Personally I prefer to leave the basic system alone. I'm actually OK with characters gaining experience and becoming excellent. In most games there comes a point where character development no longer remains the primary goal for the players; rewards within the setting (such as political power, promotions etc) can be far more rewarding.

That said, I do sympathise with the issue on "granularity". I've been toying with the idea of allowing specializations within careers and combat abilities (similar to something that was suggested for Risus RPG). It would go something along the line of a Scientist being allowed to specialise as, say, a physicist and, maybe, further sub-specialising as a nuclear physicist. For each level in a career a character can take a specialisation or sub-specialisation. It would be possible to make players spend XP to do this - the game benefits would be to reduce task difficulties in their chosen fields or make those with the necessary field of knowledge make a tougher check.

For combat it would go something like choosing groups of weapons (such as short blades, long blades, axes, blunt weapons etc) and giving penalties to those using weapons they don't have the skills with.

Again, it's just an idea I'm toying with but I think it can work without adding too much complication to the game but allowing characters to stand out within their own chosen careers.

Hi Claybor,

I don't know whether you ever saw this, offered as a suggestion in one of the very early drafts:

Note: These are just a few notes from an idea of one of my group after a recent playtest. I wrote it up here just to see if the idea had any merits. Please let me know if you like it, don’t like it etc.
 
BOL
Creating a character: You have 4 points to spend in each of 4 areas as follows:
 

• Attributes (As BoL: LE)
• Prowess Abilities
• Resiliences
• Careers (As BoL: LE)

 
ATTRIBUTES
Strength
Agility
Mind
Appeal
 
PROWESS
Initiative
Melee
Ranged
Battle
 
Battle: This is leadership and combat strategy. It is used in large-scale land and sea combat. It uses either your appeal or mind depending on the situation.
 
RESILIENCES
Defend
Soak
Endure
Mettle
 
Defend: is the modifier on opponent’s roll to hit. This is modified if using a shield:
+1 Light
+2 Heavy (but -1 Agility)
 
Soak: is your ability to withstand minor physical damage before you begin to suffer. It is deducted from LB damage received from attacks with weapons. It is modified by armour worn:
+1 Light
+2 Heavy (but -1 Agility)
 
Endure: This is your ability to withstand conditions that affect your physical health – poisons, diseases, freezing weather, invasive sorcery. It is used with strength as in:

• Roll 2D6 + Strength + Endure (OR it is a negative modifier to the effects “attack”)

 
Mettle: This is your ability to resist sorcerous attacks and illusions, fear and interrogation. It is used with mind, as in:
Roll 2D6 + Mind + Mettle. (OR it is a negative modifier to the sorcerer’s “attack”)
 

Nice post Simon - like this a lot; definitely going to look at this more.