Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollonian
How many mechanical effects do the various lifepath systems have? I'm most familiar with Burning Wheel's system, in which each lifepath grants resource points and unlocks traits to be taken; someone who takes Born Noble as their first lifepath has access to traits that a Born Villager doesn't, for example. (They also probably have more resource points, because BW is all about spotlight time over mechanical balance.)
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Central Casting gives out attribute modifiers, skill points (including magic), money modifiers, the occasional one-off weird item, other misc advantages and disadvantages type things, and even some powers, from psi powers through to other very random stuff.
It's possible (though
highly unlikely) that your allegedly human character can start the game with Infravision, for example. You may also have been kidnapped at birth by extra-dimensional Things and raised in another dimension by them, or sprang into existence fully formed with no memory (if you're an elf), or various other odd circumstances - again, highly unlikely. Most people from Central Casting are going to be the child of two surviving parents who were probably married, with some siblings, and a largely mundane history.
I made a character with Heroes Now who was abandoned as a baby and raised in the sewers by rats and then basically given secret special forces (cough ninja cough) training by a mysterious Thanatos-style patron. Which is kind of a critical hit on the weird table.