While many RPGs require characters to belong to a certain class of people, this game does not. Instead, characters abilities are governed by their skills. To change jobs, etc., a character simply has to work on learning a new skill set or applying existing skills in new ways. Vital skills are the core skills that form the foundation for each player's skillset. General skills are subclasses of vital skills and are slightly more practical.
Specific skills are subclasses of general skills and are, true to their name, very specific.
Bettering skills requires training, though that may range from 'learning by doing' to studying on ones own to formal schooling. Vital skills comprise the leftmost text, general skills are indented below them, and specific skills are indented below that. Cooking Smithing Building Clothworking Animal Husbandry Skill Levels Skills are based on percentiles, though more in theory than in fact. The ability that a character has at a given percentile is based on gamemasters' estimation of a normally distributed population, not the player population. All characters can attain skill levels that correspond to the 99th percentile of a general population.