WOIN Suggested Career

So my group and I have been playing WOIN for a few months, both the fantasy and sci-fi. I had a suggestion for a career based on the current fantasy character I'm running, but it could work equally well in sci-fi.

Why not an adventurer career. Four different stats, two different skills, and no exploit. The reason I suggest this as opposed to buying skills with xp so that you can advance a grade while tailoring to the skills you really want. The negative is obviously not gaining a new exploit which balances out with freedom of choice. Could even throw in a third skill if it felt like you were getting too little return for the xp.

What got me thinking about was the fighter type I'm making. For the build I'm going for there are not a lot of exploits that I need, but there are a lot of skills and stats. I have been buying what I need with xp, but I'm not moving up in grade which is a huge negative. I could take a career that is close to what I want like barbarian. It has the stats sure and some useful exploits, but it's not exactly what I want and the choice does not fit in any roleplay sense.

Now of course this would not be a career for every player or every situation, but neither is the Herbalist. Just looking for some feedback, thanks.

Your concern is that you are not increasing your dice pool by simply spending XP incrementally. What this is is just you saying “for every 4 attributes and 2 skills I buy incrementally, I get an extra grade”. And the attributes and skills are cheaper than buying them incrementally.

IMO, it’s too powerful for too little a cost. Why not just create a career which has some fighter exploits?

“for every 4 attributes and 2 skills I buy incrementally, I get an extra grade” is not what I mean at all. If that were the case you could just leave stats low and cheese your way through grades by spending small amounts of xp.

I don't mean it as pay the leveling cost of 3 xp to move to rank 1 etc. I mean i'm moving into grade 7 so i spend 70 xp, pick 4 different attributes and 2 different skills then lose out on the exploit to get my grade. Where as in a normal career choice i'm getting 4 different stats that are locked in, a limited number of skills to choose, and an exploit. The difference here is choice and an exploit.

So if i were playing a fighter type but wanted to raise my bow i could pick adventurer as my career and i wouldn't fall behind the party in xp , but i would still get the bow skill and fighter like stats.

If you could choose to raise a single attribute four times or a single skill twice for example i could see it getting out of hand. Limiting it to different stats and skills would keep that from happening.

It rather defeats the point of a career though. Careers are part of the life path, not a pure mechanical bonus. At that point you might as well drop careers, advance incrementally, and set certain total XP expenditures for grade increases. Ultimately, it’s a very different advancement mechanic.

But that’s all fine, and you seem set on it, so go for it! It’s not for me, but don’t let that stop you!

i see your point but if i went pure knight i'd be made of paper and not be able to walk a straight line with no no agility or endurance. After character creation it's pretty much purely for mechanical bonus anyway.

Knight (1d6 years)

Prerequisites: heraldry

Attributes: STR +1, CHA +1, LUC +1, REP +1

Skill choices: lances, swords, heraldry, animal handling, riding, bravery, leadership, tactics, carousing, law

You became a knight – a mounted warrior proficient in lance, shield, and sword.

I would need to pick up something like gladiator to shore up those week points or enjoy some pretty serious downfalls.

Gladiator (1d6 years)

Prerequisites: None

Attributes: AGI +1, END +1, REP +1, CHA +1

Skill choices: [combat]. reactions, storytelling, intimidation, dancing, acrobatics

You fought in an arena for money and fame with a flashy combat style and a few dirty tricks.

In the case of my current character I would have to choose a non roleplay choice in order to remain effective.

It's incredibly easy to make new careers in WOIN, which is one of the strengths. But in your case of playing the knight, it's worth remembering what a state is worth. An agility of 3 isn't "incapable of walking straight" its the average agility of a person who doesn't have much need of it. Sure, endurance might be low but that can be shored up with free spent xp, or simply by dipping into other careers.

So, you're a knight. You spent some time as a squire to get that heraldry, a few grades of knight to show that expertise, but without your armor you go down quicker than you'd like.

So what can you pick up to help out with that?

Alchemist - a grevious injury on the field left you bedridden. So you starred to take lesson from the court alchemist to pass the time.

Barbarian - After the recent wars of last generation with the wild men of the north you were pressured by your lord into acting as a diplomatic prisoner. You spent time with the wild men, and they treated you well, even teaching you their ways in an effort to strengthen relations.

Druid - One day, lost in a forest your horse gave you a knowing look and bothered you until you followed it. It lead you into a grove where a pair of mute druids tended to the gorgeous forest that was the home of a nymph. The nymph played games with you, forcing you to adapt to her wild ways. What felt like mere days turned to be seasons by the time you left the grove with the secrets of the druids.

Gladiator - Jousting is a classic form of combat, but it is not the only form of sport. When the sultans of the south brought their war games on a diplomatic mission and you were defeated by a half naked man with a net, you decided to learn from the strange pit fighters. If only to earn back your ego.

The point is that this isn't D&D where you make a build at level 1 and follow it to the end for the most optimal form of combat oriented character. The career system is about a character's story, and most characters should have multiple careers. To say your knight would never do anything but be a courtly knight is going to leave him with glaring weaknesses indeed, especially if you don't use your xp to fill out some of those. The knight gives you bonuses to courtly intrigue, a squire, bonuses to jousting games and gear. But a character with only grades in knight will be an excellent courtier and festival jouster - but probably not very good at tangling with an ogre.

The not being able to walk a straight line was a sarcastic exaggeration, i know three is average.

Everything you mentioned is a great for creating a character, but my character has been made, he has a back story. Those suggestions would be great for down time leveling too.

So for whatever reason I'm explaining this wrong. The point of the suggestion is not to avoid the career system, it's great. It doesn't even have to do with maximizing stats.

The current situation is that I have a noble fighter type who only fights in defense and only in an honorable fashion. I've been picking up attributes and skills with xp as I need them, but I havn't bought a grade. The reason for this is that barbarian is perfect for the stats I want, but he is in no way a barbarian. For roleplay purposes it makes no sense what so ever. The adventurer thing was just an idea for a way to move ahead in a career choice and title that made sense for my character(since adventuring has been thrust on him and he is embracing it). Taking barbarian is me taking a career for it's benefits, if we were waiting and leveling by doing our own thing for a while it makes sense, but we are not. It's a choice purely for stats.

Adventurer was meant for me to advance my character while still being in "character". It was never meant to be used in character building(you could only get it through xp earned at the table adventuring). From reading replies it seems people think this career is purely about stats. Just the opposite, it's about roleplay and not falling far behind.

In the end I'm most likely going to take barbarian and give it a more palatable(roleplay standpoint) name.

The reason for this is that barbarian is perfect for the stats I want, but he is in no way a barbarian.

So reskin it. Hey look, there's a career called Knight of Forestria! The Knights of Forestria may be a bit rough around the edges, but they are knights, defenders of the realm, and any honorable knight from other countries may spend time with them and learn their ways. And it just so happens it has exactly the same stats, skill selections, and exploits as the Barbarian career from the basic book. You, young knight, may join them...if you dare. Are you up to the challenge?

Sounds cool!