I really don't think its meant to cap modifiers, just the starting value itself. It leads to weird issues like at what point in applying modifiers does it cap. Based on the "Apply Modifier" step under "The Core Mechanic" it would seem that the bonuses and penalties should all be added together at once canceling out before the value is capped but that leads to odd situations where you might as well try something with higher difficulty when wearing armor since the test is capped anyway. Also If you view it as modifiers actually changing the characteristic value that creates other oddities such as changing your characteristic bonus for specific tests. For example if you dodge a blast weapon and have +20 to dodge, if that +20 is changing your agility characteristic and not just modifying the test then you would briefly have 2 higher movement and could clear a larger blast radius. A reading of modifiers like this really does some wacky stuff to first aid tests too considering Int bonus matters and bonuses can pile up quickly. If a reading of a rule causes others to fall apart you're probably poking at it too hard.

I believe modifiers are specifically to the test not to the characteristic. If you read page 22 under "determine modifiers" it actually refers to Characteristic + final modifier as the "target value". This is specifically stated to be able to go above 100 or below 0 even though characteristics are always between 100 and 0 differentiating "target value" from the characteristic itself. So I would say armor caps Agility at the "Determine Value" step then modifiers are added to that capped value to get the "target value" which is not capped by the armor.

In terms of how useful the feudal world ability is, it definitely makes feudal world plate and chainmail better. I also think its worth keeping in mind that the game does give the option of starting stats of 25+2d10. With these slightly higher starting stats the agility cap is more likely to have an effect especially at higher levels. In the group I'm in we have an arbitrator assassin who has to decide whether to wear his carapace armor or not as it drops his agility down from in the 50s to 45 lowering his movement and making his tests somewhat worse.

This could probably do with some clarification, because it's one of the few (only?) place(s) where a stat is "hardcapped."

So I was wrong. I just got back an email from the Tim Huckleberry. You guys are correct, the modifiers do not impact the test. " The Maximum Agility is against the characteristic, and then modifiers are applied." So with this in mind, as the OP stated, the homeworld ability is a bit lackluster in the long run, but still has an interesting niche and some usefulness.

I think that most of the usefulness of At Home in Armour will be in swapping it out for alternatives like A Keen Blade .

I suppose that At Home in Armour is also useful if your character does in-game LARPing.

So I was wrong. I just got back an email from the Tim Huckleberry. You guys are correct, the modifiers do not impact the test. " The Maximum Agility is against the characteristic, and then modifiers are applied." So with this in mind, as the OP stated, the homeworld ability is a bit lackluster in the long run, but still has an interesting niche and some usefulness.

Well, it was an interesting discussion. You can still houserule by lowering the Max Ag of all or certain items to make it have more of an impact. Tbh, I didn't even notice the change compared to Only War.

I think the Agility minimums are too high anyways, it's pretty hard to hit any of them it seems, except for the ones with 40, unless you build specifically for agility.

So, the way i interpretted Max agility, is that when you're rolling a skill based on agility for instance, you apply all the bonuses to your agility score. You agility is now that total, which cannot exceed your maximum agility.

So: Character with AG 30. Wearing Flak Cloak, so Max Ag is 55. Does dive for cover, giving +20, with +10 from dodge skill. Agility would be rolled under a 60, but the armor reduces it to 55.

It just doesn't make sense otherwise.

Never mind me. Phooey.