One of the noticeable things with WFRP 2ed is that characteristics can get a little high. At their peak, a human can be base 40% + 40% = 80% add skills to this and you are talking 100%, add bonuses…
Not so much a problem early on, but later on the bonuses add up. And as a GM making high level NPCs they add up early. Comparing these stats to many mponsters makes PC characteristics godlike in nature.
So, having played Deathwatch and seeing that all the 40k iterations of the system cap attributes at +20% has got me thinking… That’s normally dangerous
. Also I have drawn inspiration from some modifications of Andy Law.
My goal here is to not have to change any of the career templates in the book but to flatten out the return on characteristics.
Step 1: When interpreting the careers the % bonuses should be converted to numbr of advances. Do this by dividing the +XX% by 5. Eg. 15% = 3.
Step 2: Advance as normal - with returns as follows:
Advances % increase MOS increase
1-3 +5% -
4-6 +2% +1 (champion)
7+* +1% +2 (hero)
* Max is normally 40% or 8
So the first 3 advances taken in an characteristic follow the normal rules.
The forth to sixth only give 2%, but any tests under that characteristic return a +1 margin of success to the role. Over 7 advances nets a 1% increase, but the MOS bonus increases to +2 (non-cumulative).
Additionally this should be paired with skills.
Skill taken Skill bonus MOS increase
None half char -
1 char -
2 char +10 -
3 char +5 -
4 char +2 +1 (Adept)
5 char +1 +2 (Master)
Under this skill system skills can be taken an extra forth and fifth time.
Total bonuses:
40% + 23% = 63% (+2 MOS); +18% skill = 81% (+4 MOS)
To some degree characters under this system will be more powerful given the MOS bonuses. But it takes a lot longer to get there and the benefits take longer to max out as the bonuses slow. Also you can't peak out over 100% as easy. I would pair this with career repetition and my more lenient career exit costs. You could drop off those last two skill bonuses but I really like the idea of them. Without them it would be 78% + 2 MOS.
Talents would remain unchanged. So there 10% bonuses would be more valuable.
This is early thinking on this and not all my thoughts. But it gets them down for me to think about.
