[Rocket Man]

I think in the end, you just have to have a clear picture of what you want the Wordbound to look like and design the character to fit that picture, regardless of what the final power level comes to.

One thing to remember -- ancient characters can also have lost Forces in battle as well. Likewise, old skills may have been put to one side or forgotten, attunements may have been revoked or suspended for a few centuries as punishment for a mishandled assignment, and there's always the possibility of Discord. Even a completely virtuous angel may still have acquired Ethereal Discord after getting its Mind whomped in The Marches.

On a similar note, if a particular Wordbound (or any celestial NPC) has been doing the same sort of job over and over for centuries, they may have few or no abilities outside that job specialty. If you're the Angel of Hammerhead Sharks, Driving (Auto) may not come up often enough to be worth learning.

One great example in Night Music is the Old Guy, a Malakite Seneschal who may be old enough to remember dinosaurs. Despite all that, the old veteran only has 9 Forces, partly because a human succeeded in poisoning his Tether, the "Treaty Oak" near Austin, Texas. Skills and songs he still has in plenty -- not to mention cunning -- but the raw power just ain't there anymore.