Invocation

Divine Necromancer ():
 The first draft of the isekai-style litRPG that I swore to myself I would never write and am for some reason still putting on this list. Tl;dr is that Jay Carter has died but been shunted off to another world as a divine apology for him dying before his time.
The Lost Sea ():
 Tl;dr: Thalassophobic cosmic horror story about a group of deep-sea marine biologists studying a cave-surrounded lost sea around the bottom of the Abyssopelagic Zone of the ocean.
Again ()
 Tl;dr:  A team of superheroes has never lost a battle. Their success rests entirely on a single member, whose power is to reverse himself through time and who uses that to prevent catastrophic defeat. But recently, everything they've been doing has been lifelessly rote, as though they've done this dozens of times.
Broken Crown ():
 This is just a vote for me to continue focusing on my Patreon story
Inventory Specialist ():
 Draft 3 of a litRPG where the main character gets the lame power of being able to access a dimensional space instead of a cool power like Kinetomancy or any of the various Pyromancers running around.

So the issue with the minispikes, the ones that would let people live after they'd been spiked, was that there wasn't enough Investiture in it to make someone an Allomancer permanently. But if you could line up enough people with sufficient closeness of the same Metalborn potential until they equal normal Allomancer or Feruchemist levels of Investiture, you might be able to take a massive length of wire (thick enough to not shatter and having chosen the bindpoint very carefully to not run any risks) through every single one of the people either in sequence or even at the same time and into a bindpoint on someone at the end of the chain to grant them full Allomantic or Feruchemical capacity based solely on the outcroppings of Metalborn potential in an otherwise-ordinary person.
Forget about killing people or getting nothing sufficient out of it, using wires or needles or other thin or long pieces of metal and that discovery about nonlethal spikes and hopefully willing people, you'd probably be able to get a better charge easier than flat-out killing people. I don't know if it would let you get around the thing Khriss mentions about Era 2 Scadrians not being able to handle the same amount of spikes as an Era 1 person (something about Ruin pulling so many shenanigans causing a higher degree of instability in everyone's spiritwebs or something, but I think there's more to it than that), but it could maybe circumvent the fact that modern Hermalurgists apparently can't Compound. Maybe if you're giving both powers at once or if both are given freely (or both of those are true for both powers), Compounding becomes possible due to lingering Intent. Or maybe it's something else and this won't help that at all.

There are three main factors in a creating a character within the Archetype system: the titular Archetype, the Method, and the Motivation. These may not necessarily remain the same through the entire course of a character's life and in fact shouldn't. As part of leveling up and as your character grows, there will be opportunities to change, fuse, and otherwise allow the growth of your character to shine.
There are five Archetypes present by default within this system, though any Table Master (or TM) is naturally allowed to mix those up and create new ones for specific settings and/or purposes. Those five are Wayfarer (a scouting role within the party), Skirmisher (the front lines, designed to be able to rush across battlefields wherever necessary), Shield (the party's protector), Hammer (the backbone of the party's strength), and the Caller (a versatile role, able to use otherworldly forces to fill in the gaps of the party). Each Archetype represents a core utility in an adventuring party, so it is in the best interest of a table to have each represented, especially the core Archetypes of Shield, Hammer, and Caller. By themselves, these five roles are somewhat underwhelming. Their true utility begins to shine when combined with the second aspect of a character: the Method.
A Method is exactly what it sounds like. It's how your character enacts their Archetype. A Caller sworn to a god or goddess would have their Method as either the deity in question or as the tenets of that deity's worship, depending on the deity and the Caller themselves. A Hammer or Skirmisher could choose the weapon category of their choice if they don't anticipate that changing, or a skill or statistic if they're not quite sure about that yet. A Hammer leaning into Stability would be much different than one focusing on pure Power. A Skirmisher that has decided to prioritize Speed would be able to deal slightly less damage than one who chooses their Method to be Adaptability, though a Speed Skirmisher would naturally be able to move more in a single turn than the latter. Each combination has a different strength that swaps off with a weakness. A Wayfarer using Perception as their Method could very rightly earn the name Eagle-Eye, where one who brings Stability to the forefront would be useful for scouting incursions from other planes of existence.
The final portion of your character's foundation is their Motivation. This is their goal. Did they lose their family and seek to hunt down their killers and avenge them? Are they looking for immortality? Do they want to find lost secrets of magic? It's a key part to the character, tying together their backstory and the current situation. Unlike the other two aspects of character creation, this one is free to be kept secret and changed anytime as a character develops, instead of being locked to certain milestones.
Speaking of that. Every five levels, a Method can either deepen or broaden, growing to encompass new horizons your character is developing (or attempting to develop) or allowing them to take the use of their current Method to new heights. Deepening is especially applicable to those who choose a weapon category as their Method, allowing to narrow from, say, Blunt Weapons to Hammers to a specific magical hammer they've managed to pick up and bond at some point in their first ten levels that they can continue their bonding process with, continually eking out new aspects of its powers. Broadening goes the other way. To use a Caller example, a Caller who has sworn to one god or goddess can widen their focus to another deity entirely, forming a growing pantheon that can be either an established one or a personal one. Not all gods will agree to be bound to someone who has sworn to certain other gods, however. Even the heavens hold grudges.
This can go the other way as well. Broadening to focus on more weapons families on each milestone can lead to a jack-of-all-trades situation. Deepening a bond to one god can lead to better treatment within their church (if they have a church to speak of) or a more potent suite of powers.
Similarly, Archetypes advance every ten levels. This can either be with a second Archetype, whose powers will gradually merge with the first to form something similar to a prestige Archetype (examples will come later, along with a full list of unique names for several of the common base level Archetype + Method combinations), or by doubling down on your first Archetype (again, specifics will come later).

