Swordmasters, Old and Nimble

Let's sum it up, shan't we?

Swordmasters (the Background) have high penalties to Fatigue so they should make good recipients of the Nimble Perk (even though the Hit Points penalty doesn't help) which allows, to an extent, to fight in light armor and avoid penalties to max Fatigue.

Enemy Swordmasters illustrate that perfectly. They are Duelists with a Sword and Nimble.



So Swordmasters (the Background) are the best candidates for the job, right? Well, they're not.



Why? Because, Swordmasters eventually (and quite quickly) become Old, a Trait which incurs a -10 max Fatigue penalty. Like Strong, Old influences Nimble calculations. It reduces its chance to trigger by -20% which is a lot given how the Perk works.

So one ends up giving this Background heavier armor which doesn't work well with low Fatigue. But mostly, one refrains from hiring Swordmasters who are very expensive (because of levels) and more unreliable than other Backgrounds at that price point.



Something needs to be done about how Old works. The negative effect on Nimble could be removed. Or which would be good news too, let's make Nimble better.

As it is, Nimble doesn't do enough to improve chances of survival. It cannot perform on its own like Battle Forged does. Strong is almost always required to make it appealing enough which shouldn't be the case.



What could be done for Nimble?

First, it could be down leveled because it's really useful in the early game when everyone has light armor.

Then, it could be tied in some way to Initiative which would also make the Attribute more valuable.



What do you think?