Sorry, a fighter with an axe and chain and adrenal speed isn't a different build than sword and plate and adrenal strength It's still a weapon and armor = same thing. Those are primary skills. I can make two fighter exactly the same, but instead one uses long sword and another a short sword, and "Look! I have two different and distinct and unique characters" Blah.
DPs in the original rules work great for PRIMARY skills. Secondary skills really flesh out a character as tbigness said
I have to disagree with one point, there is a HUGE difference in a Fighter with Adrenal Speed and one with Adrenal Strength. THe tactics, number of fighters, amount of "movement" available to each one is very different. Attack 2 opponents or double damage to 1? Attack and drop back or bull rush into a wall? Those are two very different styles of game play with a fighter.
The point that was being made is that there were still more than half the total DP available AFTER purchasing those skills. All of those skills, save for Maneuver in Armour are #/#, not #/*. There is a max number per level that can be purchased and that conserves DP for secondary skills. Keep in mind, Body Dev will also max out at some point and those DP will not be spent on that skill any longer. As the PC levels up more DP becomes available to round out the PC further. You cannot be awesome at everything at level one. That takes at least two levels
Seriously, it takes a couple of levels to really start to flesh out a PC. It was one of the main reasons we ended up starting all of our PCs at level 5. But we had plenty of sessions where we started at Level 1. At that level, the Xp bonuses are higher and you level up much faster. There's bonus XP for 1st time encountering being of type "blah blah blah", and Bonus XP for first time kill, first time delivering high crit, so on. Leveling up in RM (RM2 at least) at low levels is pretty quick, and that's just following the simple guideline in ChL&CaL? I forget which book has that chart.
PeterR: You may not be able to do everything at first level but that is what leveling up is all about, letting the character evolve naturally as you grow into the game world.
This is exactly what leveling up is for; adding more flavor. I've always been a fan of and have always encouraged players to use Level 0 (Adolescent level) as the "GM Gift level" or the "freebie level." I've never seen another game system that allowed players to make a Level 0 PC. This is free points in my mind. This is where my friend dumped 20 points into a 5% chance at learning a spell list. This is where you buy the really neat secondary skills that will give your PC an interesting background. This is where you buy a rank in Swimming, Grappling, Rappelling, Brawl, Region Lore, etc. This is where my Cavalier learned Use/Remove Poison, Poison Lore, Poison Perception, Herb Lore, Foraging, Brewing, First Aid, Second Aid. He was the younger of two brothers and at *that* particular point in his life, he was in the monastery learning the scholarly arts while his big, strong, older, entitled brother (Sir Gowan III the Greater) was training to be a knight and learning all the cool combat arts.... until an unfortunate accident had him killed on a quest and the younger (Sir Gowan IV, The Lesser) was thrust into the knightly arts. I have a really awesome Cavalier with the high values in the "non-DP producing stats" who does a lot of subterfugey and "keep yourself alive healy" stuff that is entirely uncharacteristic of a Cavalier. At level 1, while not "exactly" the Fighter Profession we have been using as an example for these past few posts, he is a non-spell user, level 1 and very different from what a Cavalier is "supposed" to be. The GMs were all surprised my Cavalier had these subterfuge skills. I had a great back story for him and it fit in perfectly with the Adolescent level usage.
Gods, I miss playing him! I need someone to GM for me again!!!!!!
