[development] Character limit on body textarea

Good day Drupal Devs, I have an issue where I need to set a character limit on a content's body_field. I found maxlength, which is great, unfortunately it isn't everything I need since this is a per role situation. Some roles would have a limit, others unlimited. Has anyone successfully been able to apply an alter to the maxlength module to have it work for specific roles only? Thanks, -- Karyn