Careers in WFRP1e & 2e

The career system is one of the key parts of the WFRP game system.  Each character has a starting career and then progresses through a series of careers as part of the game.  The starting career gives the majority of a starting characters skills, and also allows - or if you prefer, restricts - advancement in certain areas.  These careers can be handled more-or-less abstractly, having little narrative impact on the game and being simply a mechanical advancement path for each character; or alternatively, being a major source of the narrative as characters search for opportunities to take the career path they desire and mold themselves into the character they want to be, whatever their starting point.  Broadly speaking, almost every career is open to every character, although 2e is slightly more restrictive in this regard.

The 1e careers are not even a bit balanced: some are much better than others.  I made a sheet once to show the expected skills that each starting career brings and the swing is enormous: IIRC an Outlaw can expect to get 13 or so skills, whilst others literally get 1 (the Roadwarden).  Most careers gave a percentage chance of having different skills, so some characters starting in the same career are just better (or worse).  In 2e, this was changed a lot, so each character got about 9 skills (broken into skills and talents in 2e, whereas they had been the same thing in 1e).  This was much better although 2e tended to express variation in terms of this skill or that skill, when I think it would have allowed much more varied and still balanced characters by dividing those skills into something like 'Core' skills and 'Optional' skills, or somesuch.  For example, the 2e Agitator has the following:

Skills: Academic Knowledge (History) or Gossip, Academic Knowledge (Law) or Common Knowledge (the Empire), Concealment, Charm, Perception, Read/Write, Speak Language (Breton or Tilean), Speak Language (Reikspiel)

Talents: Coolheaded or Street Fighting, Flee!, Public Speaking

I prefer to think of these in the following terms:

Core Skills: Concealment, Charm, Perception, Read/Write, Speak Language (Reikspiel)

Pick 6 of the following:

Optional Skills: Academic Knowledge (History), Academic Knowledge (Law), Common Knowledge (the Empire), Gossip, Speak Language (Breton), Speak Language (Tilean)

Talents: Coolheaded, Flee!, Public Speaking, Street Fighting

I think this clearly allows players and GMs to create a much wider variety of characters that would all fit the archetype of 'Agitator' without in anyway unbalancing it positively or negatively.

Returning to the 1e Agitator Career, it currently gives the following skills:

Skills: Public Speaking, Read/Write

As an alternative, some of the skills suggested in 2e could be moved across to make this character a slightly more appealing choice, e.g.:

Skills: Charm, Concealment (Urban), Public Speaking, Read/Write, Silent Move (Urban), 50% chance of Flee!, 30% chance of History, 25% chance of Law, 25% chance of Speak Additional Language, 25% chance of Street Fighting

This character looks a bit more useful and competent.  There is only one additional language option, since languages are less important in 1e (almost everyone speaks 'Old Worlder' in most of the published scenarios).  All the percentages might be tweaked to taste of course.  The only skill that might be worth changing slightly is giving the Charm skill a percentage chance rather than making it a core skill: Charm is much more common in 2e than in 1e and it perhaps overlaps too much with the Raconteur 1e career if it is included as of right.  But it could certainly be argued either way.  The percentages allow the randomness and variation between characters which some players - probably a minority, but a significant one - like about 1e.