Skill changes

Note that some information might change with time, since RunNL is still in development and some features might be missing.

Alchemy
Little changes on this one. Most remarkables would be that your Alchemy level affects the effectiveness of the potions and the ability of Grandmasters to learn a new skill, Glassblowing, which allows them to craft glass items from sand.

Anatomy
Most important change in this skill is the introduction of passive skill gain. While fighting you'll raise your chosen combat skill, Tactics and Anatomy all together (provided none of them are locked and you have enough skill points avaliable ).

Animal Lore
When checking an animal now you will get a nice gump with a few pages, showing the pet's stats, skills, resistances and status. Very nice

Animal Taming
Big changes.
- Creatures will be able to develop a special bond with their owners and won't run away anymore. If they die, their spirit will remain with the owner, in hopes he/she will bring it to life again.
- Hopefully, unbonded pets won't run away every 30 mins; they will be a bit more patient this time
- Tamers won't be able to command as many pets as before tho. Players have 5 follower slots. A horse will fill one follower slot, but a dragon might fill 4.
- And... Rumours say something about strange creatures, never seen before in Neverlands... But who would trust a rumour, right?

Archery
Archers now have 2 more types of bows (composite bow and repeating crossbow). They usually can't move while shooting, but they have a special move that will allow them to do so for a short bit. Bows are repairable.

Arms Lore
Kind of useless ATM

Battle Focus (or simply Focus)
This is the first of the new skills. Regenerates (always passively) Stamina and Mana. It's slower than Meditation, but it's not affected by armors types.

Begging
Only usable with NPCs.

Blacksmithy
Along with metal armors, blacksmiths now can craft scale armors (scales can be obtained as loot in different monsters). There's also a new feature, Bulk Order Deeds, which make the skill a bit less boring. It has some nice rewards to look for!

Bowcraft/Fletching
Bowyers can make all kind of bows (need to check if any type of wood is useful for it). There's also a type of monsters, Juka Lords, which leave as loot a special type of bows, which can be turned by Bowyers into Slayer weapons.

Camping
Basically the same as in NL.

Carpentry
Carpentry gets a nice boost with new wood types (colors bit more realistic and nice), new craftables and add-ons and an interesting bonus for GMs: Masonry! Yes, GM Carpenters will be able to craft stone furniture

Cartography
Basically the same as in NL, except for two things: now you'll need a cartographer's pen to write land maps or sea charts, and once you decode a map you won't get a little annoying shovel, you shall use a normal one!

Chivalry
New skill, related to Paladins. In order to use it you will need a Book of Chivalry and tithing points, which can be obtained donating gold at any shrine. Chivalry spells can be casted while holding any kind of weapons.

Cooking
Cooking finally works! And we can taste our own creations (finally)! And Cooking also has a little something interesting/curious: Savage paint.

Detecting Hidden
Useful to detect traps on chests, find traps in dungeons and locate players who might be hidden.

Discordance
Substitute of old Enticement. While the last one let you control a monster, this one is meant to reduce your target's resistances for a short period of time. This also means that they are a bit more vulnerable to other music related skills. Doesn't work with players.

Evaluating Intelligence
Supporting skill for Magery, now more than ever. Most of the skills will have ridiculous effects if this skill is low. Only two ones which aren't affected by this skill are Blade Spirits and Mind Blast. Good side is it raises passively as you cast spells.

Fencing
Significant changes in this skill. Spears are no more the top 1 weapon; instead now there's a lot more variety and possibilities, due to AoS weapon properties and their infinite combinations. Also, thanks to special moves, fencers get back the paralyzing blows and some more cool stuff.

Fishing
Fishing mechanics have changed a bit, try it by yourself. You can now use either fishing poles or fishing nets, and fishing at deep sea will give you different (better) results than fishing at the coast.

Forensic Evaluation
Useful for roleplayers, FE can give you information about a corpse (i.e. who/what killed it). Tho it can also give information about living beings, for example if you're skilled enough it will reveal if someone is in the Thieves' guild...

Healing
Healing is pretty similar to what it's in NL.. Supporting skill is Anatomy. You get hurt, you apply a bandage, you healed . To be able to cure poison you must be a Journeyman Healer (Healing/Anatomy) or higher. You will be also able to resurrect ghosts once you reach the Adept status in both skills.

Herding
Choose an animal and order it to move the direction you wish. The higher your Herding level, the better creatures you can herd.. It can be fun in certain situations..

Hiding
Same as NL. There's better chances to hide when you are not attacked and when you are near walls, not in the open.

Inscription
Scribes now need to use reagents also when creating scrolls. But as some sort of reward, Inscription gives a damage bonus on certain spells (Magery) as well as extra protection.

Item ID
You can identify the exact properties of jewels with it.

Lumberjacking
Lumberjacking is quite different now. We got new wood types with a more realistic touch. Different types of trees provide different types of wood. Also, auto-lumberjacking is off.

