I kinda cheated and went with the "Race as Character Class" methodology. Not that Savage Worlds has Character classes per se. I just mean I came up with a single concept per non-Human Race. So all my Wood Elves are archers, all my Sun Elves are mages, etc. For Humans I came up with 4 for a total of 10 basic character concepts. For each of those I have a common block of stats and a short list of Edges and Hindrances that would work well with the concept.
I located art to serve as character portraits for 2 male and 2 female versions of each concept. I made choices on Edges, Hindrances, and Gear purchases inspired by the character art. At the end of this process I had 40 pre-generated characters for my 8 players to choose from. For the most part they never noticed that they are really only dealing with slight variations on 10 themes.
I named each character using the WotC Character Name Generator and wrote up a brief blurb on the personalities and combat strategies for everyone (which my players ignore for the most part, but at least they've got the option of taking some guidance in role playing and combat situations).
Basic Character Creation Guidelines
- Attributes start at d4
- 5 Attribute points
- 15 Skill points
- Take up to 4 points of Hindrances
- 2 Hindrance points buys an Edge or Attribute point
- 2 Hindrance points buys a Skill point or doubles starting funds
- $1000 starting funds
The Character Concepts
Moon Elf Assassin
Stats
Agility D8
Fighting D8
Lockpicking 0
Shooting D8
Stealth D8
Smarts D6
Healing 0
Notice D6
Taunt D6
Spirit D6
Intimidation D6
Persuasion 0
Strength D6
Vigor D6
Charisma -2
Pace 10
Parry 6
Toughness 5
Potential Edges
Acrobat, Assassin, Fleet Footed, Florentine, Rich, Filthy Rich, Strong Willed
Potential Hindrances
Anemic, Arrogant, Big Mouth, Mean, Overconfident, Stubborn, Ugly, Vengeful, Wanted
Gear
$1000
Powers
Wall Walker (racial ability)
Sun Elf Mage
Stats
Agility D6
Fighting D8
Lockpicking 0
Shooting D4
Stealth D4
Smarts D6
Healing 0
Notice D4
Taunt 0
Spirit D8
Intimidation D6
Persuasion D6
Magic D10
Strength D4
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 6
Toughness 4
Potential Edges
Adept, Arcane Background, Arcane Resistance, Brawny, Common Bond, Nobel
Potential Hindrances
Anemic, Cautious, Clueless, Curious, Pacifist, Vow
Gear
$1000
Powers
Detect/Conceal Arcana (free action), Elemental Manipulation (free action)
Flight (racial ability)
Pick 3 from: Armor, Blind, Bolt, Boost/Lower Trait, Burrow, Confusion, Deflection, Entangle, Environmental Protection, Fear, Healing, Light/Obscure, Smite, Speed, Stun, Succor, Summon Ally
Power Points 20
Wood Elf Marksman
Stats
Agility D8
Fighting D8
Lockpicking 0
Shooting D8
Stealth D8
Smarts D8
Healing D8
Notice D8
Taunt 0
Spirit D4
Intimidation 0
Persuasion 0
Strength D4
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 6
Toughness 5
Potential Edges
Level Headed (racial edge), Alertness, Brawny, Danger Sense, Double Shot, Steady Hands,
Potential Hindrances
Code of Honor, Curious, Loyal, Quirk (Annoyingly chipper, Vegetarian, Collects interesting rocks, Always barefoot), Poverty
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Hill Dwarf Treasure Hunter
Stats
Agility D6
Fighting D6
Lockpicking D8
Shooting D4
Stealth D4
Smarts D6
Healing D4
Notice D8
Taunt D6
Spirit D6
Intimidation D6
Persuasion 0
Strength D6
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 5
Parry 5
Toughness 5
Potential Edges
Artifact Hunter (Racial Edge), Alertness (Racial Edge)
Brawny, Danger Sense, Scavenger, Strong Willed
Potential Hindrances
Bloodthirsty, Cautious, Code of Honor, Loyal, Stubborn
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Mountain Dwarf Merchant
