No combat professions at all, please. Add true character progression and value. I would like to see permanent, persistent, skills tied to your GUID. Like Rust did with player ethnicities.

• Everyone should have all skills.
• Base skill bonuses are generated using your GUID as a seed. Everyone has one major skill and 2-3 minor skills.
• All skills could be increased over a single lifetime. So if you were a player that was alive for a long time you could become a skilled Mechanic but would lose most of your skills on death.
• Skill effects could be aggregated. A person with running and strength would be normal with an increased run speed and melee damage.
• Keep the UI for this as minimal as possible.

Some ideas are:

Learned

• Woodsman: Increased wood, leather and meat (butchering) yields. Greatly reduced crop yield. Greatly increased crop growing times. Can craft recurve bow at max age.
• Fireman: Always have Strength innate skill. Can craft Makeshift Fireaxe.
• Medical: Greatly increased healing effect on self and others.
• Architect: Greatly reduced barricading and base construction times.
• Engineer: Greatly reduced lockpicking time.
• Farmer: Greatly increased crop yield. Greatly reduced tilling and crop growing times.
• Mechanic: Greatly reduced vehicle repair and construction times.

Innate

• Running: Slightly increased stamina and run speed. Slightly decreased carrying capacity.
• Aiming: Slightly reduced weapon sway and increased breath holding times.
• Jumping: Slightly increased jump height and distance.
• Strength: Slightly increased carrying capacity and melee damage. Slightly decreased stamina.
• Resilience: Slightly increased resistance to disease, poison and hunger damage.