The list of skills is theoretically infinite and infinitely customizable as well. At level one, you will get five of your choice and five from your Archetype, Method, and Motive together. Generally, this is two from your Archetype, one from your Method, and two from your Motive (both of which should relate either to your character's backstory or their goals). A list of examples of the basic skills that you can select from will be included later, but it includes things like Herb Lore, Animal Tracking, and even (if you're playing that kind of character) Torture. There is a finite list of things for the Archetype-given skills, and they are what will help distinguish your style of play from an otherwise-identical character build. Those lists will also be later, but include skills such as Spellshaping (for Callers), Dodging (for Skirmishers), and Onslaught (for Hammers).
Each of these ten skills will start with a +1 bonus when you roll things for that skill.
New skills can be acquired when your TM deems your character has become familiar enough with the processes that they would have an advantage over the average person trying to do something relating to that skill. Something that's important to remember is that just because you do not have a bonus to a skill, that does not mean you can't roll to try it. It just means you're about as good as the average adult would be at that skill.
Just as there are positive bonuses for skills, certain backstory elements, magical effects, and general character details can deliver negative bonuses to certain things. Someone blind in one eye will likely have a negative score to a Visual Aiming skill. It's important for a character to have flaws, after all, or they wouldn't have anything to overcome.
And you can overcome negative skill modifiers. For example, our friend the depth-perception-challenged archer could gain another sense to help him aim. Windsense to allow him to sense how the arrow will fly maybe, or a better sense of smell to locate enemies. But those lead into further growth for character and campaign alike, as advantages and disadvantages become clear.
It is highly recommended that characters start with at least one negative modifier in anything from Anger Management (if you want a hotheaded character) to Risk Assessment (if you want to play someone with a healthy dose of paranoia). It's not required, but giving your character a trait can help the campaign feel more real and the character feel more lively.

Turns are both incredibly simple and devilishly complex within Archetype's structure. A character starts with one Act every turn. This is universal at the lower levels, for characters, enemies, and any poor NPCs that have found their way into combat. There is no need to fear being blitzed by an enemy in one turn unless you've truly wandered into some area you shouldn't be. (Side note: TMs. I'm not saying not to do this. I'm not saying this is a bad idea. But do not do this without talking about it with your table first. They deserve a warning and the chance to know about that kind of thing being a potential.)
Back on topic, every seven levels, right as things begin to become constrictive within your current amount of Acts, you get another. The further you grow, the more things take multiple Acts to execute. Some fifteenth-tier spells (that's the peak of a dedicated spellcaster's access, all the way up at level 50!) take longer to string together and some combats at lower levels last. It's just how things go when you're fighting on that level. Many, many campaigns will not last long enough to get to that level, but it's always there for those of you who want to fight gods and the kind of entity that preys on gods.
Each Act is fairly simple. You can deal one strike's worth of damage with whatever weapon you're using with one Act. You can move up to the full value of your Speed statistic in one Act. You can cast a tier one or two spell with one Act. You can Jump a distance up to half your total Speed, Shove someone, Seize someone, or other basic, quick actions in a single Act. When in doubt, ask your TM whether it's feasible or not.
Some extenuating circumstances can make things that are normally one Act worth more. This can include Treacherous Footing, which can halve the distance your Speed will let you cover in one Act, and certain spell effects. If one of these effects makes an action you want to take worth more than the number of Acts you have left, you cannot do those things until you have enough Acts to make it possible. On the flip side of that, some things give you more Acts in a turn. Certain Archetype abilities allow for a replenishment that is more frequent than the overnight recovery that's typical, and some spells will allow for extra Acts or the trading of unused Acts between caster and subject.
For those of you curious how self-made spells and unique combinations will interact with this system, there will be a further explanation of how to calculate that in the section dedicated to spell creation.