Mace Fighting
Maces are no longer the worst nightmare of armors. Any kind of weapon can damage your armor, but it won't be as tough as it is with maces in NL. As with Fencing, there isn't a top 1 weapon now, all of them are equally capable of being a good one.

Magery
Magery comes with a few changes...
- Spells based on elemental damage (fire, cold, poison or energy) are no longer resistable with Resisting Spells.
- Inscription level of the caster will affect the damage of the spells based on fire element.
- Protection, Arch Protection, Magic Reflection and Reactive armor effects changed. (Arch) Protection will allow you to cast without being interrupted, however physical resistance and Resisting Spells are reduced. Magic Reflection increases your elemental resistances reducing your physical resistance. Reactive Armor does the opposite. Those 3 spells have infinite duration, to stop their effects cast them again. They all can be used at the same time.
- Poison spell works! And Poisoning skill will increase the level of the poison casted.
- Mind blast no longer depends on the stats of the victim, it's now a cold based attack.

Meditation
Meditation now increases active and passively. It is as well divided into 2 types of meditation, passive and active. To meditate actively you must be either naked, wearing leather (non-studded) armor or Mage armor. The rate of mana regeneration will depend on your skill level and your outfit.

Mining
Mining works differently. Veins are introduced, which means you can only mine up to two types of ore from one spot (iron and another one). To get a different ore, try on a different spot. Also, as with lumberjacking or fishing, auto-mining went *poof*.

Musicianship
Play an instrument or use Peacemaking/Provocation/Discordance to raise this skill.

Necromancy
New skill, pure evil. To cast Necromancy spells you will need the propper book and the spell scrolls, which can be found as loot in monsters. Necromancy spells can be casted while holding any kind of weapons. Necromancy debuffs can be resisted through Resisting Spells skill.

Parrying
Parrying is a bit different now. Weapons (if no shield) will parry attacks too, but the chance is half of what it would be with a shield. Once you successfully block an attack, you won't receive any damage from it. Parrying can block special moves too.

Peacemaking
Now there are two ways to use this skill. Targeting a specific monster will peace it for a few seconds. Targeting yourself will calm the whole screen for a bit. Peacemaking is difficulty based, and there are a few monsters that aren't affected by it.

Poisoning
A Grandmaster Assassin can use up to deadly poison. However, under certain conditions, it is possible to get to use lethal poison (name says it all).

Provocation
Another Bard's skill. This one is also difficulty based. Use it in one monster and then target the second one, if successful both will start a nice dance

Remove trap
Disarm traps with it, but first you shall be at least a Novice in the arts of Lockpicking and Detecting Hidden.

Resisting Spells
Skill totally revamped! Due to the new damage types (physic, fire, cold, energy and poison), Resisting Spells won't resist attacks which are based on any of those, only from cursing spells. And it will give you an overall bonus in your resistances depending on your level. Might not seem too useful, but trust me, in some cases it's still a must!

Snooping
It's back! Snooping lets you take a peak at other people's (players/NPCs) backpacks.

Spirit Speak
This skill is to Necromancy as Evaluating Intelligence is to Magery. To get full power from Necro spells you will need it. When used actively you will heal yourself, taking energy from a nearby corpse or from your own mana, if there's none around.

Stealing
Just like Snooping, it's back for good! Now introducing the "Thieves Guild". You can't steal of people if you don't join it first, and they won't let anyone in, only Journeymans and above! But meanwhile, feel free to try out NPCs and containers!

Stealth
Basically the same as before, but the number of steps you can make is twice as much. For example if your level is Apprentice you can make 10 steps, Journeyman can make 12, etc. Assassins will like it even more; there is a nice special move only usable with Stealth.

Swordsmanship
The almighty halberds are no longer almighty. Katanas, crescent blades and other weapons are tired of being used only for training and come back in scene with decent damage and some cool special moves.

Tactics
What to say about this one; it is already a classic, what would be a warrior without Tactics? Raises passively while fighting and gives damage bonus, as usual.

Tailoring
Tailors are lucky! New leather types and oh my... Craftable bone armor! Yes, you read it, craftable bone armor. Tailoring has a Bulk Order Deed system implemented, as Blacksmithy, and I must say rewards are very nice.

Taste Identification
If you don't like to get poisoned, this is your skill. It is also helpful for alchemists to identify the content of a keg.

Tinkering
Tinkers can make various items, like jewels, tools, trapped containers, and also bolas and golems. Tools have a property called durability, the better the quality of the tool, the higher durability it will have. Bolas are used to dismount players (tho they have some restrictions). And golems are big monsters made of ore, quite entertaining.

Tracking
You can track monsters, NPCs, players, etc...

Veterinary
This is the same as Healing, but for pets... Of course they can be healed with Magery, but Veterinary has a bonus. When you have enough skill you will be able to ressurrect bonded pets.

Wrestling
Wrestling is the weakest of all the combat skills. Anyways, it's still useful, specially for mages. Wrestling special moves ATM require Arms Lore and Anatomy to be used, but I think that won't last too long

Written by Zelda, 2003