It seems odd to me that a veteran of 20,000 Experience can have fewer Wounds than someone just rolling out of character generation. Further, Sound Constitution is a black hole that eats up the group tank's Experience. A character with TB 4 could sink 1,800 Experience into Sound Constitution alone. What is the proper timing to be buying Wounds when the same Experience can be used to buy similarly survivability-boosting Characteristics or Talents instead? I sought out a way to flatten Sound Constitution's cost while letting long-lived characters become more durable naturally:
NEW MECHANIC: Battle-Hardened (name pending)
Characters gain Wounds over time as they continue to serve the Emperor (or other power). For every 2000* xp earned, characters earn 1 additional Wound. Characters may gain Wounds in this manner a number of times equal to their Toughness Bonus. Should characters later increase their Toughness Bonus, these Wound grants apply retroactively.
EXAMPLE:
Steve is an accomplished soldier of many battles, having accumulated 8,000 xp with a Toughness Bonus of 3. He receives 1 additional Wound for every 2000 xp earned, up to a maximum of +3 Wounds. The last 2,000 xp does not count since it would give Steve more Wounds than his TB. If Steve later reached 4 TB, he would be granted the extra Wound he is due for a total of +4 Wounds.
*Experience bracket can be adjusted by the GM as necessary
REVISED TALENT: Sound Constitution (X)
TIER:
13 Aptitudes:Toughness,General only
Characters can purchase this talent up to two times, with X equal to the number of purchases. With Sound Constitution (1), characters halve the interval at which they gain natural Wounds. With Sound Constitution (2), characters also double the natural Wounds they receive. Effectively, characters gain
- 1 Wound/2,000 xp;
- 1 Wound/1,000 xp; or
- 2 Wounds/1,000 xp
based on how many purchases of Sound Constitution they have. Sound Constitution applies retroactively.
EXAMPLE 1:
Steve decides to purchase 1 instance of Sound Constitution. Because he has 8,000 xp and TB 3, his Wound gain caps out at 3,000 xp rather than 6,000 xp. While Sound Constitution (1) does nothing for Steve at this point in his career, he can double his Wound gain from +3 to +6 if he purchases Sound Constitution one more time.
EXAMPLE 2:
Alice built up a Toughness Bonus of 4 and 5,000 xp, part of which she used to purchase 2 instances of Sound Constitution early on. She receives 2 Wounds for every 1,000 xp earned, up to a maximum of +8 Wounds as dictated by her TB.
These house rules sound mathy, but I believe the formula is straightforward. By RAW, a character can buy Sound Constitution up to 1 + (2 x TB) times, costing either 300 xp or 200 xp per Wound. As I mentioned above, a character with 4 TB can buy Sound Constitution 9 times for either 1,800 xp or, Emperor forbid, 2,700 xp. That is absolutely overpriced. I don't know who is going to purchase Sound Constitution that many times when there are so many other things to buy.
My Sound Constitution "fix" locks Sound Constitution's cost to 600 xp per purchase (Tier 3 with 1 unconditional Aptitude), though the number of Wounds that that Experience buys fluctuates. A character can spend a flat 1200 xp to gain a total 8 Wounds if she has earned 4,000 xp and a TB of 4 (+2 Wounds naturally, +6 Wounds from Sound Constitution). Characters purchasing RAW Sound Constitution need to spend 1600 xp to achieve the same result. My Sound Constitution only gets cheaper as a character's TB goes up (in terms of xp/Wound; the cost is static), while the cost of RAW Sound Constitution only grows (since each Wound needs to be paid for).
As a pleasant side-effect, all character builds can bulk up for the same Experience cost. Tanks/high TB characters may benefit more from Sound Constitution, but squishies/low TB characters also won't need to pay a premium to bolster their Wounds. Mid-game Sound Constitution tanks will have appreciably more Wounds than their peers without forsaking other defensive Talents or Characteristics. Sound Constitution is a great asset to have, but the 600/1,200 xp price tag makes sure players know they are committing to their increased survivability. In other words, Sound Constitution is kept out of the "too cheap/must-buy" category.
One circumstance I want to address, as Steve demonstrates above, is what happens when a character purchases Sound Constitution to no effect. Part of me wants to argue that Steve is crippling himself by limiting his Wound growth early on, but then that also means he spends 1,200 xp to gain 3 Wounds down the road. Although, from another perspective, he's paying 1,200 xp to gain 6 Wounds when compared to the RAW Wound system. I considered granting such characters Sound Constitution (1) for free if they passed a certain Experience threshold, specifically when they hit their Wound maximum without Sound Constitution. However, I feel that that creates weird incentives when players try to "save" 600 xp by waiting for the free Sound Constitution (1) grant. Players trying to do so will have to wait a long time, even with generous Experience grants (and especially if they have a high TB), but the situation still exists. I could simultaneously refund players who purchased Sound Constitution (1) before crossing the same threshold, but that both encourages dubious "Experience loans" and reduces the significance I want Sound Constitution to have.
Both of these changes are untested. I spend a good amount of time trying to alleviate what I consider to be "needless experience taxes," but I don't have the player base to run my house rules by. Let me know what you think. Cheers.