Kharille wrote:
Hm, well we have dwarves and elves. I'd imagine people would discourage it but its an option. Why not orcs or flying heads as player characters? I figure a Cadaver might be fun to play.
They're very much buried away in the bestiary and not part of the "core" game. I get the impression that this, along with some other concessions, are included only to meet the expectations of the FRPG market at the time rather than to be deliberate enhancements to the experience of playing in the Lands of Legend.
Kharille wrote:
I owned wfrp 1ed for many years but I thought it was awkward and cumbersome.
It's still an extra thing to process as part of each combat round, but the elegance with which it balanced the mechanic without requiring additional die rolls (which are terrible for slowing down the narrative - and combat is already one of the slowest elements of the game) was what I was getting at.
Kharille wrote:
Player characters need to learn to live with reality, especially when you got those ankh of osiris and MIRACLE CURE spells. If players get upset because they're missing an arm and a leg they're pretty immature if you ask me.
I would tend to agree with you - playing a character within its constraints is part of the fun of roleplaying for me and the additional situations such a character might end up in that would otherwise be avoided if he were fully able. However, it similarly requires a games master comfortable with setting appropriate challenges for these characters and a group of players comfortable with this grittier style of play - not an easy combination to find (and not one for which published adventures are typically suitable).
My own approach to major wounds is to slowly erode the character's primary ability scores - an old injury might permanently make some tasks more difficult, but without permanently disabling a character (
https://www.cobwebbedforest.co.uk/libra ... Wounds.pdf). It's a balance that works well for my style of play, but I can see how playing a disabled or crippled character might provide an exciting roleplaying opportunity for some players. Elric of Melnibone is a perfect example of a character whose physical health stacked the odds against him, but still had plenty of world-changing adventures - possibly not a great role-model for our heroic low-fantasy dragon warriors, but you see my point!