When things really get going at an Archetype table, the dice start to come out. That's where the fun really starts. The base die of an Archetype game is the d10, and more specifically, the 0-9 d10. Compared to the more typical d20 TTRPG setup, there is a higher chance of both success and failure, though a ten-point scale is a fairly intuitive way to rate how successful something has been. Certain effects will require other dice, however, most commonly d8s and d6s, so it's good to have the full suite to hand if possible or a rolling app if not. However, using a d10 also sacrifices some of the nuance of a d20-based system. For this reason, the scale of success or failure for Archetype is not a true ten-point scale, ranging between 15 and -5 (counting bonuses and negatives, the maximum of which is 5 either direction). A -5 and a 15 are both not really options until some of the highest higher levels, since higher stakes means higher chances for minuscule mishaps to snowball into massive mayhem.
For the natural values (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9), a 0 is a catastrophic failure and a 9 is an overwhelming success.
Players, your TM may have events that take place on each of these, either things going hilariously wrong as part of a 0 roll or things ending on the best possible note for a 9. If you don't know, ask!
TMs, if you do this, your negatives shouldn't be "your character dies." These are meant to be funny, not punishing. Having a character trip while trying to sneak up on someone and accidentally alerting the target? Funny. Dying outright because of one bad roll? Not so much. They should also be connected to what's happening, not someone just getting smote by a god or struck by a bolt of lightning out of the blue.
When determining your roll's result, don't forget to add any bonuses you might have. If you're not sure about any bonuses you have, rereading your skills section will help.

There's a lot to armor, so buckle in for a ride. Archetype's armor system works via damage mitigation on a sliding scale. Each style of armor has advantages and disadvantages, but to understand those, we need to talk about damage types.
There are five main types of physical damage: Direct, Blunt, Carving, Catching, and Ranged. Direct is a single point of force concentration, generally including weapons like lances and spears. Blunt damage comes from hammers and maces primarily, but also shield-bashing. Carving is from edged weapons, such as swords and claws. Catching damage is designed to shred, coming from any and all serrated weapons as well as many axes and carnivore teeth. Each of these damage types has different advantages and disadvantages, based mostly in how they interact with armor.
The simplest level of armor does absolutely nothing: normal clothes. Whether it's linen, wool, or sackcloth, it doesn't do a thing to save you from damage.
The next step up is layered cloth armor. This will take a single point of damage off of any of the types of damage, but not anything more.
Beyond that are things like leather and hide, which will generally absorb about d4 of any of the damage types. It can be augmented with metal studs to take off another d2 of damage against any damage type other than Catching. Adding metal actually gives the serration a better foothold to work its magic.
The third true armor level is things like chain shirts, scale mail, and lamellar armor. This is where things begin to get complex as the damage types have noticeably different interactions with armor of this level. As a base, third-level armor mitigates a d6 of damage. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well against Catching (for which it will only do a d6-1 of damage cancellation for the same reason as on the studding in the previous armor category) but works very well against Carving damage (a d4+1).
The second-best level of armor includes a breastplate (just the breastplate) and plated mail, which take away a d8 of damage by default. This level of armor is very good against Catching damage (a d6+1 of damage mitigation), but not very good against Direct damage (a d6-1).
The final mundane armor level is full plate. It's very good against Carving and Catching damage (a d8+1), but not so good against Direct and Blunt (a d8-1 of mitigation).
Shields follow a similar pattern based on the material they're made out of, but where armor is damage mitigation, this is a durability slider. Shields break a lot easier than armor does, and each material has its place on a table with how much it can mitigate per blow and how much durability it has before it becomes unable to absorb any more damage. [Table not present because I can't make the formatting work]

it takes a while for the power of a Shard to completely seep through a Vessel, so Honor could temporarily pull some shenanigans with the power outside the level of thing that would be normally an option, like Vin killing both herself and Ruin in direct opposition to Preservation's Intent.

ArgentSun

Now, I can share the Dawnshard theory I am currently running with, and you can super RAFO it (while also providing a cryptic teasing hint that will frustrate for years?). But before that, thank you for this book. It's not quite Secret History level stuff, but it's fantastic in a very similar way, and I am genuinely happy, and giddy, and also not a small amount of confused

But theory. So, I am thinking that the Dawnshards are Commands in the way "Let there be light" is a command, and the four of them are enough to explain everything. If one of them is Change (something into something else), then other plausible options might be Create (something from nothing), some form of Destroy (something into nothing), and... Stasis? Maintain? Remain? something like that.

Brandon Sanderson

Super RAFO! Nice theory.

trimeta

Ooh, another "identity of the Dawnshards" theory, triggered by OP's "Let there be light" comment: I don't suppose the Dawnshards are in any way related to Maxwell's Equations (of which there are four), which govern electromagnetism? I used to have a t-shirt that said "And God said: <Maxwell's Equations>. And there was light," which is what got me thinking.

Brandon Sanderson

That's a big old RAFO, but mostly because I'm trying to stay tight lipped on the subject of Dawnshards.

LewsTherinTelescope

You've said before that, while the Ten Surges arose due to perception of what things are fundamental forces, there were "seeds" that influenced what people perceived as fundamental. Is knowledge of the Rosharan Shards and Dawnshards the "seed" referenced here?

Brandon Sanderson

The Shards yes, but I wouldn't say the Dawnshards were involved directly--but the Shards were influenced by the Dawnshards, so... It gets muddy.

Yeah I know they're not generally related, but I was deep in theory territory about that alliance having reformed at some point in the intervening time and then progressed further to pull him in there. But honestly I'm not sure if that would have been any more of a satisfying fight than Colgera.
Also I just really like Vaati and wanted to see him in a game again.

the Wind Temple boss being Vaati to the point that I was surprised it wasn't.