I’ve been looking at levels today, which led to level points (probably becoming an optional rule), which led to perks, which are almost equivalent to level points if you consider that the perk substitution rule allows you to buy anything with a perk.
Well, as stated over a year ago, one goal of the game is simplicity. Which makes level points, perk substitution, and optional rules look pretty silly. So now I’m looking at something like this:
Attribute substitution perk:
With this perk you may increase an attribute score by 1.
Skill substitution perk:
With this perk you may add one skill point to any skill.
With these, you spend your perk (the one that you get with each level) on a perk, and that perk becomes the substitution. There’s no overlap complication when it comes to counting level points, because there are no level points. Sure, these perks can make attributes or skills look more inflated than perks (mostly when designing and balancing monsters), but it means that the total number of perks always equals character level.