Characters need 8 hours of sleep to recover attribute damage or soul drain. They lose a grade of fatigued for every hour of sleep.

As far as staying up, I don't think there are specific penalties.  I'd say a character who isn't getting at least 5 hours of sleep a night on average is going to be taking some extra stress damage. 

Apparently the record for staying awake is 11 days. I'm tempted to say that after 12 hours of being awake, 1 point of stress per hour is appropriate.  Maybe call for a saving throw versus stress damage every 12 hours.  Even if you miss the first five saves, you're still able to stay up 3 days.

If Mythbusters is to be believed, catnaps make it easier to stay alert at least for a day or two.  I guess the real question is why are the players not sleeping?  If it's a heroic reason, let them stay up for a week and only make saves/resolve checks when it's important.  If they're just being silly pile the stress damage on until they run for the covers.

You could almost iterate through the types and their immunities to come up with possibilities for these:

Proficiency: Ghosthunter: You may convert your melee and unarmed attacks to force with no penalty or damage halving.  Having the forte in this proficiency grants you a +1 bonus on attack checks against spirits.

I'm iffy about that.  I'd have less issue with it as a trick because of the built in 1 trick per attack limitation.  Why aren't these tricks?  

Proficiency Gatecrasher: At the start of your move, you may move through an object with a damage save bonus less than half your Strength/Fitness score. Having the forte in this proficiency lets you end your move in the same way.

Want to be the Kool Aid Man?  Again, there's an equivalent move trick possible.

Proficiency Vial Master: You may apply a vial to poisonous weapons. Having the forte in this proficiency lets you apply vials and poisons as part of a standard move.

Ok, it would be a bit troublesome to script that as a trick.  

I started out wanting an anti-undead holy water trick but there isn't any holy water or a satisfying way to make it.  So I made it work with vials.  Weather vials are odd on weapons but killing a guy and instantly raising him as a zombie with an Animating vial more than makes up for it.  All the rest work just fine with the trick and are appropriate for weapon use.
 

I guess most of the non-trick, non-stance pieces of weapon BMS chains would fit in here perhaps with appropriate gating. You just need a general name for something that isn't a trick, stance or weapon proficiency.  Technique? knack?

On the Monster Hunter, couldn't you replace the Studies with a proficiency equivalent, thereby keeping Interests as nearly pure narrative tools?  Maybe called a quarry? X hunter sounds better but hunter is used elsewhere.

Quarry: Pick one PC or monster Species. You gain a +1 on attack checks targeting that Species.

Most Monster Hunters are going to have more proficiencies than Interests.  You might need to allow the proficiency to count as a Study for knowledge checks about the species but I already do that with weapon proficiencies and fighting techniques.

If you're going this route, you could flip the whole bit around and make the sneak attack verbiage depend on the attack check bonus, which makes a kind of sense.  You should know how to fight something before you start ferreting out its weaknesses:

Technique: Precision Damage. Your sneak attacks always affect your Quarries.

It's harder to get the first one this way, but easier for the guy who wants to sneak attack everything.

The Edgemaster art has blades that don't look like they retract on her forearms.  It could also represent a particularly spiky armor/exoskeleton for an unborn. 

I'm trying to think of popular examples.  Plenty of Transformers (80's style) had non-retractable guns on their arms but I'm blanking on the one with the spiky forearms.  Maybe a Dinobot?

I'd make the baseline be an always out weapon and assume it's always readied in the manner of a natural attack.  Adding the Unborn weapon craftsmanship would make a retractable, potentially concealable weapon that required a handle item action to deploy.

Bastard swords, throwing spears, and tower shields make for odd character shapes but they don't really cause any mechanical issues.  I'm tempted to say that an integrated tower shield is a better deal than Agile Defense but the guy with Agile Defense can always buy a tower shield.

I don't know.  I always sense a bit of weirdness when character options interact with gear but I don't think it breaks anything here.

Hmm. Natural attacks are harder to upgrade but can't be broken or taken away and have the ability to scale to quite a boatload of damage.  Integrated weapons are easier to upgrade and can't be taken away but can be broken, coming back with the same upgrades (?) Ritual weapons are easiest to upgrade and can be taken away or broken but come back sans upgrades.

