The Skill System
================

In Cthangband, most of your characters talents and aptitudes are
measured as skills. You have 27 skills in total, each of which is a
percentage.

Twelve of these skills are classed as 'Everyman' skills. As the name
implies, everyone posesses these skills to some degree. The other 15
skills are specialist - you do not have any score in these unless you
started as a template that gives you one or you have practiced.

Experience
==========

Each time you use a skill, a count is kept. When you have used a skill
enough times, it will be tested. If you fail this test your skill will
increase by one point. (I.e. a skill of 25% has a 75% chance of failure
in the test and therefore a 75% chance of increasing. A skill of 90% has
a 10% chance of failing and increasing. A skill of 0% will always
increase. A skill of 100% will never increase.)

However, if you are bored then you will not learn from your practice. In
the case of combat and magical skills, you will only learn when there
was a significant chance of failure, and for the 'Toughness' skill to
keep improving you must take more and more damage. In any case, the
environment that you are in plays a large part. Skills can never be
increased in the town - practising there just does not give the
adrenaline rush. Indeed, as your skills get higher, you will find that
you need to deeper and deeper into more perilous dungeons to keep your
interest.

The number of times that a skill needs to be used before it is tested
varies from skill to skill (some are easier to learn than others) and
your 'Exp Factor' is also taken into account (some races learn quicker
than others). Your exp factor is used as a direct percentage (e.g. with
an exp factor of 100, your 'Toughness' skill is checked every 5 times
you take damage. If your exp factor is 120, your 'Toughness' skill is
checked every 6 times you are hit. If your exp factor is 130, your
'Toughness' skill is checked approximately every 6 1/2 times you are
hit.)

Note that skills will only increase with individual experience. For
example, it doesn't matter how good you are at 'Close Combat' - it will
not help your 'Mindcrafting' skill. The only way to increase your
'Mindcrafting' skill is to practice mindcrafting.

Skill Descriptions
==================

Close Combat (Checked every 10 uses)

This skill determines your chance to hit an opponent when fighting
either bare handed or with one of the following weapons: Whips, Daggers,
Broken Daggers, Main Gauches and Broken Swords.

Slashing Weapons (Checked every 10 uses)

This skill determines your chance to hit an opponent when fighting with
one of the following weapons: Axes, Scythes, Swords (except for Rapiers
and Short Swords).

Stabbing Weapons (Checked every 10 uses)

This skill determines your chance to hit an opponent when fighting with
one of the following weapons: Rapiers, Short Swords, Spears, Awl-Pikes
and Tridents.

Crushing Weapons (Checked every 10 uses)

This skill determines your chance to hit an opponent when fighting with
one of the following weapons: Pole Arms (other than those mentioned
above) Maces, Hammers, Picks, Shovels and Clubs.

Missile Weapons (Checked every 10 uses)

This skill determines your chance to hit an opponent when fighting with
one of the following weapons: Bows, Crossbows, Slings and any thrown
item.

Toughness (Checked every 5 uses)

This skill determines how much damage you can take before dying. Your
hit points are directly related to your score in this skill.

Devices (Checked every use)

This skill indicates your knowledge of magical devices. As well as
determining your chance of being able to successfully use an item, it
also determines your chance of recognising the worth of an item after
carrying it for a while.

Resistance (Checked every use)

This skill determines how resistant to magic you are. It is used
whenever a spell is cast upon you by someone else (but not when you cast
spells on yourself).

Perception (Checked every use)

This skill indicates how often you notice things that are out of the
ordinary. It determines how often the computer checks to see whether you
have noticed a secret door or trap.

Searching (Checked every use)

This skill determines your chances of finding secret doors and traps
while actively searching for them (in 'Sneak' mode). It also determines
your chances in the spontaneous 'Perception' checks.

Disarming (Checked every use)

This skill determines your chance of successfully disarming traps and
picking locks.

Stealth (Checked every use)

This skill determines how much noise you make whilst moving - and
therefore how often creatures wake up as you pass near to them. This
skill is halved except when you are in 'Sneak' mode.

Martial Arts (Checked every 9 uses)

This skill determines your knowledge of mystical fighting arts that can
increase your damage in unarmed combat and also increase your armour
class and speed. Your martial arts skill is heavily penalised if you are
wearing too much armour.

Mindcrafting (Checked every 5 uses)

This skill determines your ability to use mindcrafting powers. The
higher the skill, the more powers you can use (and the lower the failure
rate on your powers). Almost all of the mindcrafting powers increase
their effectiveness dramatically as your skill increases.

Chi Balance (Checked every 6 uses)

This skill determines how much 'Chi' you have available for using
mindcrafting powers. This skill is heavily penalised if you are wearing
any kind of head covering that does not enhance wisdom or itself
confer telepathy.

Spirit Lore (Checked every 6 uses)

This skill determines how much you know about the ways of the spirits
and the proper etiquette for asking them favours. The higher your skill,
the more favours you can ask for (and the less you will annoy spirits by
asking for favours). Each spirit has a minimum spirit lore that you must
achieve before it will make a pact with you at all.

Hedge Magic (Checked every 5 uses)

This skill determines your ability to produce magical effects from
charms. The more skill you have, the less likely you are to drain the
charm.

Innate Racial (Checked every use)

This skill indicates how 'in touch' you are with your body. It is used
whenever you try to use a racial power or whenever you use a chaos
feature that must be activated. The higher your skill, the more chance
these powers have of working (and the more effect you will get out of
them).

Thaumaturgy (Checked every 3 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting hermetic spells from
the thaumaturgy school. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
type in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
thaumaturgy spells.

Necromancy (Checked every 3 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting hermetic spells from
the necromancy school. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
type in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
necromancy spells.

Conjuration (Checked every 3 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting hermetic spells from
the conjuration school. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
type in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
conjuration spells.

Sorcery (Checked every 3 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting hermetic spells from
the sorcery school. It is averaged with your skill for the spell type in
order to determine how good you are at casting individual sorcery
spells.

Magice Corporis (Checked every 2 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting 'Corporis' (flesh
affecting) hermetic spells. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
school in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
corporis spells. 

Magice Vis (Checked every 2 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting 'Vis' (power
affecting) hermetic spells. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
school in order to determine how good you are at casting individual vis
spells. 

Magice Naturae (Checked every 2 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting 'Naturae' (matter
affecting) hermetic spells. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
school in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
naturae spells. 

Magice Animae (Checked every 2 uses)

This skill determines how good you are at casting 'Animae' (spirit
affecting) hermetic spells. It is averaged with your skill for the spell
school in order to determine how good you are at casting individual
spirit spells. 

Mana Channeling (Checked every 6 uses)

This skill indicates how good you are at channeling mana through
yourself. Your 'Mana' score is determined by this skill, as is the
number of different hermetic spells that you can learn. Wearing either
too heavy armour or covering your hands with anything bulky will
penalise this skill.
