"Suggested Layouts" vs. Templates

[#1]

I was wondering if this concept every came up before. In our application, we would like to have as few templates as possible (potentially, even 1 or 2). However, we would like to create the concept of "suggested layouts" (think variations of a content fragment) which would essentially be one template, but with multiple 'Initial Content' layouts, so a content producer could choose a layout and have it prefilled with a set of components similar to how they intend to author the page.

Can this be done without having to create a template for each one of the 'Layouts" or do we simply have the templates just as frameworks for the Initial Content?

Thanks!

[#2]

Yes, we are using editable templates derived from the AEM v2 core page component. I'll try and give the scenario step by step:

1. Content producer chooses "Create > Page"
2. They are presented with the different "Layout" options to choose from
   1. Would these just be different templates that contain unique "Initial Content?"
   2. They would all then need to have a superType of the application base page component?
3. The resulting page would be of the base page template, containing the Initial Content of the layout they chose