You could consider Part Families. Your Part Family Template part is the driving part from which multiple plates are created (Part Family Members). Each member is a different size, controlled by the Part Family Template's Spreadsheet, but the pattern is driven by the geometry in the Part Family Template. If you ever need to update the pattern in the master template (and hence the members) you simply open the spreadsheet and update the members. Part Family Members are read only. Their content is defined exclusively by their master Part Family Template.
Regards, Ben