Does it make sense to anyone that we should be able to take RANK 4 of a perk (after taking RANK 1 thru 3) with the same SPECIAL score requirement as RANK 1? My question is making the assumption that RANK 4 provides some significant advantage to the lower ranks and having it indicates the PC is more proficient in skills or abilities that SHOULD require some higher SPECIAL score to achieve. I'm still not sold on the 7x10 perk layout with each grid slot being a stack of 2-5 tiers of a perk. I'm also not sold on the existence of perks that require god-like SPECIAL scores to obtain. I can buy requiring a score of 7 to obtain a top tier perk (and the next three RANKS of that perk requiring 8, 9 & 10), but if the buy in for a RANK 1 perk is a SPECIAL of 10, this game may well turn into a god builder simulation with 2 or 3 SPECIALS=10 being the norm.

The whole point is that there is would be no level requirement for any of the perks, only stat requirements. This would allow for a wide open system that still keeps each build unique in it's own right.

The balance in the past was that you'd hit the level cap, and the last perks that opened up to you were some of the most powerful; so you could only pick Grim Reaper's Sprint, or Solar Powered, or Explorer, but never all three (at least until Broken Steel broke it ). With this system you'll be able to take one of those badass endgame perks right off the bat, if you start off your character with a 10 in a stat. At most you could get two SPECIALs to 10 at chargen, but that would severely limit your more general options. You could shore up your SPECIAL as you level up though, although you'd have to choose between raising your SPECIAL and picking a perk each time.

Don't know if additional ranks will require higher SPECIAL, but I imagine they will. I'm not sure I care either way.

For the record, if anyone else has any more suggestions as to specific details, like Sorpaijen's brilliant suggestion above, then let me know and I'll look into them. If they fit, I'll add them into the descriptions

I'm not sure that IS the point here (even if you want it to be). Should a level one character be ABLE to have Grim Reapers Spirit? If this system is as described here, this will only lead to gimmick low level builds that have ridiculous stats and overpowered perks that will still eventually morph into handful of god like power builds as they level. Is it different, sure. Is it better? Dunno.

Something tells me that the uber powerful perks are still going to have some limitation that keeps them unusable for some period of time (like Grim Reapers Spirit is really the 4th or 5th rank of a lower level base perk).

If you set yourself up to be able to get Grim Reaper's Sprint from the get go, you would be cutting off some serious options that would make it very hard to get through the early stages. And so it's all about where you want to put your focus. Just because you're given complete freedom doesn't mean that every option is a good one. But the important thing is having the choice in the first place

My guess is that the 10p perks will have more niche functionality. There certainly won't be any situation where a powerful perk completely replaces the functionality of a weaker perk, at least. And if you're pumping SPECIAL points that high at chargen, you're trading lots of weaker perks in other stats for stronger, niche perks in one stat.

From what I can tell, the 10 Perception perk actually has a different function for each rank, much the same as the Ninja Master perk at 10 Agility.