boosting rolls.
Tact - "Street Smarts". Persuasion, Deception, Insight, Perception

Here's the though process currently, if you want
The characters in the Year Zero Engine (YZE) are created off of Archetypes. These are a basic template that is individualized by acquiring Specialties (Perks).
I originally had ghouls, super mutants, and robots (which have since been cut) as archetypes. However, that sucks. Players should be able to start as a super mutant scientist, or a ghoul soldier.

Anyway, here's the Origins.

Super Mutant:
+ The Strong Survive: Super Mutants roll d8's for all Vigor tests, gain "X" amount of bonus HP
+ Immune to Radiation
- Roll 1 fewer die for Tact rolls against non-Mutants
- Large frame: Armor is more expensive (need more), and -1 to any roll requiring fine motor skills

Ghoul:
+ Immune to Radiation
+ Heals in Radiation (?)
- -1 Die when dealing with non-ghouls (unless specifically ghoul friendly)
- (Should they get another debuff?)

Human:
You're a person, No pros nor cons.

 

[Gizmojunk]

Ghouls are effectively the anti-elves in Fallout. They are immortal until killed, but they are not lithe, not beautiful, not elegant, and not fragrant.

IMO, all ghouls should have the following in common:

• Originated from Vault 12; all of them. This means that there should be less than a thousand individuals roaming the US; mostly on the West Coast.
• They are the only ones who remember the pre-war era first hand; having each lived there before the great war.
• Only possible from the singular event at Vault 12 during the war. Not possible by radiation alone. Not related to FEV; Harold is not a ghoul.
• Obviously feral ghouls are nonsense. They exist because Bethesda could not make them look and move accurately using Face-gen and the common humanoid animation rig. They could make them as a standard animal/monster entity, but those can't equip clothes, nor use the preset marker/animations for chairs, beds, stools, and other interactive assets that pose the entity. There are no feral ghouls in Fallout 1 or 2.
  
  And Typhon tells it like it is:
  
  

 

[FlukeboxHero]

Okay, that makes sense.
Then it may actually be easier to have them as a Ghoul archetype, since there is one way they showed up. Same with the super mutants.
Here's a mock up of the Archetype sheets (art will change... eventually...)

 

[Gizmojunk]

since there is one way they showed up.

I (personally) consider it canon (it's in the games), but it's not Bethesda's canon, and is still debated among fans and even the Interplay devs themselves hadn't been unanimous about it. Later work by black Isle on Van Buran would seem to contradict it totally.