Skill Types

Olympia: The Age of Gods PBEM (Oct 4 2000)

### 3.3.1: Skill Types

There are four types of skills in Olympia:

- Category skills (e.g., Combat [1100]). 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., Train Swordsmen [1105]). 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 [1195]). 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 [1190]). 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 a member of the appropriate guild (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 when learned in conjunction with a religious skill, and Advanced Sorcery [3300]) This represents the difficulty of becoming an expert in a wide variety of subject areas.