Skills

In Nehrim, there are 21 skills which can be increased to improve the skills of the character. Each skill has its own governing attribute, which determines how much attribute can be increased when the player character levels up. Compared to Oblivion, the mechanic of major and minor skills no longer functions to level up the character. This is replaced with the experience points (EP) mechanic.

Like Oblivion, each skill has a permanent perk when the levels of 25, 50, 75 and 100 are reached.

Skills Description

Icon	Skill	Description	Governing Attribute
Combat Skills
	Blade	Deliver the slashing and thrusting attacks of dagger and sword weapons more effectively.	Strength
	Blunt	Deliver the crushing blows of mace and axe weapons more effectively.	Strength
	Hand to Hand	Attack without weapons to damage and fatigue your opponents.	Strength
	Block	Parry melee attacks with shields and blocking weapons. Successful blocks reduce damage.	Endurance
	Crafting	Maintain weapons and armor at top efficiency. Worn weapons and armor are less effective.	Endurance
	Heavy armour	Make more effective use of heavy armor.	Endurance
	Athletics	Run and swim faster, and regenerate lost fatigue faster.	Agility
Stealth Skills
	Acrobatics	Jump long distances and avoid damage when falling great distances.	Endurance
	Light armour	More effective use of light armor.	Speed
	Security	Use lockpicks to open locked doors and containers.	Agility
	Sneak	Pickpocket and move both unseen and unheard by observers.	Agility
	Marksman	Deliver more deadly ranged attacks with bow and arrow weapons.	Agility
	Mercantile	Get better deals when buying or selling goods.	Personality
	Speechcraft	Use speech to persuade listeners, what leads to to better information-gathering.	Personality
Magic Skills
	Alchemy	Create potions and gain benefits from alchemical ingredients more effectively.	Intelligence
	Illusion	Cast spells to charm, conceal, create light, silence, paralyze, affect morale and aggressiveness.	Intelligence
	Mysticism	Cast spells that absorb, reflect and dispel magic, move objects, sense life and bind souls.	Intelligence
	Alteration	Cast spells to breathe or walk on water, open locks, shield from physical and magical damage, and alter encumbrance.	Willpower
	Destruction	Cast spells to inflict magical fire, frost and shock damage, or reduce resistances to magic attacks.	Intelligence
	Restoration	Cast spells to restore, fortify, or absorb physical and magical attributes, cure diseases, and resist magical attacks.	Willpower
	Conjuration	Cast spells to summon creatures, who can provide aid during combat.	Intelligence

Skills Governed by Attribute

Attribute	Skill Governed by the Attribute
Strength	Blade	Blunt	Hand to Hand	x	x
Endurance	Block	Heavy Armor	Crafting	Acrobatics	x
Speed	Light Armor	x	x	x	x
Agility	Athletics	Marksman	Security	Sneak	x
Personality	Speechcraft	Mercantile	x	x	x
Intelligence	Alchemy	Illusion	Mysticism	Destruction	Conjuration
Willpower	Alteration	Restoration	x	x	x
Luck	Governs no skill.

Specialization
Combat
Stealth
Magic

Skill Increases

For every two points you increase the total Skills with a given Attribute since your last level up, you get a one point increase in that Attribute, if you chose this Attribute when you level, up to a maximum of 5. Unlike Oblivion, increasing a Skill using training in Nehrim does NOT count toward this Attribute total. The total is cumlative accross the skills that have a given Attribute. So, if your Alchemy, Destruction, Illusion and Mysticism Skills had a total increase of 10 points between levels (not counting any training), you would be able to increase your Intelligence by 5.

Note: But the rule that “for every two points you increase the total skill with a given Attribute since your last level up, you get a one point increase in that Attribute” is not quite true, only average. In fact it works like this:

0	-->	+1
1 to 4	-->	+2
5 to 7	-->	+3
8 to 9	-->	+4
>= 10	-->	+5

So it is effective to go for totals (of a certain attribute associated with various skills) of 1, 5, 8 or 10.

Notes

• Unlike in Oblivion, there are no Conjuration spells until the release of Patch 1.1.1.0
• Compared to Oblivion, the Armorer skill is renamed as Crafting in Nehrim. In Oblivion, the skill only consisted of repairing armour, in Nehrim it also has other activities, such as cooking, forging items, mining and more.
• There are significant changes to Governing Attributes. Many of them are not like in vanilla Oblivion.
• In German version there are no descriptions of Attributes and what skills they govern. In English version, the description of Attributes and skills they govern is the same as in Oblivion and therefore outdated. The correct version is the one in Skill description.