I think there is so much variety already in one body type, and we dont need that amount of character models.
The main difference between the hero sprite and the peasant NPCs is the animation, not the body itself.
I guess that Strong, Thin and Standard bodytypes would be enough. In that case you can use thin model for peasants, with a different walk/run animation, and it would look totally different.
I would also discard Fat, because I don't think many people could be fat in the wasteland, just rich people like Mordino.
Don't forget, that animations hold skeleton proportions, so I could create a new animation for the standard character that makes his shoulders thinner, or his head twice as big, like some kind of FEV mutation, only by changing the animation. In fact, what I am doing with female animations is quite similar. If I use one of the converted animations into the male model, he would become smaller, even if the model is still the same.
About these female animation conversion, for those who are curious, here's what I have to do:
First, load the file for the male animation. Then select the skeleton and load the female structure into it. And finally play the animation to see what I have to correct. Normally it is keeping her feet on the ground, because they are misplaced after the conversion. And also manually create a transition between the action and the female pose, so that she begins and ends in the idle position, which differs from the original male animation. After that exporting is very easy.
It's not difficult, just requires some time to fix those things I mentioned. So far I have 4 of 19
But I'll be working on them this week.
Thanks for your support.
Edit: a small comparison of animation FPS. First 13FPS ,then 30FPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unkIE09v1Dg