WFRP 1e and 2e Careers: The Druid & The Initiate

 The Old Faith, one of the religions in 1e, was entirely removed from 2e.  Although slightly reducing the flavour perhaps, it didn't really hurt too much: nearly anything you wanted to do with the Old Faith you could do with the Cult of Taal and Rhya.  It did however force the elimination of the Druid and the Druidic Priests - in essence, the 'initiates' and 'clerics' of the Old Faith.  So I think in some ways it pays to consider this the other way around: how can the Initiate career be made more flexible to make the individual cults more flavorful?  Let us look at the skills involved:

DRUID (Original 1e):

Skills: Animal Care, Dowsing, Follow Trail, Identify Plants, Secret Signs - Druid

INITIATE (Original 1e):

Skills: Read/Write, Scroll Lore, Secret Language - Classical, Theology

Initiates of Taal also get the skill Charm Animal.  The Druid could usefully have that too but the other skills go to show that although the game space is similar the characters are mechanically very different: I very much approve of this!!  Moving ahead then, the modified version of the Initiate might be something like:

INITIATE (Modified):

Skills: Read/Write, Scroll Lore, Secret Language - Classical, Theology, 50% chance of Public Speaking, 30% chance of Astronomy, 30% chance of History, 25% chance of Charm, 10% chance of Heal Wounds

I am not entirely sure what Lightning Reflexes or Very Strong are doing in the 2e Initiate.  The 2e Initiate also has the potential for Warrior Born too, which I don't really understand either.  They 'might' have been going for a more combat-orientated species of Cleric, but the skills don't really support that idea; in any case, it ends up meaning that every initiate of Shallya has Suave.  Regardless, I think the little additions to the 1e Career do make it a more useful character.

Incidentally, as we have seen before, it is absolutely pointless to give the 1e Initiate the Scroll Lore skill: it just doesn't do anything until the Initiate becomes a Cleric.

In any case, there is still relatively little that can be done to suitably modify the 1e Druid:

DRUID (Modified):

Skills: Animal Care, Charm Animal, Dowsing, Follow Trail, Identify Plants, Secret Signs - Druid, 30% chance of Astronomy, 15% chance of Heal Wounds

One might also give a small chance of Herb Lore without doing too much damage to the archetype.  

As I write these, I am instinctively recoiling against the idea of including Heal Wounds in as many Careers.  1e did restrict it quite heavily, 2e was very liberal and I find myself in full agreement in 1e.  It is crucial role protection in the game to restrict healing to 'healer'-flavoured characters.  If the skill list subdivided healing more, then it might be acceptable to have the equivalent of 'First Aid' widely available and restrict the more effective and/or niche variants, but if there is only one skill, I am leaning to restricting it much more.

In any case, I will return to the Initiate again in its proper place!