Screen printing or looking after a nocturnal animal? Stat augmentation in AU (Patreon)

So I've been thinking a bit about stat augmentation in Arcane Ugly.
"How do players improve their stats?"

My thought was that stats would largely be modified by magic items and the items you decided to carry would shape your character. But I think that might slow the game down with players constantly checking their items to make sure they have their stats right.

I'm now thinking we reserve items that modify your rolls to armor and ward values and also consumables like a potions which give temporary buff.

"So how do we change our stats without items?"

Well I think that's were mutations and tattoos come in. While you get stronger, you also get weirder and uglier. Mutations and tattoos can have their own spot on the character sheet. Mutations will need to be more frequent so I'm thinking maybe a mutation card could be added to the treasure deck, when you pull it you roll on some tables to work out what gives you the mutation and what you get.

"But this eliminates a lot of player choice, how do we fix that?"

I'm thinking we have a few kinds of mutation tables, some themed to specific skills or some really wild ones, some risky ones, some only for when you miscast, one if you get resurrected. When a player gains the mutation as a reward they might get to choose from a set of tables from which to roll on. When a player gains a mutation in a chaotic way like a spell miscast, it could be ANYTHING.

What do you think?