As mentioned previously, I’m working on decreasing the prevalence of bonuses from characteristics accruing to actions across the board–I don’t want a bonus for dexterity, for example, to apply to everything that involves movement of any sort. I want discrete bonuses that apply in specific situations. A character that is notably stronger than most will thus have a variety of discrete bonuses instead of simply adding +3 to everything involving strength.
What does that look like? At this point, it involves lists of abilities–likely to be called feats–that are attached to each of the characteristics. A list of strength feats, a list of dex feats, and so on. During chargen, when rolling for characteristics, a “high” roll would then result in the character being capable of more feats associated with that characteristic. A strong PC would have list of activities with which they have a bonus, say, lifting portculli, hanging from ledges, pushing boulders, forcing doors, and carrying capacity.
This removes a high roll from wandering into superhero territory due to the granularity of the system mechanics, while providing a sense of superior ability in general. A strong character isn’t going to be extraordinary with every measure/usage of strength, yet will be more capable in general terms when using strength. This all ties back into the notion that player skill is important and bonuses on the character sheet shouldn’t outweigh it.
The question I’m wrangling now is how exactly to structure this. Obviously, a simple 3d6 roll isn’t going to provide much detail in way of how many feats are warranted, except in a very crude way. I’d like a bit more nuance, I guess, so am looking at using a different approach to rolling in chargen. A 2d6x6 grid might provide enough options to handle it. I plan on using 2D6^2 grids in the system, already, so might end up with one of those, instead–that should certainly provide enough nuance!
That wouldn’t bother me, certainly. I already planned to use a smaller scale range for characteristics, dropping the worst ratings as unbefitting competent heroes who have the confidence to venture into the dangers of the wilds. I planned a range of 6 -16 in 3d6 terms, with modifiers of -1 to +3. (Players could garner a bonus point to assign to one characteristic, meaning the top end would be a rating of 17, with a +3.) If I use a table allowing for more grades of capability, then PCs could end up with bonuses on a handful of discrete abilities, say one to six or seven such. The bonus for each ability could then be +1 to +3 or equivalent. I may put up a sample of such a table when I get one sketched out that I think is worth playtesting.
I’ll also have to decide whether what feats accrue is based on RNG or player choice. I’m leaning toward player choice, just to allow customization at a low level. There’s not much choice in character development by level, so providing a bit of choice at the outset can help establish a sense of how the character will play.