Stats
Agility D6
Fighting D8
Lockpicking 0
Shooting 0
Stealth D4
Smarts D6
Healing D10
Notice D4
Taunt D4
Spirit D8
Intimidation D4
Persuasion D8
Strength D6
Vigor D6
Charisma 2
Pace 5
Parry 6
Toughness 5
Potential Edges
Arcane Resistance, Improved Arcane Resistance, Attractive, Very Attractive,
Charismatic, Connections, Healer, Nobel,
Potential Hindrances
Cautious, Code of Honor, Hard of Hearing, Overconfident
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Ice Dwarf Tank
Stats
Agility D6
Fighting D12
Lockpicking 0
Shooting D6
Stealth D4
Smarts D4
Healing D4
Notice D4
Taunt D4
Spirit D4
Intimidation D4
Persuasion 0
Strength D8
Vigor D8
Charisma 0
Pace 5
Parry 8
Toughness 7 (+1 racial bonus)
Potential Edges
Brawny, Nerves of Steel, Sweep, Trademark Weapon
Potential Hindrances
All Thumbs, Arrogant, Bloodthirsty, Clueless, Heroic, Outsider, Poverty, Ugly
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Human Martial Artist
Stats
Agility D8
Fighting D12
Lockpicking 0
Shooting 0
Stealth D8
Smarts D4
Healing D4
Notice D4
Taunt 0
Spirit D6
Intimidation 0
Persuasion D6
Strength D6
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 8
Toughness 5
Potential Edges
Acrobat, Ambidextrous, Brawny, Extraction, First Strike, Florentine, Martial Artist, Quick, Sweep, Two-Fisted (If using Hindrance points to raise Strength, can also take Brawler)
Potential Hindrances
All Thumbs, Arrogant, Bad Eyes, Coe of Honor, Death Wish, Heroic, Loyal, Pacifist, Poverty, Wanted
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Human Mage
Stats
Agility D4
Fighting D6
Lockpicking 0
Shooting 0
Stealth D4
Smarts D10
Healing D6
Notice D8
Taunt D6
Magic D10
Spirit D6
Intimidation 0
Persuasion 0
Strength D4
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 0
Toughness 0
Potential Edges
Arcane Background
Level Headed, New Power, Power Points, Wizard
Potential Hindrances
Anemic, Arrogant, Cautious, Curious, Mean, Overconfident, Phobia, Quirk
Gear
$1000
Powers
Detect/Conceal Arcana (free action), Elemental Manipulation (free action)
Pick 3 from: Armor, Blind, Bolt, Boost/Lower Trait, Burrow, Burst, Confusion, Darksight, Deflection, Entangle, Environmental Protection, Fear, Healing, Light/Obscure, Smite, Speed, Stun, Succor, Summon Ally
Power Points 10
Human Ranger
Stats
Agility D8
Fighting D6
Lockpicking D6
Shooting D6
Stealth D6
Smarts D6
Healing D6
Notice D6
Taunt D6
Spirit D6
Intimidation D6
Persuasion D6
Strength D6
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 0
Toughness 0
Potential Edges
Alertness, Ambidextrous, Brawny, Danger Sense, Extraction, First Strike, Fleet Footed, Quick, Two-Fisted,
Potential Hindrances
Clueless, Code of Honor, Heroic, Illiterate, Loyal, Outsider, Phobia, Poverty, Quirk, Stubborn
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Human Mercenary
Stats
Agility D8*
Fighting D8
Lockpicking D4
Shooting D8
Stealth D4
Smarts D6
Healing D4
Notice D6
Taunt D4
Spirit D6
Intimidation D4
Persuasion D6
Strength D8*
Vigor D6
Charisma 0
Pace 6
Parry 0
Toughness 0
Potential Edges
Brawny, Florentine, Quick, Rich, Sweep
Potential Hindrances
Arrogant, Big Mouth, Code of Honor, Greedy, Heroic, Overconfident, Quirk, Stubborn
Gear
$1000
Powers
None
Character Sheets
I used the character art as a background image and styled the various stat blocks and normal character sheet info into semi-transparent blocks as a web page. Then I converted these to PDF using Firefox (which allows me to include background images when printing, including printing to PDF).
If I've properly figured out how to share stuff on Google Drive you can see an example character sheet. This happens to be the character played by my son, the only magic user chosen.