Homebrew to encourage skill variety?
Bloodbowl feels awesome to play, and I am one of the ones who thinks that leagues are the pinnacle of the experience. However, there are some shortcomings that are tough to avoid when designing a game.
But to me, one of if not the most obvious shortfalls in a very fun progression experience, is that each category more or less has the “correct” pick. (General is block, Ag is dodge, passing is leader, strength is Guard/MB, devious is dirty player, and I can’t really speak to mutations but it does seem more balanced). Now GW did attempt to head it off with the elite tax, but A. I don’t think it went far enough, B. It only addresses the very top of the skill board, not the bottom, and C. The meta is still to fire players that get the bad skills if you random because of team bloat, essentially erasing them from the game.
To me, there are a few solutions, though I would like to hear more.
The one I think that is most feasible for a homebrew league to implement is more tiers on skill costs. So we have the elite skills already. But imo there should be more tiers (with better names than these), e.g. ALSO THESE TIERS ARE JUST EXAMPLES. I AM SURE I HAVE MIS-TIERED SOME. I would like suggestions, but please understand it is more about the tier idea than the specific skills in the specific teams.
Elite ($50k): Same skills as GW
Great ($35k): The other skills we usually see taken: block replacements (besides brawler), tackle, wrestle, strip ball, break tackle, sidestep, grab, kick, steady footing, hit and run, sprint, sure feet, pro etc.
Fine ($25k): The skills you don’t mind seeing come with your team:
Thick skull, defensive, jump up, fend, accurate, nerves of steel, on the ball, strong arm, bullseye, leap, diving tackle, brawler, etc.
Situational ($15k): Diving catch, cloudburster, dump off, fend, steady footing, taunt, etc.
Rare ($10k): Fumblerooski, punt, multiple block, safe pair of hands etc.
The reason being is fumblerooski is fun! Bullseye troll is fun! A lineman with frenzy/hit and run is fun. But these aren’t things that are viable in the game currently, which is a bummer. Now obviously the tiers will be wrong, and some skills are stronger on certain players than others so we still won’t see a break tackle hefty or something like that. But I think there needs to be encouragement to have some obscure skills.
The other ideas are revising existing skills which is essentially rewriting the game (splitting block and dodge into offensive and defensive uses), rebalancing teams, and just not worth going into. So what do you think? Any other ideas? Any better tiers/tier pricing than what I put out there?