# Skills

The Discworld skill model is large and complex. It is broken up into eight branches.

## Skill System

### Trees and branches

Discworld uses a skill system, which is divided into eight skilltrees:

A tree can branch into subskills and sub-subskills.

What you actually use is the bonus, not the level. But to increase your bonus you need to increase your level or change your stats, which can be done temporarily with stat effects.

To refer to a skill you have to provide the path to it, for example fighting.defence.dodging.

• You can abbreviate skills by only listing a few letters: skills fi.de.do.
• Note that if two skills could be referred by such reduced version the mud will use one, but this might not be the one you want. For example, ma.me.me.ch is channeling, not charming, so you'd have to use skills ma.me.me.char instead.

Languages are special, you start with one and need to learn others from specific teachers before you can improve them. They do not use stats.

### Calculation of levels

The level is of the skilltree is calculated by taking the average of the levels of the main branches and round this down to the nearest integer. On its turn, the level of a (sub) branch is calculated the same way, by taking the average of the levels of the sub (sub) branches and round this down to the nearest integer.

### Calculation of guild level

A player's guild level is not the skilltree level of his specialisation (shown by 'skills primaries'). The guild level is calculated by taking the average of the level of the outermost branches and round this down to the nearest integer. For a wizard, the outermost branches are e.g. magic.methods.mental.animating and magic.methods.mental.channeling, not magic.methods.mental nor magic.methods.

## Improving your skills

There are 4 methods of improving your level, and hence your bonus, in a skill.

To gain levels from the taskmaster you don't need to do anything, just using skills has a chance to advance your skills!

• The taskmaster is the system that performs skill checks on Discworld. It decides if you pass or fail a skill check, the degree to which you do so, and whether you are to be awarded a skill increase as part of your attempts.
• To TM is to gain a level from the taskmaster.
• It is often said that you have the most chance to get a TM when you have 50% chance to pass a skillcheck.

Cost: Skill increases awarded by taskmasker are "free" advancement, they have no XP or financial cost.

### Advance: Instruction by Guild

Every guild has a teacher who will advance you to some level in all skills; however, the level to which they are willing to teach you in various skills will depend upon your choice of guild and, in some cases, your specialisation within the guild.

• This is done with the advance command (in the presence of a guild teacher).
• Use the cost command (in the presence of a guild teacher) to see how much one or several skill advance will cost.
• For example: cost primaries, cost magic, cost ma.points, etc.
• Guilds will advance primaries up to level 300; all other skills are taught to a lower level.
• For example, Priests may advance all faith skills up to level 300 within the guild, but may only advance magic skills up to level 5.
• Examples: advance magic, advance ma.sp, advance ma.sp.offensive
• To advance a skill tree, find the advancement room/person and type advance [skill]. So to advance your skill tree for magic type "advance magic" without the quotation marks.
• To advance a branch of a skill, simply type advance [skill.branch]

Cost: Advancing within your guild is the second cheapest in terms of XP cost after taskmaster skill increases, and costs AM\$ 12.50 or equivalent per 100k XP spent on skills.

### Teachers

All players are able to teach their skill to other players, subject to their bonus in the relevant skills being high enough.

• Learning from another player is considerably more expensive than advancing from a guild, but always cheaper (sometimes not by much) than learning from yourself (see below).

Cost: Learning from a teacher has a high XP cost, but generally has no financial cost. The teacher receives a portion of the XP you spend in return for teaching you.

### Self Teaching

Self teaching is the application of your XP to teaching yourself skills.

Cost: This is the most expensive method, but it has the benefit of always being available, and can also be done no matter what level you currently have in the skill.

## Skills tree table

See also the TM Project page for a more compact list of skills.

Adventuring Con Dex Int Str Wis
movement 2 2 0 1 0
swimming 2 2 0 1 0
riding 2 2 0 1 0
camel 2 2 0 1 0
horse 2 2 0 1 0
climbing 2 2 0 1 0
rock 2 2 0 1 0
rope 2 2 0 1 0
tree 2 2 0 1 0
sailing 2 2 0 1 0
following 2 2 0 1 0
pursuit 2 2 0 1 0
evade 2 2 0 1 0
acrobatics 1 2 0 2 0
tumbling 1 2 0 2 0
vaulting 1 2 0 2 0
balancing 1 2 0 2 0
evaluating 0 0 4 0 1
weapons 0 0 4 0 1
armour 0 0 4 0 1
perception 0 0 2 0 3
direction 0 2 2 0 1
health 4 0 0 1 0
points 1 1 1 1 1
Covert Con Dex Int Str Wis
stealth 0 3 1 1 0
inside 0 3 1 1 0
outside 0 3 1 1 0
underwater 0 3 1 1 0
hiding 0 2 2 1 0
person 0 2 2 1 0
object 0 2 2 1 0
lockpick 0 4 1 0 0
doors 0 4 1 0 0
safes 0 4 1 0 0
traps 0 4 1 0 0
manipulation 0 2 1 2 0
palming 0 2 1 2 0
passing 0 2 1 2 0
sleight-of-hand 0 2 1 2 0
stealing 0 2 1 2 0
casing 0 1 2 0 2
person 0 1 2 0 2
place 0 1 2 0 2
items 0 1 4 0 0
poisons 0 1 4 0 0
traps 0 1 4 0 0
weapons 0 1 4 0 0
points 1 2 2 0 0
Crafts Con Dex Int Str Wis
smithing 0 2 2 1 0
gold 0 2 2 1 0
silver 0 2 2 1 0
black 0 2 2 1 0
tools 0 2 2 1 0
weapons 0 2 2 1 0
armour 0 2 2 1 0
gem 0 2 2 1 0
cutting 0 2 2 1 0
polishing 0 2 2 1 0
setting 0 2 2 1 0
locks 0 2 2 1 0
mining 0 1 2 2 0
gem 0 1 2 2 0
ore 0 1 2 2 0
panning 0 1 2 2 0
mineral 0 1 2 2 0
hunting 0 2 3 0 0
tracking 0 2 3 0 0
fishing 0 2 3 0 0
trapping 0 2 3 0 0
foraging 0 2 3 0 0
carpentry 0 2 2 1 0
furniture 0 2 2 1 0
coopering 0 2 2 1 0
turning 0 2 2 1 0
whittling 0 2 2 1 0
pottery 0 3 2 0 0
forming 0 3 2 0 0
throwing 0 3 2 0 0
shaping 0 3 2 0 0
glazing 0 3 2 0 0
staining 0 3 2 0 0
firing 0 3 2 0 0
materials 0 2 2 1 0
tanning 0 2 2 1 0
leatherwork 0 2 2 1 0
weaving 0 2 2 1 0
spinning 0 2 2 1 0
needlework 0 2 2 1 0
dyeing 0 2 2 1 0
husbandry 0 0 3 0 2
plant 0 0 3 0 2
edible 0 0 3 0 2
herbal 0 0 3 0 2
milling 0 0 3 0 2
tree 0 0 3 0 2
animal 0 0 3 0 2
grooming 0 0 3 0 2
breeding 0 0 3 0 2
slaughtering 0 0 3 0 2
culinary 0 2 3 0 0
cooking 0 2 3 0 0
baking 0 2 3 0 0
butchering 0 2 3 0 0
preserving 0 2 3 0 0
brewing 0 2 3 0 0
distilling 0 2 3 0 0
medicine 0 1 2 0 2
firstaid 0 1 2 0 2
diagnosis 0 1 2 0 2
treatment 0 1 2 0 2
disease 0 1 2 0 2
injury 0 1 2 0 2
poison 0 1 2 0 2
arts 0 1 4 0 0
design 0 1 4 0 0
calligraphy 0 1 4 0 0
drawing 0 1 4 0 0
painting 0 1 4 0 0
printing 0 1 4 0 0
sculpture 0 1 4 0 0
theatre 0 1 4 0 0
music 0 1 4 0 0
instruments 0 1 4 0 0
percussion 0 1 4 0 0
wind 0 1 4 0 0
stringed 0 1 4 0 0
keyboard 0 1 4 0 0
vocal 0 1 4 0 0
special 0 1 4 0 0
theory 0 1 4 0 0
performance 0 1 4 0 0
points 0 2 2 0 1
Faith Con Dex Int Str Wis
rituals 0 0 1 1 3
offensive 0 0 1 2 2
area 0 0 1 2 2
target 0 0 1 2 2
defensive 0 2 1 0 2
area 0 2 1 0 2
self 0 2 1 0 2
target 0 2 1 0 2
curing 2 0 1 0 2
self 2 0 1 0 2
target 2 0 1 0 2
misc 0 0 2 0 3
area 0 0 2 0 3
self 0 0 2 0 3
target 0 0 2 0 3
special 0 0 1 1 3
items 0 1 2 0 2
rod 0 1 2 0 2
scroll 0 1 2 0 2
points 1 0 2 0 2
Fighting Con Dex Int Str Wis Comment
melee 1 2 0 2 0 is used to determine a player's ability when using melee weapons.
dagger 0 4 0 1 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with a dagger.
sword 0 3 0 2 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with a sword.
heavy-sword 1 1 0 3 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat when using a heavy sword.
axe 1 1 0 3 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with an axe.
mace 2 1 0 2 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with maces and hammers.
flail 1 2 0 2 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with a flail.
polearm 2 0 0 3 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with a polearm.
misc 1 2 0 2 0 is the skill used to determine a player's ability in melee combat with a miscellaneous weapons - that is, melee weapons that do not fit into any other other fighting.melee skill branches.
range 0 3 0 2 0 is used to determine a player's ability when using ranged weapons.
thrown 0 3 0 2 0 determines one's ability to hit a target with a thrown object.
fired 0 4 0 1 0 determines one's ability to hit a target with projectile launched from any weapon.
unarmed 0 2 0 2 1 is used to determine a player's ability at performing unconventional unarmed manoeuvers in combat, beyond simply punching and kicking.
striking 0 2 0 1 2 is the skill used to determine the magnitude of unarmed special attacks.
grappling 0 2 0 2 1 is the skill used to determine a player's ability to wrestle with opponents.
defence 0 2 0 2 1 is used to determine a player's ability to defend themselves against physical attacks - whether they come from melee or ranged distance.
parrying 0 3 0 1 1 is the skill used primarily to determine one's chance of successfully parrying an incoming physical attack with a weapon.
blocking 0 2 0 2 1 is the skill used primarily to determine one's chance of successfully blocking an incoming physical attack with a shield.
dodging 0 4 0 0 1 is the skill used primarily to determine one's chance of successfully dodging an incoming physical attack.
special 1 1 2 1 0 is used to determine various miscellaneous aspects relating to combat,
weapon 0 1 3 1 0 is the skill used to determine whether or not a special attack can be prepared with a weapon
unarmed 0 2 3 0 0 is the skill used to determine whether or not a special attack can be prepared while unarmed.
tactics 0 0 3 0 2 is a skill which has a strong influence on how rapidly one is able to act in combat.
mounted 2 2 0 0 1 is a skill related to preparing special attacks when mounted on a horse (and perhaps other mounts in future).
points 2 1 0 2 0 determines the number of fighting guild points a player has.
Magic Con Dex Int Str Wis
spells 0 1 2 0 2
offensive 0 0 2 2 1
defensive 2 0 2 0 1
misc 0 2 2 0 1
special 0 0 2 0 3
methods 0 1 3 0 1
elemental 3 0 2 0 0
air 3 0 2 0 0
earth 3 0 2 0 0
fire 3 0 2 0 0
water 3 0 2 0 0
mental 0 0 5 0 0
animating 0 0 5 0 0
channeling 0 0 5 0 0
charming 0 0 5 0 0
convoking 0 0 5 0 0
cursing 0 0 5 0 0
physical 0 3 2 0 0
binding 0 3 2 0 0
brewing 0 3 2 0 0
chanting 0 3 2 0 0
dancing 0 3 2 0 0
enchanting 0 3 2 0 0
evoking 0 3 2 0 0
healing 0 3 2 0 0
scrying 0 3 2 0 0
spiritual 0 0 2 0 3
abjuring 0 0 2 0 3
banishing 0 0 2 0 3
conjuring 0 0 2 0 3
divining 0 0 2 0 3
summoning 0 0 2 0 3
items 0 1 2 0 2
held 0 1 2 0 2
wand 0 1 2 0 2
rod 0 1 2 0 2
staff 0 1 2 0 2
broom 0 1 2 0 2
worn 0 1 2 0 2
amulet 0 1 2 0 2
ring 0 1 2 0 2
scroll 0 1 2 0 2
talisman 0 1 2 0 2
points 0 0 2 1 2
People Con Dex Int Str Wis
trading 0 0 4 0 1
buying 0 0 4 0 1
selling 0 0 4 0 1
valueing 0 0 4 0 1
gems 0 0 4 0 1
jewellery 0 0 4 0 1
weapons 0 0 4 0 1
armour 0 0 4 0 1
teaching 5/7 8/7 10/7 5/7 7/7
covert 1 2 2 0 0
crafts 0 2 2 0 1
faith 1 0 2 0 2
fighting 1 2 0 2 0
magic 0 0 2 1 2
people 1 1 1 1 1
adventuring 1 1 1 1 1
culture 0 0 3 0 2
ankh-morporkian 0 0 3 0 2
klatchian 0 0 3 0 2
agatean 0 0 3 0 2
lancrastian 0 0 3 0 2
genuan 0 0 3 0 2
points 1 1 1 1 1
Languages
 Agatean Brindisian Djelian Dwarfish Ephebian Klatchian Morporkian Uberwaldean