Skill

**Skills** are what control the abilities of a character in *Ultima Online*. There are a total of 58 skills in the game, making character customization rather broad. Various "skill templates" are suggested upon Character Creation which guide new players, but even those skills can be changed through gameplay. For instance, A player wishing to play a Paladin-type character may decide to use the Swordsmanship or the Fencing weapon skills - or both!

Skills can be accessed from the Skills button in the Character Gump or on the skills icon in the default hotbar.

To level up a skill, points are earned through use of that skill. Each skill can go up to a maximum of 100 without a Power Scroll. Select skills can be raised to 120 after using its respective Power Scroll. Skills can also be 'bought' from certain NPCs within the game at a rate of 1/10 point per gold. The maximum amount of skill to gain in this fashion is 40 points (using 400 gold).

***Play Tip:** Most players who create a new character will visit the town of New Haven and "train" (buy) up their base-skills to 40 points from the NPCs related to the skill. Eg: Tailors for the Tailoring skill,*

A field at the bottom of the Skill menu lists the character’s skill total, which allows players to see how close they are to the skill cap. To show more skills at once in the classic client, click and drag the blue gem at the bottom of the skill window.

## Skill Cap

The maximum total number of (real) skill points players can have for all their skills combined, known as the skill cap, is 700. Reaching 720 points is feasible through the use of special Power Scrolls or through account age.

## Skill Title

There are various titles granted to characters as skills are raised.

## Managing skills

Players are able to manage their skills by setting each skill to one of three modes: raise, lower, or lock. In the Skill window, on the far right of each individual skill, there is an arrow pointing up, pointing down or a padlock. Click on it to cycle through the modes. In the enhanced client players can also set an "autolock-value" by right clicking on the skill icon. This is used if a player wants to stop gaining in a skill at below maximum and wants to avoid overshooting their target.

* **Raise** – When a skill is set to raise (up arrow), this skill will increase as it is used.
* **Lower** – When a skill is set to lower (down arrow), this skill will decrease if the player is at the skill cap and gains points in other skills. With this setting, players will not gain points in this skill.
* **Lock** – When a skill is set to lock (padlock), the skill’s value will not raise or lower.

## List of skills

### Bard

* Discordance
* Musicianship
* Peacemaking
* Provocation

### Combat

* Anatomy
* Archery
* Fencing
* Focus
* Healing
* Mace Fighting
* Parrying
* Swordsmanship
* Tactics
* Throwing
* Wrestling

### Magic

* Bushido
* Chivalry
* Evaluating Intelligence
* Imbuing
* Magery
* Meditation
* Mysticism
* Necromancy
* Ninjitsu
* Resisting Spells
* Spellweaving
* Spirit Speak

### Miscellaneous

* Begging
* Forensic Evaluation
* Item Identification
* Taste Identification

### Thieving

* Detecting Hidden
* Hiding
* Lockpicking
* Poisoning
* Remove Trap
* Snooping
* Stealing
* Stealth

### Trade

* Alchemy
* Arms Lore
* Blacksmithing
* Bowcraft and Fletching
* Carpentry
* Cartography
* Cooking
* Inscription
* Lumberjacking
* Mining
* Tailoring
* Tinkering

### Wilderness

* Animal Lore
* Animal Taming
* Camping
* Fishing
* Herding
* Tracking
* Veterinary

## Custom skill groups

It is possible to create a custom skill group to move desired skills into.

To add a new group in the classic client, click the New Group button. To rename a group, double-click the group name. To move skills between groups, click and drag the skill from one group to another. To move a skill into an empty group, drag the skill on top of the group name.

To move skills to the custom tab in enhanced client, right click on the skill icon and select "Add to Custom Tab".

To delete a skill group in the classic client, click the skill group name to highlight it, then press the delete key. Skill groups cannot be deleted in the enhanced client.

## Skill points from items

Jewelry and some artifact items have + skill properties. These points are not included in the 720 cap and will even raise a skill beyond the standard Skill Cap. However, some special abilities only count real skill points.