Recently I was looking at narrow-optimization paths* in WFRP 1e, i.e. if you wanted your character to be very good at one thing, then which career should you choose. Some of them are relatively obvious, some a little less so. Here they are:
Weapon Skill: Giant Slayer or Judicial Champion, enter from Pit Fighter, Troll Slayer, Protagonist or Watchman. (Troll Slayer is a no-brainer for a combat-focused Dwarf, I like Protagonist best of the others) (400XP)
Ballistic Skill: Targeteer, enter from Bounty Hunter, Gamekeeper or Outlaw (all of these are good; Gamekeeper is strictly the best, since all Gamekeepers get Marksmanship, whereas the other two only might get it, and thus may need to expend another 100XP if they don't) (400XP)
Strength: Giant Slayer entered from Pit Fighter; if a non-Dwarf, either Free Lance from Noble or Squire; or Slaver entered from Jailer. If the character gets Very Strong as a starting skill, then Troll Slayer works fine as a Dwarf, and Free Lance is definitely the way to go as anything else. (3-400XP)
Toughness: Giant Slayer, again entered from Pit Fighter. If not a Dwarf, Outlaw Chief entered from Pit Fighter. If the character gets Very Resilient as a starting skill, Dwarves can go from Troll Slayer to Giant Slayer, others can go from Bodyguard, Mercenary or Outlaw to Outlaw Chief (3-400XP)
Initiative: Highwayman entered from Coachman, Footpad,Outlaw, Outrider, Roadwarden or Toll-Keeper (400XP). I don't think any career grants you the chance of Lightning Reactions, but ideally you would want that as an initial skill too.
Attacks: Assassin, entered from Bounty Hunter is the most straightforward way. (400XP), but there are actually lots of other routes for careers which allow taking the free advance in attacks (which Bounty Hunter does not), e.g. Soldier, free advance, 100XP to Bounty Hunter, 100XP to Assassin, 200XP to get Attacks 3 then Attacks 4, so basically: Bodyguard, Marine, Protagonist, Soldier, Watchman (via Bounty Hunter); Noble (via Duellist), Outlaw (via Targeteer). In fact, very strictly speaking, these non-Bounty Hunter routes are better, as you will get the second attack from the beginning.
Dexterity: Forger, entered from Scribe OR Thief or Tomb Robber - why the choice? Well, in the main entry, I think that the only way of getting to Forger is from Scribe or Artisan. But the Appendix offers a bunch of different career paths into it, but not including Scribe or Artisan! So, if you go with the logic of the main entries, then Scribe is the way to go; if what is written in the Appendix, Thief or Tombr Robber are better, because you can take the free advance in Dexterity, which Scribe's don't get. (400XP)
Leadership: Mercenary Captain, entered from Squire (n.b. the Appendix specifies that a Squire can jump straight to Captain, but this is implied rather than stated in the main text). (400XP)
Intelligence: Lawyer, from Exciseman, Scribe or Student. (400XP)
Cool: Spy, via Charlatan, which can be entered from Physician's Student, Raconteur or Seer (500XP)
Willpower: Witch-hunter via Assassin or Judicial Champion (I have already covered the entries for those; none of the relevant basic careers allow the free advance in WP, I think) (600XP).
Fellowship: Demagogue, from Agitator, Entertainer or Raconteur (Raconteur is the best of this bunch) (500XP).
Movement: the Movement system is lame and there is no way to optimize on it really.You can't do much better than be a Thief or, if a Dwarf, a Runner.
So if you played and survived The Oldenhaller Contract and Mistaken Identity, then you could potentially have a Toughness 8 or an Attacks 4 character before you even enter Bogenhafen. Of course, you might want a more balanced character and there is nothing wrong with that, but if you want to, and as ever, subject to GM agreement, then you can have a character who is genuinely top-of-class at one thing.
*I wasn't actually looking at these directly, I was working out what the humanoid minima and maxima to look at WFRP 1e attribute distributions in the population, but this sort of fell out of it...