I think they're fairly close balance wise.  I almost think that Bite should be more expensive than other natural attacks because not only does it have decent damage but it has that crazy threat range.

Optionally, you could apply the feat to the mount's current riding gear.  You're definitely using the riding gear when you make a ride check.

Assuming you want something that works when you'd eat it and not +3 demonbane breadsticks, you're paying rep for something that's fairly short duration.  I'd look at favors close to the essences and charms you have in mind and proceed from there.

Most of the feat/skill/blessing type favors are adventure long so you might reduce costs below that for something that lasts a few scenes or a session.  How many sessions do your adventures run?

It seems cleaner to allow the cook who knows charms to simply use that as a justification for grabbing favors at camp. 

Then again, it's usually more fun to get a little dirty and come up with something new.

So Class skills are advice only?  There's no restrictions based on them?

If so, good.

Since this is New Pie, you might want to take a look at Morgenstern's environmental hazards for heat and cold.  Environmental sealing might be a good place to call out his corresponding protections.

These look just fine.  I don't see any crashes but I tend to mix and match options pretty indiscriminately anyway.

Footprints only need to be given with giganormous.  If the character doesn't end up large, we know what their footprint is.  If you have two larges, you take the larger footprint in either direction.

I've always taken the names with a grain of salt.  Soldier is a fighty guy.  Corsair is an intimidating guy who knows something about boats.  Plenty of people use Sorcerer for the extra species feat with characters who are definitely not sorcerers.

I'm ok with saying that pech drake isn't the child of a halfling and a dragon but just a very small drake.  If that's a leap too far, I'll rename pech to miniature.

[The Mammoth Hunters]

Setting idea

The Mammoth Hunters

Circa 30,000 years ago, Ice age Europe.  Summers are short and chilled.  Winters are long and deadly.  The players are the hunting party for a group of humans barely surviving at all.  It is their task to feed the village by hunting the ice age beasts and the occasional monster out of legend.  Other tribes exist, and the cannibalistic wildmen haunt the hills.  There is no money, no farm, no merchant to bring goods.  Bringing down a rabbit will feed you for a day but you'll need bigger game to haul meat back home.  A mammoth would not only provide a feast but also barter goods. 

Having mighty hunters bringing in the spoils means it's easier for people in your tribe to find good mates.  You can attract people with skills that help the hunters.  A happy well-fed tribe is a great boon to the hunters themselves.  Conversely, a starving village strains its hunters.  Disease is rampant, little support is given, people marry into other tribes.  The hunters find themselves without a safe home, easy prey for beasts or worse.

The game idea

The central idea is using the Raw Materials rules in chapter seven on animal corpses.  Instead of money, you're getting X silver worth of meat, leather, bone, and antler.  The party can use them immediately to meet their own needs or transfer it into their Stake.  Prudence loses represent rot and loss instead of foolish spending.  The Stake is what feeds your tribe.

Damage saves are more important here than in standard Fantasy Craft.  Wooden spears and bone arrow tips should need to be replaced often.  Food is good for the first week, sickens for the next, and then is too rotten to use.  The characters are always on the verge of starvation and looking for the next kill.  Players should be just this side of wanting to butcher the wild men they just killed.  That level of desperation should be what they have to overcome.

Big kills like mammoths and bulletes don't just provide food, they provide trophies too.  Take these trophies back to the tribe for Reputation.  Skills can help you forage for medicinal plants, or know which seashells to collect for barter.  You might find a flint outcropping that lets you upgrade your weapons or a copper deposit that will make jewelry to attract a shaman.

The tribe itself is treated as a Holding that any player can improve.  The bigger the scale the more benefits but also the more mouths to feed.  Some example "rooms"

Barley field: Beer is on tap! Each session the PCs receive 2 spirits or booze and each time they return to the tribe get a free carousing service.

Salting tent: Prudence is considered 2 higher for determining spoilage.  The cost to feed the tribe drops by 1/4.

Shaman's Hut:  Having a shaman allows the production of certain magic items given materials like copper or flint.

Story Tent: Tales of daring inspire some tribesmen to provide more help.  Once per session, a number of Apprentices arrive to provide help as if they were Followers.

Disease and other problems are complications of the tribe.  The PCs may need to find antidotes or get certain animal parts to cure the disease.  Tribesmen can be kidnapped by other tribes, forcing the PCs to rescue them or pay a ransom of leather and ivory.

