Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (May 4 1999)
3.3.1: Skill Types
There are four types of skills in Olympia:
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Category skills (e.g., Combat [121]). A category skill represents the
basic foundation of skills and knowledge in a particular area. Learning
a category requires a teacher --- another noble who has already mastered
the skill, or a book of instruction.
-
Teachable subskills (e.g., Swordplay [9580]). These skills represent
extensions of the category skill which may require several weeks of
practice to master, but which are otherwise straightforward. Learning
these skills does not require a teacher, but the time required can be
reduced significantly if a teacher is available.
-
Unteachable subskills (e.g., Use Beasts in Battle [9507]). These
skills are more complicated and difficult skills which do not follow
directly from the category skill. Each student must go through an
individual process of discovery to master these skills. These skills
cannot be taught.
-
Guild skills (e.g., Train Mounted [9612]). Many skill categories have
guilds which zealously protect the secrets to one or two important and
powerful skills. To learn these skills, a noble must be in an
appropriate guild hall (see Guild Halls).
The complete list of Olympia skills can be found in Appendix - Skill Dictionary.
Each skill a noble learns costs him $100. Certain difficult skills
(such as all the magic and religious category skills) also cost 1 or
more noble points (NPs). In addition, each category skill beyond the
third costs a noble point. (However, this charge is waived for Basic
Religion [3500], the strength skill learned in conjunction with a
religious skill, and Advanced Sorcery [170]) This represents the
difficulty of becoming an expert in a wide variety of subject areas.