In the designer's notes for Superworld 1st edition, Steve Perrin wrote that he
originally intended to have three types of hero/villain, acrobat, inventor, and
superhuman. Each would get points to purchase powers based on a stat and
a multiplier: acrobats would get DEX x 5 points, inventors INT x 5 points, and
true superhumans get POW x 5 points. He discarded the idea after
considering characters like Batman, who is both an acrobat and an inventor,
and went with build points equal to the total of the character's seven
characteristics (STR, CON, etc.).
I think you could do a variation of his original idea that has some merits:
1. Players roll stats as normal (2D6+6 for Superworld).
2. Characters have a total multiplier of 7, which can be apportioned out
to their characteristics as the player desires. So a player wishing to
make a mentalist might use all 7 multipliers on his character's INT score
(INT x 7 points). An inventor/acrobat might use DEX x 4 + INT x 3 (4 +
3 = 7), etc.
There would be different types of characters based on different stats:
STR: strongmen, warriors
CON: bricks, mutants
SIZ: giants/bricks
INT: inventors, mentalists
POW: magicians, those with innate powers
DEX: acrobats, speedsters
APP: illusionists, controllers
Players could be given the option to choose any power they can describe as
appropriate to their character concepts (effects based powers), or the GM
may wish to come up with lists of powers that are available to the different
character types (with or without some overlap of availability among types).
Michael (and his two cents)