It's an idea, anyway.

Ug. I'm not into letting people throw away points on options that cancel each other out or otherwise do the wonky. Easier to just use the requirements to avoid contradictory interactions.

I didn't think of this when I wrote it but the Giant-Blood feat already has the solution to this

Runt: Your size drops one category, to a minimum of small.  If this option would make you a size other than Small, your Defense rises by 2. (0) maybe 1?
Giganormous: Your size increases one category.  If this option would make you a size larger than Large, you stay Large and your Reach increases by 1. (1.5)

So if you take a talent that makes you a Runt, you become small.  If you then take a specialty that makes you Giganormous, you become Medium and get the consolation prize.  Giganormous twice is essentially what standard giants get.

I don't see any reason why this couldn't be taken as a talent or a specialty.

That's true mostly because Giant's don't have attribute modifiers. You're still better off drawing a clear line that works for all cases than to let as comparative fluke dictate procedure .

It works for the Drake-a-like I posted too.  The ones with extreme ability modifiers may take more work.

There's some work making this balanced but I think there's some gold here.

Its promising. I'm almost done with all 11 of the non-humans in the Book. Should be posting file/thread shortly.

Once this is worked out, I'll work up some quickstart origins probably using the roles mentioned earlier.  I do kind of like the Species feat one I posted though.

I think a piece of Fantasy Craft philosophy has been that the order options are taken in shouldn't affect the final outcome.  I'd definitely refund any interests when they lose the drawback.

I'm a bit confused on what the actual pattern is for a complete origin here.

I think it's:

2 Feats (1 1pt and your 1rst level feat)
7 pt Talent
6 pt Specialty

Is that it?

[Jotun (Specialty)]

Oh my but the guidance that has to be written into doing these non-trivial... but they can be made to work .

Jotun (Specialty)
  You are a big’un, aren’t ya?
  Requirement: You must have choosen a Talent to take this Specialty. You may not have chosen a Talent that changes your Size-category or Reach.

I notice you're not calling out Type here.  Intentional or just because these guys are Folk?

What if you simply let them choose between the size options of their talent and specialty?  A Hardy Giant could be a Large guy with a high constitution, or he could be a half giant who's still Medium but can take feats as either a giant or a human.  Yes, it involves a player deciding to give up a potentially positive size modifier but it's not that much worse than a player who decides not to trample.

  Heritage (Giant): Your species is Giant for all prerequisites, requirements, and targeting.

• Suggested Feats: Elemental Heritage or Hurled Basics.
• Gianormous: You Size-category becomes Large (2×2) and your reach becomes 2. Your Wounds are equal to your Consitution × 1.5. (1.5)
• Great Strides: Your base speed increases by +20 ft. (2)
• Hurled Proficiency: You gain the Hurled proficiency. (1)
• Sterner Stuff: The keen quality of all attacks against you is reduced by 4. (.5)
• Trample: You gain the Trample II natural attack. (1)

I don't see any reason why this couldn't be taken as a talent or a specialty.  Some of the combos could get a bit weird (Giant Dwarf anyone? What size is a Giant Goblin?) and there's probably a bit of a mine field where non-folk types are concerned but I think it could be useful. Instead of one from Column A and one from Column B, it's just pick two.

Flamespitter

• Heritage (Drake): Your species is Drake for all prerequisites, requirements, and targeting.
• Suggested Feats: Any Drake species feat.
• Beast: You lacks hands and can’t take actions requiring fine manipulation of objects. Armor, handheld gear, and non-natural weapons must be specifically modified for your use before you can ready them. (-2)
• Breath Weapon: As a full action, you may breath fire in a 20' line, inflicting 2d8+Con modifier damage. (2)
• Cold-Blooded: You require only one-quarter of the amount of food that a warm-blooded character your size does to survive. However, you suffer 1 additional point of damage per die from cold and are sickened for a number of rounds equal to one-half the cold damage taken. If you are suffering continuous cold damage – such as from the environment – you are sickened until escaping the source of the damage. (-0.5)
• Gianormous: Your Size-category becomes Large (2×3) and your reach becomes 2. Your Wounds are equal to your Consitution × 1.5. (1.5)
• Inquisitive Mind: You gain 2 additional Interests (see page 61). (1)
• Reviled: The disposition of non-Drake bystanders and enemies decreases by 10. (-1)
• Tooth and Claw: You receive the Bite II and Claw II Natural Attacks. (2)
• Winged Flight 60ft: While aloft you’re considered 1 Size larger for Blend, & Sneak checks and Defense. Your error range with attacks and Spellcasting checks increases by 2 or 4 while hovering. (3)

I could see this being useful in either slot, specialty or talent.  Couple notes:

• I think there's some wonkiness at both ends of the Winged Flight.  There's no 40' beast and 75' seems a bit excessive.
• Mix this with a human talent for the Draconic Bloodline type Sorcerer archetype without the class restriction. Still mixes pretty well with Draconic Heritage/Legacy.
• A Halfling Flamespitter who becomes small is a Psuedodragon or Faerie Dragon.
• A Saurian Flamespitter is the D&D classic Dragonguy - Medium but with all the dragon talents.

There's some work making this balanced but I think there's some gold here.

See, this is why I like the idea of "You have a budget of 14 points to build your origin, less options specifically required of a given non-human"

And I have no issue with that except that it didn't really solve the original problems of time and paralysis. 

So, pick a couple races and stat them up.  Humans are just 14 points of freedom.  How do you handle the Goblin's extra feat?  What does the Unborn look like?  That would be interesting to see.

This isn't quite on topic but....

Ok, we all love the name game that Origins let you play.  Adjective + Noun.  Neat.

But some adjectives are also nouns.  You can be a Cunning Barbarian or a Savage Bard but you can't be a Cunning Savage.  Admittedly, it would be a bit of work to separate out but it doesn't seem like its much more of a step than separating the feat from the specialty.  You don't want them to appear twice (No Savage Savage) but it would be nice.

Savage is probably the best example, but Wise and Educated work too.  Almost any of them work if you append "Human" at the rear instead of the beginning.  A Gifted Industrious Human doesn't sound bad.  A couple Talents have good noun forms too.  What about a Stern Crusader or a Gifted Educator?  A Wise Vigilant?

Further, the same thing applies to species.  It would be cool if I could be an Unpredictable Goblin, a Ruthless Dwarf or a Stern Giant.

For a species or an appropriate talent, you'd have a section that says "This talent may be taken as a specialty by dropping the Base speed, Type, and Ability and picking up a 3 point feat and these abilities."  Even if it was just done for species, it would be interesting.
 

There are of course a couple caveats.  It's complex and potentially confusing.  You may be able to get option combinations that you couldn't normally get.  I don't think this is a real problem because I know I haven't been shy about mixing options from the talent and specialty pages and no one's complained about explosions so far.  There's also the issue of species and talents that pay different things for their ability adjustments as well as the Goblin that gets Ambush basics.  What happens to him?

Since none of the talents pay anything for their type and size (Is there a Corn-fed in FC?) I think this works:

Goblin as a Specialty
[ 0]   You become a Small Folk, Reach 1
[ 1]   Bonus Feat: Ambush Basics
[ 1]   Agile Defense
[ 2]   Camouflage(Underground)
[ 1.5] Darkvision II
[ 0.5] Lean Season
[ -1]  Light-Sensitive
[ 2]   Tenacious Spirit

•     Special: You may trade this specialty's feat and Agile Defense for any species feat you meet the requirements for.

Giant
[ 2] You become a Large Folk, Reach 2
[ 2] Bonus Feat: Any Species Feat
[ 1] Hurled Proficiency
[ 1] Improved Stability
[ 1] Natural Attack: Trample I

( I chose to drop sterner stuff and speed rather than add a balancing penalty)

Dwarf
[ 2] Bonus Feat: Any Species Feat
[ 1] Darkvision I
[ 1] Enlightened Crafting
[ 1] Improved Stability
[ 1] Iron Gut
[ 1] Odd Jobs
[-1] Restricted Actions
[ 1] Thick Hide 2


Obviously, you can't take a species in both slots.  Humans need a note that unless their talent says otherwise, they are Medium Folk, Reach 1 with Base Speed 30.

I don't know.  I might work up the rest of the species as specialties tomorrow.  If flavor is your thing and you don't mind the extra complexity, this may have legs.