9.1 UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF SKILLS
Skills and Skillsets
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Skills in Midkemia are grouped into skillsets, which are a collection of related abilities, such as Fighting, Smithing, or Fencing. You always have access to several "general" skillsets that everyone shares, such as Fighting, Vigilance, and Riding. You also have access to two class skillsets, such as Thaumaturgy and Arcana for Magicians. You may also learn any number of trade skillsets, such as Smithing or Tailoring. At level 21, you can learn a specialization, which is a choice of a third class skillset, such as Demonology or Psionics for Magicians, or Thievery or Performance for Rogues. This specialization will set you apart from other players of your class, and give you a choice of what kind of path you want to pursue.
You will gain new abilities as you learn more of a skillset, and there are usually somewhere from 25 to 35 abilities in a skillset.
Viewing Your Skills
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Syntax: AB - short for ABILITIES, it lists your
current skillsets
SKILLS, or SPELLS - another alias for AB
AB <skillset> - list all the skills in a skillset,
showing only those skills you know
AB <skillset> FULL - see all the skills in a skillset,
including those you *don't* know
AB <skillset> <skill> - show the skill details of a skill,
including the syntax of how to use
that skill. If you don't know the
skill, it will instead show you the
skill rank at which you will learn
it
Damage Type
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The damage type of a skill describes the type of attack that is being done, and can have many effects that the reader will be left to discover, such as how easily they are mitigated by armor or protective spells. The damage types are:
Unblockable
Cutting
Blunt
Holy
Arcane
Fire
Cold
Electric
Poison
Asphyxiation
Psionic
Damage Source
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Less important than the damage type is the damage source, which generally is unique to your class. For example, a Magician's spells have a magical source, whereas a Priest's prayers have a faith source. Certain abilities may interact with a damage source, though this is fairly rare.
See also: HELP LEARNING, HELP SPECIALIZATIONS, HELP STATS