We are going to introduce a change that will see many skills have a secondary stat that affects skill gain timers. Wisdom remains the dominant stat that affects this, but the second stat (strength, endurance, or agility) will now play a part in many skills (list below). The overall goal of this is to help towards making a small reduction in The Grind for most characters. It also introduces a new dynamic when considering character stats if you are concerned about learning skills more quickly.
Consider these scenarios:
- High wisdom, low secondary stat - It will be a little slower in that skill than if you just had a high wisdom in the old system.
- High wisdom, high secondary stat - It will be noticeably faster in that skill than the old system where if you just had a high wisdom.
- Low wisdom, low secondary stat - It will be about the same as the old system if you had a low wisdom.
- Low wisdom, high secondary stat - It will be noticeably faster in that skill than the old system where if you just had a high secondary stat
This means that if you're a combat character who "dumpstat's" wisdom, but the secondary stat for specific skills is high, you'll gain faster in those skills.
For the skills who don't have a secondary stat, such as magick spells, the duration will be roughly the same as before, just calculated a little differently. Here is the breakdown for each secondary stat:
Wisdom-based (meaning, no secondary stat affects these):
- all Psionic abilities
- all Magick spells
- all Magick Reach skills
- all Barter skills
- all Language skills
- the following Manipulation skills:
- pilot
- camping
- ride
- direction-sense
- the following Perception skills:
- hunt
- scan
- forage
- listen
- watch
- search
Endurance-based (meaning, endurance score affects gain timers):
- Gather (sorcerers)
- all Spice tolerances
- all other tolerances (alcohol, pain)
Agility-based (meaning, agility score affects gain timers):
- all Crafting skills
- all Stealth skills
- the following Weapon skills:
- slashing weapons
- piercing weapons
- the following Combat skills:
- archery / crossbow
- backstab
- rescue
- disarm
- parry
- dual wield
- flee
- blind-fighting
- blowgun use
- riposte
- guarding
- threaten
- the following Manipulation skills:
- steal
- pick
- skinning
- sleight of hand
- bandage
- poisoning
- the following Perception skills:
- peek
Strength-based (meaning, strength score affects gain timers):
- the following Combat skills:
- bash
- throw
- subdue
- shield-use
- sap
- charge
- two-handed
- trample
- hack
- sling use
- kick
- the following Weapon skills:
- bludgeoning weapons
- chopping weapons
Discussion here: https://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,60328.0.html
EDIT: Updated to reflect feedback
EDIT: Removed the 'trap' skill from the list as it's currently disabled