Reply To: A little frustrated

[Sarissofoi]

Proficiencies(levelled at amount of damage dealt by type of weapon) would make possible to have characters specialized in specific weapons. Swordmaster will be actually swordmaster not a guy who can use any weapon. Also it would be move against Bags&Belts and Quick hands Jacks of all trades – by that I mean guys who are walking armories – it still will be possible but levelling one/two weapons will be faster than few types. It would also make using some of lower tier weapons more attractive as a step taken into levelling up.
The non military recruits would have none of them when military one could have few levels.
Even non military could have some of them.
Like:
Woodcutters having Axe and 2hand Axes Prof.
Butchers – Cleavers
Miners and Stonemasons -Picks and hammers
Thieves and Killers – Daggers
Poachers and Hunters – Spears, Javelins, Xbows or Bows
Noble backgrounds – Swords but also could have Xbows or Javelins(hunting)
Militia and Deserters – spears and or other random skill set
Professional Military – skilled with most of them but specialized in few or one
Etc.
That way you can hire a Commoners and make them into soldier you want.
Proficiency could be built into a small tree(a point is earned as a character level up in said Proficiency) and trees could be different varies on weapon types.
For example Sword Proficiency could look like that
A. Basic +5 Accuracy
B. Advanced +5 Accuracy +5% damage
C1. Skilled Offence +5% damage,
C2. Skilled Defence +5 Defence Skill.
C3. Efficient Moves -20% fatigue cost
D. Master +5 accuracy New Special attack skill Flurry(make 2 attacks instead of one with -15% Accuracy for fatigue cost of 30).
Best thing is that levelling of proficiency would be not dependant on Soldier level and could be improved in Veterans Hall in cities(for coin) to some degree. It would be also for any soldier to level up in all proficiency but it will take a lot of time. Professional backgrounds will have a advantage of knowing some of it. So player can decide if he want save a time at a cash cost(it would also make replacing experienced losses easier).
Experience and Knowledge(levelled by killing specific enemies or by number of battles against said enemy) would grants specific bonuses for soldiers who fight against specific units. Killing stronger version of enemy(like killing warrior orc instead of young Orc) would level up that experience faster.
It could be typical Tiered skill set that grant some minor bonuses against specific enemy. Some Backgrounds could come with them and there could be made some new Backgrounds that resolve about this(like Bounty Hunter, Beast Hunter, or Goblin Hunter). For example Hunters could have some started bonus Beast Experience and Witch Hunters Undead Experience
For example:
1.Basic Undead Knowledge: +5% damage, +5 to resist negative rolls caused by Undeads
Etc.
Some soldiers could even start with some random levels, especially if it connected to their backgrounds(Like grave robbers). Some basic levels of knowledge could be taught by instructors in Veterans Hall in cities or in Company(if you have one with the Instructor Trait).
Training would simulate physical and mental level of soldiers by flat increase of stats.
It could be gained by simply having a soldier in company(as he train with others). Having experienced soldiers who can teach freshmen could speed up this process.
Something like:
Basic Military Training – 5Acc, 5 Resolve, 10 Fatigue
Etc.
It could be Tiered. Some backgrounds could learn faster or come with some training already.
There would be big difference even with similar basic backgrounds(even if basic roll stats will be similar).
For Example:
A. Fisherman Herman start with Basic Spear Proficiency, Adv. Physical Training(+Fatigue), Basic Reflex Training(+Initiative)
B. Militiamen Gerhard start with Basic Spear and Sword Prof., Basic Physical Training, Basic Discipline(+resolve)
This way a a characters with the same a basic stats rolls could end as completely different individuals.
Mostly levelling of this skills would come natural. March, fight and kill enemies and they will grow naturally. Also it would help balance things in game(as farming bandits would not make your soldiers to gain experience against undeads) and help to stop over inflating stats.
Cheap backgrounds will become available again.

Thanks for reading I hear that you like wall of text so I make one.