Maximum of Human Abilities?

There's no upper limit in the rules, but anything above 16 finds diminishing returns for the cost of reaching that value - beyond 16, you don't get any more bonus damage, your chances of success don't consistently increase (if you've got 3 expertise in a skill and 17 in that attribute, you don't get any increase in your chances), etc.

Given the cost of increasing attributes at that point - 1600xp from 15 to 16 - the cost quickly outweighs the benefits.

Thanks, that is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm working on a character conversion from 2nd Ed to 3rd Ed and trying to develop a fair conversion for those 2nd Ed scores like MST above 32 (now based on this discussion) and looking at what a fair number is to convert over to 3rd Ed.

Essentially, 2nd Ed Ability scores over 32 will cap their 3rd Ed score at 16 and then put 2nd Ed score minus 32 into a Excess point pool that later on can be used to purchase other skills/talents/abilities.

Just curious, how does the game work for you guys when every roll is a guaranteed success?

For example: Attribute 15 and Expertise +5.

-C171

Not as badly as you might think; a basic test with 2D20 is two successes, with a chance of three or four. Getting more successes still requires buying extra dice, and you're no less vulnerable to Repercussions than anyone else.

It makes you more consistent, but you still need to play the game... and that'll only be for a limited set of skill tests.