I am about to start a new game and I am curious what people think about shuffling in careers like Witch or Necromancer to the player career deck?

Are the any other controversial careers you can think of that might be best left for GM's?

Ironbroken

Swordmunchkin

That's about it.

..wait, use the errata for Fire Wizards...

Now, that's about it.

Ironbreaker and Swordmaster as Emirikol said. In my group I have ruled these two are not basic careers, so you cannot start out as one of them, and if you want to become either of them it will have to fit the story, i.e. you need to join the ranks of Ironbreakers/Swordmasters to get the career card.

In the last campaign we had a player who was a necromancer. The character was later killed by one of the other PCs, a Witch Hunter. The necromancer obviously hid his foul practices from the other characters, but once his evil was revealed he was struck down instantly. I'd say Witch and Necromancer careers depends on your gaming group. If your players are ok with it you could mix those in, but they have to be aware that they might get killed, by an angry mob, witch hunters or the rest of the PCs if they are ever revealed as a Witch/Necromancer.

Lastly, the noble careers can impact your campaign a lot. If a player starts out in a noble career and uses 3 creation points in wealth they are (by the RAW) counted as nobility, which among other things entitles them to a stipend of 1 gold per month per noble rank (page 28 Lure or Power), so the player(s) might end up with a lot more money than normal and could get a lot better equipment (such as armour and weapons). So it might be good to consider if it fits your campaign.

If using Lure of Power for nobles don't just use the Stipend, use the "cost inflation" on all normal purchases and the Noble Duties too!

Yes, Swordmaster and Iron Breaker must be made advanced and also otherwise restricted - don't let players devolve into "a ninja monkey, berserker viking and space cat girl" party of odd sorts. Make players work to explain their backgrounds fitting to party and bring the social part of stuff to balance combat monsters.

Thanks for the replies so far, this is exactly the kind of discussion I was hoping for.

Although I tend to be a restrictive GM in other games, I don't restrict any career for my players. But we use the "draw 3 select 1" method so chances are slim for ironbreakers and swordmasters (especially in the same group).

If a player wants to play an Ironbreaker I don't want to limit his enthusiasm and enjoyment of the game.

Yes, Paredus, you make a reasonable point. I have a player who really wants to play a Sigmate, so I am thinking about letting him simply start as an Initiate for his first game, skipping the random system.

Our group also allow choosing your staring career, if you know what you want to play. Most players like to decide for themselves. As I said above however, we consider Swordmaster and Ironbreaker to be advanced careers rather than basic. So if you want to become any of those you'll have to wait until Rank 2 at least.

I also disallow slayer career at the character creation. If some dwarf will dishonour himself during adventure, then he is more then welcome to switch to slayer career

I was looking over Swordmaster. This one does not seem too bad to me. You do start with a Sword of Hoeth, but when compared to the standard great sword in the equipment list, it has one less DR, and in exchange can grant a fortune dice. It is worth 1g, but any well of character could start with a higher DR weapon than the Sword of Hoeth.

This does not seem too imbalanced to me so I am wondering if there is something that I missed?

Thanks for your thoughts.

The topic has been discussed a while back here:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/42124-rank-their-power-swordmaster-ironbreaker-trollslayer-wardancer/#entry421087

Most agree and house rule that Sword Master, Ironbreaker and Wardancer are all Advanced Careers. That's certainly how I treat them in my campaign and how the GM treats them in the game I am a player in.

I was looking over Swordmaster. This one does not seem too bad to me. You do start with a Sword of Hoeth, but when compared to the standard great sword in the equipment list, it has one less DR, and in exchange can grant a fortune dice. It is worth 1g, but any well of character could start with a higher DR weapon than the Sword of Hoeth.

This does not seem too imbalanced to me so I am wondering if there is something that I missed?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Actually, the trade-off for the 1 DR is the special ability it gives for a crit. Draw 2 crits and apply 1, if I remember correctly, which goes a long ways towards making crits actually worth it (you get to ignore most of the lame "add a misfortune die to all Fellowship rolls" criticals). That power, plus the white die, put it roughly on-balance with a _Superior_ greatsword, not just a normal greatsword. And the rules for a superior weapon are that it costs x10 (so 10 gold, not 1 gold). Now, I don't for a moment think it's actually worth +9 gold to get that bonus white die, but that's basically what it's balanced against.

Any other character wanting to start with even just a normal greatsword has to invest multiple character points into starting money, and will then have very little left for armor. A swordmaster gets a free weapon that's slightly better than what cost anyone else 50% to 100% of their starting cash _and_ a few creation points that could otherwise be spent on skills, talents, or attributes. Leaving the swordmaster free to either have better stats or better armor than any other starting melee fighter. It also combos really well with Actions that have easy crit lines. The points you save by not needing money to buy the greatsword can be spent on things that have really good synergy with a weapon that generates above average crits and damage.

Overall, I don't think the Swordmaster is nearly as broken as the Ironbreaker, but it's definitely above the average power curve for a starting PC.

I also restrict careers with Way of Sword, Ancestor etc. features. If you do not have the career in question and a continuing connection to that background then you need a definite narrative explanation of how you learned that move which will connect to story.

Even a Wizard far from tutor or college or Swordmaster of Hoeth if far from tower needs to explain how they "suddenly learned a new spell or move", offering that is one of the "narrative rewards" a PC can get (much as in earlier career finding someone to train you for career advances/change was important).

I limit these careers as well but I also only allow access to Action cards with the linked traits to those who are in or have completed one of the careers on that chain, I also limit players to a single Fighting style per completed or current Martial career and only those in a Martial or relevant career can take actions from an associated group of actions. IE Sword Master Cards are only for Sword Masters, slayer cards for Slayers, fighting styles are limited to appropriate careers so Knights could select most core styles but only one style per relevant career, while a hunter could select Marksman/Archery cards. This does not actually place as hard a limit on cards as you'd think as there's tons of basic cards without any special trait to them just I like that Study into specific forms of combat should provide access to cards a burgher wouldn't.

I do this with social actions as well as martial as what ever form of specialisation a player chooses (if any) for the character will be rewarded by abilities other characters cannot select. I find this hole aspect really provides a additional level of depth to the development of a character and while a core of persistent action cards are found amongst different player characters they will all tend to have unique combinations of specialist cards that make them stand clearly apart from another character with a similar career.

Nobility is interesting though I would never allow my players such advantage in money because equipments far down on the list of things that can be brought that can break a story line, I tend to work in background elements with any player that wanted to play a minor (really minor) Noble that would put that wealth out of the characters possession and into a background element at least until the Campaign progressed to a higher level of player power and ability, normally something where there funds are paying for something be it upkeep, tuition or for running there estate which will be at closest on the other side of the province they are in, or I would work in something where they are not in the direct line of succession and thus have little more than there name in terms of wealth since the Elder Siblings are inheriting the estates and while a younger son would have paid tuition into a university, the Clergy or a craft that would be the extent of said inheritance.