Skills define what your character is adept at. The wider the range of skills you take the more versatile you will find yourself in game. Yet, the fewer skills you take, the better you can train. Try to strike a balance, though there is no wrong in being a jack-of-all-trades or a specialized master.

It is also possible to help other players along the way by teaching them your skills. To become an effective teacher and contribute to the gain of a student, the teacher must have 20 more skill in the being checked at the time. There may only be one teacher per student, and a student may not have more than one teacher. If you are a teacher, you may not be a student and vice versa.

A student will gain 20% more skill per check when the teacher is within 4 squares of them. A student will gain this bonus in any skill used that qualifies as a teaching skill (teacher has 20 more than student).

This command will designate a student, and is used by the teacher. This will overwrite the previous teacher on a student.

This command will remove the teacher or student marker from a student. This must be used to remove the marker before a new teacher may be assigned to a student.

Most skills simply gain the more you use them. Some skills, however, are Rate over Time (RoT). RoT skills do not gain if you use them continuously. They only gain if you wait a few minutes in between uses. The amount of time needed between uses to provide a skill gain goes up as the skill goes up. For instance, if a player has 40 lockpicking, they may only need to wait 5 minutes or so between uses in order to produce gain. If, however, a player has 90 lockpicking, they may need to wait 10-15 minutes.

• Common Lore
• Conjuration
• Diplomacy
• Examination
• Hiding
• Leadership
• Lockpicking
• Musicianship
• Ritual
• Search
• Snooping
• Special Lore
• Stealing
• Stealth
• Survival
• Taming
• Tracking
• Willpower

For detailed information about the custom combat system used in Dark Age, read the Combat Guide.

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Increases the amount of damage dealt in combat, and the effect of bandages. Also used to evaluate a mobile’s strength and dexterity.

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Handle tamed creatures, and fighting while mounted.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Attack/Defend against ballistic weapons.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Extra damage when attacking mobiles that aren’t in warmode, and when coming out of hiding (using .backstab)

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Chance of ignoring the target’s armor on an attack.

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Dodging attacks. (Usage detailed on the combat guide)

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Attack/Defend with fencing weapons.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Controlling hired NPCs (mercenaries) and benefits for town rulers.
• A guide to leadership

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Attack/Defend with macing weapons.

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Parry an attack with a weapon or shield (Usage detailed on the combat guide)

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Attack/Defend with swords.

• Cost: 5
• Uses: Avoid getting hit in combat.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Attack/Defend with fists or gloved weapons (wrist razors)

• Cost: 4
• Craft command: .alchemy , .foragefor (with optional reagent parameter)
• Uses: Making potions and other items with alchemical components, evaluating unknown potions, foraging for reagents.
• A practical guide to alchemy

• Cost: 5
• Craft command: .blacksmith
• Uses: Crafting metal weapons and armor.
• A practical guide to blacksmithy

• Cost: 3
• Craft command: .carpentry
• Uses: Crafting wooden items.
• A practical guide to carpentry

• Cost: 1
• Craft command: .cooking
• Uses: Cooking, and also farming.
• A practical guide to cooking and farming

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Fishing.
• A practical guide to fishing

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Copying spell scrolls or recipes, and also crafting some items.
• A practical guide to inscription

• Cost: 3
• Craft command: .mining , .minefor (with optional resource parameter)
• Uses: Mining for stone, clay or metals, cutting gems, and also craft things with stone or clay.
• A practical guide to mining

• Cost: 4
• Craft command: .tailoring
• Uses: Crafting clothes and armor with furs, cloth or hides.
• A practical guide to tailoring

• Cost: 4
• Craft command: .tinkering
• Uses: Crafting small gadgets, tools, and traps.
• A practical guide to tinkering

• Cost: 4
• Craft command: .woodworking
• Uses: Crafting bows, crossbows, decorations, and gathering lumber
• A practical guide to woodworking

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Hiding you from plain sight.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Using a lockpick to open locked chests or doors. Upon failure when used in town, a rumour is generated saying “John Smith was seen picking the lock of Bob’s house.”

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Poisoning weapons or food. Poison wears down with time, and only lasts for one hit.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Snooping into people’s packs. Upon failure when used in town, a rumour is generated saying “John Smith was seen snooping Bob’s pack”. For your own safety, it is best not to try and snoop guards or vendors.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Stealing from people’s packs. Upon failure when used in town, a rumour is generated saying “John Smith was seen stealing from Bob”. For your own safety, it is best not to try and steal from guards or vendors.

• Cost: 4
• Uses: Taking stealth steps while hidden, and also applying disguises and keeping them on.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Used in conjunction with magery to summon, speak with, and control conjured creatures.

• Cost: 5
• Uses: Enhances the effectiveness of a spell. Curses will be more harmful, protection spells will be stronger, and offensive spells will do more damage. Magic Power, not magery, determines how potent your spells are.

• Cost: 6
• Uses: This skill measures your magical knowledge and your ability to cast. Difficult spells will require greater magery. Note: to cast spells, you do need to select the witchblood background.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Used to resist mind-effecting spells, and with .rage
• NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: When used in conjunction with the witchblood background, can be used to cast Spellsongs. Without witchblood, it is a tool of entertainment and can be used to gather coins from townsfolk.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Used for advanced spells that are cast in a ritual.
• NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Regenerates your mana faster. Meditating, regardless of your skill level, also increases the regeneration rate of your stamina and hitpoints.

• Cost: 4
• Uses: The amount of faith this character has in the divine. Priests should select faith, not magery. The lower cost of faith is a result of magic being more potent.
• NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED.

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Evaluating items more in-depth than with Common Lore. This skill measures a character’s knowledge in unusual areas of interest: history, geography, physics, chemistry, magic, religion, and other topics.

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Evaluating armor, weapons and clothes, for their condition, quality, and maker.

• Brand new (Best)
• Almost new
• Barely used, with a few nicks and scrapes.
• Fairly new condition
• Suffered some wear and tear
• Well used
• Rather battered
• Somewhat badly damaged
• Flimsy and not trustworthy
• Falling apart (Worst)

• Mastercrafted (Best)
• Exceptional
• Excellent
• Above average
• Average
• Below average
• Poor
• Very poor
• Shoddy
• Useless
• Worthless
• Utterly worthless (Worst)

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Used to set up campfires and survive in the wilderness.
• Passive uses: While being tracked, chance of concealing own tracks, and being able to notice you are being followed. Also, chance of recovering consciousness while knocked out.

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Interpreting maps, and making sailing more effective.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Revealing hidden items (like traps) and people.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Applying bandages that heal your health, halt bleeding, and increase regeneration. Used in conjunction with Anatomy, to also revive those who have been knocked out.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Used to examine locks, corpses or people, for evidence about lock quality, murderer, or disguises.

• Cost: 1
• Uses: Bargaining with merchants, and effectively running a town.

• Cost: 3
• Uses: Taming animals in the wild. The better a character is at taming, the larger variaty of animals he or she can tame.

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Tracking people and creatures. The great a character’s tracking skill, the wider the range they can cover, and the more details (from foot equipment, to weight, to size, etcetera) they can find out through the person’s tracks. The usage of the skill through the Skill Gump displays a list of mobiles in range.
• Text command for additional function of following a certain target: .track

• Cost: 2
• Uses: Removing traps that have been discovered using the Search skill, or setting traps.
• A practical guide